The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 20, 1896, Page 29

A NRANUIDBUU UALL, PBUNDUA X, UonvLMDbDER 44U, 1890 -’ THE TRUE FOUNDATION STONE OF SAN FRANCISCOS GREATNESS A distinguished National statesman in the course of an address delivered by him some years ago at a i{amous banquet given by one of the big Eastern munici- palities said: ‘‘Cities are not made; they grow. All of the world's wealth spread upon a square mile of ground situated in “he midst of the Bahara Desert would not malke a city." The “‘commercial thought” has in view something more than a mere aggregation of structures, no matter how costly they may be, when the word ‘‘city” is spoken. | 1t is the difference between a quiet villa and a busy entrepot. Transportation facilities are essential, of capacity and accommodation, cheapness and celerity, to make thorough ana sufficient commu- nication with the most distant rural re- gions of production; so that there is con- venient ease in dealing with the remote farm, the distant mine, as well as with the nearer mili and manufactory. The trans- portation factor, viewed from a commer- cial standpoint, is one that enters more i largely into the determination of the suc- cess or failure of a “’city’’ than any other. On it depends the growth or decay of both importing and exporting and withount it in 1ts best possible conditions a ‘‘city” is an impossibility. But given satisfactory trnmnortation.‘ both of land and water, there is further requisite something to transport. It may be the products of agriculture, wheat, corn, livestock, or any of the many pro—‘ ductions of the farm and ranch. It may be the output of the mine or the quarry. It may be the varied products of the fac- tory, the loom and the workshep. It must e something, something to trade in, and ’JBH’OI’. something to transport to and rom the place of trade. Given these two essential factors—trans- portation and material, there are yet other elements necessary to form the com- pound known as the ‘‘city.’”” The opera- tion of trade with its concomitant trans- portation gives work to many men. the great majority wealth without per. sonal comfort is unsought. be not only comfortable living; there must be the ability to live economically amid healthful environments and convenient surroundings. The modern education teaches many things which were sadly neglected in the early days of our coun- try's history. In nothing is the improve- ment more distinctly marked than in the manner of living. Sanitary science is em- phatically modern. One hundred years ago there were to be found located upon European shores the then greai marts of the world’s trade, | where business was transacted in dark, gloomy and unhealthful dens; where no To | There must | man knew the geological formation of the street pavement, because of the accumu- | lated filth of the century—-commercial ports so malodorous that sea captains| trading with them paid but small atten- | tion to the lighthouses along the coast, | the sense of smell rising superior to that | of sight no matter what the direction of | the wind. Things have very greatly | changed. The vrestige of the ancient | maritime entrepots has departed, and | in the places of the old inconveniences are | magnificent commercial exchanges, where | modern common-sense combines health | with business and consequent pleasure in | the pursuit of the avocations of the count- | less thousands engaged 1n barter and | trade. The *‘city”’ of to-day and to-mor- | row demands the abiding presence of good | and clean streets, of an abundant supply | of pare water, of adequate and rapid tran- | | sit between the crowded com mercial and manufacturing quarters and the residence ! suburbs; of ample parks and other breath- ing spots; of well-built, well-equipp-d and well-kept schoole; of unstinted artificial | illumination (one good electric lightis of more value as a preveative of crime than | is the service- of two policemen). The stately church, the splendid library, the showy opera-house and the palatial resi- | dénce will each and all appear when con- | ditions are favorable to their presence in a city. Given all these essential factors of its ex- istence, the ‘‘city’’ will begin to demon- | strate the wisdom of its founding. i Provided that its men of business are blessed with a sagacity that recognizes the value of a broad policy in their trans- actions with their fellow men, the *‘city" will grow, and as time sweeps on the rep- utation of the “city’” will assert itself at the distant ends of the earth, with the re- sult that trade from distant places, over continents and oceans, will, in obedience to the most powerful law of human life, the law of confidence, low in increasing volume and value to the recognized sieity.” The immense area of the United States is too large to allow of its business be- ing centered in one city. It has more- | over two aistinet ocean boundaries, each { the exchange line of enormous traffic, the commerce of the Atiantic and that of the Pacific being markedly different one from the other. It has also the gigantic artery of trade running north and south through its very center—the Mississippi and tributaries. Its commerce is therefore uffected in its distribution very largely by geographical features. Plainly, then, there must always be re- | quired for the proper transaction of trade United States—one at the Atlantic sea- board, one at the junction of the Missis- sippi with the lakes, one at the junction of the plains systemn of railroads with that of the mountain system, and one at the Pacific seaboard. The history of civilization shows that the greatest enduring energy is vos:ible along the Jine of the normal mean tem- perature—tte 1sothermal of 50 deg. Fahr, We find this experience asserting itself in happy location as best answering the cities of New York, Chicago, Denver and San Francisco. That in course of time the two seaboard cities will outstrip their other sisters is a matter hardly requiring argument. Under present conditions a very large amount of merchandise passes through both Chicago and Denver without tran- shipment, and with imvroved facilities a still greater percentage of it will do so in the future. -But until some coming genius shall have discovered a means whereby a | geographical needs of our trade in the | railroad train may traverse the ocean and m B the big ship walk over the land, the two seaports of New York and San Francisco will continue the business of embarking and disembarking the enormous volume of merchandise that the world’s trade puts into motion, and this volume must in- crease with an 1ncreasing ratio as the population of the world increases and the expanding tastes of civilization add t8"the world’s wants. Much has been said, pro and con, about the San Francisco climate and the health- fulness of the City, and certain envious Qmnual number Numeer or DEATHS PER 1000 ELEs 26 e D BT T EE R BN | ==l SR oy S =20 = Y o people living east of the Rocky Mountains have cited the report of the California State Board of Health to bolster up the assertion that'consumption is California’s most deadly enemy. The facts in the case effectually disprove all such foolish state- ments. The crucial test of the healthful- ness or unhealthfulness of a city is its death rate, and, in giving proper value to such evidence, the rate of mortality must not be taken for a short period of time; it must be observed over a lengthy period of years. Extraordinary seasonal changes Deaths 10.S. =8 ceL LY 6 /5 17 /3 /72 1 ._ ) four great commercial centers in the Wosh el PE (I 5htanys)| Lo spg s Brookl_yn_ N Y ( 18 Years) Beaver: i Calei(toYeare, - ==l il San Eranciseo( 16 Years) more, Md (19 qu Lol o i GIRL'S THRILLING SOMNAMBULISTIC FREAKS One Hundred and Fifty Times She Stood on Death’s Brink While 'Psleep and as Often Was Miraculously Rescued. A pretty girl is now being treated at the Arapahoe County Hospital in Denver, who has broken the record for somnam- ulism. Her name Annie Rossman, and during her excursions while asleep he has been rescued from injury or death by the police more than 150 times. Bolts, bars, handcuffs ‘and chains all failed, to keep her within her room, and clad in a trobe she has roamed the streets of Denver night after night. Everything possible was done to cure the young woman of her strange mania, but to no purpose until she was placed in the hospital, where she has been care- fully watched by an attendant, and cold water thrown in her face every time she sought to leave her bed or escape. This plan seems to be proving efficacious, and for the present, at least, her sleep-walking career has been brought to a close. The story of her experiences 18 marvelous, and thereis no record of any man or woman somnambnulist who has undergone the perils that have fallen to her lot and es- caped a fatality. For eight years Miss Rossman has been a sleep-walker—ever since she was 18 years old. She is a stenographer at present, but her affliction has forced her to aban- don her chosen plan and work as adomes- is [ tic. Under ordinary circumstances she | seems to be possessed of unusual intelli- gence, and her education is excellent. In appearance she is remarkably pretty, a | perfect specimen of a blonde. She is both | striking in physique and comely in feature. It is almost marvelous to consider lhe[ | methods that have been unsuccessfully | | adopted to restrain her from her nocturnal | | excursions. The windows of her room | | have been locked and the key to the door | hidden, but to no purpose. So far as the hiding-place of the key is concerned she has always seemed possessed ot almost supernatural powers, for if the key was | hidden in her own room she invariably found it. When the door was iocked from | the outside she managed to cleverly pick | | the lock and make her way to the street. | At other times she has been tied in ber | bed so securely that it seemed as if in no | way would she be able to release herself. ‘ In this regard she has exhibited the skill | of the conjurer, for no knot could be tied that she was unable to loosen and no mat- ter how the ropes were arranged, always found a way to release herself. Handcuffs have been attached to her wrists and then chained to the bed, but her hands slipped through theringsin her | sleep in a fashion that she could not ex she | have started on to North Denver. plain when she awoke. In a waking condi- tion she could never perform the feat. At another time the key to her room was vlaced in the bottom of a barrel of water that rested in one corner of her apart- ment, but she secured the key and the contact with the chilled fluid did not awaken her. There has been no particu- lar method which she has followed in her walks about the city, and contrary.to the general idea regarding somnambulists, she has rarely seemed to-have a definite idea of doing any particular thing on any occasion. | About the only instance when she dis- tinctly remembered having a purpose in 1 view was the time when she was found seated on a letter-box with her arm around the lamp-post, when she declared she had beiieved herself to be seated on arailat the theater with her arm about one of the | supporting pillars. This fact of general lack of intention is all the more singular because of the accepted belief that the act.ons of sleep-walkers are merely the fulfillment of dreams that have seized upon them. One of the most narrow escapes she has had, if not the narrowest of all, wason the occasion of a trip she is supposed to She MISS ANNA ROSSMAN AND HER WONDERFUL ESCAPES. UnbER THE HORYE S noorS e reached the bridge which crosses Cherry Creek by the old City Hall, but, instead of crossing the structure, made her way down by its side, and apparently started for a walk through the water. It so hap- pened that the creek was not *‘booming” o any great extent just then, and a po- liceman happened to see her action and rescued her from drowning. Even the shock of the water did not fairly waken her, and it was several moments after her rescue before she entirely regained con- sciousness. It has always happened that whenever Miss Rossman left her room and home at night on one of these sleep-walking trips she has never stopped to don ‘any clothing beside the night robe, and has been guiltless of shoes or stockings. Just how she could so often make her way about Denver’s streets in this costume un- observed is a matter of almost as much mystery as the real cause of the affliction which has rendered her miserabie for | eight years., One night a few months ago, when she was living at Twenty-first and California streets, she left her home about midnight and wandered down Twenty-first to Curtis street. When in front of the Curtis-street nosehouse a Twenty-second-street cable- car came upon her unexpectedly, and she was knocked down and to one side, en- tirely escaping injury, except a few slight bruises. As usual, she was clad only in her night robe. She was picked up and taken into the hosehouse and returned to her home in the ambulance. One night not Jong ago she walked from her home clear down to the Union railway stution. This time, however, she had lain down without removing her clothing, and so attracted less attention. She sat in the station awhile, where her peculiar actions were noted, but there was no suspicion that she was asleep. Finally she went to the ticket agent’s window and boughta ticket for Cheyenne. Then she left the station, made her way to the railroad tracks, divested herself of most of her clothing, and walked up the track towara the approaching train. Fortunately the engineer saw her in time to stop before he reached her, although she was waiking toward the Jocomotive all the time. Again she made her way down to Six- teenth street one evening, or rather early in the morning, when there were quite a number of heavy wagons passing up the street, and calmly walked in front of one of the largest that was going west ata lively gait., Thedriver saw her and pulled up his horses, but she would certainly have been badly injured had not a police- man seen her just in time and pulled her fairly from beneath the horses’ feet. She was not even scratched. The greatest danger which she ever en- countered, even greater than in the Cherry Creek incident, was one time when she at- tempted to leave her room located in the third story of her home, via the window. Sbe crept through the window, having raised the lower sash, #nd grasping the sill with both hands, swung herself out, As fortune would have it a policeman happened to be passing almost at the moment and saw what she haddone. He made his way into the house, rushed up- stairs, broke in the door of her room ana seizing her by the wrists pulied her back into the apartment. Not until she was again in her own room did she realize what had happened. Once after she bad left her home on one of these trips she abparently imagined herself a lineman, for she essayed climb- ing a telegraph-pole and succeeded in making her way well toward the top be- fore she was discovered. BShe was resting in this fashion, near the top of the pole, when a policeman happened to see her. Miss Rossman is a native of Pecola, Kans,, and a number of members of her tamily now reside there, When she first began to walk in her sleep the attacks were not frequent, and it was only after she became a resident of Denver that her mania grew upon her. It is believed this was due to the air that is found at the high altitude in which Denver is located. Physicians who have studied Miss Ross- man’s case say that her trouble is largely due to the sluggish condition of her blood. During the timeshe is under the influence of somnambulism her face is almost as pale and cold as that of a person who is The strangest crusade which the United States ever knew is about to begin. It is nothing less than an attempt to convert the citizens of this county to Confucian- ism. The leader of this odd movement is ‘Wong Chinn Fooof 309 South Clark street, Chicago. Not only will he seek to make us all good Chinamen, but he proposes to secure the erection by the chilly shores of Lake Michigan of a magnificent tem- ple, in which all those who believe in the doctrines of Confucius may worship. This will be no joss-houss, but a bona- fide temple fitted upin the 1nost approved fashion., All the various details which go to make up the gorgeous interior of the temple to which the disciples of Con- fucius turn their footsteps will be there in great degree. In fact, if the plan of Wong Chinn Foo is carried out, there will before possessed within 1ts borders. Nei- ‘ther will there be any ceremony omitted. Every point that the strictest Chinese etiquette requires to be observed will be always taken into consideration. Toslight even one of them would bean unpardon- able error. While in China the offender would be behead:d, in this land of the free and the home of the brave he would merely be escorted out of doors. The light of intelligence shines brightly about Wong Chinn Foo, for he isa genuine American citizen and has papers to prove it. The loss of his cue, however, has not interfsred with his native religious meth- ods, for he is just as good a believer in the doctrines of Confucius as he ever was, and that is saying a good deal. He is the edi- tor of a Chinese newspaper in Chicago, and spreads his ideas among his country- men as rapidly as possible. The plan for a temple is not an inspiration, so far as he is concerned, but it seems that it has been talked of and dreamed about for many years, both by himself and others of his race. ‘Wong Chinn Foo has no desire to hide his intentions under a bushel, any more dead. Sheis certainly the most interest- ing sleep-walker whose actions are re- corded in medical history. A | than he has his light, as the following written by him shows: To the Editor: It is my purpose to do be a sample of oriental gorgeousness such | as the prosaic United States has never | all that I can to make all Americans good Confucianists and Chinamen. Many of my countrymen will aid me in this way. Iam very much in earnest and mean just what I say when I declare that there will be built a temple to Confucius. This will show how intelligent people can live with- out suverstition and religion, how they can love one another and do away with bigotry, conceit and red-tape methods of doing good. ‘It will also show the Christian families how to bring up their young to respect old age and their parents, and will encourage general social order in communities. All thése things were done in China for centuries, and it is these that kept its im- mense millions in order and prosperity. Why cannot the belief of Confucianists be introduced into the United States just as well as the good qualities of the Americans have been introduced into China I believe in reciprocity in all thines. *The Chinese are not in this country to be bad citizens, althongh none of them truly believe in Cpristianity. The Chi- nese News is for the Americanizing of the Chinese in the United States. Itistotry to teach them patriotism, a thing almost entirely unknown to the Chinese cooly. I am a great admirer of everything American, as I am a naturalized citizen of this glorious and beautiful Republic. Chinamen should not be old fogies, and I am preparing their minds not to be. “Woxe Crixy Foo.” It has always been the case that even among the better class of Chinese a strong feeling has existed against the in- sistent attempts of the American mission- ary to evangelize at least a vportion of China’s unbelieving millions. It was sup- posed for a time that this crusade against Christianity was really a retaliatory move- ment, calculated to inspire terror in the hearts of missionaries. No one paid any attention to the matter, however, believ- ing it to be a mere threat. Now, however, the movement appears to have taken a definite state. Certainly the Chinese of this country are wealthy enough to make a decided stir, and if they and abnormal conditions may cause an in* crease or‘a diminution in the death rate for a brief period, which is eliminated when the rate is taken for a fairly lengthy time. The accompanying table, compar- ing the death rates of five of the principal and best sanitarily managed cities in the United States, covering a period of from ten to twenty years, establishes conclu- sively that San Francisco is the most healthful of all. 1f so satisfactorily & re- sult has attained under the old sanitary (?) system of the Golden Gate City, what may not be reasonably looked for under the administration of a thoroughly modern sanitary system of municipal control ? As a matter of fact, the healthful con~ ditions of San Francisco are not only un- excelled, they are unequaled by those possessed by any interior portion of the continent. They could not be otherwise so long as the revolution of the earth upon her axis causes the winds to blow from the bosom of the broad Pacific ninety days out of every hundred. It 1s because of the established reputation of California for its healthful, invigorating and restoring climate that the death rate, on account of consumption, is as high as it is. Fully 25 per cent of the deaths from all causes are due to the presence in our midst of broken-down invalids from the Eastern States and foreign lands, who have come here in the pursuit of health, but—came too late to mend. With a truer knowledge of the condi« tions the sitnation is' becoming better un< derstood, and San Francisco, to which all roads to California first lead the feeble footsteps of the invalid, is to-day recog- nized as one of the most healthful cities upon the continent. The foundations of her greatness are thus laid down. Healthful living. The central point for the mining, the agri- cultural and the horticultural products of the vast Pacitic Slope. The colossal en- trepot of the occidental trade. The shin- ing rails of steel may come and kiss the dancing waves of the golden ocean, bug tbere the poetry ends and the very plain prose begins. Between the rails and the waves there must be a big, strong bridge over which the commerce of the rails and waves will have to pass, and that bridge is what is called a commercial seaport., That San Francisco will become the greatest seaport of the world is a problem that can only be delayed of affirmative solution hy the exercise of the blindest disregard of business principles, a condition which is not now nor ever likely to be found in the City which graces the finest harbor in the world, having opposite to its mouth three« fifths of all the world’s commerce. F. M. Crosg, D.Sc. STRANGEST OF ALL LATTER-DAY CRUSADES The Chinese Movement to Gonvert Americans to the Beliefs of Gonfucius---Prophets Who Foretell a Religious Revolution. heartily unite in the movement there is no question but that an evangelistic cam- paign, such as the world has never seen, will be inaugurated. It is not likely to be a project of mushroom growth, for the Celestial' mind moves slowly salthough witn great certainty. The predominating element among the Chinese of this coun- try is, of course, what is considered in China itself the lowest caste. Therefore, the crusade, to be on a firm foundation, must have the backing of the intelligent Chinamen of good birth. it will be remembered that at the ‘World’s Congress of Religion held in Chi- cago during the Columbian Exposition there were gathered representatives of nearly every religious belief that could boast of any considerable number of foi- lowers throughout the world. Notabla among the delegates to the congress wasa Buddhist priest from India, an ascetic~ appearing, dignified individual, who com- manded the sincere respect and admiration of those who listened to his words or be- came personally acquainted with him. During his stay in this country he suc- ceeded in inducing several persons to acceptthe Buddhistdoctrine on the ground that it was really the most ancientand the surest exemplification of the principles upon which the foundation of that beliet which the world recognizes as Christian« ity is based. 'WONG CHINN EXPECTS AMERICANS TO WORSHIP LIKE THIS. Taking these facts into consideration, the plan of the Chicago Chinaman is not to be lightly spoken of, because 1f the In- aian Buddhist priest could, unaided and quietly, secure recognition of the princi- ples he represented, there would seem no reason to doubt the ability of an orzanized Chinese contingent to make at least small progress along the line in which itsefforts were directed. The theosophists hold that 1897 will bring to a close one of the cycles that are rounded out each thousand years. They further declare that this period means to the world great religious changes. It may be that the introduction of Confucianism into the United States is one of those events which it is promised shall astome ish the world. b