Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • Page 54

WILL THOSE WHO TAKE UP CUDGELS FOR BROOKIIART OF IOWA COME OUT FOR SUBSIDY PLAN FOR AGRICULTURALAID? FRESNO RECALLS THE DAYS OF THE BICYCLE MAIL," A LATER RIVAL IN ROMANTIC INTEREST, TO THE FAMOUS PONY EXPRESS. which seems to have unending possibilities. I have a number of campaign documents from the candidates. One from Judge Clarke's headquarters in Los Angeles, says the Iowa election forecasts a "progressive victory in California." Then there is this: "It indicates to mv mind a sweep1 of political SAN FRANCISCO, June 12. More than a little amusement Is caused in the state by the statement of Judge Robert Clarke, candidate for the Senate, and by nis more evident supporters, that the victory of Brookhart in the Iowa primaries "was because of the latter" stand in the world naturally have the bureau man's attitude favor lng the Government wh6n an appeal Is made.

It Is pointed out Commissioner Albert E. James and A. Graupner, 'the only two not reeoni mended by Commissioner Blair for reappoint-mentare the men who passed on the highest number of appeals, and led the rest in the num ber of cases decided against therTreasury In behalf of the appealing taxpayers. A That Is enough to start the discussion. It has already started opposition at Washington to the plan to have the Treasury recommend appointments to the board.

The Bicycle Mail They are regarded as picturesque days, now, a part of the history of California those days of the railroad strike, of 1894 when this state was cut off from the rest of the nation for a period of three weeks. In Fresno Charles L. ens. With one thing after another there Is little chance, for the party to work for a concentration of strength upon any favored son. Yellowstone Kelly's Book "It may be going a bit far to say that Yellowstone Kelly was as great as Crockett or perhaps It Is better to classify him as just a real good scout." Thus the literary critic In the New York Times sums tip impressions gained from reading the frontier chronicles of Luther S.

Kelly of California. Not long ago it was brought to my attention that this old plainsman was writing a book and I passed the word along. The book is now out, the story of Kelly's adventures from the age of 16 to 86, in Montana and Wyoming, on the trail of the Redskins, pushing over the plains, trapping, shooting scouting. Kelly, who has been compared to Boone and Crockett, does not take the comparisons seriously although there are many grounds for Its making. He admits he ence of opinions as to how the money for this work may be best secured.

Some are In favor of a direct appropriation from the State's General Fund; others prefer an additional tax exclusively for new construction; all seem to agree that with an increasing highway mileage, our present gas tax is needed for reconstruct tionrrnalntenance and here is a more definite Indication of Young's position regarding the southern petition which would designate certain highways as primary, and give most of the new roads to those counties of largest population. "While it is unquestionably proper that th'e expenditure for rods of local character should be proportioned largely to the population or taxable property or automobile registration of districts affected, it Is equally true that the completion of our main, primary trunk lines is our first consideration, and should be a charge against the state as a whole. There is not a foot of those trunk lines which bring into the state our visitors from now, these leaders who a few weeks ago were insisting so strongly they were Administration supporters. I am reminded of a recent cartoon, drawn in Rrookharfs Iowa. It showed the old-fashioned political leader, leading the crowd to the heights, and the newer "leader" standing behind the crowd, looking to see in way the majority was going.

What of the "Issues" Reactions to the Richardson announcement were about as expected, The large number of papers throughput the state which are for the Governor united in declaring that he had spiked a number of guns and displayed wisdom by holding the fight on the old lines of efficiency atjia economy, with enforcement of the law, and say that the business administration of the Governor is the largest and strongest appeal to the people. Opponents of the administration deplored the fact no more issues were listed, possibly that they might have the opportunity to argue, but are calling attention to the facP court-issue Clarkeis--Tn1neraMe-iin-th point that every time the world court is mentioned his recent flip-flop and argument with Walter Lineberger, rival candidate, are accentuated. The argument, it will be remembered, was whether the Clarke flip-flop was that or a somersault and whether Lineberger had not also executed an agMe back handspring. The issue in Iowa was farm relief and. so far, Clarke has neglected to say whethej? or not he favors a subsidy upon agriculture such as Brookhart, recipient of his 'commendations; supports.

In view of the fact Clarke has taken up the cudgels for Brookhart, it is likely some of the fartners will be asking him for his position upon the subsidy proposal for farm relief. The reactions of the two candidates who are opposing Senator Shortridge in the Senatorial race to the primaries in Iowa are also regarded as illuminating in view of their earlier declarations that they were to counted upon as firm supporters of the Administration. Lineberger characterized it as ridiculous to intimate he was anything else and Clarke set himself on record. A little off the subject, but politicians are noting that Senator Borah, who has sometimes been called an insurgent and sometimes an irreconcilable, has. waved his hat before the dry and is beiag called as aspirant for their support before the next Republican national convention.

More Flip-FIop Talk The 'flip-flop" and-the are now matters of record in the Senatorial contest for the exchange of personalities between Judge Robert Clarke and Congressman Walter Lineberger have put them into campaign documents. It is noticeable that each Candidate has paid attention to the fact that voters are commenting on his apparent change of views concerning the world court question, Judge Clarke in particular. "It may be that I have turned a flip-flop or a- handspring," said Clarke of Lineberger, ''but I submit my military friend from Long BeaYh turned a somersault." As a matter of official fact, Mr. Lineberger is officially recorded in the Congressional Record of March 3, 192o, as voting in support of a House resolution declaring it to be the sense of the House 1 of Representatives that the United States should adhere to the world court." Despite this, Lineberger says he has not flip-flopied and will Indict his opponents when they may be shown so to have done. Specifically he charges Clarke with the acrobatic feat The two opponents of Senator Shortridge, each claiming the world court issue, are having a busy time designating each other as cartwheel experts, the difference being that Clarke admits it.

In a statement issued this week Lineberger. declares hat" the fight is to be a good one. and he will win if his friends deliver the support they have pledged. He says Shortridge is his main oppo-' nent and he will have no trouble beating Clarke. yy i ttj.

i tu. was TOunumw was so iar pnneu grounuiesj J.i 1 J1 I as re proiessor is still maintaining he is in the race. Recalls Old Days "Oh, for the days of the oratorical campaigns, when men delivered themselves "of fulsome sentences, well-packed with invective, and when logic was thrown to the winds that eloquence might hold full sway," This complaint will be Bounded no more' if the publicity bureaus of the candidates warm up to their tasks, for some are already off to a good start. There is this from the Lineberger headquarters: "Too long has the body politic been bedevilled by the pestiferous brood of lawyer-politicians forever busy, with Utile schemes smelling of the chicanery of the courts and endlessly hatching a complexity of verbosely obscure And that; as they used to say'-is a mouthful." Here and There In commenting upon the California political situation the other day the Washington Htar listed Uncle Jimmy Hyde of Palo Alto, candidate for the. Senate, as a "wet" and added, "but it is not believed his candidacy will influence the results." Answering echoes are now reverberating across he mountains and plains.

Hyde dot-s not mind the insinuation, his candidacy will not figure largely, but is completely flabbwgasW'd to think anyone would call him a wet. In a speech at Palo Alto the other day, he said thatconsidering the methods of selecting enforcement-Officers-, 'It is no less than a miracle the country is as dry as it is. On the wet and dry subject, there is a good chance a petition will be circulated asking the repeal of the Wright Act. Police Judge Matt Sullivan of this city called a meeting this week and: explained the proposal which will require 80,000 signatures within the next thirty days if it is to go on the ballot. And if it does we are In for another season dedicated to an argument Palmer recalls the bicycle express which put into operation by Arthur C.

BanTaand tells of riders "pedaling their way across the hot, barren sands of the San Joaquin valley wading creeks, with their clothes off, for there were no bridges except at Whites Bridge, and their bicycles and mall hPhigh above their heads." The bicycle mafwas started to give Fresno communication -with San Francisco. Banta, who originated the idea, ran a bicycle shop and was also interested in stamp collecting. One of the first things he did was print and issue a special stamp bearing the words: U. Strike, 1894, Fresno-San Francisco Bicycle Mail Service, 25 cents." It carries a design of a cyclist crossing the valley, with sagebrush in the foreground and mountains In the back. The strike did not last long and th bicycle mall went out, but Banta haoTiis stamps, which are recognized by collectors the world over.

It Is said that one of them, on the original envelope, commands a high premium and it is further related that an error in printing was responsible for two issues. The first, with San Francisco spelled "San Fran-sisco" sells to collectors for twice the sum of the other. Rial to Gossip The self-styled sages of our local Rialto have at last been furnished with some subject matter for conjecture and exaggeration. Henry Duffy, who has been rolling along on high for several years, now has suddenly felt the sharp pangs of failure twice in the His project for rehabilitating the Casino with Walter Catlett proved a dismal venture and I am told he lost in the neighborhood of his scheme for providing Oakland with his type of dramatic stock through the medium of "The Gorilla" at your old Orpheum, also failed of its purpose. But I cannot see in either of these -cases any of the hall-marks of general decline on Duffy's part rather do I feel that it is proof positive that his previous successes have been based on good judgment rathef thanood luck and that the law of averages operated according to Hoyle.

In connection with Catlett, I am tqld an' interesting -story. It appears that when Catlett wp engaged to return to his home-town, so to speak, it was at the handsome salary he is now accustomed to receive and for a certain number of weeks. When it was patent that either he or the play was not going to be a sufficient box-office draw to insure continuance he went to Duffy with a suggestion that the'-little red-headed manager be released of his obligation. Naturally Duffy took advantage of the offer and it would seem that Catlett's bread cast upon the waters returned speedily for he was forthwith, offered a position in another, musical comedy that is headed east and gives promise of success in Nework. Changes Her Mind The climate of California, evidently, has proved its curative values to Mrs.

Leslie Carter who, you will remember, announced some weeks ago she was coming hee to die. At that time I predicted a few days of our sunshine would alter her moodlTnd nowy already, it is revealed she is busily-engaged writing a play with. John Cotton as collaborator. It will have an OrientaTmotive, perhaps like that of the "Shanghai Gesture" and Mrs. Carter- believes she is on the trail to new fame.

So enthusiastic is she she says she now intends to live until she is at least one hundred and fifty. The earlier and pessimistic announcement came while the actress was suffering an infected finger and grieving over the loss of a pet dog, Bret Harte's Grave At Framley, ifl the south of England, a red granite cross cut on a polished block, and close to the red brick wall of a churchyard, marks the grave of Bret Harte of California. Arthur Woodward, who describes in the Boston Transcript a "pilgrimage" made by him to the grave of the writer of mining stories, says: "Bret Harte is buried in the midst of the military camp landof England jn a world of wild heath-lands "and pine forests' that have their kinship at least, with the foothills of California." On the stone is thjs inscription "Bret Harte August 25, mO, May 5, 1902 'Death Shall Reap the Braver Harvest'." THE KNAVE. was not a great marksman although the record shows he generally hit what he" was shooting at; he says he was not a great horseman and yet he volunteered to ride a wild mustang and carry the mail across the terrifying stretches of wilderness with bad Indians all around. He never boasts, never pretends to remember dates when they have slipped his mind, but fills his pages with vivid pictures, true western adventure.

He remembers whether he camped under cqt-tonwoods or pine trees he remembers that one morning when he put strychnine in a buffalo carcass he found the bodies of twenty-two wolves, which he skinned for their pelts. And he tells of the meals on the trail in the Yellowstone, even of a "mulligan" served by an Indian which proved to be made of dog. Yellowstone Kelly, now a resident of California, has set down lively incidents from an eventful life General Custer's Widow This month will bring the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Little Big" Horn and then will assemble at Hardin, Montana, men and women from all parts of the Northwest. They will come in all sorts of ways, on foot and on horse, in automobiles and, some, in the covered wagons of old and among those who will greet them will be a niece of General Custer. It Is perhaps not generally known that General Custer's widow, Mrs.

Elizabeth Custer, is living in New York "an erecjt little figure," woman whose "soft white curls frame a face of singular gentleness and charm." She has been interviewed on the subject of the coming celebration and has expressed her regret that she will not be able to attend. She would wish to see so many people, she says, and could not refuse any of the visitors, that her strength woirid fail. Mrs. Custer relates the stories of tile old days and holds that one of the most inters esting features of the coming festivities will be the participation of the Indians. Some will her as the widow of the general and others as the.

author of "Boots and Saddles." John D. Spreckels The passing of John D. Spreckels, the "man who made San Diego," recalls to many his activ ities here and elsewhere before he was interested in the development of the southern city. He was educated here and in Oakland and it was in San Francisco that he first felt his legs under him as a figure in finance. While he inherited a fortune, he inherited, too, the thrift of his father and ability to make money.

It is said that whenever one of his large projects was losing money-and it was not often another was picking it up in a way more than to make up the loss. The newspaper venture in San Francisco was perhaps the most conspicuous of the comparatively few ventures which did not return profits, but even then the building erected to house that paper proved a good Why Spreckels was able to make his newspaper ideas register in San Diego and not in' San Francisco is a subject frequently debated in and out of the profession. In the San Joaquin it is recalled that. John D. Spreckels, with his father and brother Adolph were mainly responsible for the building of the "Valley road" as the line of rails which later was purchased by the Santa Fe was called.

The first engine was named the Claus Spreckels. The incorporators (who raised half the money needed at a meeting in Spreckels' office and in thirty minutes)' said they out to rescue California from the clutches of a single railroad which had had things too much -its own way. That meeting was held in 1895. Tax Board Discussion The fact Judge A. E.

Graupner of this city is among those mentioned as a possibility to succeed the late Judge Partridge on the Federal bench is keeping to the fore the discussion over Graupner "retirement" "from the Federal Tax Board of Appeals. As I get it that board is becoming something like a thorn in the side the Administration inasmuch as the recent appointments are said to have been suggested by the Treasury Departmen appeals from whose rulings the board is charged with settling. Nine of the sixteen members, it is said, are former employees of the Treasury Department and the criticism is that they abroad, not equally important to every portion of the state." In a single paragraph, thenare arguments for each of the initiatives to be proposed. It is on these two considerations that most of the differences rest. Another point not mentioned concerns places of scenic attraction.

Is it important that they be made acces- Sobd roads' regardless of the popnla tion of the counties through which those roads may run? 1 Democrats on Edge The Democrats are still a bit.ou edge, un certain as to which way to turn and may be said to be waiting on two events which should shape the party's fortunes this year. One of these is the return of former Senator James D. Phelan, who is reported en route home from Europe and incidentally at an earlier date than had been expected, and the other is the meeting in Fresno next Saturday of the statewide committee named by David S. Ewing of that city, 'who chairman of. the Democratic conference at Santa Cruz last month.

Authorization of this committee by the Santa Cruz gathering was supposed to pave the way to another state confab of the party before the primary, but at the same time the committee's decisions were left subject to ratification by the second conference, if held. But if the com- I mittee decides to call another conference, it will have to ignore thatXparticular limitation of its powers. As I get i the-Committee is likely to shy at the business of endorsements, but until a hands-off policy is announced, there will be hope among the party leaders that some agreement can be reached on a strong ticket It is likely, too, that endorsements will be deferred gets home. Lewis Bying-ton, our former district attorney and prominent Native Son, made a move to get an endorsement for Phelan for Governor at the Santa Cruz meeting. ShrewdmanipulatiQa, having killed that off, as far as action by the conference was concerned, it has not shown any signs of a rebound.

In the meanwhile, I hear considerable talk that Byington would command formidable support were his boom to be launched. It is pointed out that he has un usual elements of strength and in the peculiar situation the Republicans are apt to find themselves after-the bitter primary campaign, Byington would draw, heavily from the support' of the defeated Republican candidates. And San Francisco, of course, couldbe counted, say his boosters, to rally to his banner with a heavy vote. Phelan Hurries Home The news that former Senator James D. Phelan has cut his European trip short and is on his way liome has stirred up the Democrats again and just at a moment when they were decided that the time had arrived for presenting a full field of in the various state contests.

Is Phelan coming back to toss a hat or spike a gun? Will he admit a willingness to run for Governor or for Senator, or is he going to impress uponhis fellow pprty members what mails and cables have so far failed to impress, a determination to remain out of office? There is one. group of Democrats convinced that Phelan will not, under any circumstances, give, ear to requests that he run for the Senate. It is recalled he has expressed himself as wishing to live inTtali- f-fornia and it is recalled, too, he has said he was through with active participation in politics. So is there a group which gives it out, as if upon Information, that the former Senator does not wish to be Governor, or try to be Governor and could not be drawn into the race ith a team of horses. And there you are.

Nevertheless, the news of his forthcoming re-turny jn time to mix in the primaries if he wishes, has created excitement. For one thing, if he were, to run for the Senate, he would upset of those little conferences which have dealt npt only in qualifications for statesmanship but those of geography. Phelan is of the North and a considerable group of Democrats believe the nominee of the party should come from the South. That is why they talk of Isador DockweilerWillfaoi Kettner, and Jess Steph that Richardson has promised more statements. To C.

C.Toung, the executive's message was incomplete because it did not mention Boulder Dam which brings up the question Just what has Boulder Dam to do with a state gubernatorial campaign? If the Governor were determined to state only the main planks of his platform in his initial message he may well have figured that Boulder Dam, something in which a Governor hits nothing to say, was unnecessary. The same may be said of the "wet and drv" argument. AVhat can anvone sav of Boulder Dam, asks the Fresno Republican, which would affect his course, were he elected governor? "If Mr. Young wants the state to build the dam and the development works, there is" a state full of newspaper correspondents waiting to hear him say so." Of course, he doesn't. He wants the Government to build the dam, just as do the rest of the candidates, but talk on the subject is designed to "listen well" in the South, and if it can be made to sound like a pertinent issue in this campaign, which it is not, so much the better.

In this connection it may be said the Governor's delav in announcing his candidacy has shown his wisdom. He has given the opposition plenty of time to cast about for "issues," first one thing and then another, and then has swept aside the hfgh-so'unding phrases with a declaration for the fundamental principles of a busi- ness administration. Sanford Starts Something When J. B. Sanford, president of the Press League, suggested that Democrats' register as Republicans to help elect Richardson Governor, he started something and, doubtless, was aware he would.

From all the Democratic strongholds come loud voices of protest and Sanford is being taken to task. And yet from the offices of the county registrars comes show tbat Democrats arere-isterinff as Republicans or, like the dodo, are in many localities becoming extinct. Sanford said that 85 per cent of' the Democratic papers are for Richardson and suggested that the registration be made to allow them and oilier Democrats to express their choice. It was, of course, the sort of thing to start a fuss. Down in Bakersfield the Cjjlifornian says: "Politics is like warfare and real warfare they have a firing Squad for those who go in disguise within the lines of the enemy." And that is about the hottest re--tort we have seen.

Young on Highways In his speech before the United States Good Roads Association at Santa Monica the other day, Lieutenant-Governor C. C. Young recommended to that part of the state the action taken by jortions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in forming a municipal water district. The Lieutenant-Governor places water conser-, vation and distribution, forest conservation, and completion of the highway system as the three great problems as to material resources confronting the'sTifte for solution. reviewed the history of highway building in California, and ended by saying: not misunderstand me to say we have a poor highway system.

It is really wonderfully good one of the best in the Union." When it came to the question of financing the program for the" future there were many in the audience who looked for an expression, one way or another, on one of the proposals advanced. Perhaps this was not the place for such an opinion, but this is how the Lieutenant-Governor handled the subject: ''Although our people seem unanimously agreed that our road building program should be pushed forward to completion, and although it is also generally agreed that this is a program which will require some twelve years to fully work out, there is a rather sharp differ i 5T glNl'l-EB MMIIIIj.