USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume II > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
While Schmitz's election in 1901 failed to secure for the workingmen the power which their leaders hoped for, and while circumstances were such that there was no cause for its exercise during his first term, there is no doubt that the com- munity suffered greatly in the esteem of the outside world through his success. And it is noteworthy in this connection that the criticism directed against San Francisco during this period differed radically from that to which it was subjected later. It was wholly based upon the assumption that the City was given over to extremism, and that it had weakly surrendered to trades unionism. The press of the East echoing the charges made by San Franciscans, declared that capital was being frightened away from the City, and held the triumph of the workingmen responsible for a condition not at all peculiar to the metropolis of the Pacific coast. These criticisms were keenly resented by San Franciscans because they had come to believe they were true. Later, when the pendulum of business swung to the other side and business briskness succeeded dulness, with an inconsistency, remark- able because of its utter absurdity, the workingmen claimed that their rule had brought prosperity, and queerly enough there were plenty of people who really believed that the policy for which the workingman's party was beginning to stand sponsor, that of throwing the City wide open to vice, was the cause of the good
Claim that Schmitz Brought Prosperity
Minor Offices Traded for Head of Ticket
JUNCTION OF MARKET, KEARNY AND GEARY STREETS IN 1895
695
SAN FRANCISCO
times which had commenced about the year 1896 and extended throughout the entire United States.
In 1903 the workingmen renominated Schmitz, and while the desire for a united front against the trades unions by those opposed to class rule was very pronounced, the same obstacles to fusion encountered by them in 1901 were again interposed. The democrats and republicans insisted on putting forward separate candidates, thus dividing the opposition. Repeated experiences with nonpartisan movements had inclined many republicans to look upon them as devices of the democrats to win success with republican votes, and the bosses of the latter party, big and little took advantage of this distrust. The outcome was a second triangular fight, and the reelection of Schmitz, whose vote was larger by several thousand than he had received two years earlier. The vote cast in the municipal election of 1903 was 59,767, of which Schmitz had 26,050 and his two opponents 33,717. The workingmen also elected a supervisor and some other candidates who received the endorsement of one or the other of the opposing parties.
By the second election of Schmitz, although the workingmen were not in pos- session of the money appropriating body of the municipal government, they gained a decided political advantage through the control of several important commissions, obtained through the exercise of the appointing power conferred upon the mayor by the charter. In Abe Ruef the laborites found a man with a marked capacity for organization, and they promptly recognized the fact and practically gave him full charge of their political destinies. The control of the commissions in addition to enabling Ruef to create a machine, which soon surpassed in effectiveness that of the other bosses, who were his inferiors in every particular, also put him in the way of making sums of money out of people who had business with those bodies controlled by the mayor. From the beginning of his power Ruef began a system of extortion, the profits of which were shared by the mayor, the lion's share being retained by Ruef until Schmitz's education in rascality was sufficiently advanced to enable him to cope successfully with his wicked partner when there was a division of spoils.
It would have been extraordinary if the flagrant actions of Schmitz and Ruef had escaped attention and criticism. They did not. Exposures were numerous, and in many instances the proof was of such a nature that it would be impossible to discredit it if steps of any kind had been taken to bring the charges to the atten- tion of the courts, but nothing of the sort was attempted. So far as their supporters in the workingmen's party were concerned, no accusation, no matter how detailed made any impression. If the workingmen believed that the pair were rascals they concealed their opinion and charged that the accusations were merely the result of spite work. There was an investigation by a grand jury but it was conducted in a perfunctory fashion and its failure to act enabled Ruef to laugh at his accusers. To tell the truth the people had become so habituated to scandals that they took no note of them. They had by no means begun with the. advent of Schmitz to power. There were repeated cases of malversation on the part of earlier boards of supervisors. The fixing of water rates had been a joke for several years, and such appellations as "the solid nine" bestowed upon the majority of that body, and implying that it was corrupt, were in common use. The cynical ordinarily spoke of the supervisors as not being in office for their health alone, and the easy going community laughed at the joke.
Schmitz Elected a Second Time
Increasing Power of the W. P. C.
Ruef's Methods Not An Inno- vation
696
SAN FRANCISCO
Holding Up the City to Scorn
In short it was a case of people living in glass houses; and if there is any foundation for the assumption that long continued tolerance of abuses excuses their commission, the workingmen would have had no trouble about invoking it. And they did. The tu quoque argument was used by them as often and oftener than any other; and unfortunately the men who managed the affairs of the two other parties were unable to answer the charge brought against them that the men of their selection were no better than those in office. This retort was frequently made by the defenders of Ruef and Schmitz in the campaign of 1905 and it made its impression. But before describing its results, it may be well to investigate and see what foundation there was for the workingmen's charges. Such a review may disclose the causes which brought San Francisco the unhappy distinction of being the most misgoverned city in the United States, a reputation it did not deserve, because the disease afflicting the municipality was one which had hold of every large community throughout the length and breadth of the land, an assertion supported by the evidence and the admissions of that part of the press severest in its con- demnation of the shortcomings of the City.
Incivicism Responsible for Official Turpitude
That other American cities have displayed municipal incapacity constitutes no excuse for San Francisco, and to dwell on the fact only serves to obscure the true cause of the inefficiency and worse displayed in the past. Agitations to bring about better results under a popular system of government are perhaps indispensable but they have the defect of concentrating attention on the offenses upon which the light of exposure is made to fiercely beat, while those in the shadow are ignored and those of a period immediately preceding are entirely overlooked. The present offender, who is the natural product of past laxity, is offered up as a vicarious sacrifice for the sins of the whole community. He deserves his punishment, per- haps, but the people whose negligence incited him to turpitude do not deserve to get off so easily. Schmitz and Ruef were rapacious scoundrels who shrunk from no infamy, but they and the rotten board of supervisors which made their greatest infamies possible were preceded by equally corrupt municipal bodies, whose mem- bers were permitted to profit at the expense of the taxpayers, and whose violations of law were condoned by amendments to the constitution of the state, as in the case of the authorization to pay the claims of merchants who had supplied goods to the City in direct disregard of the so-called one-twelfth act, which was enacted to restrain supervisoral extravagance and to prevent the cupidity of contractors.
In a preceding chapter the advent of Christopher Buckley, afterward known throughout the length and breadth of the land as the "Blind Boss," was described. There had been bosses in San Francisco before Buckley, but it is doubtful whether any of his predecessors had ever succeeded in bringing municipal rascality to the same perfection of working that it attained during the time of his leadership of the democratic party. No one man after the death of Broderick had so absolutely dominated the democracy as Buckley, and no leader of that party in San Fran- cisco ever retained undisputed supremacy for so long a period as the "Blind White Devil," a name bestowed upon him by the Chinese, who had felt his power. Buck- ley did not work in secret. His scoundrelism was perfectly known to the com- munity in which he lived, and operated, to the people of the state, and to many outside its borders. Yet distinguished politicians did not disdain to confer with him, and there was no one too proud to accept a nomination at his hands. During the height of his power, and until his accumulated crimes made it possible for an
Extraordi- nary Power of Chris. Buckley
697
SAN FRANCISCO
outraged community to drive him forth in disgrace, honest men, men of standing and substance, were not unwilling to head his tickets, when it was notorious that his political cunning led him to put forward an irreproachable leader so that a gang of spoilsmen could more easily march along the road to victory.
This condition of affairs endured throughout the Eighties. It was in the be- ginning of the decade that the Blind Boss attained his hold on the party and suc- ceeded in creating what might fairly be called a political clearing house for rogues. At first a republican, Buckley changed his coat when he came to San Francisco and masqueraded as a democrat. But he was a democrat for revenue only. He maintained relations with the smaller bosses, who soon came to recognize him as their master and succeeded in perfecting an understanding with them by which they hunted their prey together. It goes without saying that a man able to develop such qualities stood high in the graces of the railway corporation, which always found it profitable to train with the strongest side, choosing its instruments without reference to partisan brands and with no other object in view than to secure the most effective services.
The career of Buckley forcibly illustrates the defect of the popular method of electing officials and deserves the close study of the advocates of the short ballot system. The Blind Boss was never seriously disturbed by emotional waves, for it must not be supposed that there was no demand for reform in the days when Buck- ley dominated. The press did its duty. It persistently pointed out the rascalities of the Boss and his satellites; it traced his connection with the railroad corporation, and it may be added that Buckley welcomed rather than complained of criticism. It was his theory that the exposures were the chief source of his strength as they assured his "lambs," the name by which his obedient followers were known, that his pretensions were real. His enemies or opponents charged him with receiving bribes from corporations, and that fact assured the lambs that he would be able to reward them. He was accused of interfering with the operation of the law and that, instead of weakening him, rallied to his aid all the venal and criminal ele- ment who sought him out as their logical protector.
If the framers of the system of popular government had deliberately sought to bring about the condition of affairs existing in San Francisco during the Buckley regime, and later when his successor Ruef assumed control, they could not have devised a plan which would have effected the desired result with more facility. Much has been said about the force of public sentiment, and there is no doubt that in the long run it must effectively assert itself, but the fact remains that during certain stages of its development cunning men can make it serve their purposes and graft the scion of roguery on the sturdiest reform stock. Buckley exhibited his ability to do this, and incidentally exposed the short-sightedness of the people. The nomination of ex-Railroad Commissioner Stoneman for the governorship was in response to a popular demand that the aggressions of the railroad should be curbed. The convention which selected him as the standard bearer of the demo- cratic party met at San Jose, and the bulk of the delegation from San Francisco was controlled by Buckley, who voted against Stoneman first, last and all the time. Stoneman was nominated and elected despite the strenuous efforts of the corpora- tion to defeat him, but the reform wave which resulted in the triumph of the ex- railroad commissioner strengthened the hold of Buckley on San Francisco. He returned to the City from San Jose and when the municipal convention met a little
Methods of the Blind Boss
A Boss Who Profited Through Exposure
Boss Buckley and Emo- tional Politics
698
SAN FRANCISCO
later his lambs nominated a ticket which was swept into office. The zeal for better things at Sacramento gave the Boss possession of the board of supervisors, the board of education and all the other municipal offices, and they were administered with as great a contempt for public opinion and supercilious disregard of exposure by the press as they were during the last term of Eugene Schmitz.
Scandals followed each other thick and fast. There were charges that the moneys appropriated for school repairs were stolen and that teachers were carried on the roll who were little better than hoodlums, and that they got their jobs through Buckley, who transacted business with them at the Bush street saloon. The assessor's office was crowded with lambs who were dummies, and did no work to earn the salaries paid them; the county clerk maintained an enormous force, a large proportion of which were idlers drawing pay. All of these appointees of the Boss were compelled to pay handsomely for their positions, and contributed from their salary regularly every month a fixed sum which was to be devoted to for- warding the interests of the party, but which went into the Blind Boss' pockets. If a lamb showed signs of recalcitrancy he was promptly discharged and another put in his place.
The pernicious activities of Buckley were by no means confined to placing his lambs in position and taking a "rake-off" from them; he controlled the board of supervisors absolutely and arranged all the "dickers" with the gas and water com- panies regarding the fixing of rates. In dealing with these corporations Buckley adopted the methods of the blackmailer. He set the most supple supervisors at work investigating and permitted them to assume a menacing attitude, and when his victims were thoroughly scared he stepped in and directed the board's action, which was always in harmony with the agreement made by the Boss. Some one has said that Ruef's practice of acting as attorney for the corporations and inter- ests he intended to pluck was an innovation, but that is a mistake. The Blind Boss, although never admitted to practice as a lawyer, was in receipt of regular retainers from the water and gas companies who looked to him to protect them against the depredations of his disreputable crew. There was no abuse charged against the Schmitz regime that was not practiced during Buckley's period of con- trol. The Chinese were plundered, and they were allowed to gamble unmolested. In the matter of gaming Buckley had the City in hand more thoroughly than his successors in villainy. He went further than the mere toleration of violation of the law; he actually caused the supervisors to pass an ordinance giving a concern which operated in Platt's hall, and in which he shared, a monopoly of the business. He was in collusion with corrupt judges who decided cases according to his dicta- tion, and jury "fixing" was brought to the stage of a fine art by him. So versed was he in this particular sort of villainy that thieves and other criminals resorted to him and paid handsome sums to get them out of the toils.
It is sometimes assumed that the successes of bosses are due to a recognition on their part of the desirability of practicing the sort of honor that is supposed to obtain among thieves, but Buckley was not governed by any such rules. He ac- cepted money from one side and if the other outbid he cold-bloodedly deserted his original client. He made promises to aspirants for office, accepted their cash con- tributions and then took up a fresh applicant. This propensity caused him to be
Buckley's Traffic in Municipal Offices
Corporations Blackmailed by Buckley
Buckley the Moses of the Democratic Party
DESTRUCTION OF THE BALDWIN HOTEL BY FIRE
699
SAN FRANCISCO
neglected by the railroad for a long time, that corporation expecting loyalty from its bosses and other servants. Until this distrust was removed Buckley at times posed as an anti monopolist, and it was not until the extra session called by Governor Stoneman for the purpose of regulating rates of fare and freight that the corpora- tion, rendered desperate by the prospect of a strongly antagonistic legislature re- ducing it to submission that it took him into its service. In the San Jose conven- tion the Blind Boss could only control a local following; in that which met at Los Angeles in 1888 he was the democratic cock of the walk, and in the municipal convention of that year the decrees of the Boss were registered without cavil.
During the period in which Buckley flourished the community was under the domination of the idea that restrictions on the expenditure of money and taxation limits were the only effective agencies through which good municipal government could be secured. The cautious citizen was apt to assent to the proposition that things were going on all right provided the tax rate was not raised, and Buckley
was cunning enough to take advantage of this peculiar attitude. His platforms always declared in favor of "the dollar limit" on taxation, and his lambs when in office usually adhered to this campaign promise. The Blind Boss was avari- cious, but his avarice was tempered with caution. He had felt the economic pulse of the community and found that it still beat strongly for the conservatism that followed the outbreak of 1856. He had profited by observation of the past, and was perfectly aware that the spirit which had intrenched the people's party formed by the Vigilantes was still a potent factor in the community despite the fact that there had been a disposition to break away from it during the early part of the Comstock excitement. He might probably have developed into a bold plunderer, capable of making the best of big sums of money raised by bond issues, but run- ning into debt was out of the question during the Eighties so he contented himself with such pickings as the growing assessment roll and a dollar limit provided.
That there was enough for a cautious boss will be inferred from the fact that the amount derived from the city tax, which was $4,452,940 in 1876, had increased to nearly $7,000,000 in 1890. In 1882 the school department expended for all purposes $735,475, in 1890 the sum demanded and used was $983,014. The cost ·per capita of attendance during the interval had increased from $24.98 to $31.35. Compared with the expenditures of earlier years those during the Buckley regime cannot be regarded as excessive, nor were they so considered at the time. The discussion in the press about election times did not deal so much with the question of amount as with results. Outside of the element which concerned itself about political matters, chiefly for what there was to be made out of office, or through connection with office holders, the City was divided into two camps when municipal affairs were discussed. One side planted itself squarely on the proposition that any departure from the settled rule of the dollar limit in taxation, or a change of pol- icy with reference to the incurrence of debt would prove injurious to the interests of the City; the other was distinctly in favor of inaugurating an era of public im- provement. The idea of the city beautiful was taking shape, and there was a great deal of talk about making San Francisco "the Paris of America." The line of cleavage between the two views, however, was not sharply defined, and was nearly completely obscured about election time, when even the warmest advocates of better streets, boulevards and other civic improvements yielded to the slogan of the dollar Vol. II-15
Avarice of Boss Buckley
Buckley Champlons the Dollar Limit
700
SAN FRANCISCO
limit. This caution disappeared about the time that Buckley deemed it advisable to abandon San Francisco, and the events synchronize so nearly that the followers of the deposed Blind Boss some time later claimed for him the dubious virtue of having been the bulwark of the dollar limit during the time of his domination of municipal politics.
CHAPTER LIX SAN FRANCISCO MAKES MANY EXPERIMENTS IN MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT
REPEATED EFFORTS TO SECURE A NEW ORGANIC LAW-THE CONSOLIDATION ACT FINALLY DISCARDED-A CONTINUOUS STRUGGLE FOR REFORM-AUSTRALIAN BALLOT ADOPTED -OLD TIME PRIMARY FARCES-A GREATLY IMPROVED PRIMARY LAW-THE BOSSES AND THE STRATTON PRIMARY LAW-IT MERELY RESULTS IN GIVING THE CITY A NEW SET-BOSSES PROFIT BY DIVISION OF THE RESPECTABLE ELEMENT-THE RAILROAD POLITICIANS AND BOSSES WERE NOT INNOVATORS-SCANDALS ATTENDING ELECTION OF LELAND STANFORD-DOMINATION OF STATE AND MUNICIPAL POLITICS BY THE RAILROAD - INCREASED MUNICIPAL EXPENDITURES BUT FEW IMPROVEMENTS - CHANGES PRODUCED BY ADOPTION OF CHARTER OF 1898-NO ECONOMIES EFFECTED -A MORE EXPENSIVE FORM OF GOVERNMENT-CITY SECURES LOCAL AUTONOMY- THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT-MERCHANTS' ASSOCIATION AND ITS ACTIVITIES- IT FURNISHES MANY VALUABLE OBJECT LESSONS-DOLLAR LIMIT DEPARTED FROM- IMPROVEMENT CLUBS-CIVIL SERVICE LAW-COST OF CITY GOVERNMENT-VOTING MACHINES-WOMAN SUFFRAGE DEFEATED IN 1896-THE INITIATIVE IN SAN FRAN- CISCO-OWNERSHIP OF PUBLIC UTILITIES-GEARY STREET ROAD-TAXATION CHARGES.
T CANNOT be repeated too often, or be too firmly impressed on the mind of the student of political conditions, that the desire for reform may exhibit itself in a very pronounced manner in a community, and yet be defeated or obstructed by subordinating the major to the minor consideration. 0 Bosses have successfully traded on their knowledge of this SEAL OF SA F fact. It is only when the people can be induced to sink out of sight their personal predilections for the relatively inconsequential that they succeed in securing their main desire. There is no doubt that from the time of the adoption of the constitution in 1879 there was a pronounced desire in San Francisco to abandon the out-of-date Consolidation Act and substitute for it a charter which would permit the expansion of the City on modern lines. There was no disposition to deny that the' scheme of municipal government devised by Hawes, and adopted in 1856, had served its purpose, but it had been amended beyond recognition, and there was a current joke that no one in San Francisco but the clerk of the board of supervisors knew what ordinances were in force and which were repealed.
But the efforts to secure a new organic law for the municipality were rendered nugatory by the activity of opponents who were not arrayed against the instruments submitted to them because they were opposed to their underlying principles, but because some particular feature did not meet their views. The first charter voted
Desire for a New Charter
Fruitless Efforts to Secure a Charter
701
702
SAN FRANCISCO
upon and rejected met its adverse fate because a recent experience had caused the people to distrust the expediency of conferring too much power on the mayor. That was the cause assigned, but its defeat was, perhaps, more attributable to civic indifference than fear of a bad mayor. The election was held on September 8, 1880, and only 23,398 votes were cast, while at the preceding general election there were 41,292. The charter submitted in 1883 called out a still smaller vote, only 18,764 going to the polls. It was defeated by the narrow majority of 32, the affirmative vote being 9,336 and the negative 9,368. An extraordinary quan- tity of space was devoted by the newspapers to the discussion of the provisions of this document, and much of it was given over to consideration of an alleged am- biguity, the effect of which the "Bulletin" claimed would be to give to the mayor the power to appoint the tax collector, auditor, treasurer, etc. This argument was based on the alleged fatal omission of the charter to state how the successors of those officers were to be chosen. The election of the first set was plainly pro- vided for, and the "Chronicle" pointed out that as the charter failed to say that the successor of the first mayor elected was to be elected, that the omission would apply to that office also. A third attempt was made on the 12th of April, 1887, at a special election to secure the adoption of a charter, but the instrument sub- mitted met the fate of its predecessors. There were only 25,959 votes cast as against 45,716 at the preceding general election. In this contest the question of intra mural burial was raised, and it was assumed that a large part of the adverse vote, which was 14,905 to only 10,896 for, was due to the active opposition of those interested in maintaining the cemeteries within the city limits. A fourth fruitless attempt was made in the November election of 1896. On this occasion 64,820 votes were cast for the candidates for municipal offices, but only 33,857 expressed an opinion on the charter, the vote being 15,879 for, to 17,978 against.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.