THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE
1906-1910
On January 1st, 1906, after more than half a century of commercial
activity--with some things well done, and some poorly enough--during
which it has never been my ambition to better myself at the expense of
others, I retired from business to enjoy the moderate but sufficient
affluence which years of varying fortune had bestowed upon me.
Rather early in the morning of April 18th, news was received here of
the awful calamity that had befallen San Francisco; and with lightning
rapidity the report spread throughout the city. Newspaper and
telegraph offices were besieged for particulars as to the earthquake,
which, strange to say, while it also affected even San Diego, was
scarcely felt here; and within a couple of hours, more than a thousand
telegrams were filed at one office alone, although not a single
message was despatched. Thousands of agitated tourists and even
residents hastened to the railroad stations, fearing further seismic
disturbance and danger, and bent on leaving the Coast; and soon the
stations and trains were so congested that little or nothing could be
done with the panic-stricken crowds. Meanwhile, more and more details
of the widespread disaster poured in; and Los Angeles began to
comprehend how paralyzing to her sister cities must have been the
wreck and ruin following, first, the shaking of the earth, and then
the much more serious fires and explosions. Soon, too, refugees from
the North commenced flocking into our city; and these thousands, none
with complete and few with decent attire, each pleading pathetically
for assistance, told the sad tale much more frankly than could the
noisy newsboy, with his flaring headlines and shrill, intermittent
_Extra!_
Long before much information was secured as to just what had happened,
public-spirited men and women, some under the banners of regular
organizations, some acting independently, moved energetically to
afford relief. The newspapers led off with large subscriptions, while
the Chamber of Commerce, Board of Trade and the Merchants &
Manufacturers' Association swelled the amount. Eventually some two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars was raised. At the same time, and
within two or three hours after the terrifying news had first been
received, the Directors of the Chamber of Commerce met and appointed
various committees headed by Francis Quarles Story, a patriotic and
indomitable citizen who arrived in 1883; and having the valuable
coöperation of Frank Wiggins, who served as Secretary, they went
actively to work to render the most practical assistance possible. A
Supply Committee, of which M. H. Newmark was chairman, by five o'clock
the same afternoon had assembled fourteen carloads of goods, partly
donated and partly sold to the Committee at cost, to go by rail, and
nine carloads to go from San Pedro by water. This train full of
necessaries was the first relief of its kind that reached San
Francisco; other shipments of supplies followed daily; and with the
first relief train went a corps of surgeons, under the chairmanship of
Dr. L. M. Powers, Health Officer, who established a hospital in the
Jefferson Square Building, treating two thousand patients in less than
three weeks. Among the chairmen of the several committees were: J. O.
Koepfli, J. Baruch, R. W. Burnham, Niles Pease, Perry Weidner, John E.
Coffin, J. J. Fogarty, W. L. Vail, D. C. McGarvin, W. A. Hammel, F.
Edward Gray, Mrs. R. M. Widney and D. J. Desmond; while H. B. Gurley,
long identified with Frank Wiggins in Chamber of Commerce work, was
Assistant Secretary.
In this way was our sister-city laid low; but only, as it were, for a
moment. While the flames were yet consuming the old San Francisco,
her children were courageously planning the new; and supported by that
well-nigh superhuman spirit which community misfortune never fails to
inspire--the spirit that transforms weakness into strength, and
transmutes, as by an altruistic alchemy, the base metal of "eachness"
into the pure gold of "allness"--this stricken people built and built
until, to-day, less than a decade after that memorable night, there
stands by the Golden Gate a finer and more beautiful city than the one
from which it sprang. And, as if to emphasize to other nations the
fulness of San Francisco's accomplishment, her invincible citizens are
now organizing and triumphantly carrying out a great world's
exposition.
One incident of this period of excitement and strain is perhaps worthy
of record as evidence of the good fellowship existing between Los
Angeles and the prostrate city. On May 2d the Executive Committee[45]
of the Associated Jobbers passed resolutions discouraging any effort
to take advantage of San Francisco's plight, and pledging to help
restore her splendid commercial prestige; whereupon Samuel T. Clover
made this editorial comment in the Los Angeles _Evening News_:
We commend the reading of these expressions of kindly good
will to every pessimist in the country, as an evidence that
all commercial honor is not wiped out in this grossly
materialistic age. The resolutions, as passed, are an honor
to the Jobbers' Association in particular, and a credit to
Los Angeles in general. The _Evening News_ desires to
felicitate President Newmark and his associates on the
lofty attitude they have taken in the exigency. We are
proud of them.
Among the many who at this time turned their faces toward Los Angeles
is Hector Alliot, the versatile Curator of the Southwest Museum. Born
in France and graduating from the University of Lombardy, Dr. Alliot
participated in various important explorations, later settling in San
Francisco. Losing in the earthquake and fire everything that he
possessed, Alliot came south and took up the quill, first with the
_Examiner_ and then the _Times_.[46]
Mr. and Mrs. M. Kremer, on April 9th, celebrated their golden wedding;
less than a year later, both were dead. Mrs. Kremer passed away on
March 5th, 1907, and her husband followed her two days later--an
unusual dispensation.
In July, I was seized with an illness which, without doubt, must have
precluded the possibility of writing these memoirs had it not been for
the unselfish attendance, amounting to real self-sacrifice, of Lionel
J. Adams. From that time until now, in fair weather or foul, in good
health or ill, Adams uncomplainingly and, indeed cheerfully, has
bestowed upon me the tender care that contributed to the prolongation
of my life; and it affords me peculiar pleasure to record, not only
the debt of gratitude that I owe him and the sincere friendship so
long marking our relations, but also his superior character as a man.
J. M. Griffith, for years a leading transportation agent and lumber
merchant, died here on October 16th. Griffith Avenue is named after
him. Just two weeks later, William H. Perry passed away--a man of both
influence and affluence, but once so poor and tattered that when he
arrived, in February, 1854, he was unable to seek work until he had
first obtained, on credit, some decent clothes.
Sometime about 1907, Major Ben C. Truman, both a _connoisseur_ of good
wines and an epicure, figured in an animated controversy as to the
making of mint-julep, the battle waging around the question whether a
julep's a julep, or not a julep, with the mint added before or after a
certain stage in the concocting!
[Illustration: Harris and Sarah Newmark, at Time of Golden Wedding]
[Illustration: Summer Home of Harris Newmark, Santa Monica]
In an exceedingly informal manner, at the Westlake Avenue residence of
my daughter, Mrs. L. Loeb, my wife and I on the 24th of March, 1908
celebrated our golden wedding anniversary, the occasion being the
more unusual because both the nuptials and the silver wedding
festivity had occurred in Los Angeles.[47] Our pleasure on that
occasion was intensified by the presence of friends with whom, during
most of our married life, we had maintained unbroken the most amicable
relations.
Many years after spur-track switching charges had been abolished
throughout other industrial districts of the United States, the
Western railroads continued to assess this charge in Los Angeles, to
the extent that, as was estimated, our merchants were paying through
this tribute alone an amount not less than $250,000 a year. In August,
1908, however, or shortly after F. P. Gregson became identified with
the Associated Jobbers, suit was filed by M. H. Newmark, as President,
before the Interstate Commerce Commission; and on May 7th, 1910, a
decision was rendered in favor of local shippers. But unfortunately
this decision was reversed on July 20th, 1911, by the Commerce
Court.[48] Joseph P. Loeb and Edward G. Kuster, young attorneys,
handled the case in a manner recognized among men of their profession
as being unusually brilliant; while Gregson brought together a mass of
valuable facts. This was probably the most notable of all the cases of
its kind in the commercial history of Los Angeles. The other directors
at the time the suit was brought were: J. O. Koepfli, C. C. Reynolds,
F. W. Braun, L. C. Scheller, H. R. Boynton, A. Douglass, D. Wiebers,
W. H. Joyce, W. E. Hampton and E. H. Greppin.
Not the least interesting step forward in providing Los Angeles with a
harbor was the acquisition of a strip of land known as the Shoe String
connecting Los Angeles with San Pedro and Wilmington. This practical
idea made possible in 1909 the unhampered consolidation of the three
places; and before the beginning of April their various civic bodies
had been considering the formation of committees to bring this about.
On Saturday, April 3d, the Los Angeles appointees met at the rooms of
the Chamber of Commerce for permanent organization. They were William
D. Stephens, Mayor of Los Angeles; Stoddard Jess; Homer Hamlin, City
Engineer; F. W. Braun; J. A. Anderson, Attorney for the Harbor
Commission and ex-member of the Board of Public Works; Leslie R.
Hewitt, City Attorney; Frank Simpson; Joseph Scott, President of the
Board of Education; M. H. Newmark, President of the Associated
Jobbers; J. M. Schneider, President of the Merchants and
Manufacturers' Association; A. P. Fleming, Secretary of the Harbor
Commission; ex-Mayor M. P. Snyder, H. Jevne, O. E. Farish, President
of the Realty Board; and F. J. Hart. Jess was elected President;
Fleming, Secretary; and to the admirable manner in which they
conducted the campaign, much of the ultimate success of the movement
must be attributed. The delegates from San Pedro and Wilmington
refused to go on until the Associated Jobbers had pledged themselves
to obtain for the harbor districts, after consolidation was effected,
the same freight advantages enjoyed by Los Angeles. This promise was
given and fulfilled. Various other pledges were outlined in the
Committee's report and adopted by the City Council; but many of these
assurances have not thus far been carried out by the authorities. Then
a vigorous campaign was projected, as a result of which both
elections--that of Wilmington and Los Angeles on August 5th, and the
other, of San Pedro and Los Angeles, on August 12th--resulted in
handsome majorities for consolidation. These substantial victories
were fittingly celebrated throughout the consolidated cities; and on
February 13th, 1910, the port became officially known as Los Angeles
Harbor.
In April, 1906, the one hundred thousand books of the Los Angeles
Public Library, then under the administration of Charles F. Lummis,
were moved from the City Hall to the Laughlin Building. With the
opening of September, 1908, the Library was again moved by the same
Librarian, this time to the Hamburger Building.[49]
On the evening of October 11th, 1909, I attended a banquet tendered to
President Taft by the City of Los Angeles, at the Shrine Auditorium.
Every honor was shown the distinguished guest, and his stay of two or
three days was devoted to much sight-seeing, to say nothing of the
patriotic efforts of many politicians whose laudable desire was to
whisper in the Presidential ear _à propos_ of government employment.
The election of George Alexander as Mayor on November 10th, 1909 was
largely responsible for the later success of the Progressive
party--with whose Socialistic policies I am not in sympathy. W. C.
Mushet, the more acceptable candidate, ran on a ticket endorsed by
business-men organized under the chairmanship of M. H. Newmark, while
George A. Smith was the Republican candidate. Alexander's campaign was
managed by Meyer Lissner, an arrival of 1896 who had a brief
experience as a jeweler before he turned his attention to law. He
possessed much political sagacity, and was therefore quick to turn the
Alexander success to the advantage of Hiram Johnson who was soon
elected Governor. George N. Black, who came here a child in 1886, and
graduated from the Los Angeles High School, later being President of
the California State Realty Confederation and Grand President of the
Independent Order B'nai B'rith of this district, directed Smith's
campaign.
On January 29th, 1910, the citizens of Los Angeles, under the
leadership of Max Meyberg, tendered to D. A. Hamburger (Chairman),
Perry W. Weidner, Fred L. Baker, William M. Garland, M. C. Neuner,
Dick Ferris and F. J. Zeehandelaar, the committee in charge of the
first Aviation Meet here, a banquet at the Alexandria Hotel. The
contests had occurred a few days before at Dominguez Field, on a part
of the once famous _rancho_; and to see the aërial antics of the huge
man-made birds, as they swiftly ascended and descended, was no less
nerve-racking, at least to me, than it was interesting.
Litigation having established a clear title to the property once held
by the Sixth District Agricultural Association, and the State, the
declared owner, having agreed to lease the ground to the County and
the City for fifty years, decisive steps were taken in January, 1910,
by the Historical Society of Southern California to provide the Museum
building now such a source of civic pride. Other bodies, including the
Fine Arts League, the Southern California Academy of Science and a
branch of the Cooper Ornithological Society, were invited to
coöperate, each being promised a place in the park and museum plans;
and by the middle of February, the supervisors had agreed to vote the
necessary building funds. On July 11th, 1910, in the presence of a
large and representative gathering at Exposition Park, ground was
broken for the building, although the corner-stone was not laid until
the 10th of December.
* * * * *
In the dark hours of the night of April 25th, 1910, after an illness
of four days and almost entirely free from suffering, she who had
shared with me the joys and sorrows of over half a century was called
to her reward. She passed from this life as she had passed through
it--gently and uncomplainingly. I was left in the midst of a gloom
that I thought would be forever black; for six out of our eleven
children had preceded their mother, whose spirit on that night was
reunited with theirs. I was soon to find, however, how true it is that
"The Lord tempers the wind to the shorn lamb." Common misfortune and
common memories made but stronger the tie, always strong, between my
children and myself. Time has performed his kindly offices: he has
changed the anguish of grief to the solace of recollection; and in
assisting me to realize that I was permitted so long and so happy a
companionship, he has turned my heart from its first bitterness to
lasting gratitude.
FOOTNOTES:
[45] President, M. H. Newmark; First Vice-President, J. O. Koepfli;
Second Vice-President, C. C. Reynolds; Third Vice-President, F. W.
Braun; Treasurer, L. C. Scheller; Secretary, Charles Dwight Willard;
Directors: H. R. Boynton, J. Baruch, P. A. Benjamin, A. Douglass, I.
A. Lothian and D. Wiebers.
[46] One of Dr. Alliot's most recent accomplishments is a
comprehensive _Bibliography of Arizona_, recently published--the
result of Dr. J. A. Munk's liberal provision.
[47] On July 5th, 1915, Mr. and Mrs. S. Lazard celebrated their golden
wedding, Mrs. Lazard being the third daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph
Newmark to enjoy the privilege--almost unique in a single family, and
that will become the more remarkable if Mrs. Eugene Meyer (the fourth
daughter) and her husband live to commemorate, on the 20th of
November, 1917, the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage.
[48] The Supreme Court of the United States, on June 8th, 1914,
affirmed the decision of the Interstate Commerce Court, and thus was
obliterated this very iniquitous charge.
[49] On June 1st, 1914, the Library--directed by Everett R. Perry, who
came to Los Angeles in the fall of 1911, from the staff of the New
York Public Library--was removed to the Metropolitan Building at the
northwest corner of Broadway and Fifth Street, its shelves, a month
later, holding 227,894 volumes.