The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-22
FRISCO MUSTRSE AGAIN
CITY on THE BAY A METROPOLIS
BY ACT OF GOD.. e-e-

Problems That Can he Met beautiful
City TO succeed the Picturesque.
That San Francisco will be rebuilt seems
q certainty now. The only reason which
would have prevented this was the earth
quake which started tho fire and oompli-
Gated IL. 1t goes without saying that a
modern city merely burned will be rebuilt.
Chicago and Boston did it, and there Is
practically a new Baltimore.
But the question of the first day, when
the earthquake horror was fresh in the pub
lie mind, was whether capitalists would
have the nerve to put up buildings on a
foundation shaken up az his has BEEN
Certainly it was felt that Eastern. men
would not venture their money in such an
enterprise.
However, the feeling Of Eastern men
in the matter does not affect this situation
70 greatly as might be supposed, Most
Of the capital invested in San Francisco
and northern California is local. 1t has
been a cause for steady kicking In San
Francisco that Eastern men woulc not come
in with the capital to develop the mines,
the great fertile lands and the manufaotur-
ing industries.
Already Easternere are taking a more
sober and moderate view of the situation !
In the first place, there has been no other
earthquake in northern California severe
enough to shake down any considerabIe.
number of buildings since the early part OF
the nineteenth century, when the Spanish
padres held the land. Probably that.
tremor, which lives IN the htstorfesN or the
missions, was nearly as severe az this
That makes one a century. Taking a
Z liberal margin of for good measure, 1t may
be said that the chances are even for another
one in fifty years. But modern builders
OF commercial properties do not take what
may happen fifty years from now into their
calculation Of profits. In that time a build
ing has lone its service and is ready to be
honorably retired, even if by an earthquakes;
That is the cold law of luck.
OLD EASY PREY.
Further, the effect of both fire and earth
quake was squared and cubed by the ndicu-
lously old fashioned, fimsy buildings.
Taking the earthquake first; The only con-
siderable building reported shaken down
7 10 City Hall. This was a massive stone
pile which must have fallen owing to its
very weight, just as did some of the Stan
! ford buildings.
Further than that 1t was notorious that
graft after graft was worked in Its con-
otruotion. Something has happened to it
almost every year since it was occupied.
The new post Office building will have to
be left out Of the calculation here because
the reports about it are conflicting. The
best authority says that 1t Is cracked in
places but far from ruined. And that, too,
wa Of great weight for its bulk.
Besides these, the buildings which went
down were either cheap lodging houses or
small frame houses, built twenty or thirty
years ago and hardly more than pasted
together. The climate invited to that
kind Of construction. Where 1t was never
very cold no one needed to mind thin walls
and a few cracks. The lodging bouses
were like the cheap roosts along the Bowery
OF New York, only cheaper and more fimsy.
Here, 80 far as can be learned, was the
great loss of life. ... ,er.
While any conclusion is likely to be con-
tradicted by later facts, nothing seems
more certain than that the modern sky
scrapers Of steel structure came through
the earthquake nobly. Some Of them
came through the fire, too; a despatch
Yesterday afternoon stated that the Mer-
chants Exchange Building, the Paramount
Hotel and even the ~uncompleted Monad-
mock, all swept over by the fire, were in
shape to be used and were being used.
The Chronicle building, Oldest of all.
vas standing and in order when the fire
x reached other newspaper Offices, and it was
In such good shape that the apers were
preparing to combine in using its plant.
One despatch stated specifically that the
new st. Francis Hotel stood it in fine shape,
although the plaster was cracked. Every
thing goes to show that the modern building
could have stood a strain even greater
without going down. 1t is probable, too,
that the same thing was true of all the
modern residences not too heavy in con-
struction. 1t seems. then, in a general way
that the lost Of life lay more in tlimsy con-
e~truction than in the action of the force Of
81 nature.
FIRE HAD EASY WORK.
In the matter of a fire it was wholly the
fault Of poor construction. Block after
block was Of wood, seasoned through long
years. That a conlla grafton was coming to
: San Francisco was the belief of every fire
: chief who held office in San Francisco,
- The underwriters made the same report,
The city had an excellent fire department
second only to New York in point OF
! efficiency. It's vigilance saved the town
again and again.
> Their only ally was the quality OF Cali,
fornia redwood-mentioped so often in the
characteristics way of burning with a
%sullen. smouldering blaze. On top OF this
t water mains would appear TO ave beer
laid out without thought Of an earthquake
They broke at the first shock and the city
was lost. ..
A ORDAINED ny 3D..
= There is no doubt that the city will be
rebuilt. Say even that the capitalists in
volved agreed by mutual consent 10 with
draw from the peninsula, they would have
TO rebuild on tho shores Of San francisco
Y Ray, for this is a metropolis not by the han
" Of man but by the act of God, h'
~" It does not exist because lines of trars-
n portation nave agreed upon it as a site
but because it is the only natural site
the only possible site for the port of entry
and the metropolis TO California and al
lf che country which Hea bark ~ II 70 fh,