Mexico Missouri message., 1906-05-03
DISASTER grasses
Glass DISTINCTION
EARTHQUAKE AT SAN FRANCIS
co PLACES RICH AND POOR
ON SAME LEVEL.
SlDELl0HTS 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 is
ION the level in every sense Of the
word, writes Richard Barry. You can
stand on Tar fiat and see Telegraph
hill with no obstruction but a few
skyscraper skeletons. South of Van
Ness avenue 1t IS not even junk heap.
No more ghouls are shot because there
is nothing to steal, and they will have
TO pay men to carry of 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 40, when scrubby
bushes rambled across their barren
faces. They have been scraped Of foul
and rair 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 "inis" to
the volume.
Social Distinctions Leveled.
Yet these smashed buildings and des-
olate streets do not present the sig
nifcant leveling. The material loss is
great, but it does not stagger the imag-
ination. 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
on 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-yes, amity, feuds, hatred
jealousy and contempt have disap-
peared. Humanity is in the fat and
every one is on the level.
Here are a few random incidents
picked from the edge of the cataclysm:
Fillmore street, third-rate metro.
politan artery, has become for the
moment the business center of the
town. Here, in dinky bakeries, cheaI
candy stores, tawdry photograph gal.
leries and Insignificant lodging houses
are found all that is left of the great.
est business institutions on the Pa
cifc coast. A sawmill that formerly
employed 1000 men has its office in 6
hall bedroom that used to rent for one
dollar a week. A bakery that EN-.
ployed 300 carts before the fire is op,
Grating out of hand laundry that was
run by three women. The largest de.
partment store In the west is being
Tesurrected from a soda water stand
that has been roughly partitioned, the
front IA by 16 feet space being used
foran ONCE. In q rear of similar ex.
tent the exclusive heads go for fri,
jeles and coffee warmed over an al,
cohol lamp.
Odd Quarters for City oh1cials.'
You can see the chief of police In
San Francisco as easily as you could
see the sheriff Of the most backwoods
county in Arizona. He sits in the
window OF corner grocery and as
you pass on the sidewalk you glance
at his bright face and hear his hearty
laugh. The mayor issues his orders
from the lodge room Of a secret So
ciet. The superior court Is being
held in a Jewish synagogue, while the
city and county records are buried In
q tomb in the Masonic cemetery.
The newspapers that once occupied
the principal skyscrapers in the city
are being operated from four little
rooms in the same block, no one OF
which has more than a 30-foot front
or a 50-foot depth. On one side OF
each room you can see the sign Sub
Bcription Department" on the Other
advertising Department" while or
each rear wall Is hung a rough sign
Editorial Department"
One Newspaper Office Bedroom.
One OF the most fortunate papers
after much maneuvering, has managed
70 commander a seeond-floor bed.
room, the nature of whose previous
occupants is attested by the notice
still hanging from the chandelier
which reads, t'Don't Blow Out the
Gas." In this tiny room, around two
small tables, is congregated the Jour
nalistic talent that formerly conducted
"a world-famous organ from suite Of
is rooms in one Of the most magnif'
cent buildings in the west.