The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1911-04-27
SAN FRANCISCO TODAY

Frederick j. Haslxin in Sioux City Tribune.
Five years ago the newspapers of
the world were issuing extras announcing
that San Francisco had been shaken to its
foundations by great earthquake, and
that fire, uncontrolled and uncontroil-
able was completing the ruin and devas-
tation. On that day and the one which
followed the most terrible 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 80 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 $500 houses; $1,000 have
taken their places 1t demolished 514 city
blocks, leaving them strewn with such a
hopeless mass of debris that $4,000 900 had
to be raised to reclaim the bare earth It.
self-no mean task for ruined desolated
city. Today each of these city blocks IL
built up better and handsomer than ever
before.
Yes, San Francisco is a better and a
more beautiful city than ever. Where be-
fore the fire there were q buildings desig-
mated In insurance terms as class A build
ings. there were 10f in 1909 and this list
has been added to since then. The same
proportion holds with class B buildings
Not only have the physical scars of the
great calamity been oblterated, but the
financial scars as well. or course thou
sands Of families were financially ruined
by the catastrophe and never will recover
from the blow. but the community as a
whole is in better financial condition than
before the calamity occurred. The as
sessed values of the city before the fire
amounted to $402, OoO,o 900; today these values
aggregate $433, 10000. The bank clearings
before the fire were $1,So0,000,0 a year;
now they amount to nearly $500. 600 600
The savings bank deposits in 1911 are
greater than they were in 1906 All of this
tells the story of municipal victory and
individual triumph. story unequalled in
its completeness and magnificence in ali
the history of urban civilization.
But the end is not in sight. With its
business and industry amply housed and
it's population properly sheltered, San
Francisco is now turning to other consid-
erations. 1t is building one of America
most modern opera house. It is providing
one of the worlds most splendid municipal
buildings 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 OF
municipal life in a way that promises to
make it exhibit number one Of the big
show which will greet the visitor to the
Panama exposition.
And the Sc Francisco people are enthu.
siastic about that fair. When the question
was put before them, although they had
spent $200, 0O0,0 600 in repairing the damages
of less than five years before, and still
face vast expenditures they voted S. 600 OO(
to the exposition by the largest majority
ever given to any proposition. Yet with
all this, San Francisco has the smallest
debt in proportion to the assessed valua.
tion of it's property than any large city In
the United States-a year or two ago II
was only is per cent, as compared with 3!
In New York, 3s in Pittsburg, and So ir
Boston.
One Of the things confronting San Fran.
cisco is the question whether the city will
be allowed to get municipal water supply
from the Hetch-Hetchy valley This wa.
ter, coming out of the very heart of the