Bulletin, J. King of William, on May 14, 1856, and a vigilance
committee was organized to clean up the city, and watch the
ballot-box on election day.

Soon the legislature was petitioned to change the charter. The
petition recites: "Without a change in the city government which
shall diminish the weight of taxation, the city will neither be
able to discharge the interest on debts already contracted, nor
to meet the demands for current disbursements . . . . The present
condition of the streets and public improvements of the city
abundantly attest the total inefficiency of the present system."

The legislature passed the "Consolidation Act," and from 1856 to
1900 county and city were governed as a political unit. At first
the hopes for more frugal government seemed to be fulfilled. But
all encouraging symptoms soon vanished. Partizan rule followed,
encouraged by the tinkering of the legislature, which imposed on
the charter layer upon layer of amendments, dictated by partizan
craft, not by local needs. The administrative departments were
managed by Boards of Commissioners, under the dictation of "Blind
Boss Buckley," who governed his kingdom for many years with the
despotic benevolence characteristic of his kind. 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