Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-23
LITTLE DOUBT FELT
Pacific Coast Democrats Have
Hopeless Prospect.
THE CHIN ESE ISSUE
EFFECT OF MR.. HEARST's PoLITI-
CAL AMBITION.
Contest for the California Senatorship
How Mr. Oxnard is Said to Have
Been Victimized.
BY WILLIAM Z. CURTIS.
kprcial Correspondence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.


spccial Correspondence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.
SAN FRANCISCO, September II. 1904.
There is very little doubt in the minds of
politicians on both sides about the result of
the election in the coast states so far as the
presidential ticket is concerned. The re-
publicans are doing very little in the way
of campaign work and the democrats are
doing nothing at all. They seem inclined to
allow the fight to go by default. They have
done nothing in the way of organization,
thus far, are sending out no literature and
are holding very few meetings. 1t possibly
may be a still hunt, but the leaders the
democratic side are familiar any one
with public sentiment and must realize
how useless such an effort would he. Furth-
ermore. they have no money to use in that
way. The national committee has fur
nished them none, and with hopeless pros
pect local democrats are not apt TO sub
scribe
Indeed. the rich men are all on one side,
and Roosevelt will divide the labor vote
more evenly than it was ever divided be-
fore or elsewhere. The socialists will not
support him. They denounce him in terms
similar to those applied by the socialists of
Germany TO their kaiser. He wears
coat of mail when he appears in their
dreams, and is the embodiment of tyranny
and force. The reading and reasoning ele-
ment of the working people is supporting
the President and cannot be driven away
from him.
The Chinese Exclusion Issue
The chief issue on which politicians APP
peal to the working classes the Pacific
coast is Chinese exclusion, and the labor
unions are vigilant in demanding the en-
forcement of the law. President Wheeler
of the University of California told me the
oil hot,
Chinese was subsiding, and he predicted
that within few years scarcity of labor
and high wages will cause modification
of the exclusion law so that Chinese coolies
may be admitted under certain restrictions
POSSIBLY this may be the case among the
employer class, who feel the scarcity OF
labor keenly. In Oregon. the other day,
was told that labor is SO scarce that it now
costs 500 to clear an acre of land where a
few years ago the expense was less than
$50 And everywhere. from the city of
Bellingham, up in the northwest corner of
the country down to San Francisco, every
body has told the same story about the diff
ficulty of obtaining both skilled and COM
mon labor, and the enormous wages that
are demanded-the highest, it is asserted,
that are paid in any country for the work
of human hands, and higher than ever have
been paid in all history. But, as it will
naturally be to the interest of the labor
unions to continue these conditions as long
as possible, it is not reasonable to suppose
that they will consent to the modification
of the exclusion law. allow the officials
of the immigration bureau to relax the,
present policy of its enforcement.
Their sentiment and disposition was IL
Illustrated in Congress last winter when
Representative Livernash, a leader of the
radical faction prevented an appropriation
for the erection of a house of detention for
Chinese immigrants here
remarkable incident occurred the other
day. When the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company brought a full crew of Chinese
frCvr r1CplA =
steamer Manchuria, the sailors union en-
tered a protest and demanded that none
but American citizens and members of that
organization be employed. The president
of the union, who presented the protest, Is
himself not citizen of the United States;
he has been in this country only four
years. and is scarcely able yet to speak the
English language. Nevertheless he has sue
ceeded in being elected leader of the sea-
mems organization on this coast.
There are twelve Chinese students at the
University of California. studying the APP
piled sciences and qualifying themselves to
direct modern improvements In the ancient
empire. Eight of them were sent over by
the Chinese government. President Wheeler
says that they are well treated by the other
students and promptly demonstrate their
intellectual superiority soon as they are
able to speak the English language.
Mr. Hearst's Political Ambition.
The democratic party in California was
quite badly demoralzed by the efforts of
William r. Hearst to secure the presiden-
tial nomination, and for long time it is
likely TO be divided into two factions-those
who were and those who were not for
Hearst Mr.. Hearsts newspaper is showing
vindictive spirit against democratic lead
erS who refused to support its proprietor,
and Mrs Hearst has withdrawn all of the
benefactions which have made her so much
beloved in California.
l am told that every contribution she has
of alyip 70
the charitable institutions of California has
been withheld this year, and all of the
many benevolences which have been sup
ported by her have been closed, even the
scholarships she established for seIf-sup-
porting young women in the University of
California.
There are various explanations That
most generally accepted by the public. and
which has been frequently published is the
enormous expenditure OF her son in the re-
cent presidential campaign: others say that
she is indignant because he did not receive
heartier support from the people of Gait
fornia; but her intimate friends DENY all
these rumors and explain that She has been
compelled to retrench in her expenditures
because the Homestake mine at Dead
WOOD, rom which she has derived nearly
SSoV;pVo a year, has stopped paying divi-
1enus, and because she has been assessed
ior an enormous sum of money 70 axtapd
the oroya railroad to the Cerro do Pasno
mines in Peru. which were racantIr -
Gn"seo by Mrs. Hearst and the U,pai
enterprises III various
In oregon the republicans eIectad ,ho,.
state ticket by 1900 majority Iast I,'nn
ana they expect to show even create aes
ures at the November election There he.,
been some dissatisfaction regarding nna
pointments to federal offices i'm difYarapp,
parts OF the state, but the senator's and no.
the President are blamed. No republica n
will vote against Roosevelt and many dew
ocrats viii vote for him.
The California senatorship
The same may be said of California. and
assuming that the republicans will carry
the state and control the legislature. the
chief interest of the campaign is found in
the contest for the seat now occupied nv
Thomas Robert Bard in the United States
Senate. An element of comedy has been in
troduced into the canvass by the appear
ance of Henry T. Oxnard. the beet sugar
king, as a candidate, although his oppo-
nents declare that he is a carpet Dagger
and has not lived in California long enough
TO become acclimated. 1t is true that Mr..
Oxnard has scattered around a good deal
during the last twenty years. He was origi-
many resident of louisiana; then he lived
In Nebraska for long time. and took an