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MAYOR EUGENE E. SCHMITZ, the man of the hour, whose herculean task it was during the days following April 18, 1906, to create order out of chaos. The masterly way in which he performed this task will be written in the archives of California history. Photo. Haussler.

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When at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 18th of April, 1906, a number of San Francisco's representative citizens, led by a common interest, and forgetting the inevitable destruction of their own property in the face of a dread calamity to millions of suffering humanity, met in the Hall of Justice, at the call of the Mayor, there came together a body of men of whom the world in general, and California in particular, might well be proud.

Perhaps in all the annals of history, never were men put to so severe a test of courage, so soul-trying a responsibility, so significant a crises, as this speedily organized Committee of Forty. And through it all, untangling the threads of an adverse Fate, restoring orderly conditions from out a very Hell of disaster, they have borne themselves like true Sons of a Citu, which, even now, they are preparing to Re-build in the music and the dream." Hear what some of them have to say:

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"The necessity of a metropolis is the guarantee of its future."

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BY JAMES D. PHELAN

HE love of the Californian for his State and the devotion of the San Franciscan to his city have been only intensified by misfortune. It is a matter of common observation that hardships and suffering wed people to their native land. Indeed the fear had been expressed that in a country so fair as California, the people, pampered by luxury and enervated by ease, would ultimately lose the virile qualities of citizenship which make a nation great. There were indications here and there of the evils which flow from uninterrupted prosperity, but the privations of a few brief months have already hardened every fibre and softened every heart.

"Gold in peace and iron in war" is written upon the seal of the city; happiness and abundance in the piping days of peace; fortitude and courage in the trying days of war. And war we have had against the forces of, nature and the destructive fury of the elements; but through it all our people have risen better.

and stronger. Thrown upon their own resources they have developed self-reliance. Stripped of the tools of labor they have met the exigencies of the occasion with patience and ingenuity and have demonstrated a recuperative capacity which presages immediate re-establishment. Their cheerfulness in distress and undaunted courage in the presence of danger have excited the admiration of the world.

A great calamity of this kind imparts a philosophy of its own. It is a lesson well worth the learning. The people now know the insignificance of the individual, the meaning of brotherhood and the uses of democracy. Cast together, they became the sharers of a common lot and in the true altruistic spirit, unknown in the fierce competitive struggle for personal advantage, they found a new satisfaction in working for the common weal without regard to race or religion and thinking only for the good of their fellows and the safety of the State. It was

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"What San Francisco has to Start With." Pacific avenue, looking east from Buchanan street.

a return to primordial conditions, when for the time being all rules and formulas were suspended and when "No law oppressed; the law of man was written on his breast."

It was indeed a larger and broader sentiment than mere territorial sectarianism, mere loyalty to State and nation, which we are accustomed to extol on occasions like this; it was the spirit of helpfulness, which enlisted every one in the service of our common humanity. The appeal was from humanity and the service was for humanity. Californians were wont to live within themselves, but now they realize that they live upon the crust of the earth, and that no country is foreign to them; that they are dwellers on the great round globe which circles through space, and that the destiny of mankind interests them quite as much as local rehabilitation. The awakened Nation, moved by a vast sympathetic impulse from every corner of the land sent its contributions to relieve the hardships of our situation, and, without humbling our pride, stirred our gratitude and bound us as never before in bonds of brotherhood.

This is the anniversary year of the raising of the flag in California. Sixty years ago, on July 7th, 1846, Commodore Sloat sailed into the harbor of Monterey on board the old Savannah and unfurled the Stars and Stripes, and two days later Captain Montgomery, in command of the sloop of war Portsmouth, anchored off San Francisco and marched with his marines up the Strand to the old Plaza, now known as Portsmouth Square, in honor of his ship, and gave Old Glory to the breeze.

The little town of Yerba Buena nestled in a cove and surrounded by an amphitheater of hills, soon after to be rebaptized San Francisco, took up its march of progress under the flag with quickened footsteps, responded to the clarion cry of "Eureka!" attaining, in the year of grace, 1906, an enviable position in the contemporaneous history of the world. Vain attempts had been made to divert her growth. Other cities had been established on the shores of the bay and near the headwaters of navigation, but undaunted by doubt and undismayed by disaster, (for conflagrations had visited

the city on five different occasions in the early fifties), the brave little town recovered and went on. Wealth had accumulated, buildings had been erected. manufactures had been encouraged and every material benefit seemed to dower this Bride of the Pacific, when again, by the recent conflagration, her people were stricken and her progress impeded. Houses have been destroyed, but others, and possibly better houses, will be constructed. The essential elements of a metropolis remain. Trade and commerce will pass through the Golden Gate without interruption in increasing volume. The mountains will still yield their golden nuggets, the valleys their fruits and grains, the lofty forests their timber and the deep recesses of the earth its oil and the harnessed mountain streams electric current for mill and shop. The wealth is there. The men are here. The ships still sail upon the

seas and the railroads traverse the land. Business has been temporarily driven. from its home, and now, for the complete restoration of San Francisco to the position and prosperity of a great metropolis, it is only necessary to resume business and recreate the plant. Individuals may suffer, but the city is safe and those who bind their fortunes to its future shall rise with it; courage and loyalty shall win and only laggards and cowards shall go unrewarded.

San Francisco was no ancient city. It was the recent creation of the Pioneers and possessed the accumulated stores of only a couple of generations. Its tem

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ples, monuments and public buildings were not of conspicuous merit or of great value. There was, in fine, nothing destroyed that cannot speedily be replaced. The best residence section is intact. Federal Buildings are practically undamaged. The wharves remain. Such monuments as we have stand firmly upon their pedestals and there is no reason to doubt that within a few years a newer and better built city will rise upon the ruins of the old.

We have a working capital in what remains and from that important nucleus the city will spread over the lowlands and the highlands with surprising avidity, responding to the call of commerce and trade. It is far better to have busi

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