Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-23

From the san !
w re have come to the turning o.
wv a very long lane.
Five and one-half years ago
when Schmitz was first elected mayor
the Bulletin, which had opposed him ir
the campaign, printed a friendly edi.
torial promising to hold up his hands
so long as he served the city honestly
At that time Thomas f. Boyle. now a
school director, was business manager
of the Bulletin. At the request Of Fre-
mont Older, managing editor of the
Bulletin, Boyle went to Schmitz pri-
vately with this message:
Mayor Schmitz, you have been
elected by the votes of union men. You
have an opportunity such as comes to
few men In a generation. If you are
sincere and honest you can become a
great national figure and can reflect
glory on organized labor by demon
strating that out of the ranks of labor
can come men fit to lead and to govern.
So long as you go straight you can
count on the Bulletins support. But If
you let Abe Ruef be the boss of your
administration you will be ruined.
Ruef is venal. Ruef will destroy you
for money"
This message was delivered to Mayor
Schmitz by Mr.. Boyle. The mayors
reply was:
II thank Mr.. Older for his advice. 1
believe it to be we'll intended. But I
am under obligations to Abe Ruef and
shall adhere to him"
A few days later Schmitz addressed
to Ruef the celebrated letter of
marquee in which he formally ap-
pointed Ruef boss of the administration
and notified bribe-givers to see Ruef
Before the mayor had received the
friendly warming message from the
Bulletin he had planned with Ruef the
campaign of spoliation which they have
so ruthlessly conducted all these years.
Schmitz did not start as an honest man.
His Is not the cose of a naturally up
right man whose morals were gradually
broken down. From the beginning he
was voracious; and through the years
he had been even greedier than Ruef
for Doodle. The pair have had numer-
GUS quarrels in the presence of wit
nesses over the spoils; for Ruef could
not be honest even with his partner,
and, whenever he thought it safe, ne
held out more than his share of the
money.
OlOIlly dIIeT the leIIeT Ol IIldTQuG
had been printed tales of graft began
to trickle into the Bulletin office. They
were investigated carefully and when
ever found to be true they were printed.
In all the years, so far as the Bulletin
Is aware. this paper has not published
a single charge against the administra-
ton that was not substantially true.
Curiously, however, the people re-
fused to credit the Bulletins accusa-
tons against Schmitz and Ruef. mol
abundance of circumstantial detail was
enough to convince the public. The
people persisted in waving aside the
charges as mere newspaper talk"
Schmitz had the Bulletin boycotted.
He succeeded in persuading many of
he unions that this paper was inimical
% the union movement; whereas the
all the time, was endeavoring |
o convince the unions that Schmitz
vas their worst enemy; that he was
selling the unions and the city to cor
and that all the enthusiasm
If the union men was being spent to
Keep in office a gang of hirelings of the |
Southern Pacific, the United Railroads, |
The gas and water companies and all
the group of special interests desig-
mated long ago by Arthur McEwen as
the Associated Villainies.''
In spite of the Bulletin, the people