The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-02-21
CROSSING THE CONTINENT.
JOHN B. SMITH WRITES INTER
ESTING LETTER.

School, New Orleans and MexIeO-The
Great resources of the Golden State,
aud Luxurtes of Life nj Los Angeles.
San Diego, Cal, Jan. 80, 1903
! To the Editor of the Berlin News:
Dear Sir--I have thought of you eve
ry day since leaving home and of my
, promise to share with our Berlin
friends the interest of our sight seeing
| trip through the columns of the News,
and have desired to fulfill my promise
! at every stop, but the limitations of
health or travel, or sightseeing, have so
far prevented. Our month of travel
has been very full of strange, wonder
full and intensely interesting expert
ences. We have visited Washington,
the capital of the foremost nation of
the world; Atlanta, the enterprising
city most representative of the new
south: Montgomery. the first capital of
the southern Confederacy, the home of
Jefferson Davis and where star still
marks the place where he stood when
he took the oath of office as it's presi-
dent. From Montgomery we visited
Tuskegee, the glorious city conjured
into being by the magical spell of
Booker T. Washington's consecrated
thought, eloquence, organizing genius
and patient industry, all built with stu
dent labor and with every teacher, off,
Ger and student a negro.
Then came New Orleans, romantic
and picturesque, rich in its historical
| associations and buildings, with its in
tertwined memories Of Spain and
| France, of Andrew Jackson and Ben
Butler, but curiously enough with no
city square or monument named for the
latter. But New Orleans is unique in
everything above all other cities in the
United States, so we need not be sur
prised.
Texas is greatest of the states in ter
ritory, and among the most desolate in
the impression 1t makes on the travel
er, and yet an opulent empire in its re-
sources and assured future. 1t took US
a day and a half upon an express train
| to pass through it and reach the thirty
| ing city of Ell Paso. at its extreme
western boundary. The genuine Mexi-
| van city Vi udEcH - oGpII CtkCu Llolti FL
Paso by the dry Rio Grande, but is
connected with it by trolley and an in
ternationaI bridge of considerable pre-
tensions, by the help of which we
! passed, despite custom house officers. to
the soil and the quaint scenery of our
sister republic. Such are few of the
/ localities that we visited on our way
hither. and we must have been deader
than the famous door nail of Dickens
! not to have been thrilled with interest
all the way. Then came days ride
into and in the higher attitudes, in the
solitudes. and desolations of New Mexi-
co and Arizona, and then California
| gradually showing more and more pos
sibilities of reclamation from its arid
ity and wildness, as the self reliant Eu-
Calyptus began? to rear high its green
flag staff and the pepper tree with its
symmetrical form and beautiful color
and its delicate foliage of Mexican
drawn work with the palms, types of
beauty and grace. began to cluster
more and more about the stations, and
on and OIL to most luxuriant groves Of
orange, lemon, grape fruit. English
walnuts and almonds, these last being
all in brilliant blossom, and beside
know not what else. And so we came
ten hours behind time to Los Angeles,
THE City of the Angels" What pity
that such a beautiful ideal and such
glorious possibilities should ever be
marrtd by the short comings and the
sins of men.
oh, Wonderful California, beautiful
above all imagining, opulent in it's pres
ent and its possibilities beyond all
dreams; where perhaps greater vari-
ETY. of products that the world wants
and is willing to pay for. flourish than
in any other equal area on the earths
surface. and with mineral wealth 10
match and with such possibilities Of
commerce over the yet little vexed Pa
ciflc with the great northwest with the
most populous Of continents, and by
the way Of the Panama canal with the
Atlantic coast. with all the commerce
of the world. What an empire is Cali
fornia. and in its crop of tourists it
seems ahead of all competitors.
A resident told me this morning that
he had tomato vines in his garden
twelve months in the year and more,
for they never knew when to stop
growing or bearing. going on through
the second year and even the third If
allowed. So the tourist crop is not two
or three months, but perennial, and the
climate offers about equal attractions
to escape summers heat or winters
cold.
There are slums in some of the cities,
as there always must be where there
are saloons. There are country and
city houses and streets i'll kept, disa-
greeable and even offensive, but when
taste and thrift combine to make a
home, the possibilities of adornment are
limitless.
Roses cover the sides of the houses,
rows Of Gala lilies mark the bounda-
ries of lots or grow in unobtrusive beds
by the houses There are hedges of
geraniums, three, four and even five
feet high, all in gorgeous bloom and Of
ten set off with base line of lower
white flowers. Geraniums are often set
about the palms and completely cover
the trunks. Occasionally they climb to
and above the second story window of
elegant and stately houses. Number
less other flowers of yellow, red and
purple cover the verandas, screens and
out-buildings. The grass on we'll kept
lawns is as deep green and soft and