The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-11
SAN FRANCISCO CON OPTIONS A Period of Demoraliza tion--Returning to Nor
 nal Conditions. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS Great Demand for Automo- piles, Diamonds and
 LuXuries.
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

The following description of the sit- uation in San Francisco, which was printed in the Boston Transcript, is rom the pen of Tom Bacon, Yale, '72:
 The extraordinary dislocation of pop ulation, of manners. customs and hab- It's, of economic and social conditions Which resulted from the disaster of last April, has made this year an ab- normal and an interesting one. At first tt seemed as if common disaster had brought men to feeling of common Brotherhood, and everyone helped ev- eryone else in the most self-denying way Of course there was some crime alid seit1shness even in the first awful days, but the general conduct was such as to make one think well of human nature. But it did not last long. Self ishness and sin soon began to assert their dominion again. Capitalists who had spurned the notion of raising rents began to raise them. Labor unions, which had formally resolved not to ask Tor higher wages, began to strike and to do what they could to prevent rehabilitation" as we call it out here. Vice ana crime of every sort became rampant, There were never even in the pioneer days" SO many murders, obotries and other crimes of violence as there have been in San Francisco during the year that is now ending. Gftreover, a large part of the popula- tion, especially foreigners, became com- pletely demoralized, and it seemed as if the foundations of society hal been broken up. This period of nervous and irresponsible excitement now seems ta be passing away, and things gre re- turning to their normal condition in these respects.
 Tf.e curious economic condi.l ns pre- vailing throughout the country are greatly exaggerated here. The scarcity of materials and labor is simply ap- paliing, especially to a person who has to live on a fixed salary, or a person of means who is trying to do something toward the rebuilding of San Francis co, If you want little Job done, such as painting, you cannot get it done; or, If you do get it done, the bill makes you sick. The great lack of labor and material it would be easy to under stand, were it not for another curious fact. The only thing that seems to be plentiful is money. There has never been so much luxury as there is now. The mere matter of automobiles ard their use may serve as an illustration. The use of them before the fire was 7 very limited. What there were out here were of infinite use during our terrible days. Since that time their use has become almost universal. It is mainly luxurious use. l see people dashing about in machines, who have no financial standing which can justify the expense. It seems to me that there are more automobiles in this little city of Berkeley than there were in Paris, when I was there just three years ago. And there Is this startling difference. You can get as much automobile ser vice in Paris for a dollar as you can here for ten dollars. 1 have used the automobile only as an Illustration. Ev- erything goes in the same way. The leading jeweller in San Francisco says that he has never done so large a business in precious stones, especially diamonds, The persons who buy them are of quite different class from those who have hitherto indulged in such things. When first heard this, 1t oc- cured to me that these people, under the influence of panic, were putting such money as they had in stones as safe investment, which would not in- deed yield interest, but which would be in such portable form that it would be easy to save in case of another fire, and could always be converted into cash. This theory of mine was knock ed to pieces by further testimony. The principal dealers in antiques, articles of pure luxury, tell me that they cannot keep any stock on hand that their business has never been so great; that they have to keep one man in Europe and another in Asia to purchase things, and that even so they cannot keep up with the demand. A druggist who had just opened shop in a part of the city mainly inhabited by the working classes said that it was impossible to ivory backed brushes and combs, cut ivory-backed brushes and cobs, cut glass perfumery bottles and those other strange goods which the apothecary shops usually exhibit about Christmas times. The retail trade in San Fran cisco has never "boomed" as it has in the last ten months. Where does all the money come from? Doubtless many persons, are "blowing in" their insur- ance money; the extraordinary wages which are paid for labor-skilled and unskiled-probably has something to do with it.
 All this has gone on during the most severe winter that have seen in California, Fuel has been scarce and high. Persons who could afford to pay any price for it have actually suffered from the cold. The use of fuel oil, which is abundant in the southern portion of the state, and the utilization of the torrential rivers of the Sierras for the production of electric power, has largely overcome this difficulty, but neither of these has as yet solved the problem of domestic heat for pur- poses of warmth and cooking. The hard winter has prevented the rail- roads from bringing their customary supply of coal. The roads have been washed out in the lowlands, and have been blocked in the mountains by snow
 The trouble which has occasionally infested municipal life in many of our cities has been present from the be- ginning of San Francisco. The better people have again and again tried the political remedy but vice and ignor- anee have been too much for them. In