The San Francisco call., 1910-06-08

bribery bargain? Do you understand
that? And if you do understand it, do
you understand why men should dedi-
cate themselves to freeing the state
from men such as that-becauSe, my
friends, Ruef is no worse than Herrin.
Not bit of it. cloud applause.)
81 am not one of those who believe
that the man who takes a bribe is the
only guilty party. I would attack the
pow erful men as well, my friends. If
a government is built upon bribery and
corruption it can not endure and be the
kind of government you desire it to be.
"All over the state men have said to
me: I am a regular republican,; [ be-
long to the organization Do you un
derstand what regular means in this
connection? 1t is a regular individual
who takes his orders from an irregular
ly constituted boss, who regularly gets
his from some petty boss, who regularly
gets his from the Southern Pacific. Do
you realize that at Santa Cruz three
and half years ago it was the regular
Ruef who regularly sold out the regu-
lar San Francisco delegation to the
regular Herrin and got from the regu-
lar Herrin, who got from the regular
Southern Pacific railroad Il ,000 irregu-
lar dollars? And when Ruef got his
$4,000 irregular dollars for the regular
San Francisco delegation he divided it
These are our regular friends. If it
be irregular to stand upon any plat
form within the republican party that
means freedom, decency and righteous
ness, let us all be irregular than rather
than regular republicans. And the state
of California today issone seething mass
of irregular republicans.
THE PUBLIC PAYS
If there be any here who belong to
business jntPT6StS nf "a N Eran
that only keep time to the Jingle of the
guinea, who march only to the tinkle of
the twenty whose horizon is bounded
only by the dollar, this problem should
appeal to him in an economic sense
Because no man should delude himself
with the belief that when Herrin paid
Ruef that $4,000 the bill was footed
by the Southern Pacific. Is any man so
simple as to think that when these men
meet to parcel out the state of Cali
fornia and spend money for the politi-
cal extinction of the man who is ad-
dressing you. that the Southern Pacific
really provides the coin? No. When
the freights and fares are fixed they
are fixed SO that they will yield the
required revenue to the railroad That
$4,000 paid to Ruef was debited upon
the books of the company as legal ex-
penses.
When these gentry met in San Fran
reform movement should be disrupted.
three of them were officials of the state
of California-your paid servants They
take your wages and do dirty politics
for the railroad Get it coming and
going? Why, you get it every way.
And you always pay You furnish the
pay for their men.
i appeal to businessmen because
there is a peculiar class of businessmen
in San Francisco who will whisper in
the dark or talk to you around the
corner because they are afraid of this
corporation. All over this state the
crops are bountiful, and San Francisco
is the only place where it is com
planned that business is not good. How
long, We businessmen, how long, We
citizens of San Francisco, will 1t take
you to learn that good times and good
business go hand in hand with good
government? (Cheers)
"I would not have you believe that I
am criticising any class in San Fran
cisco. I deny that the Bassitys or the
Flannerys represent either union labor
or workingmen.
"a year ago I declared myself in this
hall an insurgent republican. Do YOU
know what insurgency Is? insurgency
is the opposition to the looting of the
people by that rotten alliance between
big business and politics. That alliance
has given US Nelson w. Aldrich in the
senate and Cannon in the house of rep
resentatives. 1t has given US Ballin-
ger who disgraces national cabinet.
l ally myself with Dolliver and La Fol-
lette and Beveridge and with that
great American now in Europe, who al
though untitled is the center of the
worlds interest today - Theodore
Roosevelt
In the words of our last president.
this is a bully fight. It is a bully
fight because all the time our heads
are in the air, and our independence
is untouched. And so I say tonight, in