The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-04-21
FEATURES OF SAN FRAN
CISCO.

ton, the bare existence of such
place strikes the new conner with
amazement. 1t has not an ephe-
neral ali, but q fine massive gravity.
Its shops are filed with costly goods,
its streets with eomely, beautifully
dressed women. 1t has heart and
literature. The private galleries
contain foreign pictures Of the best
class a number of local artists have
made for themselves much more
than local reputation, and there
is a well attended "School of De-
sign" which has already graduated
many pupils whose talent has
been recognized abroad. Its
" Mercantile Library" is the
most handsomely appointed that
I have seen IN any American
city. San Francisco society"
though trifie bizarre in the use of
its newly acquired wealth, has an
understratum Of unexceptionable
refinement. Its most bizarre side,
too, Is certainly appreciated in Eu-
rope, where its magnates entertain
kings at their garden parties, and
their daughters are sought in mar
riage by titles of distinction.
The European traveller who has
visited the land of Barnum and of
Washington with literary inten-
tiOns-though still capable, no
doubt, Of representing US as he
thinks we should be, for some time
to come-must be puzzled by what
he finds here. Such place par
ticularly should be a vast motley
camp, as 1t is known to European
travellers that most American cit
les are. With its thlrty-three years
of existence and its heterogeneous
elements, it should exhibit only
combination of squalor and mush-
room splendor. The hevel should
elbow the tawdry palace, demo-
cratic boorishness Of manners pre-
vail, vulgarians blaze in diamonds,
and the few refined natures that by
chance have Yentured into the midst
shrink abashed to the wall. But
alas we live in an age of expeditions
movement and labOr-saving inven-
tons, and with unlimited means
such as are here enjoyed the work
of years is condensed into months,
Camp it is none, but solid, luxurl-
GUS city. There are Americans as
we'll, not a few, who cOnfine their
Interest in their own country to d
small strip of It's eastern sea.
board. But, as it seems to
ne, those who will not see
this original California, and on then
way to 1t, the chain of cities acres:
1.-THE cOnUiusnt-Chicago, Denver
salt Lake. the Rocky Mountain
chain, and the gOld-bearing fast.
nesseS of the Sierra Nevada, now
that all has become so easy Of access
are by no means living up to theil
| privileges. The ASSOCIATION which
IpeIha s comprises more than any
other the best intelligence of SaI
Francisco is the rather well-knoWI
Bohemian Club. 1t takes a specia
interest IN literature and the arts
numbering the leading professional
and amateurs in these branches il
Its neutrality-suspicious. Dustin
guiShed strangers, and gives /
monthly entertainment of cOmpo
site character, known as a "Jinks.
Its grand festival Of the year is
High Jinks," which takes the form
of an excursion into the country
The High Jinks has sometime
been given at night, in masquerad
costume among the big trees-th
enormous redwoods of Sonor
County, TO the northward. TIL
ceremonies on this occasion are a
wild and weird as the humorous in
vention of couple of hundre
bright intelleets can make them.
A population of 100000 is not eX
traoTdinary. as populations go now
a-days, but San Francisco is ais
cosmopolitan beyond its actual sizI
We are here in an entirely neI
commercial situation, which give
! rise to what the French call a neI
7niLeu. San Francisco face
: Asia, the great English-speal
: ing colonies of Oceanica, an
. the islands of the sea, Just q
oINeW York faces Europe. Ii enjoy
!. already a trade with the OrieI
; amounting to ten millions per an
j. mum in exports. The possibilitie
Z of the extension Of this trade anon
8 the teeming populations in tn
}, cradle of the human race and Of ci1
!, ilization, now that the circuit {
the world has been completed, seer
! almost limitless. A way must
Il found sooner OF later out of the in
2 broglio into which experience hs
plunged US ON the Chinese question
and in the close intercommunict
ton OF nations which Is at har
trade must flow unimpeded. B
tween countries separated by wat
( and demanding each others produ
\ tons, cities arise at the places
transfer and receipt, and with i
situation San Francisco can not e
cape its destiny of greatness.
The oriental trade is but 3 sma
item in the total as yet. The shiI
which sail out, besides those bour
for the regular eastern and Eur
= pean ports, are going to the BIRTHS
and Russian possessions in 81
north, to Mexico, Central and Sou
America, to Tahiti. Feejee, Manil
the Sandwich, Navigator's, al
i. Friendly islands-to all of tho
Of far-off islands in the South Pacif
81 in short, which now in their tn
promise to shine with the light
ad Naiuili1afiou on6 haoOvao ,D,;