The citizens saw
their money squandered and their public improvements lagging. It
took twenty-five years to complete the City Hall, at a cost of
$5,500,000. An official of the Citizens' Non-partizan party, in
1895, said: "There is no city in the Union with a quarter of a
million people, which would not be the better for a little
judicious hanging."
The repeated attempts made by citizens of San Francisco to get a
new charter finally succeeded, and in 1900 the city hopefully
entered a new epoch under a charter of its own making which
contained several radical changes. Executive responsibility was
centered in the mayor, fortified by a comprehensive civil
service. The foundations were laid for municipal ownership of
public utilities, and the initiative and referendum were adopted
for all public franchises. The legislative power was vested in a
board of eighteen supervisors elected at large.
No other American city so dramatically represents the futility of
basing political optimism on a mere plan. It was only a step from
the mediocrity enthroned by the first election under the new
charter to the gross inefficiency and corruption of a new ring,
under a new boss. A Grand Jury (called the "Andrews Jury") made a
report indicating that the administration was trafficking in
favors sold to gamblers, prize-fighters, criminals, and the whole
gamut of the underworld; that illegal profits were being reaped
from illegal contracts, and that every branch of the executive
department was honeycombed with corruption.
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