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 Written for the Los Aiiffeles Chamber of 
 
 Commerce by Harry Ellmgion Brook 
 
 'Glorious 
 
 A city that has made a growth from ^ 
 a population of 11,000 in 1880 to one 
 of 150,000 today, multiplying its in- 
 habitants more than thirteen times in Climate' 
 less than a quarter of a century, is 
 certainly something out of the ordi- 
 nary, even in this country of rapidly 
 growing cities. It is not without 
 reason that Los Angeles has been 
 termed the "Chicago of the South- 
 west." 
 
WINTER SCEI 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 The first question usually asked by 
 newcomers who mark the wonderful 
 activity displayed here in city building 
 is, to paraphrase Shakespeare : "Upon 
 what meat doth this our city feed, that 
 it has grown so great? " 
 
 First and foremost, as a reason for 
 the phenomenal development of Los 
 
 
Angeles and Southern California, may 
 be placed our "glorious climate." It 
 is a hackneyed subject, and some of 
 
 OUNTAIN TRAIL TO WILSON' 
 
 S PEAK, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 
 
our Eastern friends are inclined to 
 sneer at it, but after all it is a valuable 
 asset, not only on account of the 
 pleasure which it adds to life, but be- 
 cause it brings us a large immigra- 
 tion of wealthy settlers, who are 
 tired of the rigor of an Eastern winter 
 and the torrid heat of an Eastern sum- 
 mer, also because it facilitates the 
 
 SAN GABRIEL MISSION, NEAR PASADENA 
 
 cultivation of valuable crops that 
 cannot be raised elsewhere in this 
 country, and, furthermore, it facili- 
 tates certain lines of manufacturing, 
 which work under disadvantages east 
 of the mountains. 
 
 One of the main features of the cli- 
 mate of Southern California is its 
 
equability, there being a difference of 
 only 13 degrees between the average 
 maximum for July and December in 
 Los Angeles, and a difference of only 
 16 degrees between the average mini- 
 mum for the same months. Another 
 notable feature of the climate of South- 
 ern California is the dryness of the 
 atmosphere, which facilitates perspir- 
 ation, so that a temperature of 100 
 degrees is less oppressive than one of 
 
 A GOOD BATH AT TERMINAL ISLAND IN JANUA 
 
 85 degrees on the Atlantic coast. 
 Many Eastern people who visit Los 
 Angeles during the winter months are 
 accustomed to observe that it must be 
 awfully hot in summer, considering 
 that it is so mild in winter. This is 
 not true. As above stated, there are 
 only a few degrees difference between 
 the summer and winter climates. The 
 
Products 
 
 main distinction lies in the rainy and 
 dry seasons. Rain falls between No- 
 vember and March, the average total 
 rainfall being about 15 inches for the 
 season. Two or three days of rain are 
 followed by weeks of cloudless skies. 
 It is no wonder that invalids rapidly 
 regain their health in this balmy cli- 
 mate, especially when they are wise 
 enough to avoid the cities and take to 
 the foothills, or mountains, or the sea- 
 shore. 
 
 It is, however, by no means only to 
 climate that we look for our living in 
 this section. This may easily be seen 
 from a statement recently published 
 by the Los Angeles Chamber of Com- ^ 
 merce, which showed that the esti- 
 mated value of the principal product^ 
 of the seven southern counties of Cali- 
 fornia, of which Los Angeles is the 
 commercial metropolis, for 1902, 
 aggregated $97,000,000, including 
 miscellaneous manufactured products. 
 The most important of these products 
 were citrus fruits, $11, 000, 000 ; gold 
 and silver, 4,071,800; petroleum, 
 $12,500,000; borax, $1,286,000; 
 hay, $3,250,000 ; vegetables, and 
 fruits consumed, $3,500,000 ; dried 
 fruits and raisins, $2,300,000 ; grain, 
 4,607,500 ; canned goods, $1,600,- 
 000 ; sugar, $4,250,000 ; nuts, $1,- 
 750,000 ; cement, clay, brick, sand- 
 stone and granite, $1,104,000; beer. 
 
$950,000 ; beans. $2,000,000 ; pork, 
 beef, mutton, dressed. $3,328,982 ; 
 miscellaneous manufactured products, 
 $32,000,000. 
 
 A SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DRIVEWAY 
 
A I rading Lq5 Angeles is rapidly becoming an 
 Center important trading center, not only for 
 
 retail establishments, but also for job- 
 bers and wholesalers. The trade of 
 our wholesale merchants extends from 
 Central California on the north, to 
 Arizona and New Mexico and Sonora 
 on the southeast. With the comple- 
 
 V 
 
 CARRYING MILK IN BOSTON, JANUARY 1ST 
 
 tion of the government deep sea har- 
 bor at San Pedro, work upon which 
 is now far advanced, we may look for 
 an important trade with the Orient, 
 Los Angeles being the western end of 
 the shortest line between the two 
 oceans. When the Isthmian canal is 
 
completed, this trade will be vastly 
 increased. 
 
 A few years ago it was not believed '"^'^"' ■ 
 that Los Angeles could ever become facturin^g 
 an important manufacturing city, be- 
 cause fuel was so expensive, coal at 
 at that time costing about $10 a ton. 
 Since then this has been changed by 
 
 CARRYING MILK IN LOS ANGELES, JANUARY 1ST 
 
 the development of petroleum. It 
 costs at present about 75 cents a 
 barrel, equivalent to about $2.75 per 
 ton for good coal. 
 
 Still cheaper power is furnished by 
 electricity, derived from mountain 
 streams, which is brought to Los 
 
Angeles from the Santa Ana cation^ 
 in San Bernardino county, a distance 
 of 85 miles. Work is now under 
 way upon a still longer transmission 
 line from Kern county, a distance of 
 nearly 200 miles. 
 
 Another advantage possessed by 
 manufacturers in this section is found 
 in the high freight rates from the east, 
 which act as a sort of a protective 
 tariff. The mild climate makes un- 
 necessary the construction of costly 
 buildings for factories, or expenditure 
 for heating in winter. The dryness 
 of the atmosphere greatly facilitates 
 manufactures in which wood and 
 glue or wool play a part, and it is 
 believed that ere long this city will 
 become a great center for such 
 branches of manufacturing. Last, 
 but not least, our manufacturers and 
 business men in Los Angeles enjoy 
 the great advantage of being free 
 from those troublesome and demor- 
 alizing labor disturbances, which are 
 so common in most of the large man- 
 ufacturing cities of the country. Pub- 
 lic opinion in Los Angeles has no 
 sympathy with strikers and boy- 
 cotters. 
 
 The report of the United States 
 census showed that the annual value 
 of the manufactured products in Los 
 Angeles in 1900 was $21,297,537. 
 It is a conservative estimate to say 
 
that this amount is today at least 
 50 per cent greater, and is rapidly 
 growing. 
 
 MOUNT LOWE INCLINE 
 
"' '"S It needs but a brief trip around the 
 city to show that building is most 
 active in Los Angeles. Indeed, build- 
 ings have been going up during the 
 past year at the rate of over $1,000,- 
 000 a month. The total value of 
 the 6348 building permits issued 
 for the year ending November 30, 
 1903, amounted to $13,175,446. For 
 several months Los Angeles has 
 ranked fourth or fifth among the 
 leading cities of the United States 
 in the value of building permits, and 
 has usually led all cities of the 
 country, including New York and 
 Chicago, in the number of buildings 
 erected. This shows that Los An- 
 geles, like Philadelphia, is a city of 
 homes. There is probably no city 
 in the country where so large a pro- 
 portion of people of moderate means 
 own their homes, or are acquiring 
 them by installment payments. This, 
 of itself, is a guarantee for com- 
 mercial peace and good government. 
 Solid Turning to the banks, we find an 
 Banks equally encouraging condition of af- 
 fairs. The banks of Los Angeles 
 have been noted for their conserva- 
 tism and stability, having come un- 
 scathed through financial panics 
 when banks throughout the country 
 were tottering and falling. 
 
 There are in the city of Los Angeles 
 twenty-two banks, including national, 
 
STREET SCENE, LOS ANGELES 
 
state and savings banks. Their com- 
 bined capitalization, according to the 
 latest statement available, amounts to 
 $6,100,000; surplus and undivided 
 profits, $2,664,528; deposits, $51,- 
 334,659 ; loans, $35,946,228 ; total 
 assets and liabilities, $62,586,887. 
 
 In the Los Angeles clearing house 
 are twelve banks, nine of them 
 being national banks. Their combined 
 capitalization, as shown by the re- 
 sponses to the last clearing house call, 
 $4,650,000 ; surplus and undivided 
 profits, $1,907,174; deposits, $30,- 
 154,575; loans, $19,569,031 ; total 
 assets and liabilities, $39,197,949. 
 
 There are ten savings banks with a 
 combined capitalization of $1,450,000 ; 
 surplus and undivided profits, $757,- 
 354; deposits, $21,180,083; loans, 
 $16,377,196 ; total assets and liabili- 
 ties, $23,388,937. 
 
 As compared with the statement of 
 December, 1902, the commercial 
 banks show an increase of capitaliza- 
 tion of $1,300,000; increase of de- 
 posits, $3,444,339. 
 
 The savings banks show an increase 
 of two ; an increase in capitalization of 
 $700,000 ; an increase of deposits of 
 $5,393,918; increase of loans, $4,- 
 344,143. 
 
 The aggregate banking assets (all 
 classes) have increased within the 
 year more than $1 1,000,000. 
 
Records of the clearing house of 
 Los Angeles city banks show the 
 total clearings for the fiscal year 
 ended September 30, last to have been 
 $228,527,582. For the previous year 
 the aggregate clearings were $225,- 
 917',7S0, showing an increase of over 
 27 per cent. 
 
 This is certainly a remarkable 
 showing for a city of less than 150- 
 000 population, so far from the great 
 financial centers of the country. 
 
 Comparisons are said to be odious, A Talc of 
 but a brief comparison of certain j^^ Cities 
 features of growth between Los An- 
 geles and the chief city of the State 
 can do no harm. Here are statistics 
 from the United States census show- 
 ing the percentages of increase of 
 population, manufactures and bank 
 clearings in San Francisco and Los 
 Angeles for the decade 1890 -1900 : 
 
 SAN LOS 
 
 FRANCISCO ANGELES 
 
 Population, 35 103 
 
 Manufactures, 2* 115 
 
 Bank Clearings, 22 300 
 
 ^Decrease. 
 So much for the material resources. j|^g Social 
 and advantages of Los Angeles. As 
 to the social side, equally much might ^'a^ 
 be said. The population of Los An- 
 geles is cultured and cosmopolitan, 
 including representatives of every 
 state in the Union, and almost every 
 country in the world. School houses, 
 churches, clubs and lecture rooms 
 abound. There is every facility for 
 acquiring education in art and music. 
 Those who are "on pleasure bent"" 
 
need never have an idle moment. 
 There is scarcely a day in the year 
 in which life in the open air may not be 
 enjoyed. In the summer the pine- 
 clad mountains attract many lovers 
 of nature, and the numerous beaches 
 are crowded with health and pleasure 
 seekers, some in neat cottages and 
 others in tents. The fishing in the 
 ocean is unsurpassed, and every place 
 of importance has its golf club, with 
 enthusiastic members. Polo and ten- 
 nis are also among the popular out- 
 door sports. Tallyho parties to places 
 of interest are frequent. 
 
 Los Angeles and the neighboring 
 section is rapidly filling up with 
 beautiful homes, built by eastern peo- 
 ple of wealth and culture, most of 
 whom have first come here merely 
 for a brief pleasure trip, then have 
 returned, and finally have been won 
 by the charms of this peerless sec- 
 tion and have become permanent 
 residents. 
 
 II 
 
 BAY AT AVALON, CATALINA ISLAND 
 
 3477-200 
 
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