The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-10-18

kola, and / Immediately began TO in
form myself about the exhibition.
WINTER WEATHER IN SAN FRANCISCO
"The exhibition was pretty small,
but under the provincial circumstan-
ces not at all insignificant; but the
management was throughout a swim
die. The California Exposition was
simply inaugurated TO induce inexper
fenced people to lose their money. In
any other country the directors would
sit on hard bench between two ju~
stizsoldaten (pOlicemen), but in Amer
lea, of course, such is not the case. On
the contrary, these people made their
schap (boodle) and now they enjoy
everybody's esteem. Money is there
the main thing.
"The first thing / had to do was to
pay $500 for the space assigned me in
the Vienna Prater. The building
swallowed the neat little sum of $500.
Then 5000 besides was spent for fit
ting it up, for water, pipes, etc. On
the 1st of January the exposition
should have opened, but about that
time the Golden Gate Park looked as
if the archfiend had camped there.
"The winter in California is an al
most uninterrupted period of rain, and
this constant rain prevented work on
the grounds. This fact these men
should have taken into consideration,
for we, who never before were IN Cal
ifornia, had no idea of such a condi-
ton. At last, on January 9th, the
exposition opened, but what it means
to business man to live twenty-seven
DAYS do not need to explain. But
when the exposition was opened the
most necessary thing, namely light,
L. L.. 4 hn rItn ~
of night fell the exposition was in dark
ness, and not soul could remain
there. Besides this the constant rain
and the fact that the exposition never
would be completed interfered greatly
with the attendance.
HOW SAN FRANCIsCANs EAT AND
DRINK.
"In our original contracts the direc-
tors agreed that we should have light
on the 1st of January, but one fine day
these contracts were taken from us on
some trifiing pretext and we received
new ones that contained no reference
to light. This prevented us from suing
the directors.
"In Chicago / was told that at the
exposition in San Francisco there
would be but eight restaurants, but
these gentlemen rented ten square
meters for drinking places. When /
came there / really found but eight
restaurants, but the number grew and
grew until not less than 147 lived in
the small exposition. OF those 147 re-
staurants the better ones all went into
BANKRUPTCY. Onl ! few tent bar places,
where miserable food was served, did
any business. / had always a lot of
people in my restaurant, but nothing
came of it. / often had 400 to 500
people in my place, but when / count
ed up in the evening the highest had
was 500, and most all the time less.
This comes from the fact that in San
Francisco one drinks but very little,
while the people carry their food al
ways with them.
"Even the richest people carry a
little box containing cold meat, bread
and eggs. That under such circum :
stances, a host cannot make any busi-
ness is self-evident. Thus / looked to
the future with considerable fear and
apprehension. The gains L made in
Chicago were slowly dwindling in
San Francisco, on account of the rain,
the delayed opening, the lack of light
and the immense competition.
"Of course, / was not alone in this,
but that was poor consolation. Not
rant men, but all the exhibitors who
had anything to sell had the same ex-
perience, and some even harder times.
Thousands Of people had been caught
in the net of the exposition.
BURGoMEISTER ELLERT'S COMMITTEE
"The same tactics were employed
in the Manufactures Building as had
been used with me. The exhibitors
had been told thai only few permits
to sell wares would be given, whereas
they found crushing competition all
around them. Matters became so bad
that some people did not take in
money enough during the day to buy
the necessaries of life. They came to
me and asked me, for Gods sake, to
give them dinner on credit (guf puff
Under such circumstances the Bit
terness against the management grew
from day to day, and finally the ex-
hibitors held grand meeting to pro-
test, to which they united, the Burgo-
meister of San Francisco. What the
men in charge could have heard at
this meeting had they been there is
beyond all expression. The President
at this meeting said, among other
things: These officials must not be
permitted to die in their beds, they
must die with their boots on. They
belong at the cemetery, and not as
living men among men,
"Another one said {: a quick death
is too good for them. A bottle of
vitrloI belongs in their faces so that
they may be marked as warning ex-
amples.'
"Under these circumstances the
Burgomeister could not ignore this
movement, and a committee of nine
was appointed to investigate the ac-
counts where an item of So, 900 for
sundries was discovered. This led to
a great deal Of general criticism, and
a thorough investigation was resolved
upon; but, according to thoroughly
American ways, it never came off.
With me, personally, they dealt
in a wonderful manner. You know [
bought my space originally for $500.
One day a man came to me and said