The San Francisco call., 1907-02-10


donated by Mrs. Phoebe Hearst
TO the University of California. This
time it is not the ideslity of the sculp-
TOR but the likenesses of men who were
living forces OF their time. ana as We
look upon the faces OF Cicero. Caesar.
Fompey and Brutus the past they rep
resented rises before us like a dream.
This past, too. is OF time strangely
like our own. and the most vivid
human drama that has come down to
Us entire is Of profound interest to
every American who loves the institu-
tions of his country. For the drama
opens upon people living under the
most popular constitution ever known.
The assembly of citizens was the SOW
erelgn authority OF the state and the
euprespe court of appeal. From its
1ouhoElion Rome was g refuge for the
oppressed OF the surrounding nations
ana its growth for several centuries
was the natural aggregation Of the
Atallan peoples under q government
Where law and social stability had sun
planted. the despotisms of their many
sristocracies and the anarchy of their
ceaseless tribal wars
II was Nunaa who ranged the work
Ing people into trade guilds. These
were similar to our trades unions and
their political power from time to time
became so much enlarged that, in the
later days OF the republic they had be-
come the principal factor in all the
municipal elections, and the ouarrele
between them and the nobility for
supreme power grew more and more
bitter as the genius of government
oegenersted from patriotic legal sd.
rainistration into a mad scramble for
the wealth OF the earth that conquest
poured into Rome. AS the piebeians ha
the numbers they could always con-
troll, and the pivotal point of a Roman
election, as IL has actually become in
many of our own cities and notably in
San Francisco, was the control of the
labor vote"
But while the plebeians had numbers
as & mass they We're poor and while
mass may have large powers such
may only be exercised through dele
gates and representatives; and In a
condition Of society where bribery and
corruption in contact with helpless
poverty have usurped the sense Of civic
duty and patriotism. the inevitable re-
suit Is that the representatives either
exercise authority for their own benefit
or become the creatures OF those who
have more power than they or de-
pendents upon those who hold the pub
lie purse.
To understand how the once vigor-
Gus Roman masses had become both
impoverished and venal, II is necessary
70 go back to the times Of the Gracchf.
Ter It was the eldest of the two broth
ers who began the Roman revolution.
II is essential ct this point to state
that the feudsI or communal tenure of
land holding gave TO the chief merely
life interest in the estate he might
Inherit, but under him IT also gave the
same life interest in such part of the
same estate that any Individual of the
clan or gems might have been born
into. I The long and exhausting warst
with Carthage had driven most OF thel
masses into the army. and their work
was done by slaves. As these were the
personal property of the Individual. the
nominal head of the estate exercised
personal sovereignty over all the land
that was worked. and the condition.
lasting over a generation. by mere
force OF custom gave the land holders
sort OF personal tenure to the com
mon lands.
Discharged soldiers from the armies
congregated in Rome, and such spoils
or war as they had taken were soon
dissipated. They were citizens in 2
democratic state, but in their poverty
they became the clients of the wealthy.
and as such were as completely the
tools OF their patron as the FOUNDERS"
Of san Francisco are the tools
of Abe Ruef. and were used in A
sinliiar way. Mane 9f them belonged
10 some guild. and these were kept
from starvation by the state whfci,
granted them regular rations of corn
and other necessities. So between the
clients of the state and the clients OF
the wealthy individuals there was
formed a permanent and irresponsible
element. clothed with the political
power OF the Roman franchise. that
fFrrr H.
politician with the longest purse.
Enter the Gracchi
When Tiberius Gracious saw that
the fields Of Italy were being titled by
slaves while the capital was swarnling
with population without means of
support, he felt that unless the evil
were cured the decay OF the state
would certainly follow, and he began
an agitation to restore the agrarian
law enacted two centuries previously.
which forbade any man having such
large tracts in his possession. He be-
gan an agitation for reform. was elect
ed tribune, and passed an azrsrian
law. But alternating both the senate
rial and middle classes and the people
deserting him when he again offered
himself illegally for the tribuneship
he was killed in riot melted by the
sristocratic element
Ten years later his brother Caius
came forward. he had been one OF
the commissioners of the land law.
Forty thousand families had been set
tied upon the lands. but the dfspiace-
nent OF one set OF inhabitants for
another created as much discomfort in
one direction as it had aIleviated in the
other. The commissioners became un-
popular and the law was quietly re-
pealed. The people had veered around
and gone over to the oligarchy.
Csius was feared by them and so vexed
with prosecutions that he turned
against the Senate, which he perceived
TO be the real source OF the evils
affecting the commonwealth The
judicial functions Of the state had be-
come a senatorial monopoly. The cor
ruption of justice had become noto-
Tious. So Caius carried a law IN the
Assembly disabling Senators from
sitting on 5uries of any kind, and
transferring judicial functions TO the
equities. az the middle class was
called. He restored the agrarisn law.
and another that no Roman. citizen
high or low. could be put to death
without legal trial. He endeared the