Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1906-05-04
DISASTER grasses
CLASS DISTINCTION
EARTHoUAKE AT SAN FRANCIS
90 PLACES RICH AED POOR
ON SANE LEVEL.
SlDELlCHTS ON THE
GREAT CATASTROPHE
Millionaire and Pauper Now Friends
Business Being Conducted Amid
the Ruins-Heir to Wealth Born
on Sidewalk.


San Francisco, Cal.--This town 1:
ION the level in every sense OF the
word, writes Richard Barry. You car
stand on Tar fiat and see Telegraph
hill with no obstruction but a few
skyscraper skeletons. South Of Van
Ness avenue it IS not even a junk heap
No more ghouls are shot because there
is nothing to steal, and they will have
to pay men to carry off the smashed
bricks Russian, Telegraph and Mob
hills, which formerly made such
a magnificent metropolitan saddle
against the Golden Gate, look as they
do in the prints of '49, when scrubby
bushes rambled across their barren
faces. They have been scraped of foul
and Iair by a mighty muck rake. The
homes of threefourths of the people
are annihilated, and as one walks
through the desolation he slowly real
ICES that the world can never know
what has happened; that 100 Pompeiis
would be swallowed in these ruins and
that California in tragedy, as in all
else, has shaken her jaunty fist in the
face of history and written fms to
the volume
Social Distinctions Leveled.
Yet these smashed buildings and des-
plate streets do not present the sig
nificant leveling. The material loss is
great, but it does not stagger the imag-
nation A few hundred millions will
mend the hurt and there are many peo-
pie here to-day who think the shake
up is worth the leveling. Society is
pn the ground, face TO face. Every
artificial barrier is swept away. The
social distinctions built up in so years
have been obliterated with the same
swiftness and fnality shown by the
flames toward the property. The loss
of life is small, the loss Of social posi-
ton colossal Down to the elements,
now nothing counts but human loss
Money has momentarily lost its pur-
chasing power Servants, luxury, hab-
its, prestige-yss, amity, feuds, hatred,
jealousy and contempt have disap-
peared. Humanity is in the fat and
every one is on the level.
Here are few random incidents
picked from the edge of the cataclysm:
Fillmore street, a third-rate metro
politan artery, has become Tor the
moment the business center of the
town. Here, in dinky bakeries, cheap
candy stores, tawdry photograph gal
Ieries and insignificant lodging houses,
are found all that is left of the great
est business institutions on the Pa
cific coast A sawmill that formerly
employed 1000 men has It's office in
hall bedroom that used to rent for one
dollar a week A bakery that en-
ployed 300 carts before the fire is OPP
Grating out of hand laundry that was
run by three women. The largest de-
partment store in the west is being
eesurrected from soda water stand
that has been roughly partitioned, the
front IA by 16 feet space being used
for an Office. Ina rear roomof similar ex-
tent the exclusive heads go for fri
ieles and coffee warmed over an al
cohol lamp.
Odd Quarters for City Officials.
You can see the chief of police in
San Francisco as easily as you could /
zee the sheriff of the most backwoods |
in Arizona. He sits in the /
window of a corner grocery and as
rou pass on the sidewalk you glance /
It his bright face and hear his hearty /
augh. The mayor issues his orders /
rom the lodge room of a secret So
iet.. The superior court is being /
leld in a Jewish synagogue. while the !
ity and county records are buried in 4
tomb in the Masonic cemetery.
The newspapers that once occupied /
he principal skyscrapers in the city
re being operated from four little
ooms in the same block. no one of |
which has more than a S0-foot front
II a 50-foot depth. On one side of 1
ach room you can see the sign Sub
cription Department" on the other
Department, while on
ach rear wall is hung rough sign,
Editorial Department"
One Newspaper Office Bedroom.
One of the most fortunate papers,
fter much maneuvering, has managed
D commander second-fioor bed
DOM. the nature of whose previous
occupants Is attested by the notice
till hanging from the chandelier,
rhich reads, Don't Blow Out the
las" In this tiny room, around two
mall tables. is eongregated the Jour
alistic talent that formerly conducted
world-famcus organafrom suite OF
5 rooms in one of the most magnih-
ent buildings in the west !