The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1906-05-03
DISASTER grasses
CLASS DISTINCTION
EARTHQUAKE AT SAN FRANCIS
90 PLACES RICH AND POOR
ON SAME LEVEL.
SIDELiOHTS ON THE
GREAT CATASTROPHE
millionaire and Pauper Now Friends
business Being Conducted Amid
the Ruins--Heir TO Wealth Born
on Sidewalk.

business Being Conducted Amid
the Ruins-Heir 20 Wealth Born
on Sidewalk.
San Francisco, Cal.-This town Is
con 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
20 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 40, when scrubby
bushes rambled across their barren
faces. They have been scraped of foul
and tair by mighty muck rake. The
homes of threefourths of the people
are annihilated, and as one walks
through the desolation he slowly real
lies 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 "fnis" to
the volume
Social Distinctions Leveled.
Yet these smashed buildings and des-
olate streets do not present the sig
niHpanf lnNnlinu Tho al tul 10
great, but IL does not stagger the mag
ination. A few hundred millions win
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
pocial distinctions built up In so years
have been obliterated with the same
bwiftness and finality shown by the
hames toward the property. The loss
f life Is small, the loss of social posi-
Hon colossal. Down to the elements
how 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 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 dinky bakeries, cheap
candy stores, tawdry photograph gall
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 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 soda water stand
that has been roughly partitioned, the
for an Office. Int rear room of similar ex-
tent the exclusive heads 20 for fri
Jeles and coffee warmed over an al
cohol lamp.
Odd Quarters for City officials.
You can see the chief of police In
Ban Francisco as easily as you could
lee the sheriff of the most backwoods
bounty In Arizona. He sits In the
window OF a corner grocery and as
You pass on the sidewalk you glance
AZ his hriphf faca md haar bye ho,....
laugh. The mayor issues his orders
from the lodge room of a secret So
ciet.. The superior court is being
held In Jewish synagogue, while the
city and county records are buried In
a 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 30-foot front
or a 50-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 rough sign.
Editorial Department"
One Newspaper Office Bedroom.
One OF the most fortunate papers.
after much maneuvering, has managed
TO commander second-hoor bed
room. the nature of whose previous
occupants is attested by the notice
still hanging from the 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
q world-famous organ from suite of |
l5 rooms in one of the most magnifi-
cent buildings in the west