The San Francisco call., 1908-09-11
MATT SULLIVAN
RAPS ENGINEER
|. WAGNER
Charges That Engineer Modified
Harbor Plans to Provide
Contract for Himself
Attorney Accuses Commercial
Organizations of Being
Mercenary
Clashes With A. M. Davis, Who
Resents Remark in Behalf of
Merchants Association


1fMr. Luther Wagner of the feder-
ated harbor committee says 1t Will be
too expensive to carry out the work at
Islnis creek. He Is opposed to the adop-
tion of the Indis basin act mt the next
election Mr.. Wagner In his report
TO the commercial bodies recommend
ed thnt 40 blocks instead of "a blocks
could be reclaimed at Is1ais creek. He
says 40 blocks VIII give as much
wharfage as Ga. In other words Mr..
40 is equal to "a. Mr.. Wagner, by the
way, has a contract for filing In 20 of
these blocks. 1 don't say that as an as
persion his character or honesty.
He Inns admitted that fact. He adj
mitted before our committee that he
had such a contract. He said, Il have a
contract to I'LL fn those 20 bloclks.' He
was frank about it.'-From speech of
Matt L Sullivan.
sThe chamber of commerce, the mer-
chants association and the California
manufacturers' and producers associa-
tion were originally In favor of this
India basin bill. They nre now oppos-
ing the passage of the bill. They fa-
vored 1T then, they oppose 1t now.
Why. Are there some interests holding
lands which have induced the cham-
Der of commerce and the other ASSOC
Citations TO alter their attftudes II the
bin received the favor OF those bodies
before, they ought to favor 1t new, for
nothing has occurred that could ckanee
the mind of any honest man on this
vital IegisIatfon.v-From speech Of
Matt L Sullivan
Sparks, hotter than those that fly
from a blacksmith's anvil. Redeemed
the air last evening at what was ad-
vertised as harmony meeting to
launch the campaign for the India
basin act During the early part of
the evening there were occasional
flashes of fire.. but the real electric
storm did not materiaIize until Matt
I. Sullivan, delegate from the Mission
promotion association, took the aoo-.
Sullivan first directed his fire at Luther
W
mapped out a comprehensive plan for
harbor Improvement He insinuated in
language too plain to be misunderstood
that Wagner. although recognizing
the value of the Islais creek project
for the city. had opposed IL because it
would interfere with private contracts
he had recently secured.
In another moment another shower of
sparks shot upward as Sullivan charged
l.o& he fn1 - Il.
had decided to oppose the measure from
Interior motives. He stated that pri-
vate interests had been able to swing
those associations from the hearty in
dorsement they had formerly given to
their present open opposition. So
pointed were Sullivan's accusations
that Andrew NJ. Davis, president of the
Merchants association, who had been
specially invited to the meeting, arose
and entered an indignant protest, call
ing upon Sullivan to prove his state
ments or retract.
SULLIVAN ACCEPTS CHALLENGE
Sullivan arose and, accepting the
challenge, recited an array of facts
which he claimed proved his assertions
Sullivan then explained that he had
not meant to call into question the In
tegrity of the members of these asso-
Citations.
During the heated discussion Super
visor George Center, Who presided al
the meeting, and James Rolph Jr-. pres
ident of the Merchants exchange, and
delegate at the gathering from the
Mission promotion association, endeay-
ored to placate the warning factions
and to restore the calm that had pre-
vailed before Sullivan had taken the
floor. But Sullivan was in no mood for
peace. He refused to retract a syl-
liable OF what he had said and added
further fuel to the fiery furnace by re-
turning to the attack with fresh en-
ergy.
In a final effort to restore SEM
blance of harmony between Sullivan
and the commercial bodies. DIR. Julius
Rosenstirn suggested a resolution ex-
pressing confidence in the commercial
bodies There was no second and the
motion died before it reached vote
In order to prevent further rupture
Center declared the melting adjourned
Sullivan had been able to carry
everything with him. The 100 dele
gates were almost unanimously in IA
vor of his proposals and the resolu-
tions he submitted p1edging the mem
bers to work for the India basin act
and calling upon all the commercial
bodies to do the same were adopted
without dissenting vote.
1t Tzs-toward the close of his speech
that Sullivan spoke of Wagner and
the commercial bodies as quoted above
The meeting was held last night al
the hall of the Mission promotion as
sociation at Valencia and Sixteenth
streets. 1t was a joint session of the
Mission association, the Potrero com.
mercial and manufacturing association
and the Islais creek inland harbor as.
sociation to launch the campaign In
support of the India basin act. This
is an act passed at the special session
of the last Legislature providing FOL
a bond issue UP to $1,000 900 to ac.
quire lands at Islais creek and Indie
basin preparatory to creating a large
inland harbor at this point. The ac,
will not become effective unless rati-
fed by the people at the November cleo
tion-
Although it was known that there
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