The Hawaiian gazette., 1907-09-13
n r7r0~5r1r1r7r1r1rSr5F
editorial Correspondence.)


SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 2s.-All
that is said in promotion literature
about the rapid and stable rebuilding
of San Francisco is true. A fine mod
ern city is rising from the ashes Of
rather old-fashioned and shabby one.
There is a craze downtown for put
ting up high buildings, a natural re-
suit of costly land; and as most of
these structures, outside tho focal
point of wholesale and retail business,
are intended for apartment houses and
hotels, there is danger of building be-
yond the need. Today there is more
room in San Francisco to house people
than there was before the fire, and at
least forty per cent. of the burnt area
remains to be covered. The popula-
ton must grow enormously to reach
the limits of the provision made for
it; and for such population as may
come, the metropolis will have no
mean competitors in Oakland, Ala
media and Berkeley. Those cities are
growing fast; and viewed from the
San Francisco side of the bay, their
houses would seem to have doubled
in number. There is one continuous
city along the eastern shore for
miles and the high ground has been
invaded by homes-ground that 1 re-
call as pastoral land eight or nine
years ago.
1t may be taken for granted that
business will return to it's old haunts.
The aspect of things on the new busi-
ness streets, Fillmore and Van Ness,
is temporary. No one seems to have
built for keeps" while downtown
steel-cage sky-scrapers and vast piles
of REINFORCED concrete, indicate per-
manence. Chinatown is rebuilding in
the old place and the wholesale peo-
pie naturally keep near the wharves
and railway ferries. The great incen-
tive, however, to the property-own-
ers who are so busy in downtown con-
struction is that of restoring and
maintaining values. The man who
had 100000 in a downtown building
site before the fire can only get his
money back by restoring and improv-
iA6 QPOi lhC OIu IHSEt.
One notes fine, confident look about
the people on the street. They go
swinging along,
SERENE, INDIFFERENT TO FATE
as if not caring whether Mother Earth
is in vicious mood or not. Underfoot
a doom may be preparing, but who
cares? Men can get used to anything
The Confederates slept in the trenches
at Petersburg when they felt morally
certain that the Yankee sappers and
miners were storing gunpowder some
where below them, for their quick un-
doing. The San Franciscans eat,
drink and are merry, though we'll
aware that the force which made that
April day SO tragic knows no limit
and may multiply its energies at will
This is true of the great bulk of the
population, the younger men, but 1
hear that. among the middle-aged, the
old and the overworked, the sense of
insecurity survives and testers. Lots
of men lost their nerve forever in the
April days of calamity. Some of them
have confessed as much to me. Not a
few veteran journalists of the town
have been unable to write since and
are staying at various spas, out of
harness for good. Fear of a geologic
fault under the peninsula is the cause
of the growth of Oakland and it's sis
ter cities at the expense of San Fran
cisco.
Some people here, especially the
hotel-keepers, talk lightly of the earth
quake. 1t was no great shakes"
The damage was all done by the fire.
But one cannot look at the ruins of
the City Hall or of Stanford, without
feeling deep respect for Enceladus, the
blind god of earthquakes.
THE LABOR SITUATION.
Labor is busy, and, until the city
has been reconstructed. it will be the
most evident thing going. Working
men swarm over the burnt district.
but they do not seem to be so flush as
they were. Wages, or the premiums
given with wages. are lower. A year
ago or less, when bricklayers began