The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-17
ABE RUEF, THE SLICK CRATER
NoBODK EXPECTED rHAT HENEy
WOULD GET HIM.


SAN Francisco. Noy. is.-Back in the
pos san Francisco had q boss, Christie
uher Buckley by name. who. ike the msp
10 the Bible, was blind from his birth. Buck.
kv was beaten and driven out at last. but
ehsn he went he took millions with him.
buckley 10 still living in San Francisco and
is still rich. Only the other day he said: q
4 would give half my fortune IL il would
uve me my eyesight 80 that I could see
Abe Rusf just once -
That expresses tho opinion Of sx- Boss
Buckley regarding the dazzling achieve
nents Of present boss Ruef. And Buckley
70 no SLOUGH. either.
san Francisco was once one Of the best
mverned cities in America. She is TODAY
xithout doubt the worst governed. Very
sew persons know the story OF her fall.
Here IL IT,. e.
Years g when Horace Hswes, one OF
he great builders Of the West. dictated the
consolidation act that whipped San Fran
CISCO into a real city he inserted in that act
q wise provision. II stipulated that not
more than one-twelfth OF the city's income
could be spent in any one month. and that
40 part Of the income Of any year should be
spent 10 pay the debts OF any other year.
That the city is not bankrupt to-day is
owing solely to that provision.
Blind Boss Buckley proited in princeiy
fashion while he ruled. but he gave q fairly
respectable government. His Mayors were
usually high class individuals, though he
allowed them little power. He kept the
criminal element pretty well under cover.
and though the franchises were all sold
the city got a fair service.
But under the Leadership of Gavin Nc
Nab. one of the ablest politicians San Fran
cisco ever developed, the better element
sitter a long and arduous campaign that
was full Of vicissitudes finally succeeded
10 breaking the Buckley machine. They
made James d. Phelan the first reform
Mayor. and under him the town was poIiti-
oslly pretty clean. Phelan had the help
o o very remarkable Board Of Supervisors
very superior citizens they were, most
o. them. not professional politicians. but
cultured. intelligent men, scholars, college
graduates. bankers. merchants, lawyers,
men who really wished to gorern the city
veil.
Certain defects in the Consolidation
Act required remedy. Phelan named n
committee of 100. which elaborated almost
nightly for a long time under McNab's
direction and finally submitted a charter
70 the people. The remnan Of the Buckley
machine submitted a rival charter. but
the reformers won out. and under an act
If the Legislature. their charter became
> law in 1899, with Mr.. Phelan beginning
bis third term as Mayor.
Al went well till nearly the close Of
49, -. IT, 5000 =
1Nlstrisl upheavsl. A great teamsters'
Nrike developed. Then the waterfront
vas tied up by the freight handlers and
che entire traffic of the city was parslyzed.
Mayor Phelan tried 10 obtain a solution
nv arbitration, but only succeeded in max
ing himself unpopular with both sides.
Fhe employers won the strike. Then
'he union Tabor element crystallized for
he first time for political action. Abe
Ruef, then a shrewd lawyer and a union
labor boss in a small way. was one Of the
leading spirits.
The rulers of the union labor crowd In
tended in the first place merely TO organize
labor into a political weapon for the pu =
pose Of selling II TO the highest bidder.
Ia fact. in 1861 the union labor convention
vas practically hawked through the streets.
IL was offered for sale for SLIGO. But
nobody would buy IL. Nobody thought
s. forth the money. That was a mistake
that has cost San Francisco many millions
uf dollars.
Having organized a union labor party
md not being able to sell il, the ~agitators
we're forced TO nominate a union labor
rcket, Ruef's influence resulted in the
choice of Eugene f. Schmitz, az that time
isader OF a theatre orchestra at $40 a week
Mayor Phelan declining 10 run again, the
democrats named Banker Joseph Tobin.
The Republicans put up Asa Wells.
With labor and liquor behind him Schmitz
- evervbodv's surprise received a small
: Iuralitv. But the old Supervisors were
collected and a fairly good government
tosulted. When Schmitz was reelected by
'he .ame influences the reform Supervisors
anrc again chosen but. getting all the COM
o~issioners in his control, the Mayor began
the installation of tho system" that is
now perfected.
Craft became so common near the close
~ his second term that he would probably
nave been beaten had not the capitalists
I~nsugurated under the name of the Citizens
Alliance a war of class against class. This
united the Union Labor party vote again,
despite the graft of the Schmitz regime.
Then the Supervisors made their fatal error.
They introduced the voting machine. whose
ccmr locations frightened the would-be
~oters Of split tickets. They voted straight
End elected not only Schmitz but to the
,amszemeut Of the city they also chose as
Supervisors the unholy, unwashed and
,Dncombed bunch of low brows who have
riuce grown prosperous at the city's ex-
pense
Since then corruption has been 20 special
ized that TO understand the local talk about
il you must have mastered the glossary Of
graft. Here rs an extract from il:
lob chasers: Professional politicians,
'awsmiths. Fake labor leaders who work
The unions for political purposes solely.
Lootsrs' League: Ruef's outfit OF Office
holders
Tax eaters. Men who live at the city's
expense.
Candy passers. Middlemen betN cen the
stockholders and the corporations: bribers.
Slot machines. Supervisors and Com
customers YOU drop the coin and YOU yet