The San Francisco call., 1905-04-10
FRESNO FIGHT
A BITTER one
Non-Partisan Nominees for
Office in Raisin City Max
ing Strenuous Campaign
POLITICAL EXPERIMENT
Charter Is Responsible for
Queer Conditions Surround
ing Municipal Election
specl.l ptspatch to Tn. cam.

Liz MuHIC1pdl IIcCIIUIl
Special Dispatch to The Cali
FRESNO. April "A municipal
election will be held in Fresno to-
morrow under conditions unlike any
others which prevail in the State of
California, or for that matter. any
where on the Pacific coast. No party
nominations have been made for any
Of the offices, but there are four can
didates in the field for Mayor and two
or more for every other Office in the
gift of the people. All the candidates
appear upon the official ballot as in
dependent nominees" Nevertheless,
three of the four candidates for May
or were nominated by a caucus of
citizens representing peculiar inter
ests. There is a vigorous contest for
the Mayorality between these three
and tonight, on the eve of election,
it is conceded by all that the race will
be close, with no odds in favor of any
one of the three. Thousands of dol
lars have been spent in the campaign
and open air rallies of extraordinary
dimensions have been held. The air
has been so full of personal vftuper-
alton that former close friends have
become enemies.
The four candidates for Mayor are
L. Q. Stephens, w. Parker Lyon, John
A. Neu and Robert Lochead. The
first three are well-to-do business men
and the fourth a carpenter. The race
is between Stephens, Lyon and Loch-
cad. The last named was nominated
by the Fresno labor unions and is con-
sidered by both of his opponents to
be a strong antagonist. Stephens is a
candidate to succeed himself. He
has the support of both the Daily Re-
publican and the Daily Democrat.
Stephens is a Democrat and the most
peculiar feature of the whole situa-'
ton is that he was placed in the field
through the efforts of Chester H.
Rowell, editor of the Republican, who
was his opponent in the election
which took place four years ago. The
spectacle of a Republican editor NOM
mating and engineering theacampaign
of a Democrat who had previously
defeated him in a race for office is
rare.
CHARTER RESPONSIBLE.
The peculiar conditions which OBJ
tain in the present campaign arise
from a popularity In Fresno's charter
Fresno has not been classed by the
Legislature with any other munich
pality in the State. Her charter is
unique in many particulars. one being
municipal elections. large percen-
tage of the smaller towns of the State
have non-partisan elections, but with
the partial exception of San Jose,
where there is a temporary abolition
of partisan elections, there Is no other
city on record where there is absolute
legal abolition of the nomination of
men by parties and the placing of
names on the ticket under party
heads Indeed, for Fresno it is an
experiment.
The non-partisan clause in the city
charter was inserted in the present
wear and was passed UP to the Legis
lature barely in time to receive 'ts
Endorsement before adjournment.
1t was opposed by many prominent
local citizens and the statement has
been freely made that the amend
ment was inserted by politicians who
believed that they could not control
the present election by any other
means. Be that as it may, the cen
trail committees of the various politi-
cal parties met Immediately after the
amendment became a law and de-
cided not only to live up to the letter
but also the spirit of the law Then
followed the various movements
which were made for the purpose of
capturing the city government in the
cause of divergent interests.
The first man in the field for Mayor
was Sam B. ToombS, street con-
tractor Three weeks before the
election he realized that he had no
chance and withdrew in favor of the
labor candidate.
The next man in the field was L. o.
Stephens. the incumbent. Sephens has
been in Office four years and in that
time has initiated many reforms.
Among other moves he influenced the
Board of Trustees to raise all saloon
licenses. He pushed through the 1
o'clock closing ordinance and rescinded
the licenses of all the saloons In the
tenderloin district. Through his efforts
the redlight district was regulated and
it's habitues kept within bounds.
MAKES MANY ENEMIES.
Stephens made many enemies. and it
remained for the editor of the Republi-
can paper to persuade him to be a cam
didate to succeed himself, Editor
Ro,well then engineered Non -parti-
san" convention which duly nominated
his candidate. The Fresno Democrat
at first opposed the candidacy of
Stephens, but ,afterward decided to fall
in line, and it now supports him.
Stephens is the leading undertaken of
Fresno.
w. Parker Lyon is a rich furniture
dealer who is extremely active in fur
thering his interests in the campaign. |
john A Neu is a proprietor of a
music house. He has no special inter-
ests behind him.
Robert Lochead is the only candidate
who has not been maligned in the cam
paign. Lochead leads a ticket nomi-
mated by a caucus of delegates y <.,ted
by all the Fresno labor unions The
nomination came at the close of a fight
which has been waged here in the
building trades Three-fourths of the
unions of this city have voted to lay
off labor on election day and work for
the success of the labor ticket. The
daily papers claim that money has been
received from the Schmitz contingent
in San Francisco to be used in the con-
test, the understanding being that in
case of the success of the Lochead
ticket. the union labor influence will
f,e used RI boom Schmitz for fbe Gov