Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1906-05-03
DISASTER grasses
CLASS DISTINCTION
EkKTHQCAKE At SAN FRANCIS.
CO PLACES RICH AND POOR
ON SAME LEVEL.
GICELlGHTS ON THE
GREAT CATASTROPHE

GREAT CATASTROPHE
Millionaire and Pauoer Now Friends
business Being Conducted Amid
the Ruins-Helr TO Wealth Born
on Sidewalk.
Sac Francisco, Cal-This town is
''oE the level in every sense of the
Ynrd, writes Richard Barry. You can
stand on Tar ns: and see Telegraph
hill with no obstruction but a few
skyscrapcr skeletons. South of Van
Ness avenue IT ia not even junk heap.
No r.ore 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 40, when scrubby
bushes rambl'd across their barren
faces. They have been scraped of foul
ard lair by mighty muck rake, The
homes of ,hrecfourths of the people
are annibilsted. and as one walks
through the desolatlon he slowly real
ICES that tie world can never know
what has happened; that 100 Pompeiis
would be swallowed il these ruins and
that California in tragedy, as in all
else, has shaken her jaunty fist in the
face of history and written 'finis" to
tie 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 mag
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, fare 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-
tion colossal. Down to the elements,
now nothing counts but human loss.
Money has momentarily lost it's 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.
&c
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, 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 a
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
front IA by 16 feet space being used
for an Office. Ina rear room of similar ex-
tent the exclusive heads go for fri
jeles and coffee warmed over an al
cohol lamp.
Odd Quarters for City officials.
tie 80 a.
San Francisco as easily as you could
see the sheriff of the most backwoods
county in Arizona. He sits in the
window of a 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 secret So
ciet.. The superior court is being
held in Jewish synagogue, while the
city and county records are buried in
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
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 a second-floor 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
Cas-" 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 magnif-
cent buildings in the west.