The San Francisco call., 1907-06-27
Municipal Redemption Made
Theme at Banquet Table
Adler, Heney, Steffens and Other Noted
Men Address Commonwealth Club

before to put Schmitz and his ticket
into Office, but declared that now the
| confidence of the world in San Fran
cisco would be regained Weinstock
spoke of the graft prosecution, saying
What other city has had Rudolph
| Spreckels, a Francis j. Heney. Detec-
tive w. ]. Burns, a District Attorney
| Langdon, a Hiram w. Johnson?"
At the mention Of the names Of these
men there was prolonged cheering.
In introducing Heney, Weinstock re-
ferred to him as the mighty soldier
of the political reformers."
] Heney opened his remarks with an
attack on a newspaper which, he said,
was covertly attacking him. He went
on to say that he had been attacked
| in Portland for the work he had car
ried on there and praised in San Fran
cisco for that same work.
"At that time even Abe Ruef met me
| on the street and told me / was doing
splendidly," said Heney. "The people
are virtuous in the mass. Every one
here believes he wants good govern
ment; but when you go out will you
| feel that way?"
Graft, Heney said. was caused by
| illegal businesses. of the type of gamb-
| ling; by saloon keepers dependent on
| the administration for licenses, and by
| public service corporations. He con-
| tinued that he believed the graft prose-
| cutions had a deterrent effect on cor
ruption.
Putting one municipal crook in the
| penitentiary will not stop all crooked
| ness, but 1t will stop a great deal OF
| 1t and will stop that particular crook,
! he said.
sTEFFENS ON THE PRESS
| Lincoln Steffens followed Heney with
Il eli 90 he foA nf h.
press in municipal redemption. He said
that the newspapers of this city were
no worse than those of other places
| In many places, he said, the press had
| taken a most active part in civic re-
| form, especially in Chicago, where
| Steffens said, the reform was largely
due to the efforts of Victor Lawson
| editor of the Chicago News. lie con-
cluded with the plaint that newspapers
were not yet free.
But 1 think you can't be free and ]
| can't be free until we are all free,
| he said.
Professor Miller treated of the sub
| ject from the view point of the univer-
sity He contended that in this country
personal morality was high, but bust
ness and political morality were low as
compared with European ideals. Ma
ture, habit and reason were what made
good men, he insisted, and If high
morals were as fashionable as riches
there would be more civic virtue.
Bishop Nichols said that the churches
were at fault, because their member
ship had not in the past stood more
valiantly for civic purity.
DIR. ADLER'S CONTENTION
DR.. Adler made the concluding speech
of the banquet. He said that the peo-
pie of this age erred in believing that
the state was the instrument of the
| individual, contending that the indivi-
dual existed for the ends for which
the state was created-the betterment
of generations yet to come.
The radical defect in government is
that 999 people out of 1000 do not
know what good government is.'
In conclusion he dwelt on the neces-
sity of good home life and the danger
Of the tenement system.