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Transit has been one of his biggest headaches. Last week's strike was typical. The trolleymen's wages were fixed in the spring by the city's supervisors and, according to the city charter, would have to stand for one year. The trolleymen argued that Lapham should declare an emergency and boost their wages by edict. Although he saw some justice in their wage demands, he refused to jump through that legal loophole.
After four days of strike and profane telephone calls to Lapham's listed home number, the trolleymen went back to work. This week the brakemen on the cable cars were once again clanging "shave-and-a-haircut" up & down Nob Hill.
Lapham has restored the confidence of San Franciscans in city government. Handsome, black-bearded Eugene Schmitz left an odor behind him that 19 years of Rolph and twelve years of Florist Rossi, honest as they were, never quite dispelled. Even Lapham's loudest critics admit his courage and integrity, and agree that he has raised the mayoralty to a high plane. Lapham himself is waiting for the voters' decision on July 16 with considerable suspense. He takes pride in his job. He wants more than anything else to go on serving San Francisco until the end of his full term.
New Faces, Old Roles. Amidst this latest fracas in City Hall and the troubles of its latest mayor, the city of helter-skelter hills, hodgepodge houses, crawling cable cars, fogs and fish smells goes about its play and business, cynical, tolerant and urbane.
It is not old. The modern city is no older than the 40 years which have elapsed since the earthquake. Like its pre-1906 buildings, most of its pre-1906 families have disappeared, although there are still Crockers and a sprinkling of Sutros and Spreckels around. The exclusive and monstrous Pacific Union Club, once the home of Bonanza King James Flood, is still a rendezvous of the wealthy, but Nob Hill is no longer the center of the social whirl. The center now is the Burlingame Country Club, outside of town.
A new cast of characters has taken over the roles once played by railroad tycoon Mark Hopkins; by Educators Emma Marwedel ("Have faith in the kindergartens") and Kate Douglas Wiggin (Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch); by Socialite Mrs. Hall McAllister; by Author Jack London; even by "Cowboy Maggie" Kelly.
Arbiters of culture now are Mrs. Leonora Wood Armsby, who runs Pierre Monteux's San Francisco Symphony, Mrs. Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, who campaigns for sanity in art. Faces come & go around the Palace Hotel bar, John's Rendezvous, Golden Gate Park: "Jake" Ehrlich, attorney for the underworld; Bill Hurley, Third Street saloonkeeper who ran for mayor with the slogan: "Get up early and vote for Hurley; stay in bed and be misled." Henry Kaiser rides importantly back & forth over crowded Bay Bridge to Oakland.