Los Angeles herald., 1891-07-20
SAN FRANCISCO AND HER FUTURE.

IN pOpuiatlOn ana wealth. IMAM any
other large place in the United States.
Her growth in population during that
period has not exceeded that of the
natural increase. 1t is true that the
Golden Gate is still the third commercial
city in the United States. That is to
say, she holds this rank as respects our
foreign commerce. That is the only
encouraging thing about her present
situation, and that is not SO encourag-
ing when we bear in mind the fact that
she held this rank twenty years ago.
Something is the matter with San
Francisco, and some OF her most thought
full citizens are applying themselves to
discovering what it is. For years she
was known as the "Toll-Taker by the
Sea-" In the days of her power she was
remorseless in seizing all possible ad-
vantages, and her merciless port charges
have driven away commerce that
would have doubled her present riches.
In her dealings with the interior she
seems to have been actuated solely by the
spirit that whatever she could squeeze
out OF the ranchers was the surest
as we'll as the shortest road to wealth.
No idea OF fostering a growing section,
in the hope and belief that its growth
would hereafter enrich those who as
sisted in its exploitation, seems ever to
have entered into the calculations of
San Francisco capitalists. With them,
and in different sense from that sug
gested by Christ in Matthew, enough
for the day is the evil thereof" Every
thing in the economy of the San Fran
cisco business man has had reference to
the Ignorant present." speculative
futures, except as to wildcat stocks,
being contemptuously sneered aside.
Mr.. Percy Beamish, in an article con-
tributed to the Wasp, of the 18th inst,
has an intelligent and thoughtful article
upon the situation at the Golden Gate.
He opens it thus:
That the city's growth during the last
of the two preceding ones, the present
condition OF business unsatisfactory and
the future of deep concern is apparent to
In the enjoyment of our personal
comfort through climatic conditions, in
the enthusiasm and pride felt in the
superiority and variety of our produc-
tions and the contemplation of the vast
resources OF our adopted state, we have
been too long content, and have forgot
ten or neglected to supplement her
great natural advantages with an en-
lightened and progressive human en-
deavor such as has placed less favored
localities far in advance in population
and material wealth.
Mr.. Beamish gives clear and COM
prehensive sketch OF the causes of the
growth of San Francisco, which may be
briefly summarized as the discovery of
gold, which added 81, ,l98, ,6S9, ,097 to the
wealth of the world, our prodigious
wheat fields and their yield and the
rapid development of those manufac-
lures which were necessary to supply
the machinery needed in the develop
ment of the mines of California and
Nevada. Railroad communication with
the Eastern states and steamship COM
munication with the Orient proper sup
plemented these agencies of wealth.
Having outlined the sources of growth,
Mr.. Beamish next takes a snap shot at
the causes of the arrest in growth or
decadence of the Golden Gate. He pre-
sents them comprehensively, as follows ::
Having briefly outlined the causes
which have led to the development of
San Francisco until it reaches popula-
tion of 298,000 inhabitants, shall now
! consider some of the causes that have
led to its present lethargic condition.
It was not to be expected that San
competition in field so broad or a peo-
the Pacific coast.
The building of two transcontinental
railways from Southern California to the
east gave the impetus to the affairs of
Los Angeles that has created it the great
distributing point of all California south
of Tehachapi.
! The Northern Pacific furnishes direct
outlet for Oregon and Washington, and
its energetic management reaches out
for immigration to those points, offering
as inducements to settlers cheap lands
and cheap transportation.
/ The Canadian Pacific has established
a line of modern ocean steamships to
China and Japan, and enters the field q
competitor for Oriental commerce with
the shortest and best equipped route be-
tween that point and Europe.
In the construction OF the Nicaragua
canal we can see a further and
more dangerous rival for the trade of
China and Japan. which has been a
potent element in the growth of our
city.
Another, and, perhaps, greater loss,
has been felt in the diminished yield OF
our gold fields, which, from production
of over $50, ,000, 900 per annum, has fallen
to less than SIC, 100000.
The question naturally arises, TIN
what way Is San Francisco to recoup
the losses sustained in the curtailment
of the territory hitherto supplied
through it, as witnessed in the creation
of rival distributing centers, competing
railroad routes, other lines of ocean
travel and the diminished yield of her
gold fields, and from what sources NAV
we expect such an impetus to our busi-
ness as will cause San Francisco to de-
velop to city of the first magnitude Pr
1t is safe to say that by reason of the
high cost of coal and iron, there is no