"The System," As Uncovered by the San Francisco Graft ProsecutionHichborn, Franklin
History
"The System," As Uncovered by the San Francisco Graft Prosecution
Hichborn, Franklin
Political corruption -- California -- San Francisco; San Francisco (Calif.) -- Politics and government
"We have adopted the Constitution of the United States as the
fundamental basis for our final action.
"We intend to bring about a clean condition of affairs in this
community and make it safe for habitation by human beings and
for the investment of capital.
"We shall do nothing in the nature of class legislation and
recognize that every element in the community has a right to
representation in the government."
[244] In a published statement printed May 19, 1906, Governor
Gillett said: "The good citizens of San Francisco are for
preserving order and the good name of this city, and
protecting the constitutional rights of its people. The
Committee of Seven, as I understand it, were appointed for
this purpose, and every law-abiding citizen and every loyal
paper in this city, the Bulletin with the rest, are expected
to strengthen their hands and encourage them in their work."
[245] The failure to enlist Spreckels with the Committee of Seven
brought down upon him the condemnation of leaders of the State
machine. "My surprise at this attitude of Mr. Spreckels," said
Governor Gillett in an interview printed in The Examiner, May
21, 1907, "is great. It means a bad moral effect on the local
industrial disturbance. If a banker like Mr. Spreckels will
not act in harmony with the committee from the leading
commercial organizations of this city, then I can readily
account for the friction all down the line in this city. There
ought to be unity of action to get the city out of its present
plight, but evidently the leading business men of the town,
for reasons I certainly cannot understand, are not in a mood
to act in harmony."
[246] When the Committee of Seven retired, May 20, Committeeman
Slack issued the following statement:
"The Committee of Seven yesterday decided that nothing could
be accomplished by it, in view of the attitude of Mr.
Spreckels and Mr. Heney. We met those gentlemen for the fourth
time yesterday morning and were informed that they could not
act with us. Mr. Spreckels declared, in spite of assurances to
the contrary from every member of the committee, that he
believed Herrin and Calhoun to be behind us. We had agreed, in
the first place, that nothing should be done which would
interfere in any way with the work of Mr. Spreckels and Mr.
Heney. When we went to them and asked their co-operation they
declined to co-operate. Under the circumstances we felt that
the committee could not be of any further value and asked to
be discharged.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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