The " grafters " of San Francisco have confessed to
a shocking system of corruption which surpasses even the revelations already made. The members of the Board of Supervisors have all admitted having accepted large bribes from trading companies. The United Railroads Company, which owns almost all the street-lines in San Francisco, paid 28,000 to each supervisor, and 280,000 to Mayor Schmitz and " Boss " Ruef, for the privilege of substituting the overhead trolley system for cable-lines after the earthquake. A telephone company paid ten aupervisors 21,000 each; another telephone company paid ten supervisors 2700 each, seven supervisors 21,200 each, and Schmitz and Ruef about 230,000. The Prize Fight Trust paid the supervisors 2100 each, and Schmitz and Ruef 22,000. So the list goes on_ An attempt is being made to prosecute the bribers as well as the bribed. The grand jury have returned indictments against "Boss" Ruef, who is under arrest at his hotel, on sixty-five counts. The New York correspondent of the Times says that the Federal Government practically sent Mr. Heney to San Francisco to organise the prosecution. In other words, the investigations of corruption have been directly aided by Mr. Roosevelt himself. This has been long known to some people, but they kept the secret.
