Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-24
AN INTERESTING FIGHT
Contest for the California
Senatorship.
TO SUCCEED MR.. BARD
F. P. FLINT AND g. A. KNIGHT THE
LEADING CANDIDATES.
Young Filipinos Attending School in
This Country Are All Hard
Students.
BY VIM. E. CURTIS.

There is a very interesting fight in Cal
1fornia for the senatorial seat of Thomas
Robert Bard whose term expires on the
9th of March next Senator Bard would
be proud of a reelection. but declines to
make an aggressive fight and so to speak,
has rested his case on it's merits. He
came to the Senate involuntarily. He was
not candidate when. in 1900 there WAS
a deadlock in the legislature at Sacra-
mento over filling the vacancy left by the
death of the late Senator White, and his
name was proposed as compromise and
he was unanimously elected. He would
like to be unanimously chosen again but
several other ambitious gentlemen object
Senator Bard is a native of the Cumber-
land valley. and was born in the ancient
town CT Chambersburg, Pa, near the boun-
cary line between Pennsylvania and Mary
land. During the civil war. when he was
quite boy. he was captured by the con-
1ederates and was condemned to be hanged
as "a spy, but Providence and a squad Of
Union cavalry 1nterfered and he lived to
STUDY law at Hagerstown, and afterward
10 OBTAIN employment under Colonel
Ihomas A. Scott. president of the PENN
sylvanla railroad. Having won the conf
dence of Mr.. Scott he was sent to Cali
1ornla to take charge of some of the Ian is
owned by the latter gentleman, which had
been occupied by squatters He was not
onis successful in the management of Colo
mel SCOTS interests. but was fortunate in
LIS own personal enterprises and became
very rich man. He was one Of the first
to utilize petroleum deposits in Southern
California. -
Mr.. Bard is purely business man. He
nais no taste for politics. and has repeat
ediy declined nominations for office. That
is attributed to his first experience in that
lhe During his early years in the state
ne was induced to be a candidate for the
i
tlhed him so much that he never wanted
10 see MS name upon ballot again.
Mr.. Flint's Candidacy.
The aggressive candidates are Frank p.
Flint Of Los Angeles and George Alexan-
der Knight of San Francisco. knight was
born In Worcester and Flint in Salem.
Mass. Both are lawyers. Flint has been
counsel for the Southern Pacific Railroad
company for many years and as the rep
resentative of that company rather than
Tor personal reasons, has been active in no
ntieal and legislative affairs. When he
ate he resigned his position as general
counsel, sacrificed large salary and made
a public announcement in these words:
In Justice to myself and to the people I
have this day notified the officers of the
southern Pacific company that, as they
have large interests throughout this state
ana are more or less connected with the
a.
lions, owing to my candidacy, and that T
Will not accept any employment with
that corporation, or any other corporation
or individual having any business directly
or indirectly, with the United States gov
eminent. This means that sever my con-
nection not only with the Southern Pacific
company, but with several other clients
This prOnunciamenta created a favorable
impression and placed Mr.. Flint in an ex-
cellent position to make a fight, because
Senator Perkins comes from San Francisco
and the southern counties of California
consider themselves entitled to representa-
ton. The northern counties of the state
already have the governor, a member of
the Presidents cabinet and one Of the COM
missioners Of the Panama canal, all of
which is in Flints favor For the same
reason he is supposed to have the secret
support of Senator Perkins, who naturally
does not wish to diminish his chances Of
reelection by having a colleague from his
own city. There is now no other candidate
from southern California.
The Other Candidates.
Ulysses s. Grant. who tried to make the
Senate at the time Bard was elected, still
nurses an ambition, but his experience four
years ago was not such as to encourage him
to try 1t again. He is holding himself in
reserve, hoping that he may be recognized
as an available dark horse in case of an
other deadlock.
Henry r. Oxnard, the beet sugar man.
who during his short life has been in turn
a citizen of Louisiana, Nebraska, New York
and Washington, now votes in southern
California and desires to represent that
state in the United States Senate He Is
a very shrewd and able man, and is likely
to be important factor in California
politics if he continues to make that state
his home.
George Alexander Knight has a silver
tongue that has charmed the people Of
many states He has been heard in several
presidential conventions, including the last.
He is the biggest talker on the Pacific coast,
and the peaks of the Rocky mountains bow
in homage to his eloquence. He Is the lead
ing criminal lawyer also, and has appeared
in many sensational trials. He Is also a
corporation lawyer and has regular annual
retainers from the Union Pacific Railroad
Company the Pacific Coast Steamship
Company and other wealthy corporations.
He was formerly newspaper man, and
spent his youth as a reporter at Eureka,
where he married and studied law. He is
a tip-topper In California society, member
of all the clubs, Knight Templar a
Mason of high degree, and is popular with
everybody. The entire population of the
state is proud of his oratory and loves him
as friend. He has been active in every
political campaign, has stumped the state
at every election, has always contributed
literally to the war chest of his party and
has never asked anything In return. He has
never been a candidate for office since he
was district attorney for Humboldt county,
attained a professional reputation and ac-
quted comfortable fortune, he asks his
friends to return the favors he has done
and his party to reward his labors by elect
ing him to the Senate. But the chances
are all against Mr.. knight. He comes from
the wrong part of the state, and the very
people who ought to give him the strongest
support are likely to be against him.
Filipinos at School Here.
One hundred and forty young Filipinos
are now attending school in this country
five girls and 1876 boys When this educa-
tional project was adopted 1t was not in
tended that girls should be included, but by
some oversight they were allowed to enter
the competitive examinations by which stu
dents were selected, and as five OF them
stood at the head of the list of candidates.
their participation became a matter of JUS
tce instead of expediency 1t may be said
also that the young women have particu-
larry distinguished themselves and have
made such records that there is no longer