Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-04-21
Mark Bennitt's Pen Picture of the Metropolis on the Pacific
 Slope.
Great Hive of Industry Where Ships ei the World Have UnIoaded Treasures of the Orient and of All Zones-A City l of Boundless Wealth, Whose Sky Y scrapers Have Successfully
 Withstood Former Earth,
 quake Shocks ss9

San Francisco, which was so serious Iy damaged by an earthquake on April IS. has had a number of similar expe- riences. In 1868 and 1898 there were severe shocks. The former year a crack several inches wide and eight or nine blocks long was made in Market street, the main thoroughfare of the city. In 1898 the tall buildings were given a terrific shaking, and some of the occupants were made dizzy and sick However, the structures were uninjured. Prior to 1890 there was hardly a building in the city that ex- ceeded five stories in height Builders knew that the city had suffered from seismic disturbances and were afraid to erect skyscrapers. However, short ly after 1890 they became more ven turesome, and big structures of twelve, fourteen and even seventeen stories were built. The modern iron and steel skeleton frame was used, and in the earthquake of 1898 the buildings of this type stood the shock well.
 The following graphic and interest ing story about San Francisco was written few days ago by Mark Ben nitt, who was superintendent of the general press bureau at the St. Louis fair; I 2 s,s .a j
 An old man sat one evening in that wonderful rotunda of the Palace hotel in San Francisco narrating to party of friends some of his experiences as a young man in the great city of the Golden Gate.
 When I landed here in 1855" said he, the ship cast her anchor near where the Chamber of Commerce now stands"
 The place Is not less than half mile from the present waters of the bay.
 Between the site of this hotel and the bay" he continued, was hill of sand about as high as the hotel"
 The sand hill was thrown into the bay long ago and many others might have been to the advantage of San Francisco.
 That was in 1855" continued the narrator, "and they told me had come too late to reap any profit from the growth of the city"
 So there were false prophets in those days of fifty years ago as there are now, men who do much guessing and palm 1t off as sage advice to suffering and patient audience.
 Four times in the year 1905 the city of San Francisco broke the monthly record in the value of building permits issued, with no more prospect of a ces- sation of growth than there Is in the city of New York Many millions of dollars go every year into structures of the most permanent sort, from sky scrapers, with skeletons of steel, to flats and dwellings of the humber kind. The city is without trees except here and there in it's remote suburbs, but the absence of shade trees is one of the least of the worries here, be- cause sunshine is always such a well come thing to a San Franciscan.
 San Francisco Is in every essential a metropolis. It Is so far from the greater cities of the east that It Is com pelled perforce to take upon itself met ropolitan qualities. Here are shops of every possible kind to supply every commodity known to commerce; here gre men skilled in every craft to pro duce any article of modern need; here are all the grades of society. all the denominations of religion. all the peo- ples of the so called civilized world, nIngling in cosmopolitan medley: here gre buildings of every sort - wood, brick, stone. cement and steel framed, from the architectural masterpieces of genluses of wonderful skill Tn artistic composition. the creators of sympho- nies in stone and marble, to the miser able hodgepodge lacking in comeliness or the least of artistic merit Hither come the ships of the world to tie at the great wharfs or to ride at anchor In the sheltered bay. Here are unload d the treasures of the orient and of all zones. From this port go the multitude of things produced upon the Pacific dope or other products shipped by rail from their places of origin east of the Rocky divide. here to be trausshipped to ports five to eight thousand miles across the blue Pacific. Importers and exporters vie with one another to sur pass former records of a prodiEiOus business. and there are brokers in ev- erythinz. combining to swell the vol ume of the city's commercial transac- tons from year to year.
 You feel that you are In a land of progress. The leaveu Of enterprise Is active in every line of effort The rity-s streets become avenues Of trsfHc before daylight and continue thus cezselessly all day. as in other great nsrts. only fn the small hours of the night Is there a luil in the activities of the great population wbe1 one relay of workers, with their ponderoas teams and vehicles. retire to rest, oth- CTS seemingly step in to take their places. and the thu1derinz trzfsc goes On and On Year i1 and year out the de4fsni1z roar Of hezTy wheels upon the rocky soors Of the streets zbides with the dueISers h the downr0En dis trfcts Tbe dang of the car bells Is bezrd everywhere rith scarcely more Gan . sZixht cessation when trz6c is rEtkegk Al uitday tte gr4u are