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Show How "Sunday School People Put Long Beach "on the Bum" i i i lit is Only Six Times as Large as it Was Six Years Ago, and the Town is so Dead as to Feel nothing But Prosperity. One of the great arguments ollcred by saloonkeepers and many sane business busi-ness men against a "no-llccnse" town or a "dry" town. Is that such towns arc always de.id. The following from the Stockton Itecord, In refeience to Long Heacli. California, besides being a leadableartlele completely disproves the idea advanced by those who want "boozc-Jolnts" in every town. After making the statement that Long Jleach now has a population of W.OOO, the Itecoid says: Four years ago Long Heach had :i,nii() people within its contlncs, so I am Informed. This was the summer tune mark. when the railroads brought iheie people who were attracted by the fact that itwasa clean resort The moral atmosphere and the sea breezes were Its asset i. From .'1,000 I to llt.OOO In live years! Will the readier read-ier stop and think what a tremendous growth th it is? Having lived that in mind, let us take up. 'One other facts 'abmi Long Heal'h. Let us consider j some uf the characteristics of the life of lis people Regular Sunday School Town. si mi g as it may sound to our wide open ears, Long Heach Is a Sunday 1 School town of the most depressing kind. The uo-llccnse crank early decided to put the town "on the bum." They cut out the saloons and wasted their time In building hotels, line houses, business houses, good streets and other accessories of a cheap town. I Tlie.se pinch-faced Puritans Improy-I Improy-I c-J tlielr beich, laid out parks, and tol I crated preachers. There Is hardly j any necessity for saying, after this-brief this-brief statement of their muddle-pated ! policy, that the barriers were up against prosperity and advancement. Hut, some how, the pervcislty of human hu-man nature proved to be their undoing. undo-ing. Eastern people came and looked over their back fences They began to sneak In. The Easterners thought It was a good kindergarten In which to raise their families. These Things Happened. The Long Heachers made their fence higher and stronger against "necessary "neces-sary evils." Hut the people kept coming. Hanks were opened. Storekeepers spread their wares. Stricts wera impioved. Houses ant hotels b-gan to multiple. multi-ple. Electric lights began to blink. The ratlioads began to take notice. Long Heach was not only on the ocean's side, but on the map. The new ones were Eastern people. Some had money. Others had labor. They had a diversity of town building necessities One thing they had m I'ummim -a love of decency. How Values Advance. 1 was told about a piece of land on Lozust street which sold In May for $12,CO0. It sold two months later for $10,i00. A few dajs before my visit j the owner refused f.'O.OOO. New houses arc so common as to hardly excite notice, but a hotel cost-IngWiO.ooo cost-IngWiO.ooo will attract some attention. atten-tion. A few weeks ago the contract was let for the building of such a hotel. It will be located on the beach. Public Improvements. The ureal wharf and pavilion are wonders of stability and detail. 1 was informed that nearly WOO.000 hae been spent on this model piece of work. The supporting piers are built ' of concrete. The warf has two decks, , so to speak. The upper Is for pede-strains pede-strains and the lower for carriages. Everything Is spick and span, clean and Inviting. The sum of $18,000 is paid annually by the city for music In the pavilion. Not So Very "Tight." llcccntly a mass meeting was called lodlscussa Y. M. C. A. building. 1 am told by a man who was present that It took just thirty minutes to raise MO.OOO. How Is that, gentlemen. gentle-men. ou who aie laboring with the financial details of the diverting canal? Surely, wo ought to do better than r. Sunday School town Jn such places people are supposed to be "tight" Here we have the lubricat ing clfects of 103 saloons, and how many other things we venture not to say. How Money is Made. 1 rode out to the pretty home of Prof. Marshall with that gentleman. 1 think It was, easily, a mile and a half from the center of town. Suburban Subur-ban lots out there arc selling as high as $1200 maby more by this time. One man, a new-comer, told me how he and an associate had contracted to buy a piece of land for S0.O00. They made one payment on it and the tlnal settlement was some way olT. The samo day 1 talked to him he and the other party In interest had decided to accept an oiler of $10,000 for their as yet unpaid for realty. This For "On the Bum." 1 found evidences of dcadness everywhere. every-where. The restaurants were full of people. Wlih a friend 1 waited some time In a big ' ie! to get a seat. The fare wart excellent and the cost modest. Nowhere did I II nd a disposition to clnqh a visitor. Along the beach there were many places In which money could be spent, but they wero (inlet and orderly, and the crowds were retlncd and good natured. Sunday on the Beach. On Sunday I saw at Long Heach one of the largest, the best toned, the least noisy, and as Jolly a lot of people as It was ever my privilege to look upon. Ttie throng was not tawdry, nor was It oppressively "puritanical." There were abundant evidences of wealth, tempered In its display by good taste. Thero wero lots of young people. The young fellows and the maidens seemed to be enjoying themselves, them-selves, greatly. The children were very much In evidence. The solid, staid heads of families did not seem to have monitorial faces. The day was ideal. An Italian band played In the great pavilion and all classes of Innocent In-nocent amusement were well patronized. patron-ized. No body seemed to be cramped by the regulations. These Were Missing. Now, let me tell you what I didn't see. I didn't se? a single tin-horn gambler, nor a single courtesan carrying car-rying her signs, not a drunken person, per-son, not a gambling device. 1 didn't see a lot of fakers. I didn't see a lot of things you may see around Santa Cruz. The orderliness of the place, the cleanliness of the scraps of conversation conver-sation that could be overheard and the absence of sad and annoying scenes were most marked. I talked with V. C. Jensen, one of the most piomincnt sheepmen of the Inter-mountain country. He is a banker bank-er and a man of alfalrs, and has been spending the winter with his family In Long Heacli. lie praised the town, Its people, Its laws and Its prospects He was but one of the many in this respect who relish the "Sunday School" medicine. How They Enforce Law. It will be unusual If the question us not asked, "Do they enforce the ant!-liquor ant!-liquor laws down there?" Indeed they do Sweet Susan and Doubting Thomas! If jou do not believe me, Just try to sell liquor there or display It on the streets. Hllsters on your hands may serve to remind jou of your adventure with these shallow patcd town-killers A few weeks ago some men developed a thirst and dispatched dis-patched a fellow to San Pedro for some of Its waterfront talk-fluid. He got it all right, 'but failed to conceal it while leaving the Long Heach landing. land-ing. A policeman arrested him with the whisky and took him before the Justice. Hearing of the plight of the victim of their thirst the men who had employed him went to his aid. They Intimated to the court that they felt responsible for the defendant and would gladly pay Ills tine. Did they pay his line? No, no; they did not. Long Hcach's treasury Is not dry, even If the town is. The couitdidn't think the money was any good, but some hard graft was needed over In the public park. Thither the man was sent by the court. For llftecn days, 1 am told, he labored In the park, doing pennanco In honest perspiration per-spiration for his sin against the sovereign will of the lllnty bigots who arc putting Long Heach "on the bum." Liquor selling Is not likely to become popular In Long Heach It Is altogether too hazardous, especially when there arc so many places up this way where It can be prolitably carried on, with time left for the running run-ning of the town. Has Commercial Ambitions. Lest the reader may harbor the mistaken conclusion that Long Heacli docs not share the commercial ambitions ambi-tions of other cities It may bo well to rcmaik that it already touches elbows with San Pedro. It Is at San Pedro that the United States government has spent such vast amounts building a break-water for the creation of harbor har-bor facilities. Even now there Is talk of consolidation. Long Heach Is getting get-ting strong enough In point of voting strength to carry Us antl-llquor and other laws Into the compact of consolidation, con-solidation, should it ever come. And who shall say It will not? Wonderful things happen down there In a shoit space of time. |