Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1907-08-12
SAN FRANCISCO TO ELECT CITY
AND COUNTY OFFICERS
LIVELY FIGHT TO BE MADE BY
CANDIDATES
Republicans and Labor Unionlsts Ex-
pected to Fight 1t Out for
Supremacy, Democrats
Third in Race

cipal primaries for the election of dele
gates to the convention which will nom
mate a mayor, eighteen supervisors,
district attorney auditor, city and coun-
ty attorney, tax collector, coroner, sher-
iff, city and county clerk, city and coun-
ty treasurer and city and county as
SCISSOR, and two police judges for each
of the several party tickets will be held
in this city next Tuesday.
The total registration numbers about
81, 900 electors and there will be six dis
tinct tickets in the field.
All three of the principal parties--Re-
publican, Democratic, and Labor Union
are factionally split, with the outlook
none too good that they will heal their
differences and present united fronts in
the interim between the primaries and
the general election on November 5.
The Republicans are divided into two
camps, one popularity designated "the
regular organization" is popularity sup
posed to be dominated by w. A. Herrin
for the Southern Pacific. His field cap
tain is Postmaster G. Fisk.
The other faction, composed of men as
serting their independence of railroad
control, is captained by Daniel A. Ryan,,
who was prominent in the fusion move-
ment two years ago and recently was
mentioned for mayor in the activities
that led to the selection of DIR. Edward
r. Taylor.
The sharpest fight is expected to as
sumo definite shape between the Repub-
lican and Labor Union fighters, the Dem
ocratic party. dropping into third place
for the reason that the labor forces in
their original affiliations were Demo-
Gratis. @
Two distinct factions have been de-.
veloped within Democratic party lines;
the regular organization, in which Gavin
McNab is the ruling spirit, though
Thomas w. Hickey is openly the front
and head; the other is marshaled by d.
1. Mahoney and Lewis F. Byington,
former district attorney and brother-in-
law of Chief Counsel TREY L. Ford, of
the United railroads.
Mccarthy Leads Labor Party
The chief division of the Labor Union
party seems to be at this time repre-
sented by P. H Mccarthy, president of
the Building Trades council, Supervisor
o. A. Tveitmoe, George II. Benham and
others. They are men who were polit-
ically involved with the Schmitz and
Ruef crowd and carried out in large
part some of the programs of the now
convicted mayor and imprisoned boss.
Opposed to their present control of the
Casey Walter Macarthur, e. ]. Liver
nash and others.
1T is apparent that the forces behind
the bribery-graft prosecution on the
one hand and union labor on the other
are to form the rallying points in the
coming battle, which promises to be
one OF the fiercest and most costly and
least relenting in the exciting political
history of San Francisco. Labor may
II % -l.4z
with its industrial future and the in
terests Herewith allied. If the rank
and file of the labor voters believe that
the interests of labor generally are
being menaced by the attitude of the
other parties and by the elements natu-
rally opposed to union domination in
municipal affairs, labor may be de-
pended upon to vote solidly for the
Labor Union ticket.
If on the other hand they do not be-
lieve that their vitals interests are
directly. involved in the political con-
f1ict they may distribute their strength
and vote in part the Republican or
Democratic ticket, according to their
original Individual affiliations and with
regard to the personnel of the tickets
put up,
Langdon Seeks Reelection
One of the most important questions to
be determined is what effect the bribery.
graft prosecution will have on the nom
labor element in the coming campaign
There Is little dissent from the opinion
that the main storm center of the whole
engagement will be the election of a dis
trict attorney to succeed William H.
Langdon. Langdon himself is preparing
to make the fight of his life for a return
to Office. In national politics he is a
IOam0craf ha LOFT a ,Ior
on the Union Labor ticket which brought
him first the superintendency of the San
Francisco public schools and two years
ago the district attorneyship. Whether
he will this year be nominated by the
antiHerrin Republicans or one of the
Democratic followings, or whether he will
run Independently there is nothing as yet
to base prediction on. No one seems to
think of his being given q place on the
ballot by the laborites. Langdon has an
nounced that there will be but one plank
in his platform:
"Shall the bribery-graft prosecutions go
on to their legitimate fulfillment or shall
they be dropped?"
He proposes to put it up to the people
in just that way. He figures that If San
Francisco is in earnest and wants to
cleanse itself of the stains of corporate
municipal crime, there !, are enough
safe majority at the polls; If san Fran
cisco, on the other hand feels that 1t has
had enough medicine a majority of the
voters will say so by turning him out of
effice. He has said that If it turns out
the latter way he will be through with
public office holding forever.
Will Retain Heney
If Langdon is reelected he will retain
Francis ]. Heney and they, with the
financial backing of Rudolph Spreckels,
will push the prosecution of all the in
dicted corporation officials-unless the SUI
preme court intervenes by declaring the
Oliver grand jury an illegal body and the
indictments therefore invalid, a contin-
gency which would necessitate the inn
parchment of new grand jury and the
reconsideration of al, indictments. He
ney, 1t is sunderstood, will take the stump
for -Langdon, whose campaign will be
furthered very actively by Spreckels.
1t will be the work of the corporation
influence to cause the nomination and
strive in every way for the election of
successor to Langdon who will drop the