Los Angeles daily herald., 1873-10-24
LETTER FROM SAN DIEGO.
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 81, 1873.

your correspondent to San Diego was
unattended by any danger, either of
flood or field, fact quite inexplicable,
considering the liability to self-de-
struction which sometimes character
ICES sensible people when their travel
ling companions are largely unprotect-
ed females ministers Of the gospel,
squalling babies, and "nice young
men," But the ordeal is matter Of
the past, and here in San Diego is a
balm for every wounded breast'- if
there was only just little more balm.
That Anchor.
You will perhaps have learned, ere
this letter shall have reached your Of
flee, of the lucky ''hit" made by Capt.
Douglass, of the Mohongo. But as the
little item might chance to be con-
signed to oblivion through somebody's
inadvertence, let me just place it here.
In hosting the anchor of the MohOngO
preparatory to steaming out OF San Pc
drO harbor the crew became aware
that some pOnderOus object chad at
tached itself and was being hauled up
from the bosom of the deep. The work
of hosting was therefore cautiously
continued for several hours, and at II!
o'clock a second anchor gathered from
the ocean he'd, was secured on board.
Surmises were rife as to the former pro-
prietorship of the ocean waif, but it
was not satisfactorily determined when
or by whom the anchor was lost.
San Diego
has undergone marked improvements
since my former visit six months ago.
These improvements are, however,
confined entirely to the new buildings
which have been erected, and in no
part to new business. Trade is very
dull, but the people are rs hopeful as
ever. Real estate is still retained at
figures far above its reasonable value,
and hence the sales are few. NOtwith-
standing the acknowledged pluck and
energy of this people, they are just as
prone to infatuatiOn, and consequently
to every attendant hardship in busi-
ness, rs their less progressive neigh
bors Of the interior, or the more pros
porous and extravagant denizens of
Los Angeles. This fact is evidenced
by the superb structures of brick and
iron which are built and in process of
erection, but umtenantcd. The people
are struggling to maintain position
about ten years in advance of every
reasonable expectation. l have more
faith in the future of San Diego than
-, Of f,: I
see nothing in the near prospective
which can give policy to system of
locking up hundreds of thousands of
dollars in buildings that, at present,
will not pay one per cent. per annum
OH the money invested.
The Other Side.
But San Diego has more to present
to the eyes OF the sojourner than a
faulty order of things. While We
criticize those short comings it is but
simple justice that We pay one tribute
to the general merits of the place and
people. Here is a city government
upon which the visitor from Los An
geles must look with envy. With
a tithe of the wealth at the disposal
of the city government of Los An
geles, this city has constructed side
walks and done the necessary grading
to maintain cleanliness and cOnven-
fence to about double the extent to be
met with at the former place. DrOves
OF cattle and sheep are not to be met
with on the streets on their way to
pasture or to the corral; horses are not
put to their speed on the streets, nor
do they mount the sidewalks; nor
are Chinese vegetable carts allowed
to blockade the crossings, obliging the
pedestrian to resort to the open street
AN every day occurrence in Los An
geles.
The Present Embarrassment
In business is said to be owing almost
entirely to the uncertainty of the re-
ported negotiations of the Texas Pa
cific Railroad bonds in Europe. The
dispatches on the subject, (private
and otherwise), are just sufficiently
explicit to create doubt, and nothing
more-a doubt whether any negotia-
tiOn ut all has been affected, or if such
has really been affected, whether it il
conditioned to be Immediately opera
tive. Now this railroad temperature
is just the sole influence that effects
the thermometer of San Diego: and
the present uncertain condition of its
atmosphere is not less subversive of
the business interests Of the place
than would be the knowledge that
not dollar had been negotiated for.
There is plenty of money here but it
is buried beyond the light of day, and
comes to the surface when every con-
ditiOn is favorable to profitable invest
ment; and 1t will always be on hand
to take advantage of circumstances,
but reasonably enough the capital of
San Diego is chary Of dealing to any
great extent with uncertainties.
The Public Feeling.
The judicial election having deter
mined the right of the "mere boy" to
bear and determine the rights of liti-
gants for the term Of six years, the
public accept result with confidence.
They say that there was no time at
which their interests We're imperiled
in the contest, as the actors are both
honest men. There was therefore
small need Of personal or partisan
acrimony in the campaign, and the lit
tie which did evince itself has subsid-
ed again. The judge elected is of the
unassuming, gentlemanly stamp, and
generally refrains from any conversa-
tiOns that might chafe the sensibilities
OF his late rivals. p. w. ID.
This and That.