The morning call., 1891-04-10
A MAN FROM ABROAD.

A Californian with level head may visit
Europe with great benefit to himself and to
the community to which he returns. He
compares conditions as well as facts, and
discriminates between change and progress.
He finds much in the Old World that can
with profit be adapted to the New and much
that cannot. The level head does not cram
every new thing he sees into his mental
Satchel He cOmprehends that there are
things very desirable in certain surround
ings which are entirely out of place amid
contrasting surroundings. The level head
exercises his reasoning and his perceptive
faculties at tie same time. His normal
condition is with his eyes and ears open and
his mouth shut. There is another class OF
men to whom travel is nearly fatal They
are incapable of distinguishing between
facts aud conditions. 1t is impossible for
them to understand that a policy which
works well in one country is not adapted to
another They ignore conditions and i'm
agine results
1t is not necessary to say to which OF
these types of men Mr., Joseph D. Redding
belongs. Those who heard his diatribe the
other night against the dollar limit may
classify him without much chance of going
wrong Mr.. Rrddiug has been in Paris, and
was there informed that one Baron HauSs-
mann had transformed the city at an enOr-
nous expense. Why should not San Fran
cisco transform itself at enormous expense?
Ii does not matter that Paris is the social
center of 300, 000 coo OF Europeans, to which
50.000.000 pairs of American eyes are turned
with longing regard. The expenditures of
Baron Haussmann added greatly TO the
value of real estate and to the general at
tractivenesS of Paris. Being already great
social center with from 200.0000 900 to 800. 000.-
600 of people within ten days travel, the eX-
ppnditure necessary TO make it pre-eminent
among modern cities was justified by cOndl-
tons. But Mr.. Redding seems to think that
policy that was wise IN Paris must be
wise in San Francisco. unmindful of the
fact that the California city lies 5000 miles
from American centers of population and
5000 from the European sources which an
nually contribute so many millions Of dol
lars to the revenues of the great French city.
Mr.. Re1diug is reported as saying:
There were In Paris in 1852 numerous
Buildings used as prisons and houses of cor
rection that were in a very filthy condition.
They were raZed to the ground ana clean,
substantial buildings erected in their ste adj"
That is, some WERE Unless French writer's
miSrepresent Paris, some were not. The
fact that some were afforded the speaker a
chance for a comparison which implies that
the condition Of public institutions of that
kind in San Francisco is exceptionally bad,
Foreigners, however, have said that our
House OF Correction and our AlmshOuse
were as comfortable and as well provided as
third-caSs clearinghouse in European
cities. Other men than Mr.. Redding have
returned from abroad with a hungry desire
to transform san Francisco into a Paris.
But most of these men have been unmnd-
full of the fact that necessary condition of
large expenditures for ornamental purposes
is an established ability to handle large
amounts of money iudiciously and honestly.