The Washington herald., 1915-08-22

at Colon. It seemed ridiculous. as we
had not been to any foreign port-for the
Zone Is part of the United Statesmen
anywhere near any epidemic or fiirted
with any contagious disease. l should
say 1t would be quite as reasonable to
subject the passengers on the ferryooats
between New York and Weehawken to a
health inspection. Those little army
doctors that conducted the examination
were almost as important as the Pana-
| manian policemen. They made that in
| spection a real function.
Nobody had been really Ill the whole
| trip. One tragedy had occurred. The
ships officers kept quiet about it. and
while the passengers all knew It, they
seemed to think that the subject should
not be discussed. A sort of unwritten
law pervaded all minds and stopped talk
| without any effort on the part of the
officers to attain that desired end. A
man in the second cabin fell down a
| companionway and broke his neck
Death was instantaneous. The ship was
| stopped at 4 o'clock the next morning
and after the purser had read the pray
| ers for burial at sea the canvas-wrapped
body was silently slid into the ocean. To
the half dozen people who were present
| at the ceremony II was most impressive.
Los Angeles refers to the harbor at
San Pedro as the harbor OF Los
Angeles" By the same token I should
think that Chicago folks might refer
to New York as the harbor of Chi
cago." That's the kind of people they
are in Los Angeles. They are not
overlooking any bets. Their plans and
specifications demand that Los. Angeles
be first and everything else a bad
tenth No intermediate places. That's
why 1t is a bigger city today than San
Francisco is, but San Franciscans don't
admit that. They assert that Los
Angeles has simply grabbed up a lot
of towns that don't belong to it at all
any more than that il would be fair to
count in Oakland and Berkeley and all
those places across the bay as part of
San Francisco.
Los Angeles is stuck on herself for
the very good reason that she has a
right to be. It's a fine city. full of
enterprise and determination, but the
population is not Californian at all.
They are all farmers or people who
have gone there for the climate The
climate. by the way. is the only reason
nously good. As scenery is all there is
to Switzerland. the climate is about all
there is to Southern California
I haven't any doubt that the State
Will be divided som time. Los Angeles
wants it and they are the kind Of
people who generally get what they
want. 1t wouldn't hurt San Francisco
any. for that is geographically a nat
ural metropolis. II is the outlet for
all those wonderful fertile valleys that
drain into the bay.
There is another factor that domi-
mates Los Angeles almost as much as
that everlastingly good climate. It's
the moving-picture actor. He's all
over the place and a perfect pest
A policeman was standing in the middle
of the street presumably to direct the
trafnc. I asked him for directions to
certain street.
'Oh. don't know" he replied. I'm
a moving-picture actor. Won't you step
one side? You'll spoil my picture"
A distinguished actress had just ar
rived in the city. There was a little |
commotion on the street and some figures |
dashed By.