The Golden Gate.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7737, 13 February 1905, Page 3

The Golden Gate.

[ LIFE IN SAN FRANCISCO. A WELLINGTONIAN'S IMPRESSIONS. (Evening Post.) " Mr and Mrs have come -buck to the colony with the conviction after aM New Zealand is the best places, and that no land that they have visited can compare with happi.ness and comfort with God's , Own Country," etc, etc. | This stereotyped peroration of the tripper abroud-(how many times has every reporter scribbled it ?}—; s the ivery lirst thing- that Mr Martin Heck ofthe Evening Post staff, sets out to quarrel wifh Mr Heck has recently been on a visit to San Francisco a nd Mmi Pacific States, with BrHsh Columbia thrown in. V W,- - lingtonian bom and b,V n'r r it.,,', gave to a reporter of his own m,,Pcr in his own city, his o-wn ,1 „ ami unvarnished impression of £• Branc.sco and its people. | *rom beginning to end, that in, , Predion is one appredati e of '£" 'Americans and the American system of 'triafn iiriii. ~ ""»! i.ne peoiili; 3 is S'X ,"•* ?°"" M * «■• He iWhfw.." thc HorW <<> I've in ever knew. The I J VO they hav* bromrhT Z ". to , , Which a- civillyW* j*"* of living, beyond mymL^alJ^V l ' is In the first pLe Van I? 1 "*-. Positively gJit t^ Ce ' Francsco tie business- part of the t„ • Say ' tinuallj, a blaze to ™. ,a con-

r . •" a «wzc of liirht fii,,„ • t'dual SL W*? 0 f indivi- - Pan,es Mterior th, s custom b V the . tena. of supply. I!csult : £ *£ f and vi.c with one another, J t does , not press hardlv on them, and it re- :. coupes the lighting companies. It is - * v ? st convenience to the public, and i *"oco 1S one of the best lighted . cities in the worjd. When a com- , mumty scintillates with light it . radiates hopefulness. , i The Wcliingttinian is famii a r with . the vivifying effect in Wellington ( streets since the flying ctectric b car :wath US olnnging bells, 'illuminating the throughfare as it speeds „ Ve ,- |tJw track, has made its ellhilarating , appearance. This gives some idea of the improvement that is implied in a thoroughly-lighted city, where each man rivals his neighbour in an ilurainaung display. But San Francisco is not all glitter. It is solid as well. All the resources „, tbe r ; ch statea oS Pacific Slope lie be-hiud it. Before it outside the Golden Gate, oZ to wide Pacific, tropical, and Strop?. ,cal with lU feland TOa] P' ISS? l i.T e8 and Soes oVeHffll-es- : tablished steamship li nes . i^tL !and h 'c a t e v U tVSi ™ ot HoWto" and Cape Nome send tribute to >ea bile and -Frisco for American *? Uite <W CmJ ™ ter "»g 'or the trade of the \ ™°,\ JIJuIy **taiblished, the 'tw d , St t and T st ambitious cty ■Fr a ,L° okS - On to the Pacific, San Francisco is well calculated to captivate the imagination. It is the window through which .the Ameri■»Z t, aU( I U ° ul <"» Australasia ' and the East. i I The key-note of the city's prosperity, after all, is American enterprise. And the secret of that enterprise isia literal adherence to the maxim that it is always well to ' spend one hundred dollars to make one hundred and one. That prutical interpretation of * the srewaHdship of wealth " leads to one certain result—viz., that money lis kept liquid. ' There are consequently a buoyancy and a mobility in commercialism ' that make against despondency and ' stagnation. This counterbalances the ' high prices of necessaries and the ' high cost of living induced by a protective tariff. San Francisco does not rest on its oars. ' I There are parts of San Francisco ' that are not the best samples of architecture. But for tumptuousness ! in its provision for those who can pay, the city is unexcelled. Its restaurants, its hotels, its ferries, its railways-the accommodation and conveniences of these not only exceed our notion of qualhy w but they break out in places we have not dreamed of. On these, even on the I lernos, you may get all sorts of meals at almost any hour. Jn the hotels and restuarants, the ordinary purposes of these places almost dis- , appear amid graniture of side at- i Pilayin «- theatrical etc. It is all a gala day—on strictly business lines. The one hundred and one doUare are com- . ing in all the time. E You may be automatically photo- ,- graphed in a couple of minutes . watching all the details of the i cess as they go on visibly in 'the machme. You step on a contrivance to try your wwght. The machine does not indicate the figure bv the commomptece means of a poiLr on r«»m £" S you that >ou weigh " loOtb, or whatever your weight ma" " he. A few cents win ca °. v ';"£ l in c i^^h^if^^£f-: ground, in°* cmft < ' J»t. Gardens, art£l Ute^ari" ;i^tasiner^ ,al,iesinto «» °*£ Z S al a^l ' Rasa's oln-t I -torTZy W T thC ChiW -» -am ; «" r ev e s^! 00 1 ir 0 1 r nsed placra «**«■ ■ ~?"-^= b cr^ sai r;rtatt^a, th : Jta _ city, cases of ZnZL^Z fl^Jl^ 11 facilitil ' s people l and froni their home Tare wonderful, Ifaiiway comp^ s tt £ ten own ferrj- boats, and there is very little trouble tickets all serv.ces the convenience of th" customer is studied. Comparing - the tram systems in Wellington and' 1 Frisco, Mr Bvck thinks the Welllw ' Snr tZ°? r ' nC l are to be wmmemtal i for the care they exercise j in civjli--3 ?'~. "f att< " lt ' 011 - the Wellington , conductors compare favourably with any he has seen. - Less satisfactory features of Frisco are the strikes and the harbour management. They do know how to strike in the States. A union placed a placard outside a resi taurant proclaiming that the pro- - prietor was employing a nou-union-e ist There was not a dozen people 1 in his restaurant all dav. As to d the harbour, the shipping* companies s own their own wharfage. The ti wharves are dirty, and (hot well managed. We can show then points in harbour majiagjajiejit. Now, as tu. the people : they are strong and self-reliant, but with . t none of the aggressiveness and na- _ saj twang associated with the iiguris at ', V , C a,ik - they are all politeness, and. consideration for one *» another and for strangers The *' American woman is attractive in a i* does nV 11 " P W !ZX -' aland wol »a" " does not understand. She talks ' U n" "iianner is frank w^ith- "> nit undue freedom. She receives h from her male kind the" greatest ? S nSid ,T, tio "' and '-vciprowts it. r- The children arc admirably brought D- up, and there is no trace of the vant, da{isp and mischief usually associ;i* ated with jjvcniljty in this counal try. For instance, many fine resi:N dences in 'Frisco have no fences. ia Broad lawns sweep down to the street, and at intervals on the ut lawns are rose trees with blooms of (| cream and gold. No trespassing to children tear these roses down, and yf they aie a line sample of the garden beauty of California, when* irriga-

(tion makes good the long intervals ; between the occasional rainfalls, and enriches the land with abundance of flowers and fruit. ,--. | Finally, the mental' horizon of "the ' American is broad. You may walk the streets of Snot Frnjncisco, oven in ( a strange garb, without drawing as much as a passing glance;,"'' A The j'Frisco man does not stare the newcomer, as a New Zealand citizen k does. Ho has not time to. He is/ n . all-tolerant and non-curious, whee ther one conies from the Country or t from beyond the seas. His wcll-or-I, dered city life goes on, the stranger s is munificently provided for within his gates, and what more can be „ said ? !l