The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-26
NOTABLE CAREER IF ABRAHAM RUFF Rode Into Office on Shoulders of Mayor Schmitz BEGINNING OF TROUBLE
 
 sehmitz and Reuf Bad Francisco By the Throat With a Complete Political 1Maohine-The Col
 lapse.
BEGINNING OF TROUBLE
rom the Kansas cItv Tlmes.

From the Kansas City Times.
 The genesis of the present corruption i in San Francisco is to be found in a strike of the teamsters seven years ago f when Mayor James D. Phelan was in the executive chair. This labor trouble con ! Vulsed the city there was bitterness and 1 bloodshed on both sides until the mayor ! sternly suppressed the rioting through the police and with Unnecessary violence. many believed.
 ! The seeds of hatred thus sown brought the working men together more clannish-
 ly than ever In order to defeat Phelan
 for reelection they determined upon an experiment in the laboratory of politics
 and organized the Union Labor party. i Their nominee for mayor was Eugene
 schmitz He is a fine figure of a man,
 more than six feet tall and handsome,
 in sketchy way, with a splendid coal
 black pompadour and beard For many years he had knocked about the Klondlke earning a precarious living as fiddler in the northern dance halls. When he was nominated he was leader of the or chestra at the Columbia theatre and president of the musicians union. Though Schmitz was the nominee of the new party, It's organization was inn meliately captured by Abe Ruef, a re- ereant republican, who was admittedly shrewd in county politics, but who was in disrepute because of a scandal for which his associate in law Is still serving term in San Quentin prison.
 Between the eontending republican and democratic factions Schmitz was elected by a small plurality. At once he accepted Ruef as his political adviser and at torney.
 San Franciscos charter makes the mayor almost absolute dictator and Ruef ruled through Schmitz like an Oriental potentate. The city was thrown wide open. Extortion was openly practiced. The saloon men were held up at every turn through the police commission. The police were thrown into politics with the fremen and the rest of the municipal employees Resorts and Chinese gamblers were levied upon Stufflng was freely practiced at the primaries. City offices were sold. The board of public works was a farce for effectiveness and bar gain counter for graft.
 
 Schmitz and Ruef held the city in the hollow of their hands They owned a political machine complete in every detail The board of supervisors met in secret sessions every Sunday night and Ruef was present to direct them how to vote when they appeared In public Franchises were sold for song or given away, though they only went to the highest bidder in the obscure market of bribery. Then came the earthquake and with 1t a tenn porary respite, during which Schmitz worked as only a man of his vitality can, and announced that he had been ''born again" However almost before the ashes cooled a newer and wider field of graft was opened. More franchises were sold, every saloon that reopened did so at a price. every contractor who put up a new building had to pay for the privilege.
 The last election had shown that an ap- peal to the public conscience through the ballot was useless. Those who had the true interest of the city at heart had to batting the evil. It was with the approval of President Roosevelt that Francis J. Money and William G. Burns, the men who convicted Senator Mitchell of land frauds in Oregon, were selected to be- come the investigators and prosecutors of the municipal administration. Their in- ouiry commenced as far back as Feb