Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-28

OF san Diego 10 Il DuSlllSSS Hldil "a
~ San Francisco and his first retort
is, "Oh, yes; that's where they are
thinking of holding some sort of expo
sition i'll 1916" To this extent at least,
has it penetrated the unwilling under
standing of the average San Fran
cScan that San Diego is on the map
of California. Heretofore it has been
the metropolitan idea that San Diego
is somewhere south of Tehachapl,
contiguous to Los Angeles, and chiefly
notable as the antipodes of Siskiyou
in the ancient political shiboleth boast
ing of party victory from the Whisper
ing sycamores of the north to the sun
kissed sands of the soutf-'from the
Sierra to the sea-" 1t is something to
have forced the provincial citizen sit
ting serene, Indifferent to fate, beside
his Golden Gate, to acknowledge that
San Diego is capable of more than
poetical or semi-poetical expression;
Perhaps in due course this Pharisee OF
Californian cities may be induced to
admit that others are almost II not
entirely as holy as itself
But how will San Diego handle the
multiutudes that will flock to an eX-
position?" asks the San Franciscan,
superior in the consciousness that ms
own city, after sixty years of steady
growth could provide sleeping accom-
comfortable for a hundred thousand
visitors. The question, edged with
sneer, was unfortunate in one instance.
1t was hurled across the table at
luncheon in the Bohemian club recent
ly, directed at a San Diegan who had
mentioned the intention of his city TO
hold a California exposition IN
1915. The answer was immediate and
eloquent, and it afforded amusement
and edification for an audience Oh
merry fellows who live in Oakland,
Alameda, Berkeley, San Rafael and
San Mateo but whose vocatlons cail
them during their working hours to
the business district Of San Francisco.
San Diego Equal to 1t
"It is true" said this loyal son of
San Diego, that our city is not yet as
well supplied with hotels and lodging
houses as San Francisco; it is, per-
haps, true also that comparatively we
are as inadequate to house a great
multitude as San Francisco would be
if forced to compete in this regard
with Chicago, or New York, or Lon
don, or any Of the big cities of con-
tinental Europe; but I will say that
the absurdity of such comparative ca
pacity is not as obvious as between
San Diego and San Francisco as it
would be if the parallel We're between
San Francisco and any other OF the
big cities l have named. Further
more, I will maintain that if great eX-
positions were to open tomorrow III
San Diego and San Francisco, the ut
file citv in the south would provide
comfortable accommodations for more
visitors than could be comfortably ac-
commodated in the metropolis OF san
Francisco"
The speaker paused moment TO
x,p1
Even the San Francisco business man
that sleeps in Oakland and the day
light citizen that votes in Berkeley
regarded the confident San D1egan
with an expression betokening benef
that he meditated jest of some sort.
But he was serious.
'It is the common thought mere IN
San Francisco" he continued, thaI
houses are an absolute necessity TO
the comfort of life-houses with car
pets on the floors, pictures on the
walls. steam heat in every room' run
ming water in every corner, Janltor
on every floor, and telephone at
every bedside,
"Of course, when your Balboa expo
sition opens in 1913, or whenever you
decide to hold it, some of your super
civilized accommodations for the null
titude that you expect will partake OF
this character, but most of those VINO
come to your city will be compelled TO
double up in any sort OF apartment
they can find and many OF them VIII
nav Palace hotel prices for the prlVl-
lege of sleeping on cot IN the cor
ridors of a cheap hotel; but even
those who fail to procure what they
are willing to pay for, will insist on
sIeeping under a solid roof within
warming distance of a heater of some
sort 1t is impossible for the person
who lives in San Francisco to con-
ceive of anything more comtortaple
in the way of sleeping acconlhloua-
tions for their prospective VISITORS TO
their Balboa exposition than What L
have described; for the climatic con-
ditions in this city preclude anything
else. .,-.,...,..
"Your rains and fogs and winds drlVe
Won into the house nearly every day IN
the wear: you sleep under blankets an
the time; you wear oVercoas anu
heavy wraps when you venture upon
your streets in the evening Houses
steam heated and substantially built
are indeed a necessity in San Fran
cisco. and unless you provide them Tor
your visitors in 1918 or whenever you
hold your proposed exposition, tney
will go away as fast as tpey arrive
and find that they cannot hVe OUT Oh
doors in the ordinarily nclemeht
weather OF your Guy.
Lour and derisive laughter greeted
this climax of the knockers" ora
tion: but it was the laughter that boys
affect as they hurry through a grave
ward at night. Those who listened pc
gan TO catch the drift of the san
Diegan's discourse; they began TO per-
ceive that the man from the south was
about to urge San Diegos incompar-
able climate as an inestimable asset
Of the Panama California exposition IN
1915. Consequently their laughter was
not only loud, but derisiVe knowing
that if San Diego could prove an an
wear out -of-door climate ne Would
have decidedly tie best OF any arsu-
ment that might ensue.
Houses Not Necessary
"You may laugh, gentlemen he
went on. but if Mr.. McAdee, your
local weather clerk, were here he would
not join in your laughter. He knows
I speak the truth when l say that
San Diego can house any multitude
that may come to our city without
including steam heat and thick walls
and two pairs of thick blankets in the
accommodation. Houses IN our climate
are more useful for other purposes thah
merely sleeping or living in them.
Everv wear on the Coronado beach
thousands of visitors to our city live
i'm tents, and prefer that way of COM
passing the full joy of living. The
limit of San Diegos accommodations
for the hundreds of thousands VINO
will come to our exposition in 1915 Will
only be reached when the tentmakers
go on strike for better wages in pro-
nortion to the demands we shall make
on them. And our experience thus far