SAN FRANCISCO.

Otago Witness, Issue 986, 22 October 1870, Page 6

SAN FRANCISCO.

(by a decent visitor.)

THE FOtTRTH OF JULY.

I found myself in Salt Lake city in the beginning of «Tuly, but hastily left it in company with a friend — Mr John W. Young, Brigham Young's third son — being anxious to reach San Francisco if possible by the fourth. This great National Festival, the ninety-fourth anniversary of American independence, was to be celebrated in that city, so we understood, with much outward pomp and ceremony, and we were both desirous of witnessing the celebration. We managed to do so ; and certainly, as far as a stranger could judge, the demonstration was a very successful one. Twelve o'clock had scarcely struck before the bells of the city pealed forth their joyous notes. Fireworks ascended from the balconies of hotels, of stores, and private residences, lighting up the place with a lurid glare. Though tired after my journey, I could not sleep, and was glad when the bright morning appeared and enabled me to walk about the streets. As Idid so, the sights whichmet me were very interesting, and sometimes very imposing too. Around, on every side, and from every available space, hung flags, streamers, banners, mottoes, and national devices of all kinds. Eager crowds passed along the streets, in increasing numbers as the morning advanced ; men in gorgeous uniforms, and on gaily caparisoned horses, galloped madly by ; cars, decorated all over ■with flowers, drove quickly past ; and fire engineß, crowded with red-shirted firemen, thundered along, shaking the streets and very houses as they did so. Every person you met looked bright and happy ; every street you passed through was decorated for the occasion. But in the way of decoration, Montgomery street surpassed every other street in the city. Spanning it at intervals of two hundred yards, were three great arches, each emblematic of the Fire Department, the School Department, and the Military Department respectively. The street altogether, indeed, had the appearance of a long archway, with those thousands of flags, principally the stars and stripes, which cover it overhead, floating from ropes that cross it close together. From the numerous devices you see around you, you pick out those bearing the facsimile signatures of the j men who signed the Declaration of Independence, as the most striking. Then you note the taste displayed in decking out the Oddfellows' Hall, the Occidental, Buss House, Merchants' Exchange, Union Telegraph Oflices, and other public buildings in Montgomery street, as you pass along it. But the passing along this crowded thoroughfare is not a very pleasant proceeding, for you have got to squeeze and push your way as best you can, and put up with more than this too. All the boys of the city are abroad to-day. The American boys are very great nuisances at all times, but on the fourth of July they are simply intolerable. "Now then, boy, what do you stand there for picking your nose ?" asked a father of his son. " It's the fourth of July, ain't it," said the young urchin, "and it's my nose, isn't it. By Jehosephat, I'll pick thunder out of it, I will, if I've a mind to." The story illustrates the license of young Americans during the celebration of this great carnival. They do jnst as they please, unchecked and unrestrained. I defy any man, no matter how wary or cautious, to have taken half a dozen strides along Montgomery street on the fourth of July, without getting a group of these y^ung scoundrels around him, flashing their " six bit" pistols in his face, and Betting 2iim almost ablaze with their crackers. Unable to appreciate the fun of the thing, I left the streets early in the day, obtaining, through the kindness of an acquaintance, a seat on a balcony in Montgomery Btreet, from whence _ there ■was a good view of what was going on down below, and of the procession too, as it passed along. The cavalcade, as it entered Montgomery street, was headed by the mounted policemen of the city, under the charge of Mr Crowley, the chief commissioner. Then came a band of veterans, who had fought in the Mexican war of 1846 ; some forty or fifty in number, with their black uniforms, Alpine hats, and short sabres. Close behind them, alone and on his grey charger, followed General Cazneau, the Grand Marshal, a very imposing looking personage indeed, in his silk suit, orange aaah, and cocked hat. After him trooped a body of light dragoons, and then ■Governor Haight caracoled along on his jet black horse, accompanied by a numerous and brilliant staff. Then followed a lon° line of military, to all seeming a never-ending procession ; infantry, artillery, and cavalry succeeding one another an- quick succession. Now the civic dig- • nitarieß, in their coaches and four, passed ' slowly a»d pompously by j now the Por-

tugneße and Scandinavian residents of the city, four abreast, filed past ; then, in the like order, followed the Italians, and then the different societies of San Francisco. One's attention was next attracted by the red shirts and black helmets of the Fire Brigades — a grand turn out — accompanied by their steamers, hose, and trucks. The butchers next took up the line of march, carrying their cleavers, and followed by their waggons. And lastly, bringing up the rear, came the school children of the city, with the grand car of Liberty in their midst, beautifully festooned with flowers, and almost smothered in the folds of flags and streamers of all sorts. This, briefly described, was the procession as it passed along Montgomery street — a never-ending one it seemed, as you may imagine when I tell you that it took very nearly two hours in its passage. There was nothing else to be seen in this quarter of the city, and I left it. Avoiding as best I could those young ruffians, their pistols and crackers, who infested the thoroughfares, I made my way to the Metropolitan Theatre, there to witness the next piece in the programme of the day's performance. This was the great oration. I arrived there in good time and managed to secure a standing place. Soon afterwards, however, the building began to fill, and before the proceedings commenced, became crowded to suffocation, no available spot from the roof to the floor being unoccupied. The stage, indeed, was occupied only in moderation ; but then the stage was specially set apart for the great magnates of the city, and the high officials of the State. At two o'clock, the President, with very few words, opened the proceedings. Then Bishop Kidd delivered a short prayer. The band next struck up the National Anthem, and the Declaration of Independence was afterwards read. After this came the great oration of the day, or the " Literary Exercise," as Americans call it. Colonel Barnes, a leading citizen of San Francisco, was the orator chosen for the occasion ; and the oration, I must say, had in it a great deal of sound common sense, and much that was true aa to the political degradation of the country. Bat the style of the oratory, after the manner of American oratory in general, was not pleasing. It had too much of the invocation of ancient times about it, to suit a prosaic Englishman or colonist. He commenced by a passing tribute to the day, described America as it then was, showed the progress it had made, despite that great internal convulsion which for five years had laid it waste, denounced the corruption and demoralisation of political life, exhorted the people to thrust from them this evil, complimented the Press of the country, and concluded with a high-flown invocation to liberty. The band struck up "The Star-spangled Banner;" and the proceedings terminated with a short benediction.

There were innumerable pic-nics daring the day, and there was a regatta too in the afternoon ; but I was not present at any of these. I was present at the fireworks, however, in the evening, and as a few particulars may not be uninteresting, I give them. Indeed, the fireworks are deserving of some little notice, for to my mind they were the best thing in the day's performance. The display took place at the corner of Market and Macalister streets, and was witnessed by an immense crowd. It is said there were fifty thousand people present, and I can well believe it. Stretching away out into space, and around you on every side, you could see, by the light of blazing rockets, the vast expanse of upturned faces, and were thus enabled to form some estimate of how great a multitude it was. The display was unequalled by anything of the kind I had ever seen before. The mottoes and devices came out clear and well defined. There was no mistaking the beehives and bees that flew around them, the grand temples and revolving centres, the wreaths of flowers, and the effective arrangement as regards colours, the two , figures with elapsed hands, and the words "Union is strength" written beneath them. But the last piece was the chef d'oeuvre of the evening. It was a very large one, something like two hundred feet long, by sixty feet high, I should ' say. It consisted of the coat of arms of California, surrounded by thirteen stars, representing the thirteen original states of the union, flanked on either side by an American eagle and the Stars and Stripes, the whole resting upon a large vase with the word California written at the bottom. i This description of the celebration of the Fourth of July in San Francisco would be incomplete, however, if no mention were made of the bonfires. The bonfires were the chief amuaement of the night, taking the place of pistol-shooting aifd crackers with the younger portion of , the community. Every part of the city was aglow with them. Sometimes they blazed in the middle of the street, but Just as often they were lit on the pave-

ments. The burning embers were kicked and tossed about by young demons, who danced around, exulting inthe terror they inspired, and the mischief they 'were doing, and screaming unearthly screams throughout the night. There were five houses burned a3 it was ; I only wonder half the city wasn't conpumed. So much for the fourth of July. Now for a word or two as to the BUSINESS ASPECT OF SAN FKANCISCO. Like most other places in the world, business is very depressed in San Francisco just now ; money is very tight there, and things generally look very bad. Do not think, though, there is any lack of money in the city, for that is not so. At the present [moment, indeed, there cannot be less than L 9,000,000 floating about in it, and j one person out of every six of its poputation, taking account of the women and children, is a depositor in one or other of its numerous savings banks. But the I people who have money stick closely to it, preferring the one per cent, a month | interest paid by the banks to the risk of outside speculation. The lessons of past years have not been in vain. The inhabitants of the city, and of the State too, taught by sad experience, have learned to distrust public companies, to eschew home- stead associations, to keep clear of land speculations, and speculations of every other kind. This suspicion on the part of the public as to the soundness of business transactions has helped to prolong the depression in the city, but it owes its origin mainly, if not entirely, to the opening of the Great Pacific Railway. Strange that this should be so, for San Francisco looked forward to the completion of the line as the greatest thing that ever happened to it. But this strangeness vanishes when you look into the matter a little. Previously, San Francisco had no rival. Its very isolation was its security. It _ had nothing to fear in the way of competition with the great cities of the East, for impassable mountains, and a vast expanse of water, lay between it and them ; and of very necessity, all the towns of the Pacific coast, from Portland in the north to San Diego in the south, and all the States of the interior, lying near the borders of California, such as Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and Utah, were its customers. The profits of its business men were great, for they charged whatever they liked for their goods. Then came the Great Pacific Railway, and with it came the competition of the great American cities — of Chicago, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. When the construction of the line was once commenced, too, money besan to flow throughout the country like water, and a desire to acquire landed property became the mania of the hour. The Californians imagined that all the spare capital of the East would pour into the West, as soon as the opening of the railway permitted it to do so, and would then find an outlet principally in the purchasing of real estate. It was a vain imagination. The Easterners kept their spare money amongst themselves, and there was very little to be had in San Francisco, for it was locked up in land. Then landed property, and property of every other description, flooded the markets, and the res alt was this depreciation I have been speaking of. But all this will pass away, indeed it is already doing so very fast. Business men now see they must be satisfied with small returns. The energy of the people, too, is indomitable ; and what is equally _to the purpose, they are largely availing ihemselves of cheap Chinese labour, which enables them to compete successfully with their eastern rivals. Californians are accused by their fellow countrymen, and also by strangers, of being much given to boastfulness and exaggeration ; but in good truth, I don't see how they well can exaggerate. Their climate is a most delightful one, the trade of the Pacific is in their grasp, and the resources of their State are unbounded. A few statistics are necessary to understand San Francisco in its business aspect. Just look at its banks. There are ten savings banks, for instance, in the city, having some L 6,000,000, 000, 000 sterling in the way of deposits. Now, if this sum were divided amongst all the people of the city, regardless of age or sex, it would give each person about L 34 in round numbers. Take the profits of its public institutions. The banks, savings banks, insurance companies, gas companies, State telegraph companies, steam navigation companies, and street car companies, pay dividends every year to the extent of five millions sterling, L2B a piece, say, for every resident in the place. Then consider the value of the city property ; the assessed value too, mind," which is nothing like the actual value. It amounts to L 21,000,000. This sum distributed equally among the 180,000 inhabitants of San Francisco, would make each of them worth something like Lll7. If the exports of a country are any test of the wealth of its

inhabitants, then a person residing iti California is five times richer than one residing in England, and very nearly three times more so than a New Zealand, colonist. Illinois and Ohio have each of them four time 3 more people than California, and they are -wealthy states too — wealthy in railways, grain, and manufactures — but the income tax paid by California is as much as that paid by either Gf them. Yes, California is a well to do State, ard the capital of California a weilthy city. There are 300 people and upwards in San Francisco having each an income of more than L2OOO a year ; and five whose incomes exceed L 20,000 a year each. All of these are self made men, the architects of their own fortunes. There is James Lick, for example, the owner of the Lick House, he commenced his career in California, twenty years ago, without a sixpence in the world. Peter Donahue, the owner of the Occidental, and great city banker, started as a machinist. The Reis Brothers who own the Cosmopolitan, were miners. Michael Bees was a surveyor, Alvarez Hayward a miner, Andrew M'Creery a porter, D. O. Mills, W. 0. Ralston, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins, had nothing, or next to nothing, when they began out here. But they have all worked themselves up into great city magnates with their hundreds of thousands of pounds each, and, in more than one case, their millions. But the taxation of the city is something fearful to think of. The city Government alone gets about LBOO,OOO, very nearly as much, if not as much, as our customs revenue for a year. Then it contributes about L 200,000 every year in aid of the State Government, and | about LBO,OOO in aid of its schools. My first SUNDAY IJST SAN FRANCISCO I attended evening service at Dr Scudder's church. Dr Scudder is the sensational preacher of the city, a sort of Spurgeon in his way ; and his church is the haunt of the fashionable residents of the place. The building, though a large and capacious one, was full to overflowing. Not a single seat was there to be had, and scarcely standing room, indeed, along the aisles. The manner of lighting the church was rather striking. The gas pipes, numbering fifty, or perhaps more, all hung from the ceiling, in many cases leaving little more than room for a tall man to walk under them, and sometimes not reaching to within twenty feet of the ground. Each pipe had perhaps as many a3 six jets alight, ana perhaps only one. So that when one looked up these lights twinkled above him like so many stars. The service, as to its form and manner of being conducted, differed very little, if at all, from that of the Church of England. Here and there I noticed a word changed, but the change made very little alteration in the meaning — sometimes, indeed, none at all. In praying for the President, the word prosperity was used instead of wealth, and for Catholic Church was substituted the universal Church. The singing was conducted by four professionals — two men and two women — the congregation never joining in until the conclusion, when they were specially invited to do so in these words :—": — " You must all sing this hymn, I must hear every voice present." The lecture — I cannot call it a sermon — was about Belshazzar's Feast and the Writing on the Wall. Dr Scudder commenced by explaining the greatness of Babylon in those days, commenting, amongst other things, upon the a<?van- | tages ib derived, iv the way of water carriage from the Euphrates, which I flowed through the heart of the city. He explained the customs and [ habits of the people, dwelling more particularly on their marriage arrangements. All the unmarried women of Babylon, he said, above a certain age, were sold by auction to the highest bidder. Good looking women fetched good prices, and these prices went with the ugly ones as their dowries. The arrangement gave universal satisfaction, for the purchasers of the good looking women were satisfied 1 with the good looks, and the husbands of ! the ugly ones with "the ready cash." — (Laugiater.) Then he described the Feast, passed on to the Writing on the Wall, and the consternation of the drunken revellers. "The queen was a very clever woman, and a woman of great tact " — I quote his words. "( 0, King,' she commenced, ' live for ever.' This was to encourage him, you see, for he was just frightened out of Mb skin." Loud laughter followed the remark. Indeed, it was a difficult thing for a person to refrain from laughing. I know I could not help doin7 so, though I tried. The words were provocative of mirth, but the manner of the clergyman himself was even more so. During the whole time he was speaking he moved about on the platform from which he spoke, stopping whenever he made a good hit, until the laughter which greeted it had subsided. But he joined himself in the laughter which followed

the words T have just mentioned, making t thereby all the more contagious. The truth is, the people of San Francisco are a light-hearted people, and this lightness of heart is made more apparent on Sundays than on week-days. Sunday is to them, as it is to the people on the Continent, a day of relaxation, pleasure, and amusement. The street cars, the livery stables, the lager beer saloons, and the theatres are more largely patronised on this day than on any other. All the picnics and pleasure excursions are specially reserved for Sundays. If you go to San Jose, to Benecia, to the Mission Dolores, or the Cliff House on a Sunday, you will find each one crowded with merry makers, who pass their time in feasting and dancing. All the newspapers of the city, too, come out on Sundays, and many of the shops are open all day long. With the Fenians in particular, it is a great gala day. Wherever you go, through the city, the suburbs, or beyond the suburbs, you are sure to fall in with some Fenian Regiment or another ; with the " Emmett Guards," the "M'Mahon Fusiliers," or " Meagher's Li»ht Infantry," as the case may be, marching to the tune u-f " Garryowen," the " Shan- van- vocht," or some other equally patriotic air. GROWTH OF SAN FRANCISCO. There is perhaps no other city in the world that can show so rapid a growth as San Francisco. About a hundred years ago Francisco Paulo, a Mexican priest, travelling along the desolate and uninhabifced shore of California, so called from the Spanish words calicvte fornalla, or " hot furnace," camped one night by the margin of this land-locked harbour, and j on the very spot where now the city stands. Perhaps he recognised the great natural advantages of the spot, or possitly he may have been struck with some presentiment of the future greatness of the city that was to rise there ; but be the reason what it may, he knelt down and dedicated the place to his patron saint St. Francis. Upon the Secularization of the Missions by the Mexican Government in 1836, the fi r st house was built, and the village of Yerba Buena, as it was called sprang up. In 1846, when the state passed over into the hands of the Ameri- ! cans, the same village numbered little more than three hundred inhabitants. Ten years later, the village of Yerba I Buena had become the city of San Francisco, and the three hundred inhabitants one hundred thousand souls. Last year there were nine hundred new houses built in it. It has now about 350 hotels and restaurants ; it has 100,000 volumes in its public libraries, 44 schools, 320 school teachers, and sixteen school libraries. Its three woollen mills employ close upon 1000 hands, and use upwards of three and a half millions of ' pounds of wool. The principal woollen j mill, I may observe in passing, is the j Mission, which owes its pre eminence in a great extent to its able manager, Mr Roberts, a Scotch gentleman. Perhaps, however, among all its industries, there is none strikes i ne as being so remarkable as the manufacture of cigars. There are 1300 men and upwards employed in this industry alone, "who turn out about forty millions of cigars every year. I ought, perhaps, to say something about the Fire Brigade, the Woodward Gardens, the Cliff House, but the truth is, I have lingered too long, already, in San Francisco, and must, now leave it. Though there are many unpleasant things to be found in the city, it is a place that grows uuon you notwithstanding, and in taking leave of it, the old quotation comes trippingly to the tongue : With all thy faults, I love thee still.