Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-09-02
MONEY AND MUSCLE At WORK
San Francisco Rising from the Ruins al
Fast a. Essentials Gan Do It.
LABOR IN DEMAND AT HIGH WAGES
Ab1e-Bodied Male BegEars Ordered
to Go to Work or Go Hungry
How the Undeserving Prey
Upon Charitable.

According to the report of the clearing
house, San Francisco reached sixth place
in the commercial world the second week
In August. for the first time in the history
passing Ptttsburg. Heretofore Oakland has
had no clearing house and all the trade
of the 100000 people In the cities across The
bay have gone unrecorded, but since the
fire In San Francisco the Oakland banks
have formed clearing house, and as this
business Is closely allied with commercial
operations of San Francisco, the reports
from there rightfully indicate the true bust
ness conditions about San Francisco bay.
Taking this an a basis the coarings of the
week ending Thursday. August It, for the
cities about the bay. amounted to total
Of almost stS,0oo.00o as the San Francisco
clearings were s4s.slA147. while those of
Oakland were $s.S46. sos. .l
The demand for skilled labor In the build
ing trades, and also for ordinary labor RS
In construction work on the railroads and
street railways. as well as farm laborers
In the country. continues. Through its
eastern bureau, established in New York,
the California Promotion committee is en-
deavoring to have people Of these classes of
labor fully understand conditions in Cali
fornia, and reports from the bureau show
that hundreds of people are making IN
quirles about conditions, both in the build
ing trades In San Francisco and In the
hop and fruit fields OF the state. Thousands
of people could find employment in the
vineyards and orchards of California now.
and the demand in San Francisco has not
abated In the least
The work of removing debris from the
streets and from lots in San Francisco is
progressing much more rapidly than was
the case up to the beginning OF August.
Many of the large buildings which were
damaged by the fire, but not destroyed,
are now being placed In condition for re-
building and all this debris is being carried
away in addition to that from the streets
and lots Conditions are improving con-
stantly, and there Is an increasing i'm
provement to the general tone of the busi-
ness Of the city. All evince feeling that
the rebuilding of the burned section Of
| San Francisco Is a matter of but year
or SO, and while the work is going on the
commercial interests win not suffer In the
least
Prosperity General on Coast.
From all parts OF California come reports
| OF increasing business. 1t is reported from
the Interior cities that business has In
creased greatly beyond that before the fire.
and this general prosperity is felt to be
the reflex of conditions in the metropolis
Crops Of fruit, especially grapes. exceed
those OF years past. and the prices OF
| grapes have been materially advanced ow-
| ing to the destruction OF vast quantities OF
wine In San Francisco.
Hotel accommodations are good. and in
creasing. With the opening of the new
Palace on Leavenworth and Post streets
on September /. will come material addition
to the accommodations. and with the COM
pletion OF other hotels OF a more perma-
nent character. which are now under con-
struction. San Francisco viii soon win back
her old reputation as hotel city. As it Is
now, no one need hesitate about coming for
| fear of inadequate accommodations
The freight blockade. which has hindered
work on buildings and in stores for sever al
weeks, has been lifted, and now all freight
is being unloaded as fast as 1t arrives. All
classes Of building material are in ample
| supply, and with the coming of more men
OF the building trades the advance in build
| ing will be marked.
Among the Refugees.
Conditions among the refugees In San
Francisco have improved so materially that
il has been decided to move all those who
are dependent upon the relief fund into one
camp and feed them from kitchens instead
OF distributing supplies. The number who
will require this attention is now so small
that 1t win not be a difncult problem. Those
who are able to work will be placed where
| they will not be able 10 obtain supplies
| and Il is thought that this procedure will
materially AFFECT conditions In the camps.
At the beginning OF last week a new
policy was inaugurated by the relief board
| for the purpose Of Kidding the relief camps
| OF able bodied male idlers. A large num-
| Der are included in this class. They are
constitutionally opposed to work. except the
work OF getting TO the front Of the line for
provisions. In this work they showed IN
common enterprise. But every suggestion
OF working for a living was promptly
| spurned. I'm the camps under military
control" said q relief offieer, when an
able-bodied man refused to work. whether
at skilled or unskilled labor. he was driven
from the camp. But In the outside camps
they did about what they pleased about
working or not. As an instance, the United
Railroad company sent its agent to me and
said he wanted 5000 laborers at 81 a day.
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