The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-07-11

} science, and by a high order of in
} teligence. Immediately after the gen
) eral facts of the disaster were known,
\ not only grasped the situation but. for
the moment if not permanently, drew
the disorganized masses to their sup
port. a g-i,tering aggregation of steel
challenging the sky. with broad
streets and an ample water supply, all
completed within three or four years.
would be a splendid monument to the
memorable will of capital, in response
to public demand. Architects and
engineers of weight and standing
quickly endorsed the proposal and
pointed to the frames yet standing as
conclusive evidence that structures of
steel honestly put together We're fire
proof and earthquake proof
Such metropolis may arise. 1t
would be an Improvement upon the
San Francisco that was. 1t would be
most attractive to the eye. 1t might
endure for many years. But, without
reference to the abstruse technicali-
ties of science, is it desirable and
would it secure the best CHANCES for
growth and stability?
The policy of the railroads kept back
the prosperity of California especially
of San Francisco. for at least a quar-
ter of a century. Held in the unrelax
ing grip of an octopus, that great
State, rich beyond measure in the
elements of prosperity, that fine city.
the New York or London of the West
ern world, could not expand. 1t was
not until the funding bills We're de-
feated until the railroad grasp was
broken and the new railway authorities
began to realize their dependence upon
the public that a wave of prosperity
arose that fructified the entire Pacific
Coast and produced a development I'M
exampled in American records and I'M
checked to the very day of the late
catastrophe.
With no hostility to railroads o. to
any legitimate financial combinations,
it is nevertheless believed that San
Francisco mortgaged to the railroads
is undesirable and that the last state
of such a commercial entrepot would
be worse than the first.
And though it is true that such views
as some laymen may entertain and |
somewhat efficiently present, may
readily be swept into oblivion it is !
nevertheless also true that unscientific |
opinions are maintained by many |
against "skyScraperS" constructed or /
steel even though not balancing them |
up section of San Francisco. 1t is to |
be hoped that. if steel and hefghth are
adopted as measures of safety, these |
views may be proved to be inaccurate, |
but they are firmly held by many in
dividuals.
1t is authoritativeIy stated that in |
New York steel construction, except as
it enters into reinforced concrete; is ,
being rapidly abandoned. building /
of a hundred stories is said to be now
projected on the island of Manhattan
and while a comparatively substantial
edifice may result from the use of this
wonderfully strong and tough mate
rial. it is feared that the New YORK
skyscrapers are invitations to disaster.
But however this may be, there is no
logical reason for the transfer OF the
leading market for steel from the AT
Iantic to the Pacific, merely because
the demand in New York has become
limited and a new city is to be erected
on the San Francisco peninsula.
The world is now in a great hurry and
prefers not merely to accelerate prog
ress, which is quite legitimate, but to
fight nature in order to avoid delay
and to prove the superiority of inven-
ton to natural laws. In this respect
it is likely that nature will prove the
master. There is abundance OF room
on the more solid parts of the earth
for cities of any size. San Francisco
did not need to destroy the original
waterfront and create a fictitious value
for insecure made land, While its Inn
its We're capable of extension TO san
lose. But when it really began to en-
large, instead of solving the question
of CHEAP. RAPID AND SAFE
TRANSFORMATIONS; which is proba-
bly, the important issue of the day, pop
u!ation attempted to climb upwards
into the air. Since then and notWltn-
standing the lesson of the earthquake,
the effort to educate the masses INTO
the belief that the higher pullolnS
is. if made of steel, the less vulnerable
if is to seismic CONFUSION and to fire,
has never for a. moment ceased. On
the other hand it is claimed that no
tall building nor building made of steel
has ever been or ever Will be PROOF
against either CONGREGATIONS or earth
ouakes No modern invention has so
far produced a structure that Woulu
endure sweeping and unchecked nre'
There are numerous edlf1ces IN WHICH
fire will not originate and some are
rendered immune by their environ
nent. But raging CONGREGATIONS IN
arge cities, packed with modern SUI uc-
lures, unless arrested by water or oy-
Mantle, will lick up everything IN the
way. even though skeletons, warped
and untempered, may be lett stailoliis'
A building moreover may be anchor
ID and it's double frame tied together
rom foundation to cupola. and yet not
"a earthquake proof 1t is said that
in San Francisco was
so as to allow an oscllla-
ion of eight feet. Within this re-
;triction. it's balance might be recover =
"a. although it's frame would be great q
V strained But what if the oScllla- I
ion were nine or ten feet or more! | I
And what is the difference between the
disruption of a building where it stands
md its destruction by topping over! 4
When the center of gravity is fully
overcome, it must necessarily fall. NO