Note 447 — Chapter XXVII · The San Francisco Election of 1909.

The Union Trust Company loaned $175,000 to the Calkins’ Syndicate, which published papers in opposition to the prosecution. For the curious circumstances under which the loan was made, see footnote 275, page 257. The Union Trust Company officials were among the most effective opponents of the prosecution, and most persistent in circulating the story that the prosecution hurt business. The head of the institution, I. W. Hellman, Sr., returning early in August from a trip to Europe, when the 1909 campaign was opening, said in an interview, published in the Chronicle, August 4, 1909: “In New York I found that there is still a great difficulty in securing capital for San Francisco on account of the Graft Prosecution, or the ‘graft persecution,’ as they call it there. Of course, I do not know what changes have occurred in the situation here since I left six months ago, but I had an interview with certain people In New York and I found that they were unwilling to send capital here as long as this ‘graft persecution’ was continued.”