The Ward County independent., 1922-11-09

ceed San Francisco in population, as
that city has room to expand, and
manufacturing establishments as well
as the greater number of homes will
be found there.
Los Angeles with her 10000 peo-
! pie, has passed her great rival, San
Francisco in population, and with the
coast resort towns of Long Beach,
Wilmington, San Pedro, Redondo
Beach and Santa Monica, and the
manufacturing suburb of Vernon, the
cities of Hollywood and Pasadena, is
one city for all practical purposes. In
Guiding suburban towns such as River
side, Ontario, and others, the popula-
tion of this part of California will
run close to another third Of that of
the entire state, leaving the third
million and a quarter of people to be
distributed throughout the length and
breadth of that great state, for the
most part scattered along within so
miles of the coast Los Angeles prop
err is far from being a beautiful city.
1t is rather an overgrown village.
Its downtown streets are narrow.
Many blocks have no alleys. The con-
gestion of traffic is frightful. No.
where in the world are there so many
automobiles as in Los Angeles. There
are many beautiful suburbs and sep
arate corporated cities such as Holly
wood and Berkeley Heights where one
sees hundreds Of beautiful homes.
While Los Angeles is the best adver-
! tised city in the western hemisphere,
nobody, even the Los Angelians them
selves, ever thought that the city
Il
said that it was tourist city, that
the bubble would burst, and the boom
fiatten out. The people responsible
for planning the city lacked vision,
and did not plan greatly enough.
Hence the narrow streets and lack of
; alleyways. The city has no civic CEN
ter or groups of public buildings wor
thy Of such a city. Public utilities
have not kept pace with the growth
Of the city. Last winter the gas sup
ply failed. Phone installations are
months behind. Sewers cannot handle
the ordinary demands made on them
! and at the same time carry off storm
water during the winter rains. But
many or all Of these shortcomings will
, be met, for energetic steps are being
, taken to correct them. In one thing
| Los Angeles did plan with vision, and
! that was the undertaking and com
pletion Of the great water system,
which draws the snow waters from
the high Sierras. 230 miles distant,
and brings them through mountain
tunnels, in aqueducts over canyons,
in open cement lined bitches and thru
steel penstocks, supplying water on
its way for rigating the beautiful
and rich San Fernando valley, and in
suring ample water for double the
population now dependent upon it.
Los Angeles is now growing at the
rate of 10000 per year. 1t is pre-
dictcd that she will have two million
of people in less than 20 years, and
that the city will run solid to the
sea, from Is to 20 miles distant.
While the tourists are no small fac
tor in the growth Of the city, and
bring millions of new capital which
ultimately finds investment there,
other things have made Los Angeles
what she is. One of them is Oil With
in the limits Of the city proper one
may see a great many oil derricks,
but at Signal hill Is miles out, and
within the corporate limits of Long
Beach may be seen hundreds Of der
ricks. A small proportion of them
have struck oil, and hundreds Of 9TH
ers are working feverishly day and
night to reach the oil bearing sands.
And yet the comparatively few wells
brought in on this hill are producing
more oil than all the other fields of
California at the present time. Other
fields are coming in around Los An
geles, and it is freely predicted that
southern California will produce more
oil than all the rest of the United
States put together. Another factor
for growth is the agricultural prod
ucts of the counties tributary to Los
Angeles. That has been previously
touched upon. Manufacturing is the
third great factor of growth. Within
the last year $50 industries, employ
ing not less than so men, have located
in this city. Los Angeles is reaching
out for trade and her jobbing inter-
! ests are increasing rapidly. Lacking
harbor, the city sold bonds, bought
water frontage, set great dredges at
work, filled up the marsh lands as it
excavated slips capable of admitting
the largest ocean carriers. Along
these slips she built great warehouses
which were leased to the steamship
companies, and in this man-made har-
Dor one may see ships from every port
in the world. Last, but by no means
least, is the climate In and out of
season Los Angelians sing it's praises.
They will lie about it and tell the
truth with equal enthusiasm. In fact
all Californians are afflicted with the
same species of brain storm But be
that as it may, people do like the
climate of southern California, and as
| remarked to several Californians, the
people of the United States are di-
vided into two classes, those who live
in California, and those who hope to
live there. SO California and Los