Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-18

!
nouncing that San Francisco had been
shaken to its foundations by a great
earthquake, and that fire. Uncontrolled
and uncomfortable, was completing the
| ruin and devastation. On that day and
the one which followed the most ter
rifle blow which ever descended upon
an American city fell upon the great
metropolis OF the Pacific coast.
Today nearly every scar left by that
frightful fifty hours has been obliterated
A new and prouder San Francisco has
arisen from the ashes Of the old, and
greets the world as the highest example
of civic greatness to which a community
can rise in times when nothing is left
to men but hope, and that hope Is semi
despair. The fire destroyed twenty-eight
thousand houses; thirty-one thousand
have taken their places. It demolished
514 city blocks. leaving them strewn with
such a hopeless mass OF debris that 49,
bare earth itself-no mean task for
ruined, desolated city. Today each of
these city blocks is built up better and
handsomer than ever before.
Yes, San Francisco is a better and
more beautiful city than ever. Where
before the fire
Better City and More there were
Beautiful Than Ever. b,,ilaines dss-
isnated in insurance terms as class A
buildings. there were 1O in 1909. and this
list has been added to since then. The
same proportion holds with class e build
ings. One department store alone spent
$500, 600 for furnishings and interior dec
oratiOns. Everywhere the same strife
for perfection has been in evidence and
today San Francisco is a metropolis of
nearly half a million busy people. with
a business section only five years old.
Not only have the physical scars of
the great calamity been obliterated, but
the financial scars as well. or course.
thousands of families were financially
ruined by the catastrophe, and never will
recover from the blow. but the COM
munity as whole is in better financial
condition than before the calamity oc-
Cured The assessed values of the city
today these values aggregate $433. O0O.OO
The bank clearings before the fire were
81 ,SOO0QO,O 200 a year: now they amount to
nearly two and a half billions. The saw
than they We're in 1906. All Of this
tells the story Of municipal victory and
individual triumph. a story unequaled in
it's completeness and magnifcence in all
the history Of urban civilization.
But the end is not in sight. With it's
business and industry amply housed and
its population
Preparing to Extend properly shell
Municipal Ownership. FRANCISCO is
now turning to other considerations. 1t
is building one of Americas most modern
opera houses 1t Is providing one Of the
worlds most splendid municipal build
ings. 1t is preparing to rescue itself
from the domination Of a privately owned
water system. In short. 1t Is now giving
its attention to the larger problems or
municipal life In way that promises TO
make it exhibit number one of the big
show which will greet the visitor to the
Panama exposition.
And the San Francisco people are en-
thusiastic about that fair. When the
they had spent 500, 100000 in repairing
the damages of less than five years be-
fore, and still face vast expenditures,
they voted $5,OOO.O0O to the exposition by
osition. Yet. with all this. San Fran
cisco has the smallest debt in proportion
to the assessed valuation OF its prop
erty than any large city in the United
States-a year or two ago 1t was only 10
per cent, as compared with 30 IN New
York, 30 in Pittsburg and 81 in Boston.
One of the things confronting San Fran
cisco is the question whether the city Will
be allowed to get munlclrai water SUP
plv from the Hetch-Hetchy valley. This
water. coming out of the very heart OF
the Sierras, is one of the finest supplies
in the world. Cold and pure and abund-
ant it has eevrything to recommend It.
But there are two forces at work against
it's utilization. The nature lovers of Amer
lea assert that 1t will ruin one OF the
worlds most beautiful spots Then there
is the Spring Valley Water Company,
which now supplies San Franciscos wa
ter. The federal courts have fixed the
value of this companys holdings at S52,-
600 600, and San Francisco wants it as
an auxiliary supply at that price. But
the Spring Valley people want higher
they are financing the opposition to the
Hetch- Hetchy project. 1t Is said that Mr.
Roosevelt. James r. Garfield and CLIFFORD
Pinchot all favor San Franciscos oeIns
Hetchy valley. The matter Is scheduled
for determination in June, when Presi-
dent Taft and Secretary Fisher of the In
terror Department will decide the issue.
4 i
The rate at which San Francisco has
been rebuilt is the greatest exhibition Of
pluck and
Unparalleled Exhibition courage the
world has
Oh 1AUCA AAu OVuAo6o seen in many
a century. When the city lay In ruins.
with its millionaires homeless and its poor
all but starving, the world said that in
ten years San Francisco could not rally
from her plight. But when three years
had passed San Francisco had a celebra-
ton and invited the world to look. In