The morning call., 1892-05-28
CARTER HARRISON on Los ANGELES

Carter Harrison. ex-Mayor OF Chicago and
eX-member of Congress. is writing letters to
the Chicago Times from Los Angeles. He
IS enthusiastic over the climate and beauty
f Southern California. lie calls it the san
itarium of America, land having no dupli-
cate In the world, as perfect health resort
in summer as il winter. with an air dry,
glorious and full OF ozone. lie says:
Los Angeles is be metropolis Of the great SAN
itaIium Southern California. It Is an active
busy and apparently thriving city Of nearly
10000 Ie0ple who move about with an alert
ness and Quickness Of motion which bespeaks
energy and push. They all seem 20 expect It 10
be great city. For this there is no real ground
Il VIII possibly double lis present size. but it can
never be tie center Of trade Of any considerable
territory. IL is The metropolis OF a large body Of
acres. not Of millions Of square miles. IL has not
The timber or fuel TO become manufacturing
place. Wood Is worth $40 a cord and coal cor
respoHdingly dear. Los Angeles VIII grow and
VIII be thriving center OF thriving country,
but ifs wholesalers and jOhbers can never grow
fieh- The number Of It's banks Is simply aston
shing and within them IS an appearance Of
thrift. ! think there are about a dozen national
banks. Tie malu streets OF tie city are hand
some, fine business blocks, being OF a decided
architectural finish.
Our Los Angeles contemporaries will
probably retOrt that MT. Harrison does not
believe in the future Of any city but Chi
cago, and has forgotten the time when ST.
Louis predicted that the city by the lake,
being button a swamp, never could amount
10 anything. En,erprisng men sometimes
defeat calculations based on purely natural
advantages. Perhaps by the time that Los
! Angeles gets ready for a POI ulation of a
quarter Of million some philosopher may
have evolved a new fuel out of electricity.
But all experience teaches that attempts
TO cover the soil IF thinly settled State
| with metropolises are sure to lead to disap-
| pointment and to a disperditioa Of human
| energy. In a State Of one or two or three
| millions Of people there can be but one
! great commercial financial and intellectual
| center. To the city as TO the man that hath
more shall be given. When an intelligent
people settle a new country, and occupy #
long enough TO understand its capacities
and its promise, the brightest OF them CRAWL
tate to one spot which becomes the chief
city. Other localities may contend for the
supremacy, and even become large cities,
but it is very hard to overcome a start al
ready gained, especially if that start Origi
mated in a judicious comparison of circum-
stances. Cities may grow UP as local Gen.
| ters, dependent for prosperity on local en-
| terprises or local resources, but the chie1
! city is not likely to have its supremacy en-
| dangered. and while wealth and intellect
may develop elsewhere population is pretty
sure to gravitate to the metropolis.
AS New York City can never cease to be
the chief city of New York State. or Boston
Of Massachusetts. or Chicago Of Illinois, so
San Francisco runs no risk Of ever having
to abdcate its rank as the metropolis of the
Pacifc-uness. indeed, its people should
become so poor spirited, and so servile that
they allow their natural advantages and
the vantage ground they have gained to he
taken from them by capitalists who would
ruin their home 10 enrich themselves.