Nature has endowed us with the choicest of her gifts; Opportunity 

 lands at our gate; we know the greatness of our destiny and with God's 

 help we shall achieve it. 



It has been said that there is no evil unmixed with good. If that be 



iso, then the earthquake and fire may have been a blessing in disguise. 



I We can now build up a greater city than the old San Francisco would 

 have become in many years. The fire destroyed many buildings that 

 should have given place long ago to modern structures; many streets that 

 have long needed improvement have been laid bare and their lines may 

 now be altered at a minimum expense. We now have a magnificent 

 opportunity to rebuild upon the ashes of what was San Francisco, a 

 great metropolis second to none in beauty of design, in broadness of 

 scope, and in grandeur of architecture. To this rebuilding of the newer 



' and greater city I shall devote my every energy. 



It was this fair city of the Golden Gate that gave me birth; it was 

 here my father came fifty-six years ago; it was here he erected the first 

 brick building that gave to little Verba Buena a suggestion of what she 

 would become only six decades later; here I went to school; here I raised 

 my family, and here I have endeavored to do my faithful duty as a 

 citizen, as a public officer, and as a man. In the troubled days of April, 

 it was my stand first to aid and protect the people in the hours of their 

 dire distress; now it is my fondest hope to raise upon our ruins a greater 

 San Francisco that shall stand particularly as an equal among all the 

 great cities the world has ever known. 



The Commercial Future of 

 San Fran cisco 



E. R. LiILIENTHAl., President San Francisco Mercliants' E:xchanse 



APRIL 18, 1906, blockaded San Francisco trade, which had reached 

 enormous proportions and was heading for possibilities greater than 

 any city in the United States except New York. May 1st saw the 

 blockade partially raised, with about forty per cent of the trade in 

 all lines in fairly good swing. August 1st sees it doing better than 

 seventy-five per cent of the normal, with about forty per cent of the insur- 

 ance loss paid, and nearly all of our merchants in full swing, with a volume 

 of trade to those that are doing it greater than was done before April 18th. 

 Trade evolution in the intervening period has been so rapid as to be startling. 

 Retailers and wholesalers west of Polk Street are doing a volume in 

 excess of what was done before April 18th, and while at first blush they 

 believed that their trade would be limited to staples and necessities, they 

 find a surprising demand for the higher-priced articles that previously would 

 have been regarded as luxuries. The development is following along Market 

 Street easterly to the Ferry and on the intersecting streets. The laboring 

 population, without regard to kind or class, is increasing daily, owing to 

 the scale of wages, which is now in excess of that paid in any other section 

 of the United States. This means a money distribution greater than any 

 other city in the country, population considered, and necessarily creates 

 an enormous demand for commodities of all descriptions. 



The population of San Francisco, for statistical purposes, was estimated 

 by the authorities on July 1st as 325,000. The most conservative admit 

 that it will reach 400,000 by January 1, 1907. This explains the large trade 

 that San Francisco is doing with its own and its suburban population. Add 

 to that Its distributing trade, which is now being well cared for, and it must 

 be seen that the "commercial present," meaning trade-volume, must be 

 nearly equal to what it was before April 18th, and that the "commercial 

 future," within twelve months, means a trade-volume, both domestic and 

 export, far in excess of what was done before April 18th, and will inside 

 of two years place San Francisco close up to, if not next to, our sister 

 city on the Atlantic shores. 



