"THE QUEEN OF THE WEST."

Mataura Ensign, Volume 9, Issue 642, 11 February 1887, Page 3

"THE QUEEN OF THE WEST."

. : — : H> (♦ fieferee.) , San .Frtedaco,', which Jess than forty ■. : kPjk ß^i^ > > "%* .a .waste pf s^ndhlls, a^nji wliich thirty years ago was strug\ i^ngjio attention, is now in reality ihe first city of the West, with * 'population of something tinder V 4OO|<JOG. • 'Sacramento ' is the capital of York is the capital K^Z^S^^rW^^*^ o*'*0 *'*^ 611 * ne capital ' ef Lancashire, While Leeds and Shef- , fiejld, ; Xiyerpool and Manchester, are places which on this count are no importance whatsoever. San Francisco does riot seem to mind the political of Sacramento. She goes ! fltittKßhidg, and it will •^e &^leiiffjr U 6f ' time by-and-by, when Jthere^sjnothingelao to do, to demand rJ^M .greatness now being accorded a city ; which is, a mere village or rural retreat by; comparison with "the queen of the 'West.*' Those who came to San Francisco with the rush, and did not find gold, often found something even ,'^Ofe valuable. Such as got hold of J , the land upon which the town was ...springing updid far better than the > petit of the placer miners* (Placer ~ mining is simply digging in the loose iarth, as it was done in the old dayf, '.before shafts /wire sunk and batteiis as/tihey have t<> be sunk and employed for either silver or gold u nuStting.) , What wondrous opportunities of obtaining wealth a man of rkeed business ability must have had, ttePdif h in such a place as San Franabout ".[ the time when • she first .^.^^ji^tp iJe^ejipp, : her resources. Well, ,^l^'Mj»')gS^ye.m)y half what one 3 *j[i tjf>!dj ( by o]4 jbslifornian settlers, there ; iW»9: fiO-p9Bßible.Opportiinity but what ha* beea f ally sifted and weighed out ,*ftd made the moat of. If it hadn't San Francisco would not now be ■1^ the in *f»ach we find it. '€?«j[ifptSia is wotiiei fully well ' wooded. dsr*?JlP?/ "tyP?* a f® .thick with every bJMKSTq^ W P&P tr *&> '• 'flan Francisco J||sj}flt;ftjlnic»t, entirely of wood. This .M-rMa I was told— because wooden! test in places which are -tttttatosh<fc^^^^^^ 011^-!. WWAi W,«cßfiapaiid Wri; Mipjis/j are. scarce and dear ; j * frame house, -to' j4s<i the local'phraAeoi'Vgy — -can : be run ' iop in • a W€*»k 7 a«? small expense ; a woUid ta^e. 'ajpbg; whtie , ifrlot" of mohej . If bricjc or /fe^ne^ouseßVfsre really dangerous to l^ve in, none of thra would be built;! rin^^var^etya.of instances where traders dindTOthers wish' «o be" different from *l»Ijr neighbor, &M h^B the means of their vanity, ' tfcey . have jrqty .solid . structures of brick Hfi^jjj?' ;-;]sut" I .bric^k-or Atone JS^l.W ''^■/anty '.i.ia San Francisco, dJSfgiiiftta JRaiac :dß[otei, of which the •pitjf;(l»i {so .'proud) has an' enormous *motint of moU°in its construction. The 4 d^tetrails^ of corridors, the ornamental pillars, and a variety of other things l^^^Dn^ldings o^Jhis sort;, are of $i&&i %#s&■ » n England or in the Jjsßt£r&, sttaies they would be of stone dor iron. Everything is very dear in San Francisco, That is, inoiby has %'ot the purcbasing power that it has .' lii^i|erciiVeß. They say that in the ■<*ifrly,';day^ ffovre was* no currency less -fj»f ftjgpW j'W« next stage was when a foliar, was ,the smallest amount paid or received for anything. Then a bit -became the •"♦ quivalent of our farthing. jJJow that petition is held by the five- 1 ;or pickel. # the word bit is ' peculiar 0 to America ; it is ; ftlpnoat peculiar to San Francisco. A : ]!# is : fc?relv cents and a half, but as ■ 'tto United States Government, in its ■windora, a d in its desire as well for a Bysiem, does not make, any r iJucK coin or .token, there is difficulty iftjthe,* i^y oi"^this bit. busiaess. Which flo.uri«h<« nevertheless ; chiefly becj»]^t|e it I" profitable to the storekeeper, .fe&oyand not^ the purchaser, sets the prices. "ObftWest the only pieces of tame? are the twenty ; dollars (% Very co|n, sometimes known M# ej^gfe)i tjieten Hojjlars, the five dollars — tHese are gold. Next come As,4p\\*, thij> half -dollar, the quarter (lolUr- and the dime— these are silver. After fbe*e comes the nickel, or five'cent piece, a trifle thicker and about this same diameter as an English sixWnce, of base toetal. Copper winaga ihere k none. Five centii, or j£ : jfjrac<ion niore than twopence halfjranny English, is the smallest anybody can pay for anything. The dime is "rmlwe ten cents. Trouble by means of tllfe bit arities in this wise. Twenty- ■£▼• ccii's (or as pear as it js possible you go into a sbop and aejc for somet\tm% which costs one bit, you must pay fifteen cents for it-, thdugh apparently the price is only twelve ! and a hilf oenfc You g^iye a an JUng and ,popeive a dime, or two nip]keTa, in ,jgitern.; or y^yi jgiye' a dime and a ■lickel or t^o dimes and receive a nickel do what you will, the result is the ;Bftine- —^yoti have to pay fifteen cents for what is admitted to be only worth twelve and a half cents. 2am free to COT»|«88 fe|»ftt tfoe 'cjif^culty is not a very great one, inasmuch as it is not easy '"■to, fie^A^yt^^B worth having which is ftot- priced two ibits. In poorer quar-< tert, and in places where prices do not i rule at the highest rates, dice are kept ; |n' ; the cigar shops, drinking saloons,; 4sl ':'% BtivW wantiDg something worth r ft"b*it, throws to see /^irhe^her te shall pay two bite or nothing for it. If out of one hundred throws he wins fifcy «nd loses fifty — as he should if the dice %1# fair; according to the law of chances '%i^h'e mak^s a ptofit!, as he has got each 'iits^ wqrt^ foi% a ]bit, instead of hayng ?$o pay tiye,ce^s for/it. Gold is currency in Calif oi-» diii: ', Jfaiis; isinoticeable, '-m throughout j the rest of tbe States it is customary , pay and receive/ down to as 1 little as 4 1 dollar^ i& r pajper. Whei Califdrriians want to aeiofd ",'mcney \ through 'ilie post, Siey <?f|en T pay a 'Vnfliag prjßmwm for paper; just as w^i pay fo^post office pr<|ers. Such things, as , post office orders are not necessary in a country wnich abounds in paper, some of which jf honored by the Treasury, would only

be honored in silver. So it says on itThis paper is, however, always of fall value. As I have said, it is over value in California, and is not always to be got." jL 1 day or two after we landed in San Francisco, I went to one of the 'chief banks to raise money on a letter of credit. I asked for a thousand dollars and was told that, as my letter was for English money, I had better have £200, would exchange it for dollars. For my £200 I received 971 dols. 50 cents., and hare reason to believe I was fairly well treated. I mention the amount because people in England are in the habit of reckoning five dollars to the sovereign. If English coin or paper is cashed at the money-changers', they charge full 4s 24 for every dollar. When the bank teller had reckoned up what was the absolute best he could do for me, he planked down the amount all in gold — or all but the odd fif y cents. Aa this was very inconvenient, I asked for paper, and he managed to scraps me up 500 dols. in greasy, torn, dilapidate d notes, like the provincial and Scotch and Irish " soft " carried by graziers and horsedealers in remote parts of the country. Dirty and soiled a* the notes were, I was glad to get them, as, though money in any *hape is good, the big twenty«>dollar pieces of America are rather uwkward as part of a traveller's baggage. In such bars as that at the palace, and at all the better class establishments, no drink is possible under two bits. If you want anything special you must pa} still more for it. Cigars are dreadfully dear, owing to the heavy duty. I know the Americans become very angry J £an Englishman does not respect their cigars y but I can't help that. I did'nt care for what I got at any time in America, and fancy th*t the beat cigars from "the island" are to be bought in London. Perhaps this is matter of 'taste, Americans, and especially Western Americans, smoke their cigars quite soft — green, they call it — and would not look at what we consider the Very best, because the very dryest and the best preserve*', here in England. The price is awful. Two duties have! to be p^id i n a fixjsd j^nce.putj and an half per .pound and 25 pec. cent, ad ■Valorem-. A man buying ten thousands dollars* worth of cigars, say, for a store; -i—cheap, moderate, and expensive - ! • — would have to pay 1 at least another' ten thousand dollars, or cent, per cent., ; in G-Qvenment duties. Then convs in I itfre rate of profit of the storekeeper, 1 which, is a higher rate than would Be expected in England. tFhe result is that you can't get a cigar fit to smoke under a shilling ; then it is small and ; of by no means an exquisite flavor. Other things are not much cheaper. For a low-crowned felt hat, of what we should consider common material and workmanship— say, of the six-and-six sort, as distinguished from the halfguinea — I paid 5 dols., or as near a, guinea as it is easy to get. A bottle of champagne is the same price, and [ the odds are that it is champagne that never saw the Champagne country. Which reminds me that the most popular brand of champagne throughout the States is a compound known as ' Piper "Heidsieck. Tablets and advertisements of this are to be seen everywhere. Piper and Heidsieck are, in France, as distinct .as Salisbury and Gladstone are in England. But then the Piper- Heidsieck of America has never been seen in France. Nor, I should think, has it ever before been heard of in England. For a shave and j hair-cut, with what is cabled a dry shampoo— the rubbing of some lather ' upon the hair and the wiping of it off again— the charge is a dollar and a half — say* six and threepence ! Cab fares are in proportion. After we left I j reckoned that every mile we had , travelled in a hired carriage cost two j dollars. To set against this are the car», some of which are worked by endleßS wire and stationary engines, and others of which are horse cars like our own, and one or other of which, sometimes both, run up and down almost every street. A uniform system of fares obtains here. You pay five cents and go the whole distance, or »ny part of it. People who know their way about and don't mind walking a few yards need never use private conveyances. This is perhaps why private conveyances are so expensive. I waß i very much struck with the completeness of the car system in San Francisco, which was the first of the sort I had seen, and thought how superior it was, ( not only to our own, but to the Australian. Although it must interfere with those who have their own vehicles — the roads are shocking — the poorer classes are undoubtedly benefited by it. The badness of the way is^fc,4iowever, due to the car-rails alone. The road is laid with round, untrimmed stones, similar, except that they are larger and Tougher, to those with which mews used to be laid in London, and which seem .designed especially for the purpose of laming horses. Never saw anything so bad before in main streets ®f a flourishing town — never thought any- , thing so bad was possible. In the suburbs the roads are much better, but as 'Frisco is built almost entirely on I sand-hills, there is much difficulty in : keeping the roads in good order, Some of the hills are almost impassable to horses, and here is found the great use of the wire oars, which run up and down, these steep grades almost as though they were on the ordinary level. Before I had taken leave of the United States, I found that the wire car and the horse oar obtain everywhere. An American cannot or will not belisve that we. only allow tramcara in meaner neighborhoods, and prevent them ruun- ' ing through districts sacred to real swells and their nearest imitators, the ' genteel classes. r '