USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume II > Part 11
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Subsidies Prohibited
Another wise provision directly affecting San Francisco, but applying to the whole state, was that which prohibits the loaning of the credit of any city or county or other political subdivision, in aid of any person, association or corporation; also the making of any gift of public money or thing of any value to any individual or to any municipal or other corporation, except institutions under the exclusive management and control of the state, and such aid as might be granted by the legis- lature for the support of orphans. The state was also forbidden to subscribe for stock or to become a stockholder in any corporation whatsoever. These prohibi- tions were suggested by the experience of various political subdivisions of the state and of the state itself in dealing with the railroad. The mania for forcing development by a resort to subsidies had temporarily subsided, but the delegates in the constitutional convention were far seeing enough to make a probable re- crudescence impossible.
The instrument whose principal features are here outlined was by no means perfect. It had the defect of most modern constitutions, that of embodying what should be statutory in an organic law, thus opening the way to assaults by judicial construction. It had other faults also, but they were not so virulently assailed as those parts which the modern progressive by imitating has placed the seal of his approval upon, and pronounced the work of statesmen. Much of the adverse criti- cism of the Constitution of 1879 was perfectly honest. There were plenty who be- lieved that it contained the seeds of destruction. To many it seemed the last word in agrarianism, and to others it appeared to be "communistic," a portentous word in those days so near to the atrocities of the Paris Commune. Those who had these fearsome apprehensions may be excused for their mistakes, but there
Defects of the Instrument
Death Blow to Special Legislation
547
SAN FRANCISCO
is no apology that can atone for the deliberate misrepresentation which followed the adoption of the constitution and was continued down to a period when the mis- statements carried their own refutation.
If the instrument was misunderstood it was not because it failed to receive a thorough discussion. It is doubtful whether a document of the kind was ever more earnestly studied. Its features were examined in every possible light, and as usual under such circumstances much heat was imparted to argument. As re- quired by law the text of the instrument was advertised for a number of days in the public press, thus making it easily available to all who could read. Its merits and demerits were descanted upon in the papers, and on the stump. Halls were hired and numerous public meetings were held which were addressed by prominent speakers. The opponents of the measure, assisted by the corporations formed a bureau for the preparation and dissemination of adverse literature, and it was stated that funds to the amount of $700,000 were at its command. Through the efforts of this bureau nearly every newspaper in the state was induced to antagonize the instrument which they denounced as a sand lot product, and which they predicted would in the event of its adoption drive capital from the state and ruin all its industries. The "Chronicle" alone of the San Francisco papers advised its adop- tion. A few interior journals of small circulation also ranged themselves on the side of the new organic law, but the boast was made by the bureau that there were twenty papers against the new constitution to one favoring it, and it was assumed that this tremendous preponderance of newspapers opposed would result in the defeat of the instrument. But the "Chronicle" went everywhere and was daily filled with editorials and articles discussing every article and section, leaving no argument advanced against the new constitution unanswered. Attempts were made to intimidate the proprietors by a resort to Vigilante methods. An organized effort was made to induce advertisers to withdraw their patronage, but it failed because the paper made it tolerably clear that it would hold the conspirators responsible for resorting to underhand methods.
Finally after an exciting canvass of over two months the people pronounced their verdict. To say that the result stupefied the antagonists of the instrument but feebly expresses their astonishment. Up to the last moment boasts were made that it would be rejected by a large majority. The election took place on May 7, 1879, and owing to the fact that the constitution was voted on as a whole the ballot was short and quickly counted. In a couple of hours the result in the City was known. Out of a vote of a few over 38,000 there was a majority of 1,600 against. The dissemination of this fact filled the opponents with enthusiasm, and was the cause of some premature rejoicing. Before ten o'clock at night the re- turns received from the interior were of such a character that the "Chronicle" felt warranted in making an elaborate pyrotechnical display which announced to the waiting City that the constitution had been adopted. It is significant of the confidence of the paper in the result that the fireworks which celebrated the victory were bought on the previous day in anticipation of the outcome, and that men were stationed on the roof of the publication office, which was then on the corner of Bush and Kearny streets, soon after dusk, to await the signal to set off the bombs and rockets and the red fire which celebrated the triumph of its cam- paign.
A Thorough Discussion
Vote on the Adoption of the Constitution
548
SAN FRANCISCO
When the returns were all in it was found that the new constitution had been carried by a majority of 10,825 in a total vote of 145,093. The estimated number of qualified electors was 161,000. There has been no election in the state since that has succeeded in bringing out as large a percentage of citizens entitled to vote as that of May 7, 1879, which resulted in the adoption of the constitution falsely attributed to the sand lot and its influences.
Constitutlen Adopted by Big majority
CHAPTER LII
CONDITIONS AFTER THE ADOPTION OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION
PREDICTIONS OF DISASTER-THE LAST BIG STOCK DEAL-DEALING IN FUTURES PRO- HIBITED-NEW ORGANIC LAW IMPROPERLY DEALT WITH-WORKINGMEN CUT LOOSE FROM ALL ALLIES-KALLOCH ELECTED MAYOR OF SAN FRANCISCO-THE MURDER OF CHARLES DE YOUNG-THE ATTEMPT TO IMPEACH KALLOCH-JUDGES OVERAWED BY A "POPULAR" DEMONSTRATION-KALLOCH'S ADMINISTRATION HELD UP. AS AN AWFUL EXAMPLE-JUDGE MADE LAW-RAILROAD TAXES SHIRKED-RAILROAD PRO- POSES GROSS INCOME TAX OF 212 PER CENT-REPEATED FAILURES TO ADOPT A CHAR- TER-BRYCE REVISES SOME PREVIOUSLY EXPRESSED VIEWS-HENRY GEORGE'S SAN FRANCISCO CAREER-PREDICTIONS THAT CAME TO NAUGHT-SAN FRANCISCO'S BOSSES -CHRIS BUCKLEY PREPARING FOR LEADERSHIP-THE BOSS REPAIRS THE FORTUNES OF THE SHATTERED DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
CIT
OR a time after the adoption of the constitution it seemed CO as if an influential part of the community had determined OF F to bring about the realization of their prediction that the new instrument would cause capital to abandon the City and state. The depths of pessimism were sounded, and OF SAN FR the constant iteration of the belief that the restrictions imposed would work injuriously would have produced that effect if it were not for the fact that business was already at so low an ebb that a wave of disappointment which came near producing despondency could not make it much worse. The numerous bank failures of the year preceding adoption, the practical cessation of mining stock speculation, the reduction of the price of grain and the general disinclination of the forehanded to spend as freely as for- merly all had their effect in creating a state of mind which easily lent credence to the charge that the new constitution was at the bottom of all the troubles of San Francisco, and to the reiterated statement that men with money would refuse to come to California, and that those who had any would desert it for other fields where war was not being made on capital.
The last mining stock deal of consequence in San Francisco occurred in 1879. The people had not completely learned their lesson, and once again permitted themselves to be made victims of the clever manipulators who by the aid of mere rumor were able to entice the hard earned dollar from the pockets of thrifty men and women. A story was started that excellent indications were found in a mine known as the Sierra Nevada. When the rumor was first circulated the stock was selling at about five or six dollars a share. Under the steady pressure of the manipulators, assisted by the credulity of their dupes it rose steadily until it had
Pessimism and Predictions of Disaster
The Last Blg Mining Stock Deal
549
550
SAN FRANCISCO
passed the $200 mark. Long before that point was reached it was pretty gen- erally understood that there was absolutely no foundation for the hopeful reports, and that the affair was a gamble pure and simple. But that did not deter the fatuous from entering the game, and pitting their wits against the men who were dealing marked cards. The usual result ensued. The bottom suddenly dropped out of the market. The manipulators made a large clean up, and a lot of foolish people mourned their losses.
Dealing in Futures Prohibited
But it was the last depredation of the sort committed in San Francisco. The Sierra Nevada deal practically closed the mining stock speculation era. The consti- tution adopted on May 7th is sometimes credited with accomplishing that result, but it is not improbable that this final experience made a sufficiently enduring im- pression on the people to save them from the eggregious folly of permitting them- selves to be regularly shorn by a band of unconscionable men who devoted all their faculties to putting up schemes of robbery. It is more satisfactory to believe that the wisdom begotten by experience brought about the result than to accept the theory of the historian of the San Francisco Stock Exchange, who assumes that it was the provision in the new organic law which put the broker in the disagreeable position of having to make good the losses of his client if the latter chose to resort to law. He tells us the law was iniquitous, but that it was enforced for more than twenty-five years. It simply recited that all contracts for the sale of shares of the capital stock of any corporation or association on margin, or to be delivered at a future day, shall be void, and any money paid on such contracts may be recovered by the party paying it by suit in any court of competent jurisdiction. This pro- vision was changed by an amendment to the constitution adopted in 1908, which practically restored the privilege of dealing in margins.
Immediately following the adoption of the constitution there was considerable ferment in political circles. The pessimism of the sympathizers with the idea that the new instrument was going to destroy prosperity did not extend to those who knew anything about legislation and the judiciary. They did not accept the view that the best mode of making an unwise or oppressive law odious was to strictly enforce it and cause a demand for its repeal. They proceeded upon entirely dif- ferent lines and plainly made it appear that the obnoxious provisions could be nul- lified by failing to provide the necessary machinery for their enforcement. This at once suggested to the advocates of the instrument whose votes had secured its adoption that it would be necessary to elect a governor and legislature who would cooperate to give the new constitution effect. With this object in view the forma- tion of a new constitution party was resolved upon. This at once produced a di- vision in the ranks of the friends of the new organic law. Kearney and his follow- ers assuming that it was the workingmen's party that had won the victory, would not listen to a coalition which would result in the subordination of their organization and insisted on naming a candidate. The result was a division which easily secured victory for the republicans, whose candidate, George C. Perkins, was elected gov- ernor by a considerable plurality. Against him were pitted Hugh J. Glenn, nomi- nated by the new constitution party and W. F. White, the father of Stephen A. White, who was subsequently elected United States senator.
Beaten by Ridicule
The democrats were not in the contest as a party. By far the greatest part of their organization had been absorbed by the Workingmen; but Glenn and most
New Organic Law Not Supported
VIEW OF CITY IN 1876, LOOKING EAST FROM MARKET STREET CUT
551
SAN FRANCISCO
of the other nominees on the new constitution ticket were Bourbons of the most pronounced type. Glenn was the owner of the largest cultivated ranch in Cali- fornia, and apparently did not regard the constitution as a menace to landholders for he had warmly advocated and worked for its adoption. He was a man of in- tegrity and not a politician, and was somewhat old fashioned in his ways. He car- ried a cane with a curved end and was in the habit of hooking it to his arm. Kearney seized on this peculiarity and mimicked it on the sand lot, at the same time sneering at the title "honorable" bestowed upon him and called him an "H. B.," which he translated into "Honorable Bilk." The nickname was promptly taken up and the new constitution party's adherents were called "H. B.'s" by republicans and workingmen alike. In the campaign of ridicule which followed the followers of Perkins and Kearney were allied in the effort to defeat Glenn. The working- men almost forgot that there had been a constitution adopted, and that the deter- mination to nullify it had been openly expressed by the followers of Perkins and devoted themselves wholly to the work of defeating Glenn. The result was fore- seen. In the election which closed the. campaign, Perkins received 67,966, Glenn 47,665 and White 44,482 votes.
During the campaign preceding this election the orderly conduct of affairs in San Francisco was disturbed by an incident growing out of the successful ef- fort of the workingmen to control the municipal government. In June the work- ingmen after nominating their state ticket proceeded to nominate candidates for municipal affairs. The only candidate for mayor was Isaac S. Kalloch, a minister who had advanced ideas respecting religion which he disseminated from the pulpit of Metropolitan hall, a building devoted as much to secular as to religious pur- poses. The fact that Kalloch was likely to be nominated was generally known, and as he had an unenviable record at the East he was warned that it might be produced against him. He disregarded the warning and the "Chronicle," without comment, reproduced an article published in a Boston paper describing the pro- ceedings of the ecclesiastical body which had unfrocked him, and deprived him of his ministry in that city. Kalloch did not attempt to deny the truth of the publi- cation, but announced that he would get even with the proprietor of the "Chronicle" in a speech which he intended to make from the balcony of the Metropolitan temple. He carried out his threat by making an assault on the mother of Charles de Young, which the latter resented on the following morning by attempting to kill the tra- ducer, but was unsuccessful, only slightly wounding him. This occurred on the morning of August 26, 1879. Kalloch was subsequently elected mayor by a con- siderable majority.
Hittell in his history intimates that the success of Kalloch was due to the excitement produced by the shooting, and the sympathy which it procured for the preacher, but there is no foundation for this assumption. The political condition in San Francisco at that time resembled that of a few years later when Schmitz was elected. The community generally, not merely the workingmen, were convinced that affairs were in a bad state, and the people were in a frame of mind to bring about a change, and it would probably have been effected even if the workingmen's candidate had been an entirely unimpeachable man. But that is merely specula- tion and might be passed over, but his further statement that "the newspaper con- tinued to assail him," and his suggestion that the continued assaults incited the
Kalloch Elected Mayor
The Murder of Charles de Young
552
SAN FRANCISCO
son of Mayor Kalloch to kill Charles de Young is a mistake, and needs correction. The "Chronicle" did not continue its assaults on Kalloch. After the affair of August 26th, and the election of Kalloch it adopted the attitude of allowing the new mayor to proceed in his own way to convince the community that its warnings were not idly given. It was not because of continued assaults by the paper that its editor was murdered by the son of Kalloch, but from apprehension of what might be disclosed at the trial which would have taken place a few days later. Charles de Young had been charged with committing an assault with a deadly weapon, and as there was every probability that it would be made to appear that the act which provoked the assault was called forth by misrepresentations in the "Chronicle," he had gone East and procured the legal evidence necessary to estab- lish that the "Chronicle" had not misrepresented Kalloch in any manner whatever, and that his reputation was such that it became the duty of a public journal to ex- pose him. Kalloch's son learned of the investigations being made not only in Boston, but also in Kansas, and on the evening of April 23, 1880, he entered the publication office of the paper and shot down its proprietor without warning.
The proprietor of the "Chronicle" had many bitter enemies and among the most malignant were his newspaper rivals. They gratified their animosity by rearousing the resentment which the "Chronicle's" antagonism to the railroad and corporation aggression had inspired. The paper was hated at the time by repub- licans who held it responsible for its defeat in the election of 1877-78, which fol- lowed the exposure of the irregularities of the federal officials in this state through Pinney's revelations; it was detested by the mining stock market manipulators because of its incessant exposures of the frauds practiced by them, and had capped the climax of its offenses by winning the fight for the adoption of the new consti- tution; it had also incurred the enmity of Kearney and his followers because it refused to assist in the schemes of the leader to gain control of the offices. This list of offenses is sufficiently long to explain a temporary unpopularity, but the record does not support the attempt to slur the reputation of the paper; nor does it excuse the failure of Hittell and Bryce to plainly state whether the arraignment of Kalloch was true or false, and if true whether it was or was not the duty of a newspaper to make known the fact that the man seeking to become the chief mag- istrate of the City was a person unfit to hold that high position.
When Kalloch was elected in 1879 there were three party organizations in the field. Democrats, republicans and workingmen had put up candidates. As was the case when Schmitz was first elected the workingmen succeeded only in elect- ing the head of their ticket. The material proposed by them for supervisors was so obviously unfit for office that nothing short of an upheaval such as that which occurred when Schmitz was chosen a third time could have carried them into power. They were not like the delectable gang selected by Ruef for supervisoral honors, the members of which were so hungry for spoils that the boss declared they were ready "to eat the paint off of a house." They were chiefly a lot of impracticables, destitute of reputation and absolutely non representative citizens. Although the Australian ballot had not yet been adopted the existing system of voting insured a fair vote and guaranteed secrecy. "Scratching" tickets had almost become an art, and there was not sufficient enthusiasm, even in the ranks of the workingmen's party, to procure even a remote approach to straight voting. As a result the
A Workingman's Mayor and Republican Supervisors
Enemies of the Editor
553
SAN FRANCISCO
workingmen's candidates, and those of the democracy for supervisoral honors were beaten and the republicans elected the entire board, and also the administrative officers with the exception of the mayor.
There was trouble from the moment of Kalloch's accession to office. The mayor and the board of supervisors were constantly at loggerheads. There was a contin- uous agitation, for which the mercantile element in the community held Kalloch responsible because of his violent public harangues, which at length became so virulent that the board of supervisors took official notice of them. At a meeting held April 28, 1880, the judiciary committee presented a report recommending that steps be taken to remove the mayor from office. The report charged that Kal- loch had advised the discontented elements to parade the streets, and that he had threatened individuals with mob violence, and that under the pretense of counsel- ing the vicious and turbulent against mob violence he had insidiously suggested that they hold themselves in readiness for bloodshed and the overthrow of lawful authority. The report concluded with these words: "We have abundant reason to express our regret and the public indignation at his conduct in filling the posi- tion to which we believe an unfortunate occurrence elevated him, and in which position his example and influence have been and are more heinous, prejudicial and injurious to this community than those of the brutal, degraded persons who have been arrested and convicted for the unlawful acts which he aided and abetted."
The document which was filled with scathing denunciation from beginning to end was read while Kalloch was presiding over the board, and he put the resolu- tion calling for his impeachment, which was unanimously adopted, without com- ment. An act of 1874, which provided that an official might be proceeded against by summary process, was resorted to three days after the submission of the report. Meanwhile a big mass meeting was held which was captured by the sand lot and its original purpose of supporting the supervisors was converted into an endorse- ment of the mayor who was styled in a resolution "the most upright, honorable and just official that has ever presided over the municipality of San Francisco," and at the same time the supervisors were denounced as partisan and corrupt. Two or three days later the complaint was filed in the superior court, and on May 27, 1880, five of the twelve judges of the City assembled to try the case. The charges were (1) Incendiary language. (2) Corrupt procurement of places in city offices. (3) Accepting free passes on railroads. The evidence was not heard, four of the five judges concurring in the dismissal of the charge on the ground "that the language of the statute is to be confined to the neglect of official duties." Judge Latimer dissented on the ground that the provision of the constitution re- lating to free passes was self operative and worked forfeiture of office.
Kalloch escaped because the judges were overawed. The result foreshadowed the possibilities of the recall system. Few men stand firm against a large body of voters whether they express their opinions in mass meetings or at the ballot box. Men disposed to trim do not concern themselves very greatly regarding the opinions of the whole community. They know that the judgment of the entire electorate can never, or very rarely be obtained. But they do know and dread the power possessed and exercised by zealots obsessed by a single idea. The judges who found loopholes for Kearney and Kalloch to escape through knew that the great majority of San Franciscans were much incensed at the mayor and feared
Proceedings Against Kalloch
Specifications of the Impeachment
Judges Overawed
554
SAN FRANCISCO
that he would precipitate riots, but they also knew that as soon as their fear should pass away many of them would resume their old habits of indifference and allow the compact minority to settle matters at the polls.
Kalloch Ad- ministration a Bogy
For a long period after the administration of Kalloch the memory of the troubles he created survived and served as a political bogy. It was sufficiently strong to play its part in defeating the adoption of two charters prepared by freeholders and submitted to the people in accordance with the provisions of the new consti- tution. In each case the freeholders, responding to the growing sentiment in favor of concentration of power in the hands of the chief magistrate, anticipated the short ballot movement by providing for an enlarged number of appointive of- fices, but with results fatal to their work. The question whether efficiency would be increased or decreased by a change of system was scarcely discussed. The opponents of the proposed charter simply asked: "But suppose we get another Kalloch?" That sufficed and curiously enough this objection was as often urged by those who had brought about the election of the political preacher, as by the ele- ment which sought to remove him from office.
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