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San Francisco vs. The
Sand-Lot
The Sand-lot agitation has gone beyond a joke. It has become a serious matter,
and the sooner we look it gravely and steadfastly in the face the better for all
of us. We have been accustomed—both newspapers and individuals—to treat the
agitation as of no importance, as something to be laughed at, and allowed to run
at its own sweet will. In one sense we ere right, for, truly, a more absurd and
farcical exhibition than the Sand-lot has entertained us with never served to
amuse a good tempered community. But, in another and more pertinent sense, we
have done egregiously wrong; for by our lenient, not to say jocular, way of
looking at an evil which in any other country would have been nipped in the bud,
we have encouraged and advertised a side show which has now become a nuisance
that only force can abate. It is all very well to have a pet serpent to play
with; but to coddle the reptile till it grows strong enough to strangle you,
unless you strangle it, is a dangerous whim to humor. We do not mean to imply by
this that the so-called Workingmen have actually grown, or are in danger of
growing, too strong for the peaceable and law-abiding portion of the community.
On the contrary, we recognize the fact they comprise, at the most, but one and a
half per cent of our population. The peril does not lie in their actual power,
physical or moral, present or prospective. It lies in the fact that, by
tolerating their incendiary, seditious and bloodthirsty threats—vapid and
meaningless though we know them to be—we convey the impression, both at home and
abroad, that we who put up with these things are in the minority, and that
ruffianism rules the roost in California. Under a mistaken notion of what true
liberty consists in, we have permitted a handful of unprincipled and ignorant
men to threaten murder, arson and pillage; to openly defy our laws, and make
others to suit themselves; to insult our State and city authorities, and to slap
us all in the face with impunity. Because we set great value on freedom of
speech we have patiently, aye even smilingly, listened to treasonable and
insolent tirades which, in any other community, would have called for swift and
severe chastisement. Herein we have made a very grievous mistake. If we can
afford to laugh at the Sand-lotters, we can not afford to let others laugh at us
for doing so. We may feel never so confident in our ability to protect ourselves
and others entitled to our protection, but if we do not make use of this ability
at a time like the present, we shall not be credited with possessing it. It
cannot be denied that the disgraceful agitation now raging in California has
depressed business, shaken confidence, driven home capital away from the State,
and kept foreign capital out of it. If, with these evils before our eyes, we
still persist in tolerating the nuisance that has created them, we must not
wonder that we are believed to be unable to take care of our own interests and
uphold our own dignity. Acting under this very justifiable belief, the great
Eastern journals are now beginning to talk about Federal interferences in our
behalf. A pretty page that would be in California’s history, whereon it was
recorded that she was obliged to call upon the Federal authorities for the
maintenance of law and order within her borders! But we are convinced that this
page will never be written. San Francisco is the center of the trouble, and San
Francisco has on several former occasions proved quite able to take care of
herself. We have no doubt that she will be equal to the emergency again. But
this we would once more impress upon our citizens: The mere consciousness of
power will not save your credit abroad; you must use your power, and that firmly
and promptly. When a party of lawless vagabonds are buying weapons and
threatening the use of dynamite in our midst, it is high time for vigorous
measures to be adopted.
San Francisco News Letter and California Advertiser
February 28, 1880
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