USA > California > A history of California: the American period > Part 36
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Judged by his language alone, Kearney was as strong an advocate of direct action as the most rabid of modern syndicalists, but his radicalism ended there. Though he urged a "little judicious hanging of capitalists and stock sharps" and called upon every workman to "provide him- self with a musket," there was no actual destruction of property or loss of life during his régime.
Kearney, however, was not a mere spell-binder. Under his leadership, a party known as the Workingmen's Party displaced a much less effective organization called the Workingmen's Trade and Labor Union, which had been formed some time before, and became a very powerful factor in California politics. While naturally strongest in the cities, the new party also drew from the ranks of discon- tented agricultural labor, and even formed an effective alliance with the recently organized Granger movement among the small landholders. Its platform was remarkably free from the communistic doctrines then in vogue among the radicals; for, as so frequently happens, (fortunately for society,) the conservative element in the party far out- numbered the extremists, and consequently gave a more moderate direction to the movement.
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Kearney maintained his leadership from the summer of 1877 until the following spring; but in May, 1878, a hostile faction in San Francisco headed by the party's County Cen- tral Committee, tried to read him out of control. He was formally charged with trying to establish a dictatorship, with party disloyalty and personal dishonesty, with being "more than suspected of selling out to the enemy," with using indecent language and showing no respect for the rights of others, with irresponsibility and even insanity. If his opponents failed to make the bill complete, it was only through oversight.
The night of May 7th, 1878, the Kearney and Anti- Kearney factions met at a mass meeting which proved any- thing but a love feast.
"Frank Rooney, one of the opposition," said an account in the next morning's Bulletin, "attempted to speak but was throttled and borne to the floor. His friends sprang to the rescue, and a scene followed. The surging crowd clutched at each others throats, gesticulating and vociferating like madmen. The Ser- geant-at-arms sprang into the mêlee, striking right and left with commendable impartiality. The President pounded away on his desk with a police club, but no heed was given to his calls for order. Finally, he called out, 'Hold your ground, Rooney; don't you go out, Rooney.' At that the Treasurer, O'Neil, went for the President, but the Sergeant-at-arms properly separated them. Kearney who was not present when the melee took place, arrived shortly after his supporters had gained control, and order had been restored. Called upon for a speech, 'he predicted a bloody revo- lution and denounced the County Commission.'"
The breach in the Workingmen's Party, coupled perhaps with money received from certain interests he had most vigorously attacked, brought about Kearney's retirement from public notice. He had enjoyed a skyrocket sort of notoriety, and made his name a source of considerable alarm to the conservative elements of society. With more education and less class prejudice, his control might have been constructive, beneficial, and long continued. As it was, though his party played a prominent part in the Constitu-
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tional Convention and filled some local offices for a number of years, its lack of effective leadership soon led to dis- integration. Largely through its influence, however, the Chinese agitation was brought to a climax; certain measures of a social and economic nature were embodied in the state constitution; and labor came to play a more important part in California politics. Incidentally, the expressions "Sand- lot Politics," and "Kearneyism" were added to the state's political vocabulary.
Enough has been said thus far to show how strong the current of discontent ran through California in the seventies. The people everywhere were seeking relief, and as the best means of getting this, demanded a new constitution. The convention to frame this document met September 28, 1878. The political make-up of the gathering was as varied as the colors of Joseph's coat. Out of the 152 members, there were ten Democrats, eleven Republicans, two Independents, seventy-eight Non-Partisans, and fifty-one Workingmen. The Non-Partisan delegation represented a fusion of those who were willing to break away from party lines to get the best men possible. They realized that reform in the state government was necessary; but wished to keep it within bounds and give it the advantage of intelligent direction.
The convention elected Joseph P. Hoge, a San Francisco lawyer, president; and Joseph A. Johnson, secretary. Its sessions lasted until March 3, 1879, when the new constitu- tion was adopted by a vote of 120 to 15. On May 17th the document was submitted to the people of the state and received a majority of 10,280 votes, out of a total of 145,000 cast.
One section of the press, under railroad and corporation influence, as bitterly denounced the convention and all its works as Kearney had denounced the San Francisco capital- ists. And, indeed, many of the resolutions introduced in the convention were either impractical, confiscatory, or plainly a violation of the federal constitution. Most of these extreme measures, however, were voted down in the convention; and though many of the provisions that remained seemed re-
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actionary to the conservatives of that day, to the present generation they appear extremely moderate. A large number of the articles failed to accomplish the good they were intended to bring about; and the intent of others was nullified by the courts, or so twisted by legislation as to serve the very evils they were designed to abolish. As a whole, however, the constitution of 1879 was much more adapted to the needs of the state than the old constitution of thirty years before. It is true that abuses flourished under it with all the vigor of a green bay tree. But the delegates to the convention had at least made an honest attempt to meet the needs of the time and to relieve the people of deep-seated grievances. They failed in many particulars; but in passing judgment upon them, one should remember that they were seeking to solve a perplexing variety of economic, social and political problems with which the people of the state them- selves were not then qualified to deal. Even a perfect consti- tution would not have brought the changes men desired. These waited upon a more enlightened public opinion and upon a higher order of business and political morality, rather than upon a new organic law.
CHAPTER XXVIII
POLITICS, 1880-1910: A RÉSUMÉ
As stated in the preceding chapter, the constitution of 1879 made a sincere attempt to remedy the grievances of which the people of the state complained. To this end it provided for a more equitable system of land assessment; placed the sale of water for irrigation purposes under official regulation; curtailed to some degree the right of public service corporations to fix rates; declared lobbying a felony; forbade special legislation; and greatly restricted other powers of the Senate and Assembly.
In dealing with the issues arising from the transportation monopoly, the framers of the constitution made many radical changes in the old order. Railroads were declared common carriers and forbidden to combine with steamship lines or among themselves to hinder competition. Dis- crimination in rates or service was prohibited; passes could no longer be granted to state officials; rates once lowered to stifle competition could not be raised again without the sanction of the state. Finally, no officer, stockholder, or employee of a railroad was permitted to furnish supplies or material of any kind to the company with which he was connected.
The most significant extension of public control over the railroads lay, however, in the constitutional provision for a State Board of Railroad Commissioners with ample powers to regulate rates, examine into accounts, and prevent un- lawful discriminations of every sort. As formally established by the legislative act of April 15, 1880, this Board consisted of three members, elected every four years.1 The creation of
1 In 1876 the Legislature had enacted the O'Conner Bill fixing a maximum schedule of rates; and
two years later had established the office of Commissioner of Trans- portation.
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this commission was considered a great victory for the people; and for a time there was much rejoicing that a method had at last been found to deal with the railroad monopoly.
Following the adoption of the constitution, thirty years went by before the state experienced another startling political upheaval. In the meantime many of the economic conditions against which the agitation of 1878 had been directed gradually disappeared. The Chinese invasion, as already explained, was checked by federal legislation. Many of the large land holdings were subdivided into small ranches and sold to meet the demands of a constantly increasing population. Water rights became more stabilized, and the development of diversified forms of agriculture improved materially the status of the rural population.
From a political standpoint, however, conditions showed but slight improvement. The standards of the time toler- ated many practices which present day opinion outlaws. Moreover, the system of party organization and the electoral machinery then in vogue were not especially adapted to making the government responsive to popular control. For the most part, during this period, the state was under the control of the Republican party, with the Democrats gaining an occasional governorship or electing an occasional United States Senator. But under neither party was there much change in fundamental conditions.2 "There is not much that divides the parties now," truly said Collis P. Hunting- ton some years before his death in 1900, "but the seven great reasons; those are the five loaves and the two fishes." And it need scarcely be added that Huntington knew whereof he spoke.
To account for the low tone of politics and government within the state, the people of California fell back upon their old antipathy to the Central-Southern Pacific Railroads, whose builders had early entered the field of politics. The first concern of these men was to obtain land grants, subsidies of various kinds, franchises, and similar concessions for the roads. Later, they became interested in preventing the 2 See Appendix A, for a list of the governors of California.
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reduction of rates, the increase of taxes, and the enactment of various forms of regulatory legislation. In these political activities, as in every other undertaking, the railroad organ- ization was efficient and successful. But as public sentiment grew more hostile, anti-railroad agitation began to be resorted to as an easy means of obtaining votes, and anti- railroad legislation, some of which was legitimate, some ultra-radical, and some a scarcely concealed form of black- mail, had to be fought in every session of the Legislature.
The railroad organization was also vitally interested in the Congressmen and Senators California sent to Washington, and in the character of such bodies as the State Board of Railroad Commissioners and the State Board of Equaliza- tion, with its powers of revision over tax assessments. In fact, since the interests of the Southern Pacific Company were so extremely varied that it could be benefited or in- jured in a hundred different ways by as many political bodies throughout the state, there was virtually no limit to the official appointments and legislative issues in which it was concerned.
Eventually, as already stated, these political activities of the railroad came to be accepted by the people of California as the chief cause of the unsatisfactory nature of their government. The influence of the "Southern Pacific Machine" was popularly supposed to extend from the Governor of the state to the lowest ward healer in San Francisco and to determine who should sit in city councils and on boards of supervisors; who should be sent to the House of Representatives and to the Senate at Washington; what laws should be enacted by the Legislature, and what decisions should be rendered from the Bench.
That the officials of the Southern Pacific could not be con- victed of any direct violation of the law in their political activities made no great difference to the public mind. Men, for example, pointed to the election of Stanford to the United States Senate in 1885 as an evidence of the railroad's power, and the story got abroad that he had spent a quarter of a million dollars to insure the necessary notes. After the
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death of Colton, one of the important builders of the South- ern Pacific Railroad, certain letters which had been written by Huntington to Colton were submitted as evidence in a suit brought by Colton's widow against her husband's former associates. Extracts from these letters, which dealt principally with Huntington's activities in Washington, the desirability of passing certain measures in the California, Arizona and New Mexico Legislatures, and the election of candidates favorable to the railroad interests, influenced the public mind still further against the Southern Pacific Company.3
Beginning in the early nineties, moreover, and extending over half a decade, the Southern California public, partic- ularly, had what was commonly regarded as unmistakable evidence of the Southern Pacific's influence in national politics. The issue involved was that of constructing a deep-water harbor at San Pedro. This port, famous in the old days of the hide and tallow trade, furnished the logical outlet of Southern California railroads to the sea, and was the natural entrepôt for all the territory tributary to Los Angeles. The roadstead, however, was badly exposed at certain seasons of the year, and required the erection of an expensive breakwater to render it secure. The required appropriation for this depended necessarily upon the federal government; and though a number of small appropriations
3 The following are typical exam- ples of the so-called "Colton Letters," the authorship of which was popular- ly aseribed to C. P. Huntington. No. 107 New York, Jan. 17, 1876-Friend Colton: I have re- ceived several letters and telegrams from Washington today, all calling me there, as Seott will certainly pass his Texas Pacifie bill, if I do not come over, and I shall go over tonight. ... It costs money to fix things so that I would know his bill would not pass. I believe with $200,000 I can pass our bill, but I take it that it is not worth that much to us.
No. 261 New York, March 7, 1877-I staid in Washington two days to fix up the Railroad Com- mittee in the Senate. Scott was there, working for the same thing; but I beat him for once, certain, as the committee is just what we want it, which is a very important thing for us.
No. 366 New York, Oct. 29, 1877-I saw Axtell, governor of New Mexico and he said he thought that if we would send to him such a bill as we wanted to have passed into a law, he could get it passed with very little or no money; when, if we sent a man there, they would stick him for large amounts.
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for dredging the estuary, or so called inner harbor, had been made, Congress seemed little disposed to provide the neces- sary funds for the larger undertaking.
In the early stages of the movement, the Huntington inter- ests, in common with other influential organizations, backed the San Pedro enterprise. Later, for reasons variously ex- plained, the Southern Pacific broke away from its former associates, became the bitter opponent of the San Pedro appropriation, and advocated the creation of a port some two miles north of the town of Santa Monica, where the company itself had just erected a costly wharf (familiarly known in after years as the "Long Wharf"), reaching a mile out to sea.
For many years the fight over this harbor question went on, until it became the most hotly contested issue in South- ern California politics. The Southern Pacific program was backed by various newspapers and a number of the most influential citizens of Los Angeles. On the other hand the fight for San Pedro was carried on by a strong coalition composed of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the recently organized Los Angeles Terminal Railways, and the Los Angeles Times, of which Harrison Gray Otis, for many years the most unique figure in journalism on the Pacific Coast, had not long since become proprietor. The San Pedro cause, moreover, found an effective representative in the United States Senate in the person of Stephen M. White of Los Angeles. Few Californians in public life have enjoyed either the national distinction or the local admira- tion which fell to Senator White during his political career; and nothing contributed more to this popularity than his vigorous fight for the free harbor at San Pedro.
Only the most general summary of the long drawn out contest can be given here. The hearings before committees and the speeches in Congress were filled with technical discussions of the relative merits of the two ports. Cur- rents, prevailing winds, holding grounds, and a hundred kindred subjects figured in the controversy, to the great confusion of the lay mind and without much enlightenment
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to Congress. The upshot was that for four years neither side could gain an appreciable advantage, and the government failed to make an appropriation for either port.
In 1896, however, a special board of engineers, known as the Walker Board, from Admiral John G. Walker, its chair- man, was appointed to make an examination of the two ports and recommend one or the other for the Congressional appropriation. After several months of investigation, this body brought in a voluminous report, signed by four of the five members, in which San Pedro was favored "as the location for a deep-water harbor for commerce and of refuge in Southern California."
Though Congress had intended the findings of this board to be final, and had authorized the actual work to begin when its decision was made, a further delay of two years ensued in carrying out the project. The common opinion of that day laid the blame for this upon Secretary of War Alger, who was accused of using his position to block the San Pedro enterprise at Huntington's instigation. Indeed, whatever merit the Santa Monica plan may have had, the Southern California public for the most part saw in it only an attempt of the Southern Pacific to shut other railroads away from deep water, so that its monopoly might not be interfered with, and to control a great public enterprise for its own ends.
Along with the public sentiment against the railroad arising from its actual or alleged political activities, went a hostility based upon economic grounds. The large land holdings of the company itself, and of the individuals con- nected with it, still remained a source of aggravation to the public mind. The rebates and discriminations, which were still practised in California as in other states, increased this discontent. Particularly in the agricultural sections men felt themselves so much at the mercy of the railroad that they became obsessed with a feeling of bitter futility, which was well summed up in the popular expression, "Out of three drops of rain which fall in the San Joaquin Valley, two are owned by Collis P. Huntington."
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The failure of the State Board of Railroad Commis- sioners, which had been so vigorously fought for in the Constitutional Convention of 1879, to order great reductions in freight and passenger rates was especially galling to the public mind. It is true that very substantial reductions had been made from the high rates of the seventies, but these were not sufficient to satisfy the popular demand, and the Railroad Commission was looked upon as having fallen, like other political bodies, under Southern Pacific domination. The common opinion of the day regarding that body was thus expressed by S. E. Moffett, writing in 1896.
"The curious fact remains that a body created sixteen years ago for the sole purpose of curbing a single railroad corporation with a strong hand, was found to be uniformly, without a break during all that period, its apologist and defender. Not a single majority report was ever issued from the office of the Railroad Commission of a nature unsatisfactory to the company the Commission was established to control, so that the net result of the popular agita- tion for the new constitution in 1878, and of the various anti- monopoly agitations since has been the creation of a new Southern Pacific literary bureau maintained at public expense."
Though the Southern Pacific Railroad was the most out- standing object of popular suspicion and dislike, it did not have a complete monopoly of this distinction. Public ser- vice companies and large corporations generally, many of which hid behind the skirts of the Southern Pacific and profited from its political activities, came in for their share of condemnation. Writing in 1897, while Mayor of San Francisco, James D. Phelan summed up the current view as follows:
"We have the suspected corruption of public bodies, legislators, and supervisors; and even courts are exposed to the machinations of the corporations, which, with the Southern Pacific Company, the overshadowing monopoly of the state, have been classified by the people in impotent wrath as 'the associated villainies.' They have debauched politics and established a government within a government, more powerful in normal times than the State Government itself."
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This hostility to the railroad and to corporation interests in general was, of course, not confined to California. Nor was the movement which later brought a new order of affairs in politics, established a new relation between govern- ment and corporations, and brought a change in public sentiment toward such companies, confined to the state boundaries. In California, however, there were certain in- fluences which made this movement particularly effective. Not the least of these was the development of a large middle- class population (especially after 1900) with means, educa- tion, and leisure enough to take an active and intelligent interest in political affairs. It is almost unnecessary to add that many of these new comers were from Middle Western States and brought with them an instinctive desire for political experiment.
Before any particular change occurred in the state govern- ment, however, the two largest cities of California under- went a pretty thorough political overhauling, and the influence of these municipal reforms very materially affected the whole state. In 1902 the government of San Francisco passed into the hands of a notorious combination known as the Ruef-Schmitz régime. Though Schmitz was nominally mayor, the real leader of the organization was Abraham Ruef, a man of shrewd ability, but of very low political ideals. Masquerading behind the livery of the Labor Union Party, Ruef and Schmitz succeeded in building up a very effective political machine, and after once attaining office kept the city under their control for six disgraceful years.
The revenue which was necessary to keep the machine intact came from many sources. An organized ring in con- trol of illegal prize fights in the city contributed liberally to the Ruef-Schmitz exchequer. So also did privileged gambling houses, saloons, dens of the Barbary Coast, and more respectable establishments in other parts of the city euphemistically known as "French Restaurants."
These, however, were not the worst aspects of the system of government from which San Francisco suffered. The more outstanding evil of the Ruef-Schmitz administration
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was the relation between the municipal officials and certain important public services corporations within the city. These companies, like the saloons and brothels, also paid tribute to the political machine. Whether they were victims of official blackmail, under which they could operate and obtain legitimate franchises only as they resorted to bribery; or whether, in order to secure privileges and immunities hurtful to the public interest, they were willing to corrupt the very springs of government, is too largely a matter of individual opinion for discussion at this time.
Irrespective of where the primary guilt lay, it was obvious that the people of San Francisco were suffering in many tangible ways from a moral collapse in municipal affairs. By 1906 conditions had become so bad that a small group of citizens, including Fremont Older of the San Francisco Bulletin, Rudolph Spreckels, and James D. Phelan set about a systematic campaign to clean up the government and punish the chief criminals. Aided by President Roosevelt, this group engaged the services of Francis J. Heney, who had just won national distinction from his prosecution of certain timber frauds in Oregon, and also of William Burns, later of the United States Secret Service. Before much headway had been made in the investigations, however, the great earth- quake and fire of April 18th reduced the city to ruins and temporarily checked the reform movement.
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