The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-04-24
MIGRANTS NOW
TAKE THE PLACE
OF GAMBLERS
Hard to Stop Leaks in
County Treasury.
A LAKE MERRITT MYSTERY
MAYOR SHOWS CURIOSITY is
AROUSED.
He Is Endeavoring to Learn bow the
City Is Being Bunkoed on Street
sprinkling and Other
Expenses.
A LAKE MERRITT MYSTERY
MAYOR SHOWS CURIOSITY IS
AROUSED.
Oakland Office San Francisco Call,
oao

COS Broadway, April %.
Alameda County is q good place in which
TO get rich. The county treasury seems to
be q free-for-an grab bag. When once
money is taken out of it, upon any pre-
text whatsoever, there is no hope Of it
being returned. Yesterday after two or
three years Of litigation an eX-COroner
was relieved Of a charge of making his
bills excessive on the ground that it is
necessary to show q criminal intent be-
fore an indictment can stand. As 1t Is
not charged that this official was guilty
of anything more heinOus than misinter-
preting the statute of clerical errors, he
is therefore absolved from returning any
of the fees which the county expert and
the Grand Jury declare were not right
fully his.
Four years ago a hole was discovered in
the county treasury. The missing money
was traced TO some parties receiving tax
es from Berkeley property owners. There
was absolute proof that the money had
been paid. and Just as good proof that it
had never reached the treasury. After
q score of indictments and several trials
the cases We're all thrown out of court on
the ground that il would be absolutely
Impossible to establish the question of
agency, and so long as man receives
taxes and was not authorized TO do SO II
appeared to be optional. to the lay mind,
whether he turned such money into the
treasury or into his pocket. In any event
the shortage still exists and the case is
closed.
For the present there is cessation of
gambling. Whether it will be permanent
or not depends on the manner in which
the new city government carries out its
programe. Should any vacillating or
fexibility be discovered by the gamblers
the games viii open up instantly. Nearly
all the gambling dens We're attached to
saloons, and consequently the saloon
keeper jeopardizes his chance for a re-
newal of his license by permitting gam
bling. The most marked effect of shut
ting up the dens is the large increase in
the number of Migrants thus thrown on
the streets. Scores of men and youths
who have no other means of a livelihood
than the keno joint or the racetrack are
now parading the sidewalks looking for
an opportunity to follow their calling. 1t
IS surprising that many of these fellows
have not been landed in the city prison,
for several of them are daily seen to be
in conversation witt. police officers who
must know the relationship such gam
blers bear to society and the law. This
phase Of the situation does not seem
TO have yet commended itself to those
intrusted with the peace and dignity of
the people, but il is time that they arrive
at just conception OF the truth.
1t is about time for a commission to be
appointed to inquire into the stat
us and prospects Of the Lake
Merritt improvements. Considerable
doubt exists as to the plans and
system on which a large portion of the
city treasure is being expended Although
all the city employees are now suffering
financially because of the generosity of
the late Council toward the lake, there
would still be no cause for complaint if
assurances were given that the marshes
on the west shore are to be totally oblit-
i
did twenty-acre park as promised. There
is need for such assurance, for even the
Mayor and City Attorney have stated that
the deeds to the city from the Water
Front Company and others do not show
what benefit the city acquires for it's gen.
crosby, and the opinion is prevalent that
the benefit will not be half so large as it
was stated to be during the agitation for
the improvements. The dredger has been
busily at work for some months filling in
private property with mud from the lake.
and there IS suspicion that there will
not be half nor a quarter enough mud left
to be taken from the lake under the exist
ing contract to fill the immense tract be-
between Eighth and Twelfth streets the
bukhead now being built and the west
shore. No one can say or has said how
much of this great fill will be left when
the contract is completed, and there is an
idea prevalent that ii will take large ap-
preparation for several years before the
promised park will materialize. 1t was
thought that all these matters were set
tied, but such is not the case, and al
though the contract demands that all
work shall be finished by June 80, there is
not the remotest possibility that one-thrd
of it can be done by that time. The Mayor
could relieve much public suspense by In
ducng the Council to appoint a special
committee to issue report on these mat
tiers.
Mayor Snow wants to know why street
sprinkling, which cost S23 600 nine years
ago, should now cost $43, 600, when the
city's assessment has only increased 10
per cent in the interval. Frequently dur
ing the past week the Mayor has been
seen sitting on top of a watering cart
handling the lever, or chasing a sprinkler
around town, or perChed on top of one of
the street railroad tanks, or plugging up
some of the holes in the distributor and
making others at the end. He has taken
all the trouble because he believes he can
arrange sprinkler that will do about
twice as much work as the average
sprinkler is now doing.
Nine years ago there were no electric
roads in Oakland, ana consequently all
the streets OF the city had to be sprinkled
by carts. Now there are miles of electric
roads, and the franchises call for the
sprinkling of the tracks by the COM
panies, so that the cost of street sprnk-
ling SHOULD be no more now than it was in
1890 Yet ii is nearly double