The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 16, 1899, Page 1

The the Call o= tdKen from Ub"ar‘y. +es e VOLUME LXXXV—NO. 47. SAN FRANCISCO, MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 1899. PRICE FIVE CENTS. EXPOSURE OF HOWARD WRIGHT THE SENSATION OF THE HOUR - HOWARD WRIGHT NOW DISAYOWS HIS INTERVIEW Green Assists in the Effort to ide the Disgraceful Transaction. Try to Break the Force of the “Call’s” Exposure by Time-Worn Tactics of Denouncing the Paper’s Representative. €ALL HEADQUARTERS. SACRA- NTO 15.—Since Howard E. of the Assembly, | e admission that he received | U. S. Grant through his| anager, Milton S. Green, in | his promise to vote for fov Unitsd Staer® Sehator he has | changed his mind. He now asserts that | he. borrowed the money and that he in- tends to repay it. Mr. Green also has experienced a | change of heart. Last night he de- nov ed Wright as the biggest confi- dence operator he had ever met during the whole course of his political ex- | eri To-day he confines himself Last nig! story of Wright's ghame had not yet become public prop- erty. To-day the people of the State are .discussing the ‘facts of his down- 1 Last night Mr. Wright and Mr. Green jscussed the circumstances of their bargain and sale, though neither had papers. Future proceedings are in the hands of my attorneys. For cor- roboration of the statement that these charges are false I refer you to Mr. Grant and Mr. Green.” | Wright referred incredulous persons ‘ to Mr, Green, and this is what Mr. Green has i¢ say: "I-deny absolutely and unqualifiedly that I ever paid money to any legislator to influence his | vote for Senator, and I do not believe | that Mr. Wright ever made ...at claim. | 1 loaned Mr. Wright some money in | a manner he indicates in the Chronicle interview. It was paid to a creditor of his, and had nothing to do with poli- ties. It was not used for campaign | purposes, and was to be repaid from the proceeds of a land sale in Oregon, in which he was interested. No friend of Mr. Grant’s has the slightest reason to imagine that his campaign has ever | been conducted otherwise than in an | honorable manner.” A careful perusal of this statement | will disclose the fact that Mr. Green | denies that he ever paid money to a knowledge that the other was giving away the details of the dicker. Then the price paid and received was in ex- change for honor and remuneration for the violation of written and unwritten pledges. To-day it appears as a loan thade for a candidate for United States Senator to a candidate for the Assembly whose vote he wanted. At midnight last night Mr. Wright asked that the story of his degrada- tion be suppressed. He promised that if -this was done he would take such steps as would result in having D. M. Burns withdraw from the Senatorial contest. He declared that he was in possession of evidence to prove that Burns could not be elected and that lie'would make Burns get out of the fight if the facts concerning his (Wright’s) acceptance of money from Grant were withheld. These state- ments were made to a representative of 'this paper during an interview sought by Wright. Mr. Green also sought an interview with a Call representative. He wished to have the story suppressed. He re- peated the statements he had pre- viously made and which were pub- lished in The Call this morning—the | statements being in all particulars| save one the same s the admissions | .made voluntarily by Wright, and | which were quoted this morning. The | only point at variance in the admis- | sion made by Wright and the state- | ment made by Green was the amount | of money involved. Green declined tol .state the exact amount, but said it | -was more than a thousand dollars. Wright was more positive. He de- -clared that he received $1650, no more, no less. Mr. Gr was afraid that the publi- catibn of the story of Wright's degra- dation would injure Grant's Senatorial candidacy, therefore he was anxious ‘that the story be not made public. He advised that the story be withheld, and that the facts be held over ‘Wright's head as a club, to prevent | him excluding the legislative corre- | spondents of this paper from the floor of the Assembly chamber. ‘ The story was published, as the readers of The Call are aware, and the facts stated therein are here reassert- _ed, To-night Mr. Wright gave out the | “following statement to the members of | “the press: | *The interview published in The Call | thi€ morning is entirely false from be- ginning to end, and the statements _therein were manufactured by The Call’s correspondents, and were never expressed by me to any one. The mat- ter cannot be settled through the news-. | MENTO, Jan. 16.—There is a general feel- | | legislator. This may be true. At the | same time he paid the money to Wright | that gentleman was not a legislator, and therefore does not come within the range of Mr. Green's denial. He does { not deny, however, that he paid money to Wright to influence his vote for Sen- | ator. He also claims that $750 was all the money paid by him to Wright or on Wright's account. Green does not remember the name of the man to whom he paid $750 on Wright's account. The handing out of $750 checks is evidently so common a thing with Mr. Green that a little thing | | like the name of the man he gave them | to made no more than a passing im- pression. He does remember, though, | that whoever it was lived in Berkeley | and that he telephoned to him to come | to his office in Oakland immediately on | receipt of a letter from Wright written at the Sutter Club in this city request- ing him to pay the amount for him. | Wright's creditor turned up shortly | | after he received the message and was | | duly handed his money, for which he | gave a receipt, now in the possession of [ Mr. Green. Mr. Green has, however, | not seen him since, and wrack his mem- ory as he may, cannot recall his name —nor his telephone number. The facts concerning the downfall of a member of the State Legislature havas been published in these columns. They are respectfully submitted to the peo- ple of the State whose interests are in- volved and to the Legislature itself, which is, or should be, vitally concerned for the honorable and lawful conduct of its members. GREEN IN THE ROLE OF A PHILANTHROPIST | CALL HEADQUARTERS, SACRA- ‘ { ing among members of the Legislature to- | night that Grant’s contest for a place in | the United States Senate has very nearly | reached an inglorious finish. If there | were a lingering shadow of doubt in the | public mind that the Grant campaign for the Senatorship began in boodling and has been marked by boodling at every stage of its progress, it is now vanishing. It is within the province of the Legisla- ture to ascerttain how much money was paid by the agents of Grant, to whom they paid it and where it was paid. A dull season in real estate may have affected localities outside of Alameda County, and perhaps Milton Green in his goodness helped other Assemblymen than | Speaker Wright to tide over the distress | of a bad year. It is a remarkable fact that the chief sufferers of the dull season in real estate were candidates for the Legislature. ‘When Mr. Green was appealed to for as- | sistance he did not think to advise the applicants to appeal to the local banks and money lending agencies for financial assistance, but generously advanced the money himself. He was not a Shylock, members of the Legislature who hap- P tress. He was not an exacting money lender. He placed no mortgage on the | chattels or real estate of those on whom he bestowed his beneficence. ask for a promissory note. obligations were debts of honer due to @ dry season and dullpess, in. real 116 = Since tihe fieneruus downpour of January rains there has been activity in real estate He @id not | circles, and Mr. Wright, whose obligations to Milton Green have been the subject of unpleasant comment in the press, has ar- ranged to pay back the money obtained. Our contemporaries, too jealous or en- ened to dwell in the zone of financial dis- | The little | County votes will now go to Grant fur- ther than the one he has already obtained in the person of the pledge-breaker, As- semblyman O. H. Huber. Thrée prominent Los Angeles Republi- cans arrived to-night to assist Senator Bulla. They were Judge J. W. McKinley, Ferd K. Rule, Chairman of the Republi- can City Central Committee, and Frank J. Thomas, ex-Assistant City Attorney. Judge McKinley. in an interview, said: “Senator Bulla is the choice of nine- tenths of the Republicans of Los Angeles County for Senator and nine-tenths of our people believe that it is the duty of the Los Angeles County representatives in the Legislature to stand firm and true to the instructions given them by the county convention. Those instructions were to vote for Bulla as long as he was a factor in the contest and he is certainly a very considerable factor right now. At the request of a number of local Republi- cans Mr. Rule, Mr. Thomas and myself have come to Sacramento to assist Sen- ator Bulla in this fight. There were 754 delegates in the Republican County Con- vention and after a thorough canvass of them, the Grant men could obtain less { than thirty signatures to a telegram ask- ing our legislators to leave Bulla and go to Grant.. There is no semtiment among the people of Los Angeles County favor- able to Grant at this time.” Superior Judge J. W. Noyes of River- side arrived this evening. The Judge states that he has no Senatorial prefer- ence, but has merely come to watch the contest for a few days. LOS ANGELES FOR BURNS NOT AT ALL LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15.—The Republi- cans who favor the election of Robert N. Bulla for Senator began an active cam- paign in his behalf to-day. This work is to be systematically pursued by city wards. The defeat of Dan Burns is de- sired, as the wires in hand have that ob- ject in view. The Los Angeles County delegation is instructed to stand by Bulla, and should a contingency arise that would indicate his defeat this delegation is instructed to vote for a Southern California man, which means Grant, and under no circumstances must a vote be cast for Burns. The Eighth Ward is the first to lead off in this effort ih Bulla’'s behalf by the signing of the fol- lowing petition addressed to C. M. Simp- son: We, the Republicans of the Eighth Ward of this city, request that you vote and labor for the election of Hon. Robert N. Bulla for United States Senator until a majority of the delegation from this county decide otherwise; then vote for a Southern California_man. GEORGE P. PHIBBE, D. F. BRANT and fifty other Republicans. That the election of Dan Burns is not desired is evidenced by the following tele- 1. Simpson, signed | gram addressed to C. by J. Griffith: “If we cannot have Bulla, for God's sake stand together and vote for a Southern California man.” Mr. Griffith, who is a well known capl- | talist, and who presented this city with a ‘mo. cre park, 18 fer Groat. - That the. 1% e 1L Barmator 1 oI Liant alid ncw | Buras if Bulla falls 1o reach is shown by | the following telegram semt to C. M. Simpson by W. B. Morgan: ““Vote for Bulla first until delegation de- cides otherwise; then vote for Grant or any Southern California man.” | CALL HEADQUARTERS, SACRA- | MENTO, Jan. 15—Rev. A. B. Banks, | | the pastor of the First Baptist Church | | of this city, delivered a sermon from his | pulpit this evening in the course of which he took occasion to vigorously denounce the action of the Republican County Central Committee of Sacra- mento for its efforts to coerce Assem- | byman W. D. Knights into voting for | the Candelarian colonel for Senator of | The following telegram sent to C. M. the United States against the will and | Rev. A. B. Banks denounces the Republican committce of Sacramento County for endeavoring to coerce and browbeat Assemblyman W. D. Knights into voting for Daniel M. Burns for United States Senator. i e vious to concede all that the people claim for The Call, must admit that this journal is certainly a success as a collect- ing agency. Little news was obtained In the Burns camp to-night. There was quiet rejoicing that the hand of the Grant managers had been shown In the act of showerin money, but no predictions were made of gains for the colonel on the balloting to- morrow. The touts have their lines for | La Barre and Wade and have not given he hope of corraling Dunlap, Ander- ::n}.’nt and pKnightsA The sentiment in Sacramento is almost universal that Knights will not succumb to_bluster or persuasion in the interest of Burns. His manly course in the joint convention last Saturday is still the tople of talk in Sacramento. BULLA’S FRIENDS ARE STANDING FIRM CALL HEADQUARTERS, SACRA- MENTO, Jan. 15.—The friends and sup- porters of the Senatorial candidacy of Senator Robert N. Bulla feel greatly en- couraged to-night. All nine of the mem- bers of the Senate n.ndB fiue::bly ‘who v/ n voting for Bulla have ain R:c‘lflegefo aumdsnrm to him on the bal- lots to be taken Monday and Tuesday. There was some apprehension lest one of the Senatorial and one of the Assembly- men supporters of Bulla might leave him and go to Grant on Tuesday or Wednes- day, but to-day’s developments have de- but rather a muroul Bwiftwater Bill who threw out money lavishly to all | stroyed that prospect. No es Brant is self-explanatory: ‘“We have demanded your delegation to support you until you decide otherwise; then a Southern California man.” - A Fight for a Secretaryship. CALL HEADQUARTERS, SACRA- MENTO, Jan. 15.—It is very probable that at the first meeting of the State Lunacy Commission which is held, strong pres- sure will be brought to bear upon the members of the commission to make a change In the secretaryship of the com- mission. The position is at présent held by John F. Carrere of Los Angeles, who is a Silver Republican. The State Lunacy Commission includes the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General and Drs. Hatch and Mathews. > There is no fixed term of office provided for the secretary under the law which created the commission. He holds office during the pleasure of the commission. The position is a very nice one. The du- tles are not arduous and the salary is $250 per_month. There are a number of applicants for this fat job, among the number being Edward Casey of San Francisco, at pres- ent clerk of Judge Troutt’s department of the Superior Court. John Morton of Los Angeles County is also an applicant for the position. He was formerly the secretary to the medical Simpson by George P. Phibbe and D. F. | in violation of what he conceived to be his duty to his constituents. Rev. Mr. Banks in very vigorous Eng- lish stated that in pursuing the course they had the members of the committee were violating the very principles upon which the American Government was founded, for they were endeavoring to destroy the individual conscience m‘di the individual freedom of a public ser- | vant who was aiming to dis- charge his duty to the people he repre- sented as the light he had to guide him | indicated to him he should. The sermon Rev. Mr. Banks delivered was upon the general proposition that the average type of Christian people find themselves content to speak in ordinary platitudés of that which is vile, vicious and demoralizing. He said, however, that there was another | type of Christian spirit that sought im- | mediately to overthrow sin wherever | it was to be found. | After discussing this subject for a | time Mr. Banks said: It is a great conflict that has been wag- ing for the last few days at the State | House in this city. The Christian people of this State have felt their blood cours- ing through their veins hot with indigna- tion. They have felt as did old_John | Adams in the State House at Boston when he rose up and refused to move one | inch as long as the guns of British director of the Southern California Asylum for the Insane. efore the fight for the secretaryship is ended there will probably be other candi- dates who will spring up. . tyranny menaced him. An attempt has been made on the part ! trigue and industrial dishonesty. | branded as one who has looke: VIGOROUS TALK IN THE PULPIT ON CORRUPTION Two Cities. city to menace and browbeat a man and a representative of the people into doing something which his conscience and his réoncepllon of duty tells him he should not 0. This is an important and a vital ques- tion, and it concerns every Christian citi- | zen'of the capital city {Btate. Can %L -handfui of attempt to dictate and coerce a public | servant, or is that duly elected repre- | sentative of the people to be permitted just for him to do. I tell you that it is all wrong. The man is the thing. He must act on his | own responsibility, and what he does he must stand for and answer to the people whom he represents. We do not want any committee to speak for our repre- sentative, nor do we want any committee to_attempt to coerce or browbeat him. ‘When a company of individuals get to- | gether and pretend to speak upon sub- jects which they are not authorized to speak upon and which they have never been directed to speak upon by the body which created them and gave them an official existence, and also attempt to de- lude the public into believing that they are speaking for you and for me, they are breaking down or endeavoring to break down the very principles of free government. I do not desire this evening to make any invidious comparisons between candi- dates for the Senatorship, and I will not do so. But I do desire to denounce this attempt of a band of interested men to bring pressure upon an individual to compel him to violate his consclence and his judgment as not true to American of the republic. stand up. We must say to public servants, “If you do right and do what your con- sclence tells you is right we wiil be with vou. But if you do not do right, we will be against you.” If the church does not do this it will be like putty in the hands own sinful purposes. The sermon of Rev. Mr. Banks was attentively listened to, and at is close a number of his parishioners came for- ward, grasped his hand and extended to him their congratulations on the courageous position he had taken. S “SOW BOSSISH, REAP DEADLOCKS” Rev. William Rade} Denounces Dan Burns From the Pulpit. gregational Church: The people of California are interested in the Senatorial contest at Sacramento. They ought to be, because the office of Senator is the opportunity of the people to have a vote and voice upon matters which concern mankind. The Senate has been the arena for the notable debates in our national history; it is the sacred workshop of the republic, where laws are made and the forces of progress set in motion. The annals of the Senate are rich in great names. Great oraters, statesmen and diplomats have enrolled their names on the nation’s honor roil in the Senate. No cathedral or church is in the last analysis more sacred. No priest a greater moral advantage than the Unit- ed States Senator. The office clothes him with the royal purple of authority. It is therefore a matter of concern to the Christian community — this Senatorial fight. %t concerns every man who has political self-respect, regardless of his church or his party. Churches have dwelt too long upon the heaven that is to come. Their plain duty is to bring in a heaven: here and now. A step toward this divine dream is placing a man in the United States Sen- ate who shall be a witness to the higher life and better culture of California. The contest at Sacramento is being waged over a man accused of political in- He is through the bars of a prison. If one-half that has been said of Dan Burns be true, then Cal- ifornia would disgrace her name before the world by naming him as her repre- sentative in Washington. Accordingly the Capitol at Sacramento is being stormed by an aroused public opinion ex- tending from Shasta to San Diego. The respectability of the State stands between Burns and the Senate with a of those who desire to use it for their | Prelude to evening sermon by the| Rev. Willlam Rader of the Third Con- | 45 6¢° " qangerous elements in_ our or preacher occuples a position affording | of this golden | men gdther and | to decide for himself what is right and | | It is the old game of tit for tat. principles and as & menace to the future | In this hour of trial the church must | | | | church’s busines: (K Sacramento and San Francisco Ministers Condemn Politicians. Scandals in the Senatorial Fight Bring Forth Bitter Denunciations in the Churches of the the light of that sword let us learn the lessons of the hour. It requires no great political insight to discern the malicious causes of this state of affairs. Even a minister who is not supposed to know anything but dogmatic theology may put two and two together and make four. He bas sense enough to see that the mischief is caused in the methods of our election, and that if the good uut belated people who are now passing resolutions and making a fuss had taken more interest in the eléction, including the primaries, mat- ters might be different. If we sow bossism in the election we reap deadlocks in the Legislature. ‘When good men suffer bad men to con- duct their campaigns, then the political logic is that these good men must recog- nize their obligations. There is some debt paying going on at Sacramento. It is not log-rolling; it is the result of log-rolling. If Burns was good enough for certain men last fall, then he should not be repudiated by those men now, unless for reasons which are invisible. Such is the logic of the deadlock. The devil in our political situation is the boss. That is the trouble in_ New York, in Pennsylvania, in Chicago. Power tells, whether in coin or in “pulls.” Why does not Governor Gage assert himself at this time? It has been said he holds the key to the situation. I will tell you why. There is a string to that key extending back to the election. Burns made him, or assisted in making him Gov- ernor of this State. Another lesson to be learned is that there is a powerful public opinion in the State which is being let loose on all sides, and which contains the principles of good government; it is disorganized, but dyna- mic. It has no leader, carries no fla save the stars and stripes, but is a.nimates with a lofty purpose. It does not sxnow who it wants for United States Senator, but it is clear on one point—it knows who is not wanted. It does not want Dan Burns for United States Senator. It does not want the boss either in the city of San Francisco or in California. It is barely possible that it has uttered its wrath too late. The mud that is now thrown should have been thrown three months ago. There are times when Christianity is advanced by revivals and evangelists, by orthodox sermons and prayers, but there are other times when its advancement depenas upon the church’'s power to witness to a stand- ard and to rise up and act through its representatives. Such a time is here. Let me hear no one say, “This is none of the it is the concern of the churches just as much as it is the concern of the saloons. The preacher is a citizen not less than the pugilist. Citizenship is the preroga- tive of the people, not of the politicians only. It is the business of men, regard- less of sect, color or creed. to object to a man in the United States Senate, elected, not on his merits, but on his ability to et votes for other people. It is the re- gious duty of the churches to stamp out the vicious hoss system in California. ‘What are we here for? What good is our formal worship if we close our eyes to the political evils around us? If Chris- tianity means anvthing it means action. The lesson at Sacramento is an illustra~ State politics. The Senatorial contest is a political symptom of a State disease. Tha almost unanimous profest now being sent to Sacramento is animated by no par- tisan _or low political motive. It is the powerful outburst of our self respect. It is " California honor which thunders through the halis of legislation. It is the lightning of the State conscience which flashes around the Capitol. In a humble way we mingle our voices with that in- creased thunder. made up of religious so- cleties, ministerial unions and individual opinion from every quarter of the State. REV. DR, COYLE ON POLITICAL CONDITIONS OAKLAND, Jan. 15.—Modern states- manship, as lately ememplified at Sac- ramento, came in for a bitter scoring at the hands of Rev. Dr. Coyle at the First Presbyterian Church to-night. His text, Neh. v: 15, “But so did not I because of the fear of God,” proved quite apropos. He pictured Nehemiah as a model statesman of Biblical times, because he had the courage to say “no,” and at length the speaker touched upon the local political arena. In part he said: Hitherto we have been proud to tell our boys that in this country a rail-splitter might reach the White House; a mule- driver on the tow path become President; a cobbler become Vice-President; a tan- ner rise to the supreme place in America. But a change has come, judging by the spectacle at Sacramento and elsewhere. It looks as though our boys will soon have to be told that in glorious America crooks may go to Congress and members of the “gportihg gang’” to the United Ela.t‘c; Sen- of a central club here in this our own | flaming sword in its uplifted hand. Under - ate, and ploygamists find seats