The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-15

comes, of course, from the Record Union
and takes the form of column long at
tempt to prove that San Francisco is on
the wrong side of. the bay; that it can
never prosper, and that it ought not to be
the terminal of any railroad, except, posi-
bly,, one for local traffic.
The gist of the whole argument is in the
assertion that San Francisco is on the
wrong side of the bay, and, as the Record
Union puts it, sis practically on an island
out at sea-" The argument applies with
much greater force to New York and to
Brooklyn than to San Francisco. Those
cities are not only practically, but actually,
con islands out at sea-" So the great East
Indian city of Bombay is on an 'island
out at sea-" and Hongkong, the center OF
the commerce of the Orient, is on an ''island
out at sea-" 1t is evident, therefore, that
some islands occupy positions which enable
them to command the commerce of vast
regions, and that if it be conceded that San
Francisco is practically on an island, 1t
would in no wise diminish her prestige or
weaken the prospect of her future great
ness. She asks no higher destiny than to
hold on the Pacific the rank which the
Atlantic.
1t is not worth while to consider in detail
all the inferences adverse to San Francisco
which the Record Union draws from the
premise that it is on the wrong side of the
bay. Suffice it that not a single one of
them applies to this City with any more
force than to the other great cities we have
named. To question the advantages of the
site of San Francisco is foolish in the light
of existing facts. This City was not founded
by the decree of an arbitrary will like st.
Petersburg, but it grew up naturally as the
result of the position it held and the con-
ditions surrounding it. No one compelled
merchants, bankers and manufacturers to
settle here, and if they came to this PENN
sula by common consent, it was because
they recognized that here is to stand the
metropolis of the Pacific Coast.
1t is not, therefore, the arguments of the
Record Union that affect US much, though,
doubtless if the article be reproduced by
the railroad organs in the East, it will do
great deal to discredit San Francisco and
prevent capital and men of enterprise from
coming here. That which really concerns
us is the animus it displays toward the
City. What the Record Union writes the
Southern Pacific desires. We could afford
to smile at it if it were only as much of a
newspaper as it appears to be, but when
we remember that it is the avowed mouth
piece and organ of a great corporation
having monopoly of the transportation
service of the State, this declaration of hos
tility to the City becomes matter of seri-
Gus Importance.
With this raven croak of exultation over
what that bird of ill-omen believes to be
the approaching doom of San Francisco,
ringing in their ears, surely the Harbor
Commissioners can no longer conceal from
themselves that they are playing into the
hands of the monopoly by delaying the
granting of terminal facilities in San Fran
cisco to the competing road in accordance
with the desires of the people and the pro-
visions of the act of the Legislature. San
Francisco in this instance is fighting, not
for herself only, but for the whole State,
and none who desire the welfare of the
State can oppose that OF the City,