The Daily News MONDAY, MARCH 9. "GRAFT" IN CALIFORNIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 67, 9 March 1908, Page 2

The Daily News MONDAY, MARCH 9. "GRAFT" IN CALIFORNIA.

Political debauchery is almost a miid description of the stme ul public alluirs which has been disclosed by the "grail" trials in California. .Novelists who study tin' lives ul public nan, and writers ul detective slum:-*, will lie encouraged by I reading tli« narrative ol the events which preceded tlie trial. 'i'liey will realise that they can exaggerate no thing. Bribery,' treachery, and con scieneclcss swindling on an cnormou; scale; detectives trapping thieves ill highly dramatic situations; kiUn;ti>l)o(J editors, Judge, threatened with lynch iug, and •gun men" waiting with revolvers at odd corners—it is all ar astonishing picture of what life nntj still mean in a civilised coiuniusity ol the twentieth century. It may In worth while, also, to ask whether Ihi whole of the picture is yet on the can vas. The mere story ol the conflict 0! prosecution and criminals is amazing '. Here we -have, previous to the trial, r. number of men engaged iu the adminis nation of the city ol San Francisco am the State of California—Sehmitz, tin .Mayor, who is now iu prUon; Kuef. tin ■■boss," iu custody in his owh house: and others who are either in prison, or awaiting trial, or promised immunity iu consideration of their confessions 01

evidence given against their associates Un the other side, four men set them solves to get the gang out of power They are lludolpli Spreekels, a millionaire; Francis lleuoy, a lawyer; Fremont Older, a journalist; and William Bums,

a detective. Sir. Spreckels guarantees 100,000 dollars towards the expenses of prosecution; Mr. lieney is to prosecute; and Mr. Older is editor of the Call, a newspaper which has denounced the bribery of the administration for years. They know something, though perhaps not nil, of the maze of political corruption in which the criminals move, and through which they will have to pursue them.

in so tun-uin a community, they cannot be certain ol all honest Judge; tliey arc pu,\erless against a packed jury; even the officers ol the law are controlled by in.; administration. They succeed in incir prosecution only by an accident. Kuel' made a mistake, lie tried to get himself appointed District Attorney, and the public would not stand it. An injunction was asked to restrain liiiu from taking the post, and the Judge was given a hint which the most corrupt ollicial could scarcely disregard. When two hundred men stand in. trout of a Judge's chambers and shout for a rope, the Judge must lie more than usually courageous not to impure what he must, do it he is not to be hanged to the lamppost. The Judge, who need not be supposed to have lieen corrupt or to have yieldod to the threats, decided against Kuel'. Tliis was the lirst step gained, it became possible to select an lionet grand jury, and the grand jury has done admirable work. But even so, the prosecution has had immense difficulties. It was only through the treachery and jealous scheming of Sehmitz, Ruef, a "supervisor'' named Gallagher, and a "sub-boss" named Maestretti that the whole .scheme of bribery and lying was exposed. They -began to distrust each other. Maestretti persuaded other "supervisors" that ltuef, Sehmitz, and Gallagher were taking more than their fair share of the bribe-money. Eventually Maestretti, working with the prosetion against his old associates, proved their guilt completely. The account of the work of the prosecution, especially of their detective Mr. Burns, in bringing the criminals to justice and in preventing further crime reads like a chapter of Gaboriau. The most difficult evidence to obtain in a community steeped in corruption must be direct and unquestionable evidence of the receipt of bribes. Mr. Burns provided his witnesses with an ocular demonstration of the act of passing a bag of gold from one hand to another. He got Maestretti and one of Maestretti's followers named Hoy to arrange a scene at which certain "supervisors" should be bribed: chairs and a desk were placed in convenient situations: n door lending into another room was bored with tine gimlet -hole*: the scene was then carefully rehearsed by Roy and tile detective: and when all the parts had been gut bv heart Uov took his seat at (he desk with the .ash. and Mr. Burns and his witnesses put their eyes to the gimlet-holes, 'hie doomed " supervisors " took the cash in full view, and that part of the business was finished. But the prosecution had still to reckon with others of their quarry; there was the possibility of personal violence for one thing, though whether they expected the form it was to take mav well be doubted.

No uditur desiring a thrilling feuillcton for hia paper c-oukl hope for a better episode than actually was the experience of Mr. Older, the editor of the Call. Mr. Older printed an article in the Call which cast aspersions on the character of a Mr. Lather Brown, who is a resident of Los Angeles, live hundred miles distant from Chicago. It would have been open to Mr. Brown to charge Mr. Older with libel before a San Francisco magistrate, lie decided, however, that he would stand a lietter chance of getting Mr. Older oat of the way if he took him before a Los Angeles magistrate. He therefore had him seized by a Los Angeles constable in the o|K'ii street of San Francisco, threw him into a motor-car, drove at break-neck speed lo Redwood City, thirty miles awav. and there shut him up in a speciallyreserved drawing-room in the Pullman car of the south-hound express. Mr. Burns immediately telephoned to the Call correspondent at Santa Barbara, which is about two hours by rail north of Los Angeles, to get a lawyer lo make out a writ of Habeas corpus, and serve it on Mr. Oldor's captors when the train arrived there. The scene at Santa Barbara railway station must have been worth watching. ''All Santa Barbara," we are told. " assembled to meet the train." and as there are some six thousand inhabitants, the station must have lieen crowded. The chief of police was there, "with his entire force, armed with hatchets": and when the train steamed in. eopic- of the writ were served on the driver, the conductor, the I'ullinaii-ear conductor, and all Mr. Ohler's captors. "Amid a scone of intense onthusia-m Mr. Older was taken to the Superior Court. A special session was immediately held, and he was admitted to bail." The directness and despatch of the finale lit the beginning.

All this happened only a month ago, in or near tilt; greatest city of Western Ameriea, and a good deal of it, or something like it, will very likely L happen again. But the sheer yellow-back-rail-way-novel style of the piece is not the main point to notice. The point is thai there are mure aet- to nunc, tji San Francisco the air is charged heavily enough with district and suspicion, ilr. Sprcckeis, who is championed by soim.l and sensible men as a public-spirited and conscientious reformer, and whose actions certainly appear honest and straightforward to outside critics, is already being accused of prosecuting Schmitz and his gang fur the vilest iinancial and political end* of his own. L'uder the breath, perhaps; but still lie is accused. A community in which such suspicion is not merely whispered by miscreants, but is openly and immediately discussed by plain, average people, stands in very shaky places. But it is not California alone which is concerned. Throughout the accounts of the trial there run vague hints that this is not all: that moving behind tlie veil there is a much more important person than small fry like Srhmitz, or even Euef, and that it i- he. "one of the most powerful and bc.-t known men in the I'nited States,'' whom the prosecution wish to get into their bands. Ruef, it, is suggested, if he eared to tell all he knew, could put into the dock men of such wealth and standing that their prosecution would convert the campaign into what the Times' correspondent believe, it will ultimately become—"one of the >r,nst important movement- in the history of the United States." We have no intention, even if we had the light, to preach at our neighbors: but Britishers, who have always marvelled at. the easy compliance wilh ivliicli the American voter will submit to the dictation of his political [■'' boss," however shady, or even dis- j graceful, the methods'of the "boss" may be, cannot but look forward to the [ prosecution of -ucli a campaign with the deepest interest and concern. Their regret will be the greater that Mr. Hoosovelt, when the presence in public affairs of men of stern rectitude and strength Of character is more than over necessary, should have finally refused to seek ri-tleetii 't as President.

To-morrow is tho 45th anniversary <,f le marriage of our King and Queen. Among tlie electoral districts the j rohiliitionists arc certain of capturing I t the next licensing poll are Egmont. atea, Oroua, Waipawn, and the Hutt. Two iik'u named James Biggins and Villiawson hud ail unenviable experince oil' Opiuuikc last Wednesday night. I .'■hey went out lishing in an open hoai, I nd, a wind springing up, were unable o reach the shore, ami perforce had to lwnd tl 10 night— n„t a pleasant one—at The recent rains have freshened up | lungs in Taranaki in an cxlraordiuurv legree, grass now being plentiful and he prosjiecls for the wintering of stock nost gratifying. The Kaugitikei, Uanawatu, itawkcs Hay, and Wairaia pa districts are not so fortunate, grass there being, according to a Taranaki gentleman just returned from a visit to those districts, a minus ijuuntit.v, and the laud as hard as a burned brick. A divorce case full of sensation is likely to occupy tli e attention of the Supreme Court in fc ew Plymouth, but not at the next session, ft is alleged that a man recently in business liitc, and more recently still holiday-making in apparently affluent circumstances, married a local girl. Scarce two years have passed over their heads, yet then are now signs of a dissolution of the bonds which bind one to the other, ii being alleged that the marriage was bu a mockery, the husband having a wif, and family resident in a far distant nor tion of Australasia.

Mr. A. J. Mcintosh has offered to < sell to the Uorough Council a atrip of 1 his 'larunaki Hotel property, u'flft wide, for the sum of £0001), and to accept I lie amount of tho purchase-money in borough debentures. The purchase of this land and the erection of a bridge over the Huatoki stream would cnavle the Council to connect Brougham-street with Gill-street. As, however, the Council has hxed its mind on the Moles-worth-street extension, there seems little likelihood of this alternative route being accepted. The Works Committee's recommendation is not favorable to the project. We have received a copy of the A'ew Zealand Gazette a*d ALercantile Journal, a weekly newspaper published in Wellington. Jl is a well got-up production, containing a huge amount of shipping information, record of mortgages, wool sales, list of magistrates and dates of court sittings, summaries of companies' balance-sheets, bankruptcy notices, leading articles, contributions from special correspondents, illustrations, and'a lot of miscellaneous information. There is also a legal department in which legal questions are answered free of cost. There is a revival of intorest in matters municipal. This year the Mayoralty is to be contested by at least three aspirants for civic honors, and there may be four. Messrs W. A. Collis, i'red. iSellringci 1 , and G. Tisch are delinitely announced as candidates, and it is generally understood that Mr. Dockrill, the present holder of the office, will again place, himself in the hands of tin* burgesses. As yet, however, although the recipient of .several requests, Mr. Dockriil has not yet decided whether or not to contest the seat. Whilst townspeople pull' out their chests with pride on account of the record shipping at the port lately, it has not been an unmixed blessing. On Saturday the steamer from south., arriving at D.30 a.m., brought 130 cases of fruit from Nelson for Mr. Newton King. The railway people were not equal to the occasion, and the fruit could not be delivered in time for the usual Saturday sale. Fortunately Mr. Iving had received a consignment from Xorth the same morning, and this par.ially filled the gap. Mr. Lomas, Chief Inspector of I-'ac-:orie», speaking to a Southland Times •eporter, said that the immigrants who irrived in iNew Zealand were never more than two or three days out of miploymeut after landing in the colony. V woollen miller had spoken to him in Wellington, and had asked him to send lowu to him any family which came nit in search of work. If any man villi a family would come to his mill he vould pay him .€2 2s a week if ho lail never seen a mill, in order that he night employ his family, it was the ■usioni of the Labour Department to iirni»h the Immigration Department vith a list of applications received from 'liiployei's in need oi bands. These i.-,ts were taken on board the ship on nival, and ninny of the new arrivals vere put ill the way of getting emiluymcnt before they left the ship. The einand for unskilled labour seemed to >c practically insatiable.

Tin' Manauatu Standard slates: fn the description ot the boat race at Wanganni by our special reporter, it was stated that though the oilicial statement .of Webb's advantage was from one and a half to two lengths, the impression gathered from the press boat was that it was nearer five or six lengths. This opinion is confirmed by one of the photographers stationed at the post, who stales that Tresiikler was so far behind tliat he did not come, within the scope of llic camera when Webb crossed the line. When to this is added Webb's course from the left to the right liank of the river, it is somewhat difficult to account for the oilicial flnding that Webb won by such a narrow margin. In his trip across the river Webli must -have rowed fully one hundred yards more than Tresidder. The oilicial time for the race was also much slower than several private watches made it.

One of the cadets al the Papakura camp has ha-d a unique honour conferred on him. The cadet referred to is Colour-Sergeant William Friar, of the Onelnmga High School, and a son of Mr. William Friar, indent agent, of Auckland. An invitation lias been issued by Lord Roberts, inviting cad?t rille shots from every part of thc Empire to journey to England, and spend a mouth as his guests, during which time they will shoot off for the Lady Gwendoline Guinness trophy. Colonel Lovcday has singled Colour-Sergeant Friar out as the best boy shot in New Zealand, and upon the Defence Department .sanctioning his selection he will be sent Home. The cadet to receive this honour lias twice been a member

of the Onelnmga team, which has carried oil the Ranfurly shield in the North Island, and has also won the cadet championship medal of the North Island, besides numerous trophies presented by Major Robb, the officer commanding the Ouelninga corps.

New 'Plymouth has been selected as the place in which to hold the fourth Biennial Movable Committee meeting of the New Zealand branch of the Manchester Unity of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, commencing on Faster Monday, April 20th. For some lime past a committee has )>ecn engaged in the work of making a-rrangenients for the meeting, and for thc titling entertainment of the delegates. The lodges in the New- Plymouth district (comprising the whole of Taranaki) have devoted a special levy as an entertainment fund, with the result Unit the

committee has been enabled to arrange an excellent programme. Most of the delegates will arrive on Good Friday evening, and the remainder on Saturday. On Saturday morning the visitors will Ih' driven round the town and suburbs, including the oil boring works and the Motnroa grading stores. In the

afternoon they will visit "Aotea," where afternoon tea is to be served. On tiio same evening, after the arrival of the mail train, there will be a civic reception and social, to which the Mayor and leading citizens will be invited. On Sunday a church parade will be held, and in the afternoon au open-air service in the Recreation Grounds. Southern lodges are making united efforts to secure special Simday trains to cnftble them to attend. For Easta- Monday there has been arranged a trip to Mount E'gmont, and the meeting, opens that night at 8 o'clock. Tuesday will be devoted tc J business, and in the evening the dele piles will attond the Loyal Excelaloi Txnlgc meeting. The conference re suiiies on Wednesday, and a banqne' will be held in the evening. Thursda; should see the close of the business' A notice to Druids in the advortisin columns invites all members of th Order to attend tho lodge-room in Rob street this evening, when the D.P. i to l>e installed, and a farewell socia tendered to Bro. Louis Bullet. Th Grand President will deliver an a<' dress.

Slightly damaged by water are some of the goods advertised in "The Kash" great sale hill accompanying this issue, but in the clothing the lining only is affected. This sale of theirs is li great opportunity to procure your men's and hoys' clothing at greatly reduced prices, as in many instances you get a reducion of Cs 8d in the pound. This will not he a prolonged sale, hut will only last l fourteen days, as they have to'make alterations in their premises on the 20th inst., and the sale will cense on that date, so he sure vou secure some of the ' bargains before tlia'f 'date, ;