Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1907-10-04
Keep Your Eye the Democrat for Good Reading and Advertising Bargains
Dr.. Edwards Letter From The Orient

DuWuhua kutot ttv3 tue
Honolulu. Il. I, July S.-As we
sailed out of the Golden Gate |
looked back upon the hills of San
Francisco. wondering if my two
years absence would bring about
changes that would make the city
look as it did before the great dis
aster. In fourteen months won-
ders in the way of reconstruction
have been accomplished in the
great metropolis of the Pacific,
and | feel that | can best begin
my series of letters with few
words about San Francisco and its
phenom enal growth after it was
ravaged by earthquake and fire.
1t must be remembered that
nearly thirty thousand buildings
we're destroyed at that time and
that more than five hundred city
blocks we're wiped out. The entire
business section of the city was
burned. entailing a monetary loss
of about one thousand million
dollars. How..many people lost
their lives in that disaster will
never be known. In the year
that has passed the ..people have
been city building on a scale never
before seen in the. world. They
are building city in its entirety
all at one time, and have already
erected complete one third as
many better buildings as we're
there before the fire, and have
thousands of others under way.
If that rate be kept up until | re-
turn the city will be a better one
than it was before the diasster
came.
The old San Francisco was 'ssthe
pride..of the world, and..no.. travel
er was satisfied. unit! be could tell
assvisit to the city by ..the...Golden
Gate. Because of its intense
Bohemlanism it was a city of in
finite charm. One could . walk a
: few blocks and imagine himself in
a foreign country. streets marked
the lines between Asia, France,
Spain. Italy, Russia, Poland and
other countries. and the colonie:
within these..lines of demarkation
, we're as distinctive as, ,,ssthe coun.
tries themselves. The people
kept to themselves, holding tt
t their old m'nners and customs as
if =. they we're actually in ,,.theil
fatherlands, When a.a ,,visitoI
wandered into one of these dis
r tricts he would hear. .s.nothing bu
the language of the country re
presented. 1t was a we'll know
fact that in manyssof thesessforeigl
colonies there lived, people wh,
had been born there, yet VIII,
0 could speak no language but tina
o. their ancestors.
+ When San Francisco awas en-
veloped in flames In.wondered i
the old colonies, would lever b
n re, established, :. little =: = thinkini
/ that the first feature to be restore
would be the unique and interest
, ing congregating of..ssforeigner:
o But it is a matter of fact that th
first permanent :. reconstructio
+ done was that of the foreig
, elements which hurried back
their old homes. Italy. Spair
France. China, Japan. Kores
. Poland. all are again there, Just
before the fire, and | am sure tht
:, when | return | will have n
o difficulty in finding the same oil
l. Bohemian haunts which made Sa
Francicso so fascinating to be
a visitors.
er A voyage across the Pacifi
ne is usually marked with little Q
incident, consequently there vi
If en- unbroken rest and quiet on th
a ship until yesterday morning
Ia when the Captain announced ths
le we would see the island befor
noon. His prediction came tru