Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1906-05-03
DISASTER grasses
CLASS DISTINCTION
EARTHQUAKE AT SAN FRANCIS
CO PLACES RICH AND POOR
ON SAME LEVEL.
SlDELIGHTS ON THE
GREAT CATASTROPHE
Millionaire and Pauper Now Friends
Business Being Conducted Amid
the Ruins-Heir to Wealth Born
on Sidewalk.

ION the level" in every sense of the
word, writes Richard Barry. You IAN
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 a 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
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 th%reefourths Of the people
are Gnnihilated, 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 fins 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 Il
on the ground, face to face. Every
artificial barrier is swept away. TINT
social distinctions built up in SO years
have been obliterated with the SANE
,swiftness and fnality shown by thu
flames toward the property. The los
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-yss, amity, feuds, hatred
jealousy and contempt have disap
peared. Humanity is in the flat an
every one Is on the level.
Here are a few random incident
picked from the edge of the cataclysm
Fillmore street, a third-rate metro
politan artery, has become for tn
moment the business center of tn
town. Here, in dinky bakeries, chea
candy stores, tawdry photograph ga
leries and insignificant lodging houses
are found all that is left Of the great
est business institutions on the Pc
cific coast. A sawmill that formerl
employed 1000 men has it's Office in
hall bedroom that used to rent for or
dollar a week. A bakery that en-
ployed 300 carts before the fire is OF
Grating out Of a hand laundry that We
run by three women. The largest d.
partment store in the west is bein
resurrected from a soda water stan
that has been roughly p%artitioned. tt
front IA by 16 feet space being use
for an office. Ina rear roomof similar e.
tent the exclusive heads go for fr
ieles and coffee warmed over an a
cohol lamp.
Odd Quarters for City Officials.
You can see the chief of police
San Francisco as easily as you coul
see the sheriff of the most backwoo(
county in Arizona. He sits in tt
window of a corner grocery and +;
you pass on the sidewalk you CLAM
at his bright face and hear his hear
laugh. The mayor issues his orde
from the lodge room of a secret s.
ciet.. The superior court Is beir
held in a Jewish synagogue, while Il
city and county records are buried
a tomb in the Masonic cemetery.
The newspapers that once occupi'
the principal skyscrapers in the CT
are being operated from four lit
rooms Ii the same block, no n
which has more than a 30-foot fro
or a 5O-foot depth. On n side
each room you can sec the sign "Su
~scription Department, on the 9th
advertising Department" while
each rear wall is hung a rough sig
Editorial Department"
One Newspaper Office a Bedroom.
One Of the most fortunate pape,
after much m~aneuverifg, has manag
to commander a second-tloor be
room, the nature Of whose previo
occupants is attested by the mott
still hanging from the chandeli
which reads, Don't Blow Out t
Gas" In this tiny room, around t.
small tables, is c~ongregated the jol
nalistic talent that formerly conduct
a world-famous organ from a suite
il looms in one of the most magn'
oort huildings in the west.