River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-05-03
DISASTER grasses
CLASS DISTINCTION
EARTHQUAKE AT SAN FRANCIS
CO PLACES RICH AND POOR
ON SAME LEVEL.

ON SAME LEVEL.
SIDELIGHTS 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 it 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 off the smashed
bricks. Russian, Telegraph and Mob
hills, which formerly made such
magnificent metropolitan saddle
against the Golden Gate Iook as they
do in the prints of 40, when scrubby
bushes r. lbled across their barren
faces. They have been scraped of foul
and lair by 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-
olate streets do not present the sig
nificant 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 finality 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-
it's, prestige-yes, amity, feuds, hatred,
jealousy and contempt have disap-
peared. Humanity is in the fiat and
every one is on the level.
Here are a few random incidents
picked from the edge of the cataclysm:
Fillmore street, a third-rate metro
politan artery, has become for the
moment the business center of the
town. Here, in di1ky bakeries, cheap
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
cific coast. A sawmill that formerly
employed 1000 men has its office in
hall bedroom that used to rent for one
dollar a week. A bakery that en-
ployed 800 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
resurrected from a 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
sec 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
ciety. The superior court is being
held in a Jewish synagogue, while the
city and county records are buried in
a tomb in the Masonic cemetery.
The newspapers that once occupied
the principal slxyscrapers in the city
are being operated from four little
rooms in the same block, no one of
which has more than 30-foot front
or a 5O-foot depth. On one side Of
each room you can see the sign Sub
scription Department" on the other
Advertising Department" while on
each rear wall is hung a rough sign,
Editorial Department"
One Newspaper Office a Bedroom.
One of the most fortunate papers,
after much maneuvering, has managed
to commander a second-fioor bed
room, the nature of whose previous
occupants is attested by the notice
stin hanging from tale chandelier,
which reads, Don't Blow Out the
Gas. In this tiny room, around two
small tables, is congregated the jour
nalistic talent that formerly conducted
world-famous organ from suite of
Is rooms in one of the most magnih-
cent buildings in the west.