Year: 1879

an association in opposition to the Society
of Pacific Coast Pioneers. A prelimina-
ry meeting was held last evening IN the
Office Of young lawyer in the Maryc
building. A Chronicle reporter was
present, but he was earnestly requested tc
publish no names, the agitators fearing
assassination. When the society is fully
/ organized, and possessed of means to hire
fighters and to prosecute the murderers o.
members, the fullest publicity will be
courted.


A young gentleman in high collar
and wearing Eyeglasses arose and said
he wished to state clearly the object
which had drawn together two score o
the most intelligent and hig-toned young
men it had ever been his good fortune tc
sec collected in one apartment at the same
time.


j should like he said, to have this
organization known as the Society for the
suppress ion of old frauds. That would
we'll express the object of this meeting
! There is not man here who has not beer
repeatedly taunted with the fact that he did
not arrive on this coastIn 40 or the Spring
of '50-taunted for this, gen tlemen, wher
as a matter of fact it was physical i'm.
possibility for us to be here or in any 9th.
er part Of the country, for the reason thai
we had not yet been born. We want tc
organize this club in order to create q
public sentiment that will not only make
it no disgrace not to have been born hal
a century ago, but which indeed will
make q m&n bag his head who is so nm
fortunate as to be more than so years old.
Them's the sentiments / am willing to
break leg for.' [Applause.l


A delicate young man with eye glasses
and n thin voice arose and said !:


I'D like TO know why n man should be
made to feel like a criminal because he
never had to fight starvation with a shovel
and had to cover his nahedness with n
pick. LHisso' Inever was lousy in
ny life, but | don't think that I should
be looked down upon for that reason by
every old pioneer / meet. [Cheers. J
Neither have | ever been confined ex>
clusively to bacon and beans for six
months at stretch, but nevertheless /
think my moral character should not be
blasted on that account. can t see why
man who walked beside bull team
across the plains in forty-ninc should
thinG himself superior to me, just because
only got here three years ago and rode
all the way from New York in a palace
car. lie wouldn't have walked across
the plains if there had been any palace
cars, would he p


A voice-You bet your bu.ton-hole
bouquet he wouldn't. [Laughter.l


Now to mind laughter l deserye n
good deal more credit for my coming to
this coast than any Of these rheumatic old
pioneers, and I'll tell you why. Every
one of those fellows believed that as soon
as he got to California he was going to
dig fortune out of the ground in n few
weeks or months, and that then he was
going home to cut n swell Now when |
left New York for this coast hadn't any
such IDEAS. simply hoped that I'd be
able to earn my living by book keeping,
and We done it. 1t cost me about ms
much TO get here as it did any of the Pio-
neers, and Ia have been in worse fix
than any Of them ever WAS in if d slip
ped up on my expectations, for l IN not
strong enough to do manual labor. They
were all big, healthy, and could shovel
for their board, if they couldn't find any
thing to do. I'm pluckier man than
the best of 'em, and we proved it,


This speaker seated himself amid en-
thusiastic applause, and his place on the
floor was taken by telegraph operator
with a small mustache. who said


I've attended several meetings Of ;he
Pioneers, and l must say that more ridic-
ulous exhibitions of senile vanity | have
never seen. As the gentleman who just
preceded me justly observed, every one OF
these Pioneers expected to dig up n for
tune in a very few months. Therefore, |
say, every one Of them who is not rich
man is failure. the Society of Pacific
Pioneers is an aggregation of failure.
Tremendous applause.l Yet there they
meet, week after week, and blow THEN
feeble old horns, and seem to think that
they deserve special credit for having be-
gun to fail before most other people.
will no longer tolerate the patronizing airs
of these old stilis. I'm a better man than
any of them, and there isn't one OF them
that wouldn't give all his lying old yarns
Of forty-nine for my youth. Besides,
added the telegraph operator, with q
wicked sneer, ia like very much tc
know what made some of these old chaps
leave the East [Applausel


A brokers' clerk followed. To hi.
mind it was .he height of imbecilty fol
a.parce of mon, either young or old, tC
form themselves into n society for The
purpose of calling each other heroes ane
writing poems about their own glorious
deeds. The Pioneers sought to found az
order Of nobility on date, and to thei
mind physical and mental decay wer,
badges of the highest honor 1t was higt
iime that the young men of tho Com
stock should organize and protect them
selves against the sneers and i'll usage o
pack of old has beens. The Pioneer.
were in the habit Of calling everybody
but themselves johnny Come Lately.
Let us pluck that title from contempt an(
lift it to honor. lie proposed that the or
ganlzation be known as tho Johnny
Com e. Lately Club.


With wild enthusiasm the name was
adopted, and the meeting adjourned sub,