The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-06-15

ISSUE Was OdSSu Oh the IlOllNS OIL TIE
man offering the bride. regardless of
have taken the same action without a
bride. Only one motive, he said, could
have actuated the payment of bribe
In the trolley deal and that motive was
to gain the desired franchise. The
first evidence to be considered, he as
serted, was whether the offer of a
bride was made to Fred P. Nicholas by
James L. Gala CHER.
You remember Nicholas as he ap
peared on the stand here, a great big
man who testified that he was car
penter and a former president of the
carpenters union" said O'Gara. you
learned that he was a man who was
looked upon as a good fellow to his
friends, who was willing sto lend or to
give a few bits here and there and
who was credited with having big
heart in his bosom. And to me there
is something deeply pathetic to all
this. AS one instance of this mans
true character we found he had been
supporting his mother to the time of
her death. All that this witness said
upon the witness stand went to show
that these men of the board OF super
visors were just our plain. common
citizens raised to high official posi-
tions and there tempted by the evil
power of money.
EVIL POWER OF MONEY
Money is the greatest power for
evil. and it becomes an evil when it
is used a weapon in the hands of
men who believe that you and / and
every other man sworn to a public duty
is willing to sell his soul and his honor
for a price.
Every man has his price say they
And that is the principle that guided
and controlled the men behind this
crime. That was the principle which
guided this defendant when he came
here from the east-'Every man has his
price. and 1 will pay his price and I
will get what 1 want"
Asserting that there could be no
doubt from the evidence as to the fact
that the bride offer was made, O'Gara
turned to what he referred TO as the
main branch of the case-whether CAL
houn was accountable and responsible
for the offer. The most important of
the minor questions involved in this
larger subject, he declared, was the
central one, and one which If decided
would amount to a decision on every
other question pertinent to the case
WAS the 5000 900 received at the mint
from Patrick Calhoun the same money
which was paid to the supervisors"
AT the time that bribery was COM
mitted" continued O'Gara, the red
flag of the auctioneer was waving over
the city hall of San Francisco. Every
body of any intelligence in this city
knew that Abraham Ruef held all the
city privileges for sale If he could get
his price, and Patrick Calhoun, presi-
dent of the road which runs its cars
over our city streets, could not have
been so ignorant that he did not know
this These corporation managers
know where privileges are purchasable
and where officials are corrupt. They
make it their business to know these
things"
SUMS up THE evidence
Going back TO the very beginning
of the discussions relative to trolley
franchise long before the fire, the
speaker began a summing up of the
evidence in its logical sequence. He
described the first efforts made by the
United Railroads officials to secure a
franchise and of the opposition aroused
when the overhead trolley was sug-
gested as the method of construction
He showed how this sentiment of OPP
position had crystallized in the APP
pointment of a committee which at
tempted at several meetings at the
Bohemian club and other places TO pre-
vail upon Calhoun to adopt the under
ground CONDUIT system, ana now Tor a
time the negotiations had been car
ried on.
Calhoun's partial acquiesence in the
views of his conferees at that time.
his statements then made that he de-
sired harmony above all things, and
his subsequent offer to pay 100000 to
the city as proof that 1t was not a
mere difference of cost between the
two kinds of construction that actu-
ated him In his determination to adopt
the overhead system, were character
ICED by O'Gara as "all buncombe' 1t
was soon shown by the turn of events,
he declared, that Calhoun had not the
slightest intention of considering the
wishes of the public, but that it was
not until after Calhoun had openly
announced this that Rudolph Spreck-
els and others determined on The
formation of a competing street rail-
way system.
OGara paid a tribute to Rudolph
Spreckels by analyzing the motives
which actuated the latter when he took
a determined stand and refused to ac-
cede to proposals which might have
been to his personal advantage He
called attention to the testimony of