Volume Vi Part 16 (1/2)
For a number of years some of the European countries condemned American packing-house products. Abuses in the processes of preparing preserved meats were brought vividly before Americans by Upton Sinclair in his novel ”The Jungle.” The Department of Agriculture took up the problem and a special investigation was ordered by President Roosevelt. The report showed the need for more rigid inspection, and the agitation throughout the country forced the House of Representatives, 1906, somewhat reluctantly, to adopt the President's recommendation for a thorough inspection, by government agents, of all processes and methods used in the meat packing-houses.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
U. S. Government inspection of a packing-house.
Inspector's a.s.sistant attaching a ”Retained” tag to carca.s.s marked by inspector on the heading bench. Carca.s.ses so marked are left intact until they reach the retaining-room.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Earthquake at San Francisco, April 18, 1906.
Upheaval of sidewalk at Eighteenth and Capp Streets.
Early in the morning of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was visited by one of the most dreadful disasters of modern times. An earthquake shock destroyed many of the important buildings in the business part of the city. Other cities and towns along the coast and in the Santa Clara Valley suffered greatly and a number of the buildings of Leland Stanford University, thirty miles south of San Francisco, were demolished. Ninety per cent of the loss in San Francisco was due to the conflagration which raged for two days. Fires broke out owing to the crossing of electric wires. The water-mains were old and poorly laid and the force of the earthquake had burst them. Firemen and soldiers fought the advance of the flames by destroying buildings with dynamite. Not until an area three miles in length and two miles in breadth, including all the business and the thickly settled residential sections, had been burned over was the advance of the flames stopped. The estimated loss of life was 1,000, and property valued at $300,000,000 was destroyed. Among the irreparable losses were several libraries, the collections of the California Academy of Sciences, and many works of art. The noted Bancroft Library with its collection of ma.n.u.scripts was saved.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Several city blocks afire.]
Burning of San Francisco following the earthquake.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Burned out hulks of several building.]
Showing destruction of buildings after the earthquake and fire in San Francisco.
A quarter of a million people were rendered homeless and were without food and the means of earning a livelihood. The sympathy of the world was aroused and offers of relief came from all quarters. Two million five hundred thousand dollars was voted by Congress, and the total relief fund amounted to $20,000,000. There was little suffering for lack of food and water, owing to the co-operation of representatives of the Red Cross a.s.sociation, a citizens' committee, and the United States army in distributing supplies.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Tent city.]
Refugees in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.
One hundred thousand persons were sheltered in tents in Golden Gate Park. The courage and hopefulness of the people did not desert them, and the rebuilding of the city was immediately begun. At the end of a year one-half of the burned area had been rebuilt. The old frame and low brick structures were replaced by modern buildings of steel and re-enforced concrete, for this type had survived the earthquake shock.
After two years, a new San Francisco, more beautiful and more substantial, had risen on the site of the old.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y.
The Jamestown Exposition--Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building from the Auditorium.
On April 26, 1907, the Jamestown Exposition was opened. It was in commemoration of the first English settlement in America. The southern sh.o.r.e of Hampton Roads, forty miles southeast of old Jamestown, was selected as the site for the buildings. The historic idea was uppermost in the exposition. The colonial type of construction was dominant and good taste and moderation were notable in the arrangement of the grounds and exhibits. Industrial and commercial progress were emphasized. The United States had a special exhibit to ill.u.s.trate the work of the different departments. In the harbor, one of the finest in the world, was the greatest international naval display ever witnessed. Every variety of war-vessel in existence was on exhibition besides commercial and pa.s.senger boats from the great ports of the world.
CHAPTER X
THE FINANCIAL PANIC OF 1907
[1907]
Popular opinion ascribed three reasons for the panic of 1907. The first of these was the att.i.tude of the President toward certain great corporations. It is true that his attacks bared some of the most deeply rooted evils which have always been at the bottom of our panics--dishonesty in the administration of great aggregations of capital. Great were the lamentations and doleful the predictions of what would happen should the President not change his policy of enforcing the laws. The railway opponents of the President were sure the panic came from the Hepburn Bill, which was pa.s.sed early in 1906. If this had been dangerous to the welfare of the railroads it is reasonable to a.s.sume that foreign capital would have been withdrawn from American railways and that American capitalists interested in railroads would have attempted to avert financial ruin by disposing of their holdings.
Neither situation developed, for the European investors increased their holdings and American capitalists continued to plan still greater investments in railways.