The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-25
WHAT UNITY MEANS.

The action of the Half Million Club in
arranging for an excursion to Santa Bar
bara and Los Angeles for the benefit of the
Eastern visitors who are in San Francisco,
Is one OF the most eloquent of recent evil
dences that a true conception of the best
ways in which the advancement of the
State may be effected has been formed
namely, that all parts of the State must
work in harmony. For San Francisco to
take the initiative in arranging for an ex-
cursion to Southern California is as novel
as it Is praiseworthy. 1t means that the
intelligent enterprise OF San Francisco in
taking a step for the benefit of Southern
California is earnestly DESTROYS OF seeing
that region grow and prosper, knowing
that benefit to any part of the State is
an addition to the prosperity of the whole.
The fiestas at Santa Barbara and Los An
geles are the occasions for the excursions.
The excursionists will not be limited to
visiting strangers, and it is desirable that
sufficient number of intelligent Califor-
mans to explain what is seen, should ac-
company the visitors. Il is in this partic-
ular that one of the most important
branches of the work is to De done. A most
discouraging fact with which Californians
have to contend, is the great difficulty en-
countered in making even the most intel
ligent strangers comprehend the value OF
the peculiar conditions which are brought
to their notice. 1t is so natural for Us to
measure that which is new by the standard
which we have formed from experience
with that which is old, that the efforts to
induce a setting aside of this standard
must be exceedingly patient and unquali-
tiedly intelligent. In order to tell the truth
about California without seeming to tell
lie, one must have tact as well as judg-
N ent; for the truth often is incredible to
tho Sc whom experience has not initiated
into the mysteries of the State. Nothing
so tries the patience of Californian as the
smile of plying incredulity with which his
assertions are sometimes received by q
stranger. Really the stranger himself is
the one to be pitied, not only for being ig-
norant of the good things which California
| cheerfully gives to all who will accept, but
also for denying himself, by reason of this
| ignorance, the benefits which their accept
ance would bring.
| Every intelligent effort to advertise the
resources and attractions of California,
therefore, must be governed by knowl-
edge of the strangers incredulity and by
the further fact that it is natural with
him. 1t is never sufficient to tell him
what there is here; he must first be in
structed in the shortcomings of his old
environment. If he objects to the bracing
summer winds of San Francisco he should
not only be asked if he prefers the debili-
tating heat of his old home, but should be
informed that these winds, pure and laden
with strengthening ozone, render malaria
and zymotic and endemic diseases impossi-
bic. This is but a hint of the thousand
things that require intelligence to know
and tact to impart. And it should always
be borne in mind that it can be shown not
only that in comparison with all possible
Eastern conditions those in California are
superior, but that here many conditions
exist which are. wholly foreign to the
experience of strangers and which have to
be learned from the beginning.