Chapter IV · San Francisco After the Fire.

The great San Francisco fire was brought under control Friday, April 20, 1906. The Sunday following, the first step was taken toward getting the scattered Board of Supervisors together. George B. Keane, clerk of the board, is authority for the statement that the meeting place was in a room back of Supervisor McGushin’s saloon.[48] The ashes of the burned city were still hot; the average citizen was thinking only of the next meal and shelter for the night for himself and dependents. But the public-service corporations were even then active in furthering plans which had been temporarily dropped while San Francisco was burning.

At the McGushin-saloon meeting, Keane found with the Supervisors Mr. Frick of the law firm of Thomas, Gerstle & Frick. Mr. Frick was on hand to represent the petitioners for the Home Telephone franchise, which, at the time of the disaster was pending before the board.

For months previous to the fire, no subject affecting a San Francisco public-service corporation had, with the single exception of the United Railroads’ scheme for substituting electric for cable service, created more discussion than the Home Telephone application for franchise. There had been allegations that the progress which, previous to the fire, the Home Company had made toward securing its franchise, had been paid for,[49] but for weeks after the fire few citizens had time to think about it. The people forgot for the time the issues which had before the disaster divided the city. But the agents for the public-service corporations did not forget. We find a representative of the Home Telephone Company picking his way over the hot ashes of the burned city to McGushin’s saloon to meet the Supervisors that the interests of his company might be preserved. The developments of the graft prosecution indicate that even as the Home Company was seeking out the Supervisors, the United Railroads was getting into touch with Ruef.[50]

But if the corporations were quick to avail themselves of the situation to secure privileges denied them before the fire, they were also active in the work of rehabilitation—so far as such activity served their plans and purposes.

This was well illustrated by the course of the United Railroads. Within a fortnight after the fire, that corporation had established efficient service over a number of its electric lines. For a time, passengers were carried without charge. On April 29 and 30, however, fares were collected from men, but not from women and children. With the beginning of May, fares were collected from all persons. For a time, in a glare of much publicity, the United Railroads contributed these collections to the fund for the relief of the stricken city.

The Home Telephone Company had no plant to restore nor authority to establish one; but on Ruef’s suggestion it, too, contributed to the fund for the relief of the stricken city—$75,000.[51]

The United Railroads’ activity in restoring its electric roads, was in curious contrast to its failure to take advantage of the possibilities offered by its cable systems. As some excuse for this inactivity, the corporation’s representatives alleged that the cable slots had been closed by the earthquake, making restoration of the cable roads impractical.

The alleged closing of the slots was even used as argument against the conduit electric system.[52] But as a matter of fact, there were many to testify that the damage done the cable slots was not from the earthquake, although the slots in the burned district had been warped more or less by the heat of the fire. But this damage was easily remedied. On the Geary-street road, for example, cars were run for an hour or more after the earthquake. The fire warped the Geary-street cable slot, but this was easily and cheaply remedied by a force of men with cold chisels and hammers.[53]

Statements from officials of the United Railroads, now of record, indicate that the company’s cable lines suffered no greater damage than did other cable systems. An affidavit of Frank E. Sharon, for example, who before the fire was superintendent of cables and stables belonging to the United Railroads, made in the adjustment of fire losses sustained by that corporation, sets forth that the company’s principal cable power house and repair shops situate on Valencia street were damaged but little by the earthquake.[54] Although the buildings were damaged by the fire, the damage to the contents, including the machinery by which the cable cars were operated, was, according to statements made by the United Railroads in fire-loss adjustment, comparatively small. The company placed the sound value upon this machinery and contents, after the earthquake, but preceding the fire, at $70,308.80. The salvage was placed at $60,933.80, leaving a total fire loss of $9,375.[55]

The cable cars, with few exceptions, were saved. The most serious loss of cars was on the Powell-street system, where sixty-four were destroyed. Only one Valencia-street car was burned. After both earthquake and fire, the United Railroads had available at least 150 cable cars for its Market and Powell-street systems. This does not include the cable cars available on the Hayes and McAllister roads. The power-houses of these two last-named systems were not destroyed by fire. The allegation has been made that the McAllister-street cable was kept running for several hours after the earthquake.

But whatever the possibilities for the restoration of the United Railroads’ cable properties, no steps were taken toward that end. Instead, trolley wires were strung over the tracks of cable systems. Street-car service was one of the greatest needs of the first few weeks following the fire. Statements that cable properties could not be restored were generally believed; the trolley service was accepted as a matter of expediency; few thought, however, that it was to be permanent.[56]

Within two weeks after the fire, the United Railroads had trolley wires strung over the cable tracks on Market street. The little objection made to this course went unheeded. The Market-street trolley cars, two weeks after the fire, were as welcome to The People of San Francisco as were the temporary shacks which were being erected upon the sites of the old city’s finest buildings. Market-street trolley cars gave as sorely-needed transportation as the shacks gave needed shelter.

The opening of the Market-street trolley line was made subject for rejoicing throughout the city. In the midst of this good feeling toward his company, President Calhoun gave out that if allowed to place overhead wires on Sutter and Larkin streets, he would place 2,000 men at work and have both these lines in operation within thirty days.[57]

But the era of good feeling was not of long duration. On May 14, less than a month after the fire, the Supervisors received a communication signed by President Calhoun as President of the United Railroads, setting forth that if the board would permit the use on the cable lines of the standard electric system in use on the company’s other lines, the United Railroads would be glad to put all of their lines in commission as rapidly as could be accomplished by the most liberal expenditure of money and the largest possible employment of men.[58]

That very day, the Supervisors took the initial step toward granting to the United Railroads a blanket permit, authorizing that corporation to substitute the trolley system for all its cable lines.

Immediately, San Francisco’s opposition to the trolley system was revived. All classes joined in condemning the action of the board. The Sutter Street Improvement Club, representing large down-town interests and property holders, adopted resolutions demanding that the Supervisors refuse to grant the permit. The San Francisco Labor Council, representing over 100 affiliated unions, with a membership of more than 30,000 wage earners, declared as strongly against such action. The press charged the United Railroads with taking advantage of the city’s distress to force the trolley upon her.[59]

Then came explanations and defense. Mayor Schmitz in public interviews set forth that the proposed permit was not a permanent measure, nor under its provisions could the United Railroads indefinitely operate trolley cars in Market street.[60] The Labor Council which had at first adopted resolutions condemning the policy of granting the permit, adopted resolutions of confidence in the “present city administration.” President Calhoun himself solicited citizens to attend the meeting of the board at which a vote was to be taken on the proposed permit, to urge action favorable to the United Railroads.[61]

Long before the board met to take final action it was recognized that in spite of opposition the permit would be granted.[62] And it was granted. On May 21, the Supervisors passed the ordinance which gave the United Railroads authority to convert its cable systems, wherever grades would permit, into trolley lines. For this privilege, no money compensation, nor promise of compensation, was made the city.[63]

Demand that Mayor Schmitz veto the ordinance granting these extraordinary privileges followed. Nevertheless, the Mayor affixed his signature to the trolley permit-granting ordinance.

Fair expression of the feeling this action engendered will be found in the San Francisco papers of the latter part of May, 1906. “Mayor Eugene E. Schmitz,” said the Examiner, for example, “has betrayed the trust reposed in him by the people, violated his solemn pledge in favor of an underground conduit system, and joined Abe Ruef and the United Railroads in the shameless work of looting the city at the time of her greatest need.”

The Ruef-Schmitz administration protested at the criticism. The eighteen Supervisors, seventeen of whom were within a year to confess that they had accepted bribes and all of whom were to be involved in the scandal, joined in a letter[64] to the Examiner, announcing that such criticism was unwarranted, and injured the city. The letter contained veiled threat that questioning of the Supervisors’ motives would not be tolerated. The threat, however, intimidated nobody. Criticism of Ruef and the administration continued.

But in spite of the hostility toward him, Ruef controlled the San Francisco delegates who were named that year to attend the Republican State convention. The convention met at Santa Cruz. Ruef held the balance of power. He was the most sought man there. He had the nomination for Governor in his hands. He gave it to James N. Gillett.[65]

While the convention was in session, a dinner was given the State leaders of the Republican party at the home of Major Frank McLaughlin, then Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee. Ruef was one of the select few present. A flash-light picture of that banquet board shows him seated in the place of honor at the center of the table, the remaining guests with the exception of the host, McLaughlin, who is seated at Ruef’s side, standing.

At Ruef’s back stands James N. Gillett, who had just received, with Ruef’s assistance, the party nomination for Governor, his hand resting upon Ruef’s shoulder. Others in this flash-light group are George Hatton, political manipulator, whose connection with the 1905 mayoralty campaign in San Francisco has already been noted; J. W. McKinley, head of the Southern Pacific Law Department at Los Angeles, who was chairman of the convention; Rudolph Herold, a politician prominent in the counsels of the old “Southern Pacific machine”; Justice F. W. Henshaw of the California Supreme Bench, who was nominated at the convention for re-election;[66] Walter F. Parker, political agent for the Southern Pacific Company; Warren R. Porter, who had just received the nomination for Lieutenant-Governor; Congressman J. R. Knowland, prominent in the counsels of the “machine” that at the time dominated the State, and Judge F. H. Kerrigan of the Appellate Bench, whose decision in favor of the Southern Pacific Company while on the Superior Bench, in the so-called San Joaquin Valley railroad rate case, made him a conspicuous figure in California public life.[67]

The group represented the most effective forces at the time in California politics. Ruef, at the Santa Cruz convention, reached the height of his power. He left Santa Cruz planning a State organization that would make him as great a factor in State politics as he was at the metropolis.

But on his return to San Francisco, Ruef found himself harassed by criticism and beset by opposition. At every point in the municipal administration, with the exception of the District Attorney’s office, was suggestion of graft and incompetency. The police department could not, or would not, control the criminal element. Merchants, in the middle of the day, were struck down at their places of business and robbed. Several were fatally injured in such attacks, being found dying and even dead behind their counters. Street robberies were of daily occurrence.

In the acres of ash-strewn ruins, was junk worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The police seemed utterly powerless to protect this property. It became the loot of unchecked bands of thieves.

A reign of terror prevailed. Citizens feared to appear on the streets at night. Merchants charged that their business was seriously injured by these conditions. On all sides, blame was placed upon the Schmitz administration which Ruef was known to control.[68]

Then again, Ruef’s toll from the tolerated gambling, saloon and social evil interests was getting too heavy for his own safety.[69] The public was given hint of this when the newspapers quoted George Renner, a prominent businessman, as asserting that a liquor license could be secured if the applicant “put the matter into Ruef’s hands and paid a fat little fee.” Ruef, in his reply, stated that the liquor people were nuisances anyhow. Ruef had long acted as attorney for the California Liquor Dealers’ Association. The Association, after Ruef’s flippant characterization of the liquor people, boldly dispensed with his services and employed another attorney, Herbert Choynski, in his stead. Choynski made no effort to placate Ruef. On the contrary, he gave out interviews to the press charging that Ruef had received $500,000 for the trolley permit, and that each Supervisor had been given $4000 or $5000 for his vote.

This story was given some credit, although few realized the amount of truth it contained.

The Supervisors were spending money freely. Men, who in private life had earned less than $100 a month, and as Supervisors were receiving only that amount, gave evidence of being generously supplied with funds. Supervisor Coffey, a hack driver, took a trip to Chicago. Lonergan, driver of a delivery wagon, announced plans for a tour of Ireland with his wife and children. Wilson planned a trip through the Eastern States. The official head of the administration, Mayor Schmitz, left on a trip to Europe, leaving Supervisor Gallagher as acting Mayor.[70] Reports printed in San Francisco papers of Schmitz, the orchestra player, as guest of the most expensive European hotels, did not tend to lessen the opposition to the administration.

The general dissatisfaction with the administration finally found expression in a mass meeting intended to inaugurate a movement to rid the community of Ruef’s influence.[71] The meeting was called in the name of various promotion associations and improvement clubs. It was to have been held in the rooms of the California Promotion Association, a temporary shack that had been erected in Union Square, a public park in the business district. But the crowd which gathered was so great that the meeting had to be held in the park itself.

When the committee in charge met to complete final preparations, preliminary to calling the meeting to order, Ruef and Acting Mayor Gallagher, with astonishing assurance, appeared before the committee and offered their co-operation in the work in hand. Their presence does not appear to have been welcome. Nevertheless, before the resolutions which the committee had under consideration were read before the crowd, all harsh references to Ruef and the municipal administration had been expurgated. In effect, the expurgated resolutions called upon commercial organizations, clubs, labor unions and similar bodies to form a committee of 100 for public safety.

In the meeting which followed the expurgation of the resolutions, the organizers of the movement lost control. Their counsel was for moderation in a situation where all elements were at work.

The crowd was made up of Ruef claquers who shouted everybody down; members of Labor Unions who had been led to believe that the purpose of the gathering was to break down the unions; and of radicals who were for proceeding immediately to clean up the town. Those responsible for the gathering appeared appalled at its magnitude, and showed themselves unable to cope with the situation.

William A. Doble presided. Samuel M. Shortridge, an attorney who was to play a prominent part in the graft trials, stood at Doble’s side and acted as a sort of director of the proceedings. The expurgated resolutions were read by the President of the Merchants’ Association, E. R. Lillienthal. The ayes were called for and the resolutions declared to have been adopted. The next moment announcement was made that the meeting stood adjourned.

An angry demonstration followed. The people had met to discuss lawlessness. They refused to be put off. The adjourned meeting refused to adjourn. There were cries of Drive Ruef out of Town. One speaker, A. B. Truman, denounced Ruef as a grafter. For the moment an outbreak seemed imminent. At this crisis, Acting Mayor Gallagher appeared.

“I would suggest,” he announced,[72] “that you disperse to your respective homes.”

Citizens who did not care to participate in what threatened to become a riot began leaving the park. But Ruef’s henchmen did not leave.

Ruef, who had cowered in fright when the crowd was denouncing him, was concealed in a room in the so-called Little St. Francis Hotel, which after the fire had been erected in Union Square Park. From his hiding place he could see the crowd without being seen. At the right time, he appeared on the steps of the building which were used for the speaker’s stand. His followers, now in a majority, cheered him wildly. The next moment, Ruef was in control of the meeting which had been called to protest against the conditions in San Francisco, for which the administration, of which he was the recognized head, was held to be accountable.[73] The first serious attempt to oust Ruef from his dictatorship had failed.

But while the protestants against prevailing conditions were hot with the disappointments of this failure, District Attorney Langdon issued a statement that he had determined to seize the opportunity presented by the impanelment of a new Grand Jury to inaugurate a systematic and thorough investigation into charges of official graft and malfeasance in office. To assist in this work, he announced, Francis J. Heney had been requested to become a regular deputy in the District Attorney’s office, and had accepted. That the investigation might not be handicapped by lack of funds, Mr. Langdon stated Rudolph Spreckels had guaranteed that he would personally undertake the collection from public-spirited citizens of a fund to provide for the expenses necessary to make the investigation thorough.[74] It became known that William J. Burns, who had been associated with Heney in the Oregon land-fraud cases, had been retained to direct the investigation, and that for several months his agents had been quietly at work.

The effect of these announcements was immediate. All talk of “vigilante committee” and “lynching” ceased. The case of The People of San Francisco vs. the Schmitz-Ruef Administration was to be presented in an orderly way in the courts.

And the united press of San Francisco, legitimate business interests, and a great majority of the people welcomed the alternative.