Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-05-17
BOOMING SAN DIEGO
People Proclaim Revival of
Business Activity.
GROWTH IN BANK DEPOSITS
Building Permits in Year Repre-
sented Investment Of $4,OOO,O 900.
RAPID PROGRESS SINCE 1905
influence Of Panama Canal Recoe-
nized and the Opening to Be
deliberately Celebrated.
BY WILLIAM z. CURTIS.

| BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
special Correspondence Of The Star and the
! Chicago Record Herald.
SAN DIEGO. May 9, oil
The good people of San Diego see an
omen OF great significance in the fact
| that the revival Of activity and prosperity
| IN their beautiful city began with the
| nrst work on the Panama canal and the
San Diego and Arizona railroad, which
| is to connect this city with Yuma. and the
opening OF the Tehuantepec railway for
| traffic. There. certainly has been a re-
markable revival which commenced about
| 1870 1t may be only a coincidence that
| 1t should date from the beginning of the
great enterprises 1 have mentioned. but
| nevertheless the faith of the optimists
| down here cannot be shaken.
| San Diego has had more UPS and downs
| than any other city, and since the present
city was started in 1868 by AIonzo E.
Horton on site that cost $1,000 it has
| been in the clouds several times and
then again in the depth of despair. There
| IS tradition that San Diego once had
a population of $4,000, but no official evil
boom collapsed, the census enumerators
could find only 16.259, and in 1900 they
could find only 17.7OO in a town site
| that is bigger than Paris The building
$l4,COO, and the bank deposits that year
were only 81 100000, which belonged most
| ~ to RENTER" that is, eastern peo-
pie who were out here for their health
ana TO enjoy the climate. for San Diego
| is an ideal home city. The temperature
| is never too cold nor too hot and is prob
aply more fixed than that of any other
place In the country. AT Coronado Beach,
the big hotel across the bay. the Their
mometer seldom varies from seventy, day
CT night, and although it is one of the
| most southerly points IN the United States
| IL is cooler In summer than Duluth, Mack
NAV or Bar Harbor. The daily variation
in temperature is only two degrees, and
| II is always June.
Boom Begins in 1905.
About 1905 the things began to look
up, and during the next six years the
population increased 1886 per cent, the
census of 1910 showing 39,57S people, Dur
ing that year the building permits rep
resented an investment of 100000 and
the bank deposits are now more than
twelve millions. Every body is making
money and everybody is not only hope
full but enthusiastic over the great wave
of prosperity that is to begin at Panama
as soon as the canal is opened and washes
the shores of the Pacific. Hence. the peo-
pie of San Diego intend to demonstrate
their neW-found strength and recognize
the source of their recent improvement
by holding an exposition in 1918 to greet
the first vessel that sails up the west
coast from the Panama canal. They are
so confident and enthusiastic that they
have subscribed a million dollars in cash,
which is SO per capita-men, women and
chlldren-and $125 per family of the popu-
iation. No greater public spirit was ever
shown before in such a manner The
| subscriptions for the worlds Columbian
exposition at Chicago represented only
| 80 per capita of the population of that
| city.
| The plans are all made and a commit
tee is now in Washington trying to OBJ
| tain from Congress authority for the
| President to invite other American ma
| tons. 1t Is to be solely an American
exposition. although no European or
| will be historical as we'll as commercial
but the main purpose is to demonstrate
| the superiority Of the climate and the
soil of this far-off corner of the country,
Not Rival of Frisco.
There is no rivalry with the San Fran
cooperative so far as their purposes are
concerned. People down here think that
two expositions will draw more tourists
from the eastern states and foreign
countries than one. They are seeking
| the cooperation of Nevada, Arizona.
New Mexico, Texas. Utah. Colorado.
| Oklahoma, Mexico and Central and South
America, on the theory that San Diego
is the most convenient shipping point
and entrepot of the southwest by ocean
routes They do not understand why all
| the commerce between the United States
and Australia the Hawaiian Islands. the
| Philippines, Japan, China and other Ash
attic countries does not concentrate here.
| In contemplating that proposition the
official announcement of the exposition
| reads
1T is urged on behalf of San Diego's
purpose that the city is logically the
place for holding such an exposition
| has been arranged. 1t is the first port
| of call in United States territory north
of the Panama canal. and the port near
est to the great circle of commerce be-
| tween Panama and all ports of the
orient. 1t is the only practicable ship
ping point for the southwest by ocean
| routes Its harbor is the only safe and
| commodious haven, with the exception of
| So Francisco, between Puget sound and
v. .araiso. 1t is the most direct termi-
nal on Pacific waters for all the west
| bound traffic far east as Kansas City,
and when the San Diego and Arizona
railroad is completed it will close the last
| gap on the shortest route from the mid
die west to Pacific tdewater over the
lowest grade of all transcontinental rail-
road lines.
The Panama canal exposition will
specialize in every feature of its exhibits
and displays. Included in the North
American territory, for which San Diego
is the terminal and shipping point on the
new highway of commerce to be induced
by the Panama canal. are Arizona. New
Mexico, Texas. Nevada. Utah. Colorado.
| Oklahoma. Mexico and Central America.
| Vast areas of this territory are cassed
as arid and the federal government is
lending efficient aid to estate and terri
torial effort in the reclamation by the
| irrigation of Understanding tracts of
| arabic land which otherwise would be
desert and useless. but which under in
teligent conservation of natural condi-
| lions and resources must become the
most productive region on earth.
To Exploit Advantages.
1T is the purpose OF the Panama-Cali-
fornia exposition to exploit for the benefit
of all corners the peculiar advantages of
this territory, and to exploit them in such
manner that 1t shall be not only All object
lesson, but also liberal education in all
things pertaining to the development and