THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1907. CORRUPTION IN SAN FRANCISCO.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8440, 14 May 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1907. CORRUPTION IN SAN FRANCISCO.

The game is up for the San Francisco "grafters." The members of the Board of Supervisors, the legislative body, have all confessed in order to save themselves, and the story they tell is even more amazing than the previous revelations. The supervisors confess that the United Railroads Company, which owns practically all the street railway lines in San Francisco, paid to each supervisor £B,OOO, and to Mayor Schmitz and "Boss" Ruef £BO,OOO. This was for the privilege of substituting the overhead trolley system for cable lines after the earthquake. The Pacific States Telephone Company paid ten supervisors £I,OOO each. The Home Telephone Company paid ten supervisors £7OO each, seven supervisors £1,200 each, and Ruef and Schmitz about £30,000. The San Francisco Gas and Electric Company paid the supervisors £l5O each. The Prize Fight Trust paid the supervisors £IOO each, and Ruef and Schmitz £2,000. According to the confesisons of the supervisors, the money for Ruef and Schmitz was all paid to the "boss," who divided it with the

Mayor. Ruef is said to be willing to confess, but to want- a promise of complete immunity, which the prosecution refuses to grant. All the supervisors are to resign, and Schmitz will be allowed to remain in office until a new board, composed of honest men, is appointed. The prosecution, in addition to endeavouring to obtain the conviction of Ruef and Schmitz, will try to have the heads of the corporations which are accused of bribing officials indicted and sentenced. They prominent business men in the city. There is no doubt that President Roosevelt has taken more than a mere interest in the prosecution of the San Francisco "grafters." The Federal Government practically lent Mr Heney, the chief prosecuting officer, to San Francisco. He is one of the ablest lawyers in the Federal service, and was given a year's leave of absence in order that he might be appointed Assistant District Attorney of San Francisco. This was after the leaders in the fight against Ruef and Schmitz had called i on the President at .Washington and obtained his co-operation. Mr Burns, the detective who secured most of the evidence against the "grafters/' was also a Federal officer. These facts have long been known in San Francisco, but the persons aware of them kept quiet. It must have been highly embarrassing for the President, when Mr Schmitz placed himself at the head of the delegation which conferred with Mr Roosevelt on the Japanese question. Mr Roosevelt's invitation was not to Mr Schmitz, but to the Board of Education. One American paper aays that the San Francisco revelations are the most appalling and discouraging in the history of the United States.