USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume II > Part 24
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Art in San Francisco During the Seventies
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not neglected until those possessed of the means to buy were able to say that they had good examples of the really creditable work of the best artists. Their patron- age, often inspired by local pride, has been amply justified by the ripened judg- ment of later critics.
Private Libraries
The literary taste of a community is not determined by observation of a few isolated facts. There is doubtless some foundation for the assertion made about this time that some of the libraries of the new rich of the period had been acquired in very much the same fashion as the other things they required. Men who suddenly obtain the means to procure things much talked about are very apt to buy them without much circumlocution. There is no short cut to learning, but collections of books can speedily be made if the motive for making them exists, and some were doubtless formed in one, two, three order, and with more thought of the ap- pearance they would present ranged on shelves or in cases than was given to their contents. Still the fact that a writer could find sixty-four private collections of books in San Francisco, and eleven private libraries worth mentioning should amply refute the assertion that its citizens did not care for learning. It is true that the author told her readers that there were wealthy Californians who lived in superb style, "with palatial mansions luxuriantly furnished in which one may search in vain for a book," but there could not have been many such, for she managed to find fairly ample collections in most of the more pretentious resi- dences ranging from one to several thousand volumes.
Evidence of Taste for Literature
While none of these private collections were large, she found evidence of indi- vidual taste in most of them, and in not a few instances traces of the bibliophile and occasionally the earmarks of the bibliomaniac. The largest assemblages were those of Alfred Cohen, John B. Felton, Milton S. Latham, who are each credited with 5,000 volumes. John T. Doyle, John R. Jarboe, Leland Stanford, Frank G. Smith and Archbishop Alemany had each gathered over 3,000 volumes, and there is an extended list of owners of from one to two thousand volumes. The interest- ing feature of the enumeration is its revelation of the idiosyncrasies of the owners. Men scarcely suspected by their casual acquaintances were disclosed to be the possessors of well developed fads. There was H. H. Haight who had a passion for Scotch literature; John B. Felton was devoted to Shakespearian and dramatic works generally; A. A. Cohen had a taste for suppressed editions; William Doxey at that early day began collecting Dickens; John T. Doyle ran to Mexican and Spanish history; Ralph C. Harrison was interested in typography; L. S. B. Saw- yer gave attention to binding and loved to show the beauties of the tree calf and the elegant tooling on the covers of his pet works; P. A. Thompson ran to Ameri- cana; Joseph W. Winans was a lover of rare editions; W. A. Woodward of the "Alta" picked up an old and curious book wherever he could find one; Ralph W. Kirkham had a strong penchant for illuminated missals; Albert J. Le Breton col- lected Californiana; J. E. McElrath had begun to collect Civil war history; A. A. O'Neill boasted the ownership of numerous first editions in his 4,000 collection; there were some too, who disclaimed singularity and admitted that they bought books for what they could learn from them and not because of peculiarities of typography, style of binding or date of publication.
Origin of Public Library System
The possession of books by a very considerable number of private individuals does not conclusively refute the idea that San Francisco "did not care for learn- ing," although it goes a considerable distance in that direction, but a movement
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which had its inception in 1877, the result of which has been to give every com- munity in the state a good library points to a very lively and intelligent apprecia- tion of the value of education, and a nice discernment of the mode of acquiring knowledge. In the latter part of 1877 a meeting of citizens was held in Dashaway hall, San Francisco, the outcome of which was the introduction of a bill in the legislature of 1877-78 which became a law on March 18th of the latter year, which authorized the creation of free public libraries in California. The act was intro- duced by Senator Rogers of San Francisco and named as trustees of the public library to be formed in the City under its provisions: Henry George, John S. Hagar, A. S. Hallidie, A. J. Moulder, George H. Rogers, E. D. Sawyer, Irving M. Scott, Louis Sloss, C. C. Terrill, R. J. Tobin and John H. Wise.
It cannot be said that the new institution had plain sailing from the beginning. The community was still under the thrall of the tradition that money expended for any other purpose than actual administration of municipal affairs was unwise. Innovation was frowned upon, and there was some difficulty in persuading the holders of the purse strings of the City to make the modest appropriation of $24,000, the amount set aside for a beginning, and even this small sum had to be secured by mandamus proceedings, a doubt being raised concerning the propriety of establishing a library at the expense of the general taxpayer. With the money at their command the trustees bought 6,000 books which were installed in Pacific hall on Bush street above Kearny. In the ensuing year a more liberal appropria- tion was made, the instantaneous popularity of the new library seeming to the cautious supervisors to warrant that course. The sum of $48,000 was allowed and the number of volumes was increased to 30,000. The original rules governing the use of books were not very liberal. At first they were not permitted to be taken from the library, but even under this restricted system the number of visitors grew rapidly. In 1880 the act of 1878 was superseded by a new law which made the mayor an ex officio member of the board of trustees and gave that body the exclusive control of all Public Library matters, and they at once adopted a more
liberal policy. Books were given out for home use. The records show that during the fiscal year ending June, 1881, 354,000 books were used in the library and in the homes of the people, and that there were 10,500 card holders. The library was housed in Pacific hall until 1888, when it was moved to the McAllister street wing of the city hall which was then being constructed on the piecemeal plan. The appropriations made at this time by the supervisors for its maintenance were far less than allowed under the law, but they sufficed to increase the stock of books, and to permit continuous improvements in administration. During the earlier years of its career the Public Library had no branches; the policy of providing the latter was not inaugurated until the year of the removal of its collection of books to the city hall.
The other public or quasi public libraries of the City were more or less affected by the establishment of the municipal library. The Mercantile, organized in 1852, and incorporated in 1863, seemed to feel the rivalry most severely, but its career previously had been so filled with vicissitudes it would be impossible to say whether it was most hurt by the new free public library or bad management. In 1865 it secured $20,000 through life memberships, and with the addition of a few thousands in the fund of the association it bought a lot on Bush street, between Montgomery and Kearny, and erected a building which was dedicated in June, 1868. This re-
Growth of the Public Library
Fortunes of the Mercan- tile Library
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sulted in the creation of an indebtedness of $240,000, and many expedients were resorted to in order to get rid of the burden. A big musical festival planned by Camilla Urso, and held in the Mechanics' pavilion netted $20,000 and in 1870 the legislature passed an act authorizing a lottery scheme, which, with its three gift concerts, netted $310,120. Despite the fact that the institution was freed from debt, and that its collection of books was housed in a good building it did not flourish. The collection, while in no sense one that would meet the requirements of scholars engaged in research, was not a bad one, but relatively too much money was expended on costly works. The initiation fee was nominal, only $2, but the quarterly dues aggregated $12 annually, and they could not be successfully main- tained against an institution which charged nothing and practically provided the same class of literature as that demanded by the patrons of the Mercantile.
The Mechanics' institute in which the Mercantile finally became merged was more judiciously managed, and its library, while not so pretentious as that of the Mercantile continued to increase in volumes and value even after the free Public Library had become a popular institution. It had its vicissitudes also, but was never compelled to ask for outside assistance. It had its dark days when those conducting its affairs found it difficult to make expenditures keep within income, but from the beginning it kept adding to its collection, which at first was little better than a lot of public documents, until it was destroyed in the conflagration of 1906. In 1866 the institute erected a building on Post street, between Mont- gomery and Kearny, and at the time of the fire was meditating expansion. In 1878, and during the closing years of the period 1871-83 the institute was very prosperous and its activities quite varied. It promoted annual industrial fairs which were very popular, and maintained the only building in the City capable of holding a large gathering. Its pavilions, erected at different times in various parts of the City, indicate the population trend. The first Mechanics' institute was on Montgomery street near Post on leased ground. Later a building was put up on Stockton street between Post and Sutter. From there the institute moved to a large structure erected on Mission street and extending north on Eighth. Subse- quently the institute acquired the block on Larkin street opposite the city hall, on which it built the pavilion consumed in the fire of 1906. None of these con- structions had any architectural merit. They were barn like affairs, unattractive externally and internally, but they served their purpose. Toward the close of the Seventies the library of the institute numbered about 30,000 volumes. In 1878 a report stated that the collection embraced about 20,000 in the circulating and 10,000 in the reference departments.
The Odd Fellows Library, a long established organization, had about 35,000 volumes in 1878 and its chief patrons were members of the order. Its librarians had from a very early period devoted attention to the collection of Californiana. The competition of the Public Library or some other cause made it difficult to keep abreast of the other circulating libraries in the matter of current literature and the management concluded to sell the books of the association several years before the disaster. The San Francisco Law Library, incorporated in 1870, continued to flourish during the period, and although its collection was, as its name implies, designed to meet the needs of lawyers, it embraced many rare books which became its property by bequest or gift. In 1878 it contained 18,000 volumes. Its support was derived from membership dues, and a docket tax of $1 exacted from every liti-
Numerous Collections
The Mechanics Institute Library
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THE WELCOME HOME OF THE CALIFORNIA REGIMENT, AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
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gant in a case brought in the City. In the same year the Academy of Sciences had 16,000 volumes on its shelves. There were several class libraries, among them one devoted to microscopical subjects which laid claim to completeness. The Soci- ety of California Pioneers in addition to its primary purpose of bringing together the argonauts and gathering historical material concerning them had accumulated 3,000 volumes, many of which were devoted to Pacific coast exploration. La Ligue Nationale Francais, located in a building on Sutter street between Montgomery and Kearny, had 10,763 and the Y. M. C. A. over 5,000 volumes. The compiler of this information was careful to add that in the private collections mentioned as being possessed by members of the legal profession no law books were included, and presented a list of 45 private law libraries aggregating 56,430 volumes, the largest of which was that of McAllister, which contained over 5,000 volumes.
That the appreciation of literature and art were not universal may be readily inferred from a fugitive expression of Hittell, who conveys the impression that the gardens created by Sutro in 1875 were admired for their "art treasures," which were in reality poor replicas of masterpieces, interspersed with German grotesques and effigies of animals, the whole being arranged somewhat after the fashion of a Swiss toy zoological garden. The flowers were beautiful and well kept, but the general effect of the gardens was destroyed and vulgarized by the cheap statuary. The tolerance accorded to the fountains set up by Coggswell about this time, and the effusive welcome given to the present made by an actress in 1876, which was dedicated with great ceremony on the 4th of July of that year, and still stands in the most conspicuous spot in the City, were frequently made the subject of unflat- tering comment, but the period when Lotta made her gift was one in which cast iron had great vogue in the United States and its acceptance can scarcely be said to measure the level of San Francisco culture. It was received in the spirit which prompted the offering, that of enthusiastic mutual liking, and is likely to remain an enduring and interesting monument of the days when San Franciscco wore her heart on her sleeve and laid great stress upon the virtue of friendship.
The works of the few authors who have received the stamp of universal com- mendation are supposed to convey a more vivid impression of the scenes and people who inspired them than those of writers who failed to achieve fame in the literary field, but sometimes the true spirit of the times may be more readily gleaned from the pages produced by men whose literary skill has not been recognized as entitling them to be placed in the first rank. J. Ross Browne, who lived in the foothills back of Oakland, ending his varied career in 1875, in some of his work drew truer pictures of California life than Bret Harte or Mark Twain, whose characters were oftener exaggerations than types. Browne, like numerous other Californians, took no satisfaction in contemplating the present, and was no admirer of the past. His descriptions were rasping but truthful. He was always peering into the future and found little comfort in so doing. His philosophy was compressed into a saying that "the smallest steamboat that paddles up the Hudson river is greater than the greatest monument of antiquity," and his estimates of the great men of his period were cast in this mould. But Californians read his books and enjoyed them.
In attempting to find the keynote of the literary expression of this period we discover the cause of the complaint of the editor of the "Golden Era" who lamented that California writers had taken to going abroad for their themes. It is true, as he said, that the new aspirants for literary fame no longer cared to picture Cali-
Lotta's Gift to San Francisco
The Work of J. Ross Browne
Writers of Serious Books
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fornia types and scenery, and perhaps with good reason. The field had been worked over as thoroughly as some of the placers described by Bret Harte, and the char- acters that once inhabited and hunted for gold in them had disappeared or had conformed to a new order of things. There were still gamblers of the kind made familiar to the world by the men who gave California its early literary distinction, but they were no longer disposed to advertise their calling by extravagance of dress or manners. A great change had come over the people and their singularities and angularities had ceased to be striking. It is not surprising, therefore, that literary expression took a new form, and that its products were of the sort that might not usually be expected in troubled times. That the critics who only give consideration to fiction or imaginative work of other kinds should occasionally pass the sweeping judgment that the period was comparatively barren is not strange, but it is nevertheless true that towards its close a San Franciscan produced a book which made a more profound impression upon mankind than any other written and published during the nineteenth century.
It is not necessary to agree with Henry George's theories as expressed in his "Progress and Poverty," in making this admission. Many of his assumptions have been contradicted by results, but that does not alter the fact that his method of presenting the world's troubles took a stronger hold on men than the more scien- tific appeals of Karl Marx or the vagaries of the Bellamy school of economists. George's name and his book are not talked about as much as they were formerly, but their impress is visible in all recent economic writing. His sympathetic method of treatment proved infectious, and it may be said of "Progress and Poverty" that after its appearance, even a professor in a Scotch university would scarcely attempt to discuss an economic subject in the old-fashioned way which disregarded the necessity of arousing and retaining human interest.
The fact that George was a practical newspaper man has been stated, and incidentally an allusion has been made to his appointment as gas inspector of San Francisco. It is fitting to add that the position, which involved no labor and was practically a sinecure, was conferred to enable him to pursue his literary labors. When he was afforded the opportunity he devoted himself wholly to the work of producing "Progress and Poverty." That his theme was suggested by land con- ditions existing in California at the time he wrote is clearly apparent in every page of his work. He was profoundly convinced that the monopolistic tendency then so pronounced could only be arrested by a process resembling confiscation, and he thought he had devised a workable mode of accomplishing that result. George's fundamental mistake was the same as that made by Adam Smith; he over- looked the possibility of other forms of wealth than land proving more attractive, and he absolutely ignored the tremendous centripetal urban influence which has in many sections of the Union caused the land to be deserted instead of being eagerly sought after and monopolized as he expected it would be, and he greatly underrated the capacity of man to modify the inexorable law of population pressing on the limit of subsistence. Nevertheless his single tax theory, so far as it applies to the taxation of land in cities, is gaining ground, and it is not unlikely that some day in the interest of simplification it will become the practice to exempt improvements from taxation, although it is in the highest degree improbable that the world will ever accept his fundamental recommendation that all other forms of wealth than land be exempted from the burden of maintaining government.
Henry George's "Progress and Poverty"
George's Theme Fur- nished by California Conditions
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The influence of the period also asserted itself in the writings of John F. Swift, an able lawyer and a politically ambitious man, but too frank and plain spoken to succeed in the field of politics. Swift was the author of a novel "Robert Great- house," one of the earliest examples of the new school in which politics and eco- nomics are blended with fiction. It was readable, but was principally remarkable for the fact that some time after its appearance he sought to recall it because his political enemies were culling opinions from it which were calculated to injure him in his campaign for the governorship of the state, in which he was unsuccessful, chiefly because he had ventured to have views respecting the organization known as the American Protective Association, a revival or survival of the early Know Nothing party. Swift was fond of literary work, and in addition to "Robert Greathouse" wrote "Going to Jericho;" he was also a contributor to magazines and reviews, but his activities in this direction did not divert his mind from civic affairs, and as a legislator his reputation for constructive work stood very high.
One of the interesting features of the literary life of this period is the fact that a reputation in any part of the vast region known as the Pacific coast was not confined to the immediate locality where it had been gained. San Franciscans were apt to count a man who had made his mark in Nevada or Oregon as one of themselves, and they were equally prone to appropriate or annex the talent of the stranger. Charles Nordhoff, who revisited the state in 1871 and wrote "California for Health, Pleasure and Residence," which was followed by others, was taken up in this manner and finally made his home within the borders of the commonwealth whose attractions he had made so familiar to the outside world. C. C. Goodman, for many years editor of the "Salt Lake Tribune," and Rollin M. Daggett, both accomplished and graceful writers, were as well known and appreciated in the City as they were in Utah and Nevada. Joaquin Miller might fairly be claimed by Oregon, although his literary connections were chiefly San Franciscan during the period. In the later Seventies and early Eighties he was a regular contributor to the "Chronicle." As in the case of Robert Louis Stevenson myths grew up about Miller which create the impression that his qualities failed of recognition in newspaper offices, and it is told that letters offered by him were thrown in the waste basket. The story had some foundation in fact. Joaquin Miller wrote an almost undecipherable hand, one of the sort calculated to incite mutiny in a com- position room, and while he was contributing to the "Chronicle" two of his efforts baffled the ability of the entire editorial force to straighten them out and they were not published.
There was less foundation for the story long current about Robert Louis Ste- venson's connection with the "Chronicle" in December, 1879, and the alleged fail- ure of the city editor to appreciate him. Stevenson was in the City at that time, but a careful examination of the books of the "Chronicle" failed to reveal his name, nor could anyone connected with the editorial department of the paper recall him when the statement was first made although there were several members of the Bohemian club on the staff of the paper at the time who would have known of the circumstance had he made application for work. The assertion was also made that he wrote articles for the Sunday editor, but that he did not think enough of them to rescue them from its files. A careful search disclosed no signed article, and it is improbable that he made any anonymous contributions. Charles Warren Stoddard was in San Francisco during the period when Stevenson was supposed
John F. Swift as a Writer of Fiction
Joaquin Miller and Other Literary Workers
Robert Louis Stevenson in San Francisco
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to have written for the "Chronicle" but in his reminiscences of the author he fails to speak of him as seeking employment, or as being otherwise engaged while in the City than in securing material for his novel "The Wrecker." Stoddard states that Stevenson was in the habit of visiting him in a tumbledown place on Rincon hill, which he says the author called "the most San Franciscaly part of San Fran- cisco." While in San Francisco Stevenson roomed at 608 Bush street. According to the story of his landlady he lived very abstemiously, during a time subsisting himself on 45 cents a day, but despite all that has been written on the subject it is an open question whether he was compelled to do so. Some of those who knew him well, Joseph D. Strong among the number, after Stevenson had become famous intimated that the vicissitudes he endured were of his own making, and comported perfectly with a decided disinclination to exert himself in any manner that was not absolutely congenial.
It has been suggested that Stevenson could not have made assiduous search for literary employment in San Francisco without learning of that marvelous workshop maintained by Hubert H. Bancroft, who during the Seventies, and well into the Eighties, was producing a series of histories more comprehensive than any ever before issued from the press of any country on the globe. The name of Bancroft is appended to all the volumes of the vast output of reading matter and informa- tion which is embraced in the thousands of pages grouped under the designation Bancroft's histories, but no secret was made of the fact that the major part of the writing was done by a corps of assistants working under his direction. Among those who were at various times in the employ of Bancroft were Ivan Petroff, Thomas H. Long, Enrique Cerruti, William Nemos, Henry L. Oak and others. Mr. Bancroft practiced no deception; he planted himself on the proposition that "to the student it is a matter of indifference" who did the writing of the histories that bear his name. The chief thing to consider, he insisted, was whether they were accurate or the reverse; but the critics refused to accept his standard and flatly declared that "as history most of the work was worthless because it was not cast in a form that will live." Their judgment was sound. But there is no gain- saying the fact that the numerous volumes contain a tremendous quantity of in- formation which has been freely drawn upon by writers, many of whom, like Her- bert Spencer, have acknowledged their obligations, and have not hesitated to speak of the labors of Mr. Bancroft in an appreciative fashion, and to characterize the publication of his histories as "a great undertaking."
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