The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-05-11
GREATEST
CITY FIRE.
Chicago Comedies Itself
Outcome by San
Francisco.

A Chicagoan who remembers the
of the destruction accomplished in San
Francisco by comparison of the con-
dition OF the two cities at the time of
their respective disasters. The loss at
San Francisco is greater, but not SC
much so as to make a comparison i'm
possible.
The population of Chicago by the fed
eraI census of 1870, using round num-
bers here and elsewhere, was 29S, 600. In
October, 1871, it was estimated to be
334, 900. The population of San Francis
co in 1900 was 342, 600. In 1903 it was
estimated by the census bureau at
$50 900. Mayor Schmitz estimated it IN
1905 at 100000, but this is undoubtedly
too great, as the rate of increase for
many years has been less than Is per
cent yearly. About $4,000 would be a
fair estimate at the present time.
The Chicago fire covered an area of
three and one-third square miles. The
square miles, about three times as
much as the fire of 1871. The number
OF people left homeless in Chicago was
estimated by the Relief and Aid Society
at 100, 00O In San Francisco at least
1885, 900 are without shelter of their own.
Among the homeless there is in this
last fire a larger proportion of the ex-
treme!y poor who are dependent on
their earnings from Gay to day in or
der to live, and who have nothing saw
ed and no place to go.
The wealth of Chicago in 1871 was
much less than that of San Francisco
in 1906. Chicago had at that time few
holders of long accumulated wealth
The business district had not then it's
present dimensions; there were not the
magnificent buildings, the great de-
partment stores and the banks, thea
tiers, and hotels which now adorn the
center of the city, but the business
center of San Francisco may be more
properly compared with that of Chica-
go today than with that of Chicago
thirty-f1ve years ago. While San Fran
CISCO ldS IilOIC OL Lie ISdIly oSSlItulC
than Chicago mad, it has also more mil
lionaires than Chicago had. It's splen-
did homes, in the area laid waste by
fire, had no counterpart in Chicago.
The loss in Chicago was estimated at
$1S6 900, 600, but a discount of 10 per
cent must be made from that amount
in currency to put it on a gold basis
for the purpose of comparison. 1t is
impossible yet to say what the loss in
San Francisco will reach, but every
new dispatch tends to show that early |
estimates were too conservative and
that the amount is likely to exceed |
$500, 100000.
The number of lives lost in the two
fires will never be exactly known. In !
quests were held on III victims of the |
fire in Chicago. Other persons report |
ed missing may swell the total to 200. |
In San Francisco the loss of life from
earthquake and fire will be many times /
as great.
The future is more dubious for San |
Francisco than it was for Chicago. The
city will rise again, and splendidly, but
it will take longer. Capital is prudent.
1t can calculate against loss by fire,
and the lesson of the Chicago fire was
so we'll learned that there is no danger
Of a repetition of that loss. But who
IAN take precautions against earth
luakes? They are irreconcilable with
he needs of a modern city. A Nicara-
guam or Guatemalan city is made OF
houses, each Independent, but San
Francisco must have sewers. water
pipes, electric wires, whole network
IF connecting arteries and veins. The
snaps these. How can a
great modern city exist in the earth
quake belt? If capital cannot find an
answer, it will mean. as the operator
Who sent the first alarm Indicated a
return to the simple life" The task
S enormous.-Chicago Tribune.