yet the Graft Prosecution was a failure ! At
the end of four years the regenerators are able
to point to but two achievements — the routing
of the grafters ( for which they are really deserv-
ing of great credit) and the imprisonment of Abe
Ruef. But neither of these achievements from
their standpoint is a triumph, since their darling
aim was the punishment of the higher-ups, the
putative source of all corruption.
II
MEN AND MOTIVES
A Study of the Leading Regenerators and of Their
Attitude Toward the Chief Grafter and
Some of the Higher-ups
A familiar maxim tells us that to accomplish
a great good men may be justified in doing a lit-
tle wrong. On this principle the apologists of
the Graft Prosecution have palliated what they
could not applaud. They palliated by wholesale
and blindly. The criticism to be made of the
Graft Prosecution is that it did neither great good
nor little wrong. And if anything is to be said
in extenuation of its excesses it must be on the
theory that the regenerators were carried away
by misguided zeal. Most of the abuse of power
in this world can be traced to persons who be-
lieved themselves right. But whatever "Citizen"
Spreckels and his associates thought of them-
selves, it must be confessed that they inspired
strong faith in their rectitude of purpose, for
the people of San Francisco were quiescent to-
ward them even after ceasing to approve their
methods. At the same time it should be ex-
plained that only in small quantities did the truth
percolate through the screen of secrecy erected
by the regenerators. There was much that was
MEN AND MOTIVES 31
esoteric in their doin^^s. I, ike tlie priests of
ancient religious cults the\ felt that the strouu:
lueat of orthodoxy was not for the common
herd. When the scheme of re
vouns^ noh()d\' outside the magic circle was
vouchsafed an inkling" as to wholesale immunity
for grafters, if like a l^olt from the blue the
new s had come dial all the corrupt ofificials were
to be set free and that punishment was to be
reserved only for the men who had contributed
the spoils, it would have shocked and perhaps
caused a revulsion of public sentiment. At first
the public was told that none btit the supervisors
were to be granted immunity, which was con-
sidered bad enough, liut the fact flTatthe regen-
erators were disposed to grant Ruef and Schmitz
immunity was not divulged. Well was it under-
stood that such an act of generosity would pro-
voke great indignation. Not till the graft cases
were brought to trial was it learned that Ruef
and Schmitz were privileged to accept immunity.
This information was obtained from James Gal-
lagher, the chief witness for the prosecution,
whom Rudolph Spreckels, the dispenser of im-
munity, informed that the sentiment of the
jirosecution was that the only real criminals were
the officers of the public service corporations who
had tempted and corrupted the servants of the
people.
Not the district attorney but Rudolph
Spreckels, a private citizen, was the per-
32 THE REGENERATORS
son who conducted negotiations and pledged
the faith of the constituted authorities. And
Rudolph Spreckels, according to Gallagher's
testimony, purposed making use of Ruef
and Schmitz as well as of the supervisors,
and letting them go. "He told me," Gallagher
added, "that the public service corporations were
his objective point." In what degree, in Air.
Spreckels' opinion. Abraham Ruef was a victim
of temptation may be learned from the transcript
of testimony in the case of Patrick Calhoun.
The testimony bearing on this point was given by
Mr. Spreckels himself. He admitted that he
formed Ruef's acquaintance years before the
opening of the prosecution. He said :
"Ruef called at my office when the city was
about to issue bonds and asked me if I would get
together a syndicate of capitalists for the pur-
pose of bidding on those bonds. I think that was
around 1901 or '02. Ruef said that he would
guarantee that if I did get such a syndicate "up
our bid would be a successful bid, and that we
would not be obliged to bid above par. I asked
him how he purposed to carry that out, and he
said, 'Why, that is a simple matter. You know
my connection with the labor unions and the
Labor Union party, and just about the time
that the bids are to come in I will arrange to tie
up this town, and we will have the biggest strike
that the community has ever known, and I would
like to see any of your capitali.stic friends bid on
MEN AND MOTIVES 53
the bonds under those circumstances, excepting
yourself and those that are in the know.' "
Asjced if Ruef referred specifically to the street
railroad system, Mr. Spreckels made reply that
he did.
"You believed," said the attorney for the de-
fendant, "did you not, that ]\Ir. Ruef who offered
to call a strike with the accompanying bloodshed
and to tie up the town from one end of it to
the other, that you would give him immunity in
order to get his testimony against Mr. Calhoun
if it could be done, did you not?"
And Mr. Spreckels gave this answer: "Mr.
Ruef did not commit the crime of calling the
strike."
Ruef did not commit the crime because the
virtuous Mr. Spreckels, whom he had foolishly
considered so avaricious as to be disposed to
enter into so vicious a conspiracy rejected the
proposal.
In justice to Mr. Spreckels it must be ad-
mitted that whatever might have been his con-
ception of the relations existing between Abe
Ruef and the public service corporations, it is
not improbable that he regarded the supervisors
as victims of temptation. Furthermore it is not
to be denied that much is to be said in favor of
his theory of the desirability of punishing the
so-called higher-ups. At any rate it was vigor-
ously supported by the philosophy of his as-
sociates, the new philosophy preached in San
34 THE REGENERATORS
Francisco for the first time in the world's history,
the philosophy that teaches how venial is the
transgression of the public servant who taJ
bribe compared with that of the man who bribes
him. Strong- in their faith in this philosophy,
pro-prosecution editors moralized on the sad
predicament of the poor men who had been
seduced by the predatory rich. They felt very
sorry for the grafters, miserable wretches that
they were, victims of an irresistible appeal to a
primal passion. To this curious doctrine many
converts were made, for the reason, perhaps, that
the newspapers recommended it as though they
had received it from Heaven. The average
citizen, who had twice elected Eugene Schmitz to
office, knowing him to be the puppet of a man
who was acting as attorney not only for public
service corporations but for saloon-keepers, con-
tractors and' every individual who had any busi-
ness relations with the municipal government —
this average citizen, artfully suggestionized,
was in sympathy with the grafters and greatly
incensed against the bad rich men who had
seduced them.
Doubtless the public service corporations were
Mr. Spreckels's "objective point" at the inception
of the enterprise, but the history of that enter-
prise shows that its founders devoted nearly all
their energies to the prosecution of the officers
of one particular public service corporation — the
I'nited Railroads. And the records show that
MEN AND MOTIVES 35
toward the officers of at least one corporation
the prosecution was exceedingly placable. That
one was the Home Telephone Company, the of-
ficers of which appeared to be in an extremely
bad box. They had not had Ruef on their pay-
roll. But they wanted a franchise and bought
it outright. The supervisors had previously re-
ceived money from an agent of the Pacific States
Telephone and Telegraph Company, which had
been paid to them to induce them to prevent
competition by denying the petition of the
Home Telephone Company. But the supervisors,
poor, miserable victims of plutocrat temptation,
wouldn't "stay bought." A representative of the
Home Telephone Company was indicted, but
was never arrested. No attempt was made to
find him. There is but one explanation of this
negligence, and this explanation is only a matter
of conjecture. One of the officers of the com-
pany was a relative by marriage of a justice of
the Supreme Court of the State, and the prosecu-
tion, it has been conjectured, realized the import-
ance of having that court acquiesce in the strange
kind of justice that was being administered by
its puppets in the trial courts. This explanation
may not be correct, but it is the one that was
generally accepted by hostile critics of the meth-
ods and interpreters of the motives of the
prosecution.
36 THE REGENERATORS
As it is from the motives of men tliat actions
receive their color and character, perhaps if all
the mainsprings of the prosecutors' conduct were
visible we might be less inclined to censure. It
may be well therefore before resuming the thread
of this narrative to inquire whether there is any
reason for suspecting that Mr. Spreckels and his
associates, while especially desirous of convict-
ing the officials of the United Railroads, were
indifferent to the fate of others. Now it may be
easier to estimate their motives if we know some-
thing of their antecedents. When a good man
falls into evil it is deemed proper to allow him
the benefit of his past record and to be careful
to remember it when interpreting his later actions.
The same principle may be applied to the man
who asserts a claim to our confidence and our
admiration. It is not to be argued that the mo-
tives of all the men behind the Graft Prosecution
were wholly bad. The paramount motive may
have been the purging of a city steeped in cor-
ruption. But as in the case of the conspirators
who murdered Caesar it maybedoubted whether
all were actuated by zeal for the public good.
When the motives of the men behind the Graft
Prosecution were first challenged those men took
the position that motives were of no consequence.
Of course they affirmed the purity of their mo-
tives, but at the same time they pointed out that
as it was merely their purpose to give men ac-
cused of crime the benefit of trial by jury it did
MEN AND MOTIVES 37
not matter whether their civic patriotism was
entirely free from alloy. If, said they, the accused
are not guilty they will have abundant opportunity
to prove their innocence, the court will safeguard
their rights. At first blush this reasoning seems
plausible. Not so when one stops to consider
certain matters of some importance : that these
zealous men had the support of the united daily
press ; that they were permitted to impanel a
grand jury and direct it as they saw fit, and that
besides having absolute control of the district
attorney's office and the police department they
enjoyed such confidential relations with the two
judges to whom all the so-called graft cases were
assigned for trial, that in the course of time the
judges became frank partisans of the Graft
Prosecution in all political manoeuvres for the
retention of power. Now if these men were
animated by sinister motives, even an innocent
man might have reason to dread a trial at their
hands.
So whilst their motives may be estimated
with some degree of accuracy from their acts,
meantime let us scrutinize the men themselves
that we may be better able to judge whether they
would be likely to abuse the great power which
they possessed. Foremost among these men is
Mr. Rudolph Spreckels, a young millionaire, who,
previous to his appearance in the role of civic
regenerator, had never taken the trouble to cast
his vote at an election. Civic patriotism was in
/:j
38 THE REGENERATORS
him a belated passion. Into public life he had
never ventured till shortly before the earthquake,
when, with his father Claus Spreckels he entered
into a dispute with the United Railroads and
threatened to build a rival street railroad system.
Rudolph Spreckels is a man of a haughty,
domineering spirit, very much of the same tem-
perament as his father who went through life
breeding animosities and hostilities. For nearly
fifteen years that father was at war with three
of his children — an only daughter and two sons,
Rudolph and Augustus Spreckels. To each of
these sons he gave a fortune, yet the two joinecf
in a most bitter contest in the courts against
their aged parent. Him they pursued with
preternatural vindictiveness. No father ever
experienced greater pain than did Claus Spreck-
els from the bite that is even sharper than a
serpent's tooth. Painful as it is to dwell on this
phase of the career of Rudolph Spreckels, it
must be glanced at that we may understand the
force and nature of the character that dominated
afi^airs in San Francisco for nearly three years.
To what extremes a man of the temperament of
Rudolph Spreckels might go as the ruling spirit
of an oligarchy, can be judged from his ruthless
and relentless pursuit of his own father, but it
would be as unpleasant as it is unnecessary to
go minutely into the shocking details of that
contest.
Associated with Mr. Spreckels in the railroad
MEN AND MOTIVES 39
enterprise was Mr. James^JD^'Jielan, and this
gentleman was associated with him also in the
Graft Prosecution. Indeed it is believed that
Mr. Phelan prompted the whole scheme of re-
form. Mr. Phelan like Mr. Spreckels is also a
millionaire by inheritance, but unlike Mr. Spreck-
els he has been active in politics since the days of
his youth. The goal of his ambition is the
United States Senate, but as he is a Democrat,
and as Republicans usually predominate in the
California legislature, his constituents have never
been able to do more than reward his devotion
to party principles with a complimentary vote.
As mayor of San Francisco he made an ejjcellent
record, and grew strong in public favor till am-
bition o'erleaped itself. By revolutionizing the
government with a new charter he was able to
centralize power in himself and create a political
machine for the furtherance of his ambition.
Then followed a revulsion of public sentiment
caused by the suspicion that the artful mayor
was applying his power to his own ends. The
result was the swinging back of the pendulum
and the election of the fiddler sponsored by
Abraham Ruef. That was nearly ten years ago.
And Mr. Phelan has been vainly endeavoring to
rehabilitate himself ever since. His most recent
effort was in the guise of an anti-Japanese
agitator and bosom friend of the downtrodden
wage earner. Though known in San Francisco
as the enemy of every dollar that isn't his own,
40 THE REGENERATORS
Mr. Phelan has some agreeable qvialities, such as
a flippant wit, a command of the tricks of lan-
guage for oratorical purposes, and a taste in art —
not much, but just enough to play the dilettante.
A pleasant acquaintance to meet between the acts
of a comedy is Mr. Phelan, though as unemo-
tional as a fish.
To these men, whose portraits have been faintly
outlined, was given control of the machinery of
justice that they might purify a corrupt municipal
government and punish the criminals by whom it
had been debauched. And as we shall see it was
not long before they were concentrating all their
energies, all their resources, on one paramount
achievement — the conviction of Patrick Calhoun,
President of the United Railroads. Was it be-
cause they regarded him as the worst of all the
higher-ups? This is a question about which we
shall he able to speculate on a pretty broad base
of knowledge before the end of our story. The
critics of the Graft Prosecution often intimated
that nothing short of unadulterated vindictiveness
could inspire such brutual treatment as Patrick
Calhoun received at the hands of the regenerators.
On an average of five days in every week,
for more than four years, he was held up to
execration in the columns of the Bulletin and
the Call. Events in his private life from day
to day were made the theme of lampoons and
tirades calculated to incite against him the most
bitter hatred of the labor unions as well as the
furious indignation of civic reformers.
MEN AND -MOTIVES 41
Now, as it has been charg-ed that the prosecution
of Calhoun was inspired with vindictiveness rather
that virtuous resentment, it may be well to glance
at certain records and consider certain matters
which critics hostile to the regenerators have re-
lied upon as the basis of their theory. From the
records of the court it appears that in the year
1905, the year preceding- that of the earthquake
and fire, when the main lines of the L^nited Rail-
roads were operated by cable, it was ])roposed to
convert the one in Sutter street into an overhead
trolley road. Many of the property owners on
that street, instigated by Rudolph Spreckels and
his father, Claus Spreckels, protested. They de-
manded that the conduit system be adopted. A
long controversy followed between the property
owners and the officials of the corporation, and at
its close Rudolph Spreckels announced that there
could be no settlement and that "it would be war
to the knife." Meanwhile, however, it became
known that he and his father and James D.
Phelan had determined upon building an opposi-
tion street railroad system covering the whole
â– city. Rudolph Spreckels was quoted in one
newspaper in these words : "It will be built re-
gardless of any action that can be taken by the
United Railroads." His company was incorpo-
rated the day preceding that of the earthquake
and fire. It has never been heard of since. But
it might have been heard of after the fire had
not the United Railroads obtained permission to
42 THE REGENERATORS
substitute the trolley for the cable system. As
Spreckels intended to introduce the conduit sys-
tem and use the rails of the United Railroads
over a certain number of blocks in each street,
as provided for by law, this project would hardly
have been feasible with the trolley system in
operation.
Of course the circumstance that Rudolph
Spreckels and his father were out-manoeuvred
by Patrick Callioun in a business matter is not to
be taken as conclusive that vindictiveness was
the only motive with which the prosecution of
the railroad president was inspired. At the
same time it is not to be gainsaid that vindictive-
ness is the most distinctive trait of the Spreckels'
character. Spreckels pere, who loomed a swart
figure behind his son in the original controversy
with Calhoun, and, until his death, behind the
Graft Prosecution, was one of the most vindictive
of men. His reputation for vindictiveness was
widespread. A man of prodigious arrogance, he
was intolerant of the slightest opposition. No-
body ever incurred his disfavor without suffer-
ing some kind of punishment. Once upon a time
he built a competing gaslight system in San
Francisco to revenge himself on the president of
the gas company who had failed to act on his
demand that a nuisance be abated. The com-
peting system, which was to give the people
cheaper gas, he sold out to the old company
at a good profit, just as he sold out to the sugar
MEN AND MOTIVES 43
trust after promising to oppose it forever in the
interest of the dear people.
Still keeping in mind the point under discus-
sion — the question of motive — we come to the
two memorable street car strikes that brought
distress and suffering to San Francisco. Those
strikes occurred when San Francisco was going
through the early stages of the process of rehabil-
itation. So widespread were the effects that this
industrial strife was hardly less than a supple-
mentary catastrophe. And those strikes were an
incident of the Graft Prosecution ; so important
an incident as to deserve treatment in a separate
chapter.
Ill
THE CAR STRIKES
Because Union Men Demand and Are Denied Lower
Wages a City is Made to Suffer from Lawless-
ness and Business Paralysis
Nothing- so raised the hopes and encouraged
the people of San Francisco after the earthquake
and fire as the reconstruction of the street car
system. The United Railroads Company, which
owns nearly the whole traction system of the
city, started its cars while the ruins were still
smoking. An electric car was the symbol of
hope and confidence. It signified the faith of a
great corporation in the future of a city housed
in shacks which had hardly begun to think of
righting itself. A few months later, in violation
of an agreement with the railroad company,
conductors and gripmen quit work and all San
Francisco walked. There was a temporary ad-
justment of differences, there was arbitration,
but what followed in the course of time ap-
proximated civil war. The spirit of the shat-
tered community was almost broken.
A unique industrial conflict was this which
the stricken city experienced. It was unique be-
cause it was not the result of friction between
an employer and his employees. As we shall
'I'lll': CAR STRIKES 45
see, there had hecn no clamor on the part of
the employees of the I'nited Railroads for a
better apportioning of wages to work. What,
then, was the cause of the strikes? This is a
question the reader must solve after acquainting
himself with the facts.
Long after the strikes had passed into his-
tory they became an issue in the graft cases,
the regenerators having made the accusation
against Patrick Calhoun that he precipitated the
strikes to win public sympathy. This they did
when they learned that Calhoun had procured a
mass of affidavits for the purpose of showing that
the strikes were instigated by his enemies to em-
bitter public sentiment and to serve their political
ends. There was no question at all as to the
fact that the strikers were the instruments of
some person or persons moved by sinister
motives.
Now to facilitate study of the motives and the
political purposes that were uppermost in the
minds of some men in those days we must go
back to the morning of the great catastrophe
when all San Francisco was in panic. On that
dark morning Mayor Schmitz, the man who is
today an outcast, was an inspiring and inspirit-
ing figure. A great crisis called forth his in-
nate qualities, and they were those which com-
manded the admiration of everybody. Accept
all the evil told of him and reject the good, and
Eugene Schmitz will appear a repulsive char-
46 THE REGENERATORS
acter, but not so if we consider only the man
and his work during the terrible crisis of 1906.
How great the contrast between the gov-
ernor of the State, George Pardee, pious re-
former, and the mayor of the city, Eugene
Schmitz, practical unholy politician, the one so
timid and vacillating as to be appropriately nick-
named "Weak Brother" ; the other exhibiting a
gift for organization and command that heart-
ened a people appalled by disaster and bowed
beneath a great weight of woe. The times were
exceptional, pregnant with momentous events,
and the man was on a par with the times. The
midst of a disjointed world seemed his appro-
priate field of action.
On Schmitz devolved the task of bringing or-
der out of chaos. And he was preoccupied with
it before the conflagration had swept beyond the
block where it started. This labor union mayor
called round him before noon of the day of the
catastrophe fifty of the most prominent men in
the city. No longer did he depend for guidance
on Abraham Ruef. The man of genius knows
instinctively where to look for suitable talent.
In this emergency Eugene Schmitz took counsel
of Mr. Garret McEnerney, the leader of the
California bar, a man of exceptional attainments,
of brilliant intellect, a commanding character,
the kind of man in whom, whatever he under-
takes, one may place unlimited trust. Un-
der McEnerney's mentorship Mayor Schmitz
THE CAR STRIKES 47
organized a committee wliich absorbed all the
powers of government. It became a committee
of public safety. Mayor Schmitz was chairman.
As such he ceased to be the rei^resentative of
a class. Indeed, in forming" his committee he
gave but scant recognition to the unions, select-
ing his men, as was right, with a view to sur-
rounding himself with expert ability. But in
the dawn of rehabilitation there was no jealousy
or distrust or envy. There is nothing like a
great sorrow to unite men in loving brotherhood.
Calamity was the furnace that melted many evil >
passions and fused hearts long estranged. It
was in the spirit of the times that Mayor Schmitz
acted. He gave but one harsh order — that all
looters should be instantly shot. It was a
necessary order. For the chairman of the relief