The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-04-14
SOME PLAIN TRUTHS.
An Oakland Paper Sizes Up the San
francisco Merchants.

An Oakiano Paper Sizes Up the san
Francisco Merchants.
Oakland Times, April 9tI.l
The Sacramento REcoRD-UNIo tells
the people o. San Francisco some PLAIN
truths IN the following:
" hen san francisco gets upand out OF the
fut OF prOflnciallsI; When ii ceases 10 Scrlic.l
III the cartn with muck rake; wnen its mer-
chant interest following the eXi,llp pie OF Mel
bourne, Mu4 sei1leS, liverpool Hamoure, and
oLher eat t.aiiic ana commercial word CEN
IetS, lis It's eyes 10 wat IS AGO e and about il
IN TRACE possibilities ana reac res out in the
strength and Sigor Ct Indepenue ncy il viii at
tam Lhe position Of importance suci IL mag
Hincclil SEAPORT should Cccapy, and Will cease
TO be jealous ofmcrc4ntilc i0l, antages endowed
by Inferior TERMINAL points, the ospeiity OF
WAlca " III ada 10 tie wealth and i'm iJorIance
OF San francisco.
Frank Pixley ence characterized the
merchants OF San Francisco as peddlers
and all the bankers as pawnbrol;ers. This
IS as true as any epigrain can be. No bet
ter Illustration OF the antiQuated and
pllmltNe business methods OF San Fran
cisco can be cited than the survival OF the
steamer day" Of tie eaIlysfi. ties. The
conditions which made steamer day''
nave long since passed away, but the san
francisco business community cIiOps TO
1t as buShmdn does TO his fetch.
There is not a city in the world more
favorably situated Tor commercial empire
than San Francisco. She has the only
sale ana coiumodluS larbor for over coo
miles or coast, ana nature, as If to max q
up Tor nigyardlinesS in other localities.
has created haven here without a supe-
flor. Ii is midway OF the continent, with
a vast, lertlie country, capable OF produce
ing almost every fruit, cereal and yeoe-
table known to man, tributary to il. Vet
TIE city sits supIne by the sea complain
ing because newer and smaller towns are
taking away her commerce. Her mer-
chants have turned the Golden Gate into
toll-gate and her bankers have stitted
California enterprises by refusing to lend
money to aid any scheme of domestic
development. San Francisco bankers
refuse 10 lend money on everything but
land, cargoes and bonds. No California
manufacturing or railroad enterprise can
get dollar III San Francisco banks The
risks are all taken by Eastern or foreign
capitalists. The same spirit pervades the
mercantile community. Merchants who
have grown rich almost without know
ing how have CHING to old methods
and high profits, till more stirring and
wIde-awake communities have en-
croached upon their trade.
Denver, Omaha and Kansas CITY are
doing business in territory that twenty
years ago belonged exclusively to San
Francisco. Los Angeles has quit being a
tributary town and has gone into the lob
blng business herself. Seattle, Portland
and Tacoma are supplying the North
western region, once the undisputed
possession OF san Francisco. Like St.
Louis. San Francisco has sat down.
stupidity saying she had the natural adj
vantages and the trade would have to
come there. st. Louis relied upon her
2,000 miles of river navigation, and made
no effort to build up railway system.
Chicago went to work to construct a har-
Dor. built railways and pushed to the
front. AS result, she speedily wrested
from st. Louis her supremacy as the me-
tropolis OF the Mississippi Valley. Ii
tune and the Southern Pacific Company
much longer, it is not improbable that
some city on Puget Sound will usurp her
prerogative as metropolis of the Pacific
Coast.