The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-10-09
AS
1T LOOKS TO-DAY

49, ~Ad ASP =
leading in the rehabilitation work,
city officials are wrangling over spoils,
putting up political jobs, and general
ly proving their incompetence and un-
fitness. Although Mayor Schmitz prov
ed equal to the emergency of the
earthquake and fire, he does not rise
to the occasion in these days of re-
construction. Private enterprise is i'm
m~easurably ahead Of municipal action.
Talk of a City Beautiful. =
There has been much talk of a
city beautiful with winding n
about the hills, broad b~oulevards, park
extensions, and so on. 1t was thought
that with the buildings leveled to the
ground, the opportunity was open for
| the construction of a mode modern
city, uniting utility and beauty TO a
degree never yet approached il Amer
lea. A little study of the situation
shows that this is nothing but a dream
San Francisco people have enough
on their hands in the way of getting
into business again, in any shape,
without tackling the great task of
forming a city on aesthetic lines. Here
and there a street may De widened
n a little park established, but in
the main there will be no attempt to
reform the plans upon which the city
was built. If it was difficult before
the fire to obtain united action toward
| civic betterment, it is doubly difficult
row, when every man must look out
for himself. The incompetency of the
city authorities is another reason why
the city will not be remOdeled. Public
confidence in the government is shat
tered, and few of the really infuen-
tial men would be willing to cooperate
with the municipality in planning ex-
tensive expenditures. They want to
see something done right now, and
they reason hat if the city officials
| cannot sweep the streets and clear
| the sidewalks, they are not the men
| to attack the problem of building a
| city beautiful.
/ The railroads terminating at San
| Francisco-the Southern Pacific and
| Santa Fe are among the most potent
| forces in rebuilding the city. They
| saved a Francisco from panic and
| possible greater disaster during the
time of stress by carrying away thou
| sands of people, free of charge, and
| bringing in emergency supplies. E H.
Hartman rushed to San Francisco and
personally aided the committee Of fiji
| tv in meeting an unprecedented stu
| alton. From an attitude Of intense
| rancor the people of San Francisco
hegan to see hat the railroads were
} not altogether bad.
| What the Railroads Did
A1leE TIE CIlSlS TIE Idil1 oduS
ed in and assisted in the removal Of
debris. Temporary tracks were laid
! and rehabilitation vas immensely as
p! sisted. Merchants ordered big stocks
of goods from the east, and the rail-
roads rushed the stuff to San Fran
cisco. There was a time, indeed, when
the stuff piled up to such an extent as
to paralyZe the operation Of h roads.
| Five thousand cars Of freight were
congested at San Francisco and Oak
! land. BY heroic efforts the lingering
freight was disposed Of and a seri-
Gus situation relieved. Now that the
railroads are able to look after their
i own business, they are ~expending great
! surres in permanent improvements,
which will facilitate the RECONSTRUCT
ton Of the city.
Francisco is ex~asperating to those
who happened to have policies in
shaky or dishonest companies, but on
the whole the lapses Of these compa-
MES has not affected the city as seri-
ously as early reports Indicated. Near
~ one-half of all losses has been paid.
Considering the fact that insurance
records, as we'll as everything else,
went UP in smoke, this is a fairly good
showing for five months. Payments are
! being made through the banks at the
, rate of nearly s1,O00,0O0 a day. The
| money goes into immediate. circula-
ton for the most part, and the result
ing activity overshadows the fact that
hundreds of other policy holders are
waiting for a settlement.
The people Of San Francisco, per-
! sonally and through their commercial
! organizations, are watching the in
surance companies with a jealous eye.
| Companies that came to the. front with
money are reaping a harvest of new
business, while those which fought for
! time or actually repudiated their OBJ
legations in whole or in part will be
made to smart for it.
Played a Losing Game
The chamber of is max
ing Up a list Of honest and dishonest
companies. The California delegation
in congress will have something to say
on the subject next winter. The names
of ~defaulting companies are to be
sent broadcast through the world, and
the opinion is universal in San a
cisco that in the long run the DEFAULT
ing companies will discover that they
played a losing game when they de-
J frauded policy holders of their rights.
| Insurance litigation promises to be-
| come great. Policy holders who have
money enough to fight are not slow in
| invoking the aid of h courts. one
Or two important cases already have
been decided, but the crucial question
is yet to be passed upon. This Ques-
ton is as to the part played by the
| earthquake in causing fire losses. Poll
| cies are variously worded, but in the
main they provide that payments shall
not be made if the loss is caused "di-
rect1y or indirectly' by earthquake or
other act of God. Of course, if there
had been no earthquake there would
have been no fire, but the man whose
house was consumed three days after
the quake does not think the indirect
cause is quite close enough to the
effect to justify the insurance compa-
MES in repudiating all liabilities.