The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-06-13

neer days of 1s49. It's buildings wer
of wood and brick and a few wer
of steel. As the always moving It'd
of BUSINESS receded from old quarters
it had left rows of dingy buildings
which were all that Is vile The mod
ern section of the city was honey
combed with buildings that were de
cades behind the times.
Then came the earthquake and tn
! fire. In three days property to tn
value of s500,000,6o0 had been swep
away. OF this amount of damage $3.50,
100000 resulted from the fire Sine,
that time the insurance companies bavt
paid 10 San Franeiscans $19S, 000, 200
Nearly FIVE square miles of the hear
of the city was left in ruins To cIeal
away the wreck was the greatest tasl
of the kind ever undertaking. Rail
road rails were laid through the city
and heavy engines carried away bill
/ lions OF bricks and millions of tons OF
twisted iron and steel. The very great
| ness of the task of clearing away the
wreckage encouraged men in their de
termination to build on a greater scale
! More than $4,000 buildings were de-
stroyed. Nearly 10000 new ones have
| been erected, and over 1000 remodeled
so that San Francisco in two years has
| really replaced half of the structures
destroyed. But the superiority of the
new city over the old is shown by the
fact that the $4,000 buildings burned
cost $105, 100000, while the $4,000 new
| buildings have cost SIP, 100000 Two
years after-and the value of the i'm
| provement on the real estate in the
burned district is greater than it was
before the fire. And this is not all of
the miracle--of $112. 100000 invested
in the new buildings, $105, 100000 is
local San Francisco money. In these
buildings of the new city there is now
stock and furnishings to the value of
$160, 100000.
The city had a population of about
475,000 at the time of the fire. The
estimates made on the school census
shows a population today of nearly
100000. There was great exodus
Immediately after the disaster but san
Franciscans assert with the utmost con
f1dence that the loss in population has
been more than made up by the influx
brought about by rebuilding.
Before the fire" and after the fire.
are the phrases used here to fix time
or denote an era. With the unament-
ed obsolete buildings of certain sec
tons of the city there also persisted
much that San Francisco will lona re-
member and long for. The intimate
juxtaposition of business and social life
which obtained when offices, shops.
clubs and hotels were in their old rela-
ton will not be known again. The
offices will again be centered down
town. The shops will also take up
their old quarters. but the great shop
ping districts which sprang up in the
unframed residence districts will not
surrender their life and Van Ness ave-
nue. is 1.-The avenue" today. The clubs |
are scattered, and the bohemian res |
which contributed both to
the fame and infamy of the city have |
found new and widely separated quar-
tiers. But only the old-timers will |
regret the change of locations-there |
is no change in the existence of the
things that make San Francisco the |
little Paris so beloved of American
The city that Is has taken the place |
of the city that Was. It's people are /
looking forward with faith and un-
daunted spirit to the city that VIII Be.
Some of them now regret that no adj
was taken of the opportunity
to rearrange the street plans. But that |
Is not to be thought of now The les
sons taught by the great disaster have
been carefully studied. OF the great
loss ninety per cent. was by fire, eight
per cent by dynamite used in fighting
the fire, and only two per cent. by the
earthquake. The rebuilt city is made
up of buildings of that type of con-
struction which resisted the force of
the earthquake. AS far as human pre-
caution can go the city is protected
from danger from another ''temblor."
The people have just voted to spend
over five million dollars to install an
auxiliary water system to be used only
n fighting fire. Further than this man
cannot go in his efforts to guard
against the unknown dangers of the
future. Before the fire San Francisco
was a creditor city It's bonded in
lebtedness is limited by it's charter to
fifteen per cent. of it's assessment roll
The assessment roll is about $3.50, OO0. 900,
which fixes the limit of Indebtedness at
81 500 600. Until a few days ago the
lctuaI bonded debt was only So 436, 600
Encouraged by the results of two years
If rebuilding. the people by a vote of
ten to one agreed to a bond issue of
rs, 300, goo. This money is to be ex-
pended for mprovements-$5 200 900 for
he auxiliary water system, 81 900. 600
or a sewer system. So. 900. 600 for addi-
ional houses, $1,000 900 for hospitals.
md a million each for a hall of justice
md garbage disposal plant.
Even with this new debt, the per
apita indebtedness of San Francisco /
$ only S45 which compares favorabIy
With New Yorks $127, Boston's STA,
II Cincinnatis $111. 1t is also not
BILE fact that the percentage of mort .
age Indebtedness in relation TO the ,
ctual values of real estate and inn
rovements is very low in San Fran
isco. According to the carefully pre-
jared estimate of the authorities here
he percentage is Il as against SO in |
Sew York and "A in Philadelphia. These |
cures show that the New San Fran
isco is taking its place among the |
Their great cities of the country a no | |