The San Francisco call., 1910-03-03
GEARY DFNOUNCfS
BELLS FOLLOWERS
Asserts That Their Los Angeles
Conference Is in Contempt
OF Direct Primary
Meets Tom Fox From Sacra-
mento, but With No Idea of
Talking Politics
By GEORGE "a. VAN SMITH

Let il be known that when it comes
to the enumeration of the bfood-and-
bones-ready- to -die-in-the cause cham
pions Of the. direct primary law, Tom
Gearya sometime CONGRESSMAN and po-
tentiai candidate :. for the democratic
nomination for. governor, is not to be
given the. overlook. J..
: :. If: democracy VIII pause in its inn
petuous flight long enough to get some
good advice from. Geary IL will not go
down TO Theodore. Benfs state conven-
tien at Los. Angeles. there tie. select a
ticket for the .sunra ges of the demo-
Gratis of California and partisan cleo
tors Of whatever breed that may desire
te vote against the government.
No sir. Such a convention and such
selection Of = state ticket would be in
violation of most6 Of the letters and all
of the*spirit'of the direct primary law.
Betides all that. the Los Angeles con-
ference is expected 70 select Theodore
Bell for the head of a democratic state
ticket and that would violate the rest
Of the letters of the law, to say moth
ing of the feelings of a considerable
number Of Beurbehs. who wish Bell no
bad luck, but. hope he may break leg.
GEARY HEARS THE ECHO
.Gearxs is toUted strong for the gu
eerns terial nomination by the old line
democrats who went down and out be-
fore Bells mace at the Fresno conven-
tjQn<iH 1908. His boom has been gath
erine; headway for several weeks. The
regulars say that the popular demand
for Geary is: echoiug of the rocky
breast. OF every hill from humboldt to
a point seven: miles DUE east OF the
speaHJifsll city of FL .Certro. GeaTy ad-
mits that st.ieast one of the echoes has
reached Santa Rosa. He has heard 1t,
but has: given II absolutely: no: thought:
GeanX railre TO town yesterday. Not
, TO talk politics. Far be: fl from Geary.
Tom Fox. democratic boss. of Sacra-
mento. and ardent adnfirer ef Theodore
Bell. came To. toWA Yesterday. He was
of the opinion that the game of politics
Was abolished immedia tely after the
democratic victory in Sacramento last
fall. He came to town TO talk about
the weather and spring foods with
GeaEv. That; too. was the mission of
Senator E.. %. Miller of Kisaha. who
has been Knocked black and" blue by
the Bell enthusiasts since his name
was first mentioned as a guhernatorial
possibility.
DEMANDS: CONVENTION
Geary insisted that the time was not
ripe for the consideration of guberna-
torial timber by democrats. The re-
pUblicans. he said. had staged a very
pretty. little comedy. with the speaking
parts in capable hands WHY should
democrats not be content to lean back
and. enjoy the free fun foT a while?
GeaEy had given no Thought to the
question OF: a gubernatorial candidate.
but that convention down at Los An
geles-Mell; that was different mat
90 ter. ''.-
= !. shall we. who have been fighting
for years for the direct primary law.
be tile first to- stultifyr ourselves? ?"
asked Geary. For years the democrats
have been crying for the. enactment OF
a direct primary law. We have talked
and. worked and fought for the. enact
inent OF a law that would free us from
the~ boss dominated convention. We
have II. now. Shall democracy be first
TO. violate that law in both letter and
spirit2;
;...#F4ere lis suggested something worse
than the evil which we fought to wipe
oiIt: This fs~ to be a convention with
3 out tire authority. of law. The dele
gates are TO be appointed without even
an indirect reference to the people. 1
have not heard that the democrats in
our. county are preparing to partici-
pate: 4 believe in giving the direct
BOURBON CAMP SPLIT
All is not lovely in the bourbon
camp. The old line followers of the
former Organization insist that they
viii have nothing to do with the Los
Angeles conference or its works. 1t is
safe bet that they will not be invited
TO the Los Angeles convention In sufi-
cient numbers TO Interfere with its de-
liberations.
fer. If there: is no hitch in the pro-
gram it will name Theodore a. Bell for
governor. and with him a complete
state ticket. Bells most enthusiastic
enemies declare that he purposes to
essay in. California the role that Will
liam Jennings Bryan has played for
the. national" party since 1896. Bells
most enthusiastic friends insist that
the .rebelli0us regulars have been
bought up by the railroad to prevent
the. election Of Bell, which, they con-
tend. is an odds on bet this year.
:, The republican camp is expected to
take on an air of hustle Saturday. The
first stir viii be made in the Lincoln
Roosevelt: league wing by its executive
committee; which has been called to
assemble Saturday mcrning. The or
organization. end is not expected to ere
ate much interest compelling excitement
before Monday or Tuesday: Herrin is
in southern California and Alden An
derson is IN. Sacramento giving his
personal attention to the fences in what
he considers one. of his home baili-
wicks.
CURRY WILL LIE LOW
If the Curry plans do not go awry
the secretary of states canvass for the
gubernatorial honors will not result in
much noise for a. long. time. Old timers
in .fhe political game admit that they
have never seen" In California a per-
sonal organization like that perfected
by Curry No county has been over
looked. In Alameda county George
Reed, who has been a mogul of the
Organization for years, is directing the
Curry fight In Humboldt county
Ralph Bull, the big man Of the Lincoln
Roosevelt league. is at the head of the
Curry organization. The Curry organi-
zation is, engaged upon only one Job.
49, Il.