The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-12-06

of these troubles, Abe Ruef, with al
most incredible effrontery, held two
/ public meetings in the Alhambra
/ Theater, at each of which he made the
/ vilest charges against Mr. Crothers and
( Mr. Older Ruef, who appreciated the
/ power of pure mendacity, when utter
/ ed in tone of conviction, cut his de
! famatory stories out of the whole cloth
/ The. significant circumstance of the
meetings was, however. that on each
occasion the large theater was packed
with an audience which Kissed The
Bulletin and cheered Ruef. This was
after the "newsboys' strike' and
while the Mccarthy boycott was on.
On top of all this came the election
of November, 1905, at which Mayor
Schmitz was elected for the third time
by the votes of $4,000 electors; the
largest vote he had ever received. He
carried not only the district where the
wOrkingmen lived, but the districts
where WELT business men lived.
The third election of Sehmitz was not
accomplished solely by the union men,
and they were not solely responsible
for what followed.
Schmitz swept into office with him
the entire Ruef ticket, including the
whole eighteen candidates for the
Board of Supervisors. Up to that time
he had not controlled the Board of
Supervisors, and therefore had not
been able to deal in franchises.
The result of the election was dis
heartening to The Bulletin. Ruef, on
the night of the election, was carried
- Tho PuIlafin oAfoa on +ho sLo,,I5o-.
of a great mob, and from that platform
while the mob jeered. 1t seemed that
the people would never come to their
senses.
The Bulletin, however, had faith in
the people and believed that the people
were not at heart sympathetic with
dishonesty in office. 1t came to the
conclusion that the people, notwith-
standing the abundant evidence made
public, did not believe The Bulletin 8
charges against the administration.
"We have been unable to convince
the people," the editors said. eff
we could convince the people that
Ruef and Sehmitz were dishonest the
people would abandon them"
1t was then that the idea of setting
about to find legal proof by a patient
and systematic investigation was born
Fremont Older, in pursuance of that
idea, went to Washington and induced
Francis J. Heney to volunteer for the
work. 1t was in pursuance of that
idea that he brought Francis J. Heney
and Rudolph Spreckels together in San
Francisco. Out of that idea the Graft |
Prosecution has sprung.
Up to this point The Bulletin had
been fighting alone. The people still
viewed it not as their fight, but as
The Bulletin s fight. And when Spree |
kels, Heney and Burns came into the |
fight, and took charge of it, a large
portion of the public continued to look |
upon it as a private quarrel.
When, at length, after years of fight
ing and spending on The Bulletin IS
part, Heney had Schmitz and Ruef in
dicted for the French restaurant graft, |
Burns trapped the Supervisors and OBJ
tanned from them, and later from Ruef, |
full confessions, and the whole iniquity |
of the administration was laid before
the public, The Bulletin believed that
the demand for justice would be practi-
cally unanimous.