CUT JUN 3 1921 WAKE UP AMERICANS! WAKE UP AMERICANS ! Addressed to American Colorr? in San Francisco B>> tKe author Obert F. Simpson 6" TITLES OF CHAPTERS The California Tradition The Berkeley Tradition Washington Square Portsmouth Square The San Francisco Civic Center The Gallomania Propaganda THE CALIFORNIA TRADITION The most valuable assets of civilization in this part of the world, are the romantic charm and sentimental interest which belong to the brave old days of the early West, when the great buffalo herds roamed the vast unmapped terrain of the Western plains, and the signal fires of the Indians burned in the defiles of the Rocky Mountains and the caravans of the Pioneers wandered and lost their way in the Great American Desert, and California was a land of romance, and a fairy tale came true and there really was a bag of gold at the foot of the rainbow. Their capacity for sentiment is one of the most im- portant of those characteristics which distinguish men from dogs. A man who is incapable of sentiment is no better than a dog. The sentimental interest which attaches to the California tradition is derived from four historical elements. The first of these is the great epic story of the advance of the Aryan races in their westward march across the world. In all history there is no greater theme than this. After thousands of years of migrations, after incredible disasters and delays the Aryan races have established their final frontier line on the western shore of the three Americas. Beyond this frontier line are the senti- nel islands of the sea, and Australasia, but today the main frontier line of the Aryan races is the western 444274 shore of the three Americas. That white men, instead of yellow men, should have gained possession of the Pacific Coast of North America, is one of the miracles of history. The conquest of the West, which gained the Pacific Coast for the Great Republic and gave to our country its continental dimensions, which alone suffice to make it a great nation, was one of those achievements, fraught with portent to all mankind, which stand out against the background of history, like the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar, or the Norman conquest of England. This great drama of the Conquest of the West, a drama whose story has never yet been told, a drama full of innumerable acts of heroism, of a "thousand moving accidents by flood and field," was enacted against the background of a colorful Spanish tradition, the tradition "Hispaniarum et Indiarum" ; a tradition whose romantic charm still lingers in the geographical names on the map of California and the Southwest, a tradition illu- minated by such interesting episodes as Ponce de Leon's search for the fabled Fountain of Youth, and by such dramatic incidents, "As when stout Cortez, with eagle eyes, Stared at the Pacific And all his men, turned to each other, In a wild surmise Silent upon a peak in Darien." a tradition, dignified by the heroic devotion of the Mission Fathers, and furthermore enriched by an inter- esting architectural style of its own, reminiscent of the Castle and the Lion, beyond the Spanish Main; a tradi- tion which has bequeathed to California, in the Mis- sions, the greatest archaeological wealth of any State of the Union, the tradition "Hispaniarum et Indiarum.'* After the Spanish explorers, Conquestadores and Missionaries, after Cabrillo, Viscanyo, Portola and Junipero Serra, came the halcyon decades of pastoral California. For seventy years California was Spanish, in laws, customs, and language. Men were born in California, under the flag of Spain, and grew old and gray and died and never saw an American flag, or heard the English language spoken. Then came the American Conquest, came Fremont the Pathfinder, Kit Carson the Scout, hunters, trappers, adventurers, soldiers of fortune, Walker the Filibuster, and a host of lesser worthies. After the American Conquest came the Gold Find- ers. There is no other theme of more universal interest to mankind than the quest for gold. The discovery of gold by James Marshall, in Janu- ary, 1848, was one of the most important events in American history . It opened the door of hope to poor men in every country in Christendom, it hastened the colonization of the West, but far more important than either of these results, it served to stabilize American finance at the most critical period in the history of the United States. Fort Sumpter was fired upon on the twelfth of April, 1 86 1 . During the thirteen years which elapsed between the discovery of gold by Marshall and the firing on Fort Sumpter, the gold mines of California produced gold to the value of more than five hundred millions of dollars. The total amount of minted gold and silver in the United States on January 1st, 1849 was in round numbers 1 13 millions of dollars. By January the first, 1861 this amount had grown to 163 million, an increase of 44%. During the decade 1850-1860 the shipments of gold bullion from San Francisco to New York approximated 38 millions of dollars per annum. This steady stream of gold from California to New York, was the most important of those economic factors which gave to the North its financial strength, which enabled our country to weather the storm of the great Civil War, and to preserve the Union. These are the four historical elements of the Cali- fornia tradition. First, the great epic story of the Aryan migration, consummated on the Pacific shores of the three Amer- icas, a story that lays hold on the very foundations of history, a story whose beginning is lost in the shadows of antiquity. Second, the tradition "Hispaniarum et Indiarum." Third, the story of the American Conquest, Fourth, the story of the Gold Finders. These are the four his- torical elements of that tradition, dear to the hearts of Californians, which gives to California her place among the important communities of the world. And what are Californians doing to honor the Cali- fornia tradition, to preserve the memory of it and to idealize it? Let us see. THE BERKELEY TRADITION Nearly two hundred years ago, a man of genius, one of the foremost intellectuals of his time, wrote these immortal lines. "Westward the course of empire takes its way. The first four acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day, Time's noblest offspring is the last.'* Now in time, the course of empire reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean and on San Francisco Bay facing the Golden Gate was founded a city, and this city was named Berkeley. Here was a fine sentiment. Here was an idea that would have contributed to the idealization of the California tradition. Here was an idea invaluable to the city of Berkeley, to the State University, and to all California. And this idea has been completely suppressed. Will you find Berkeley's immortal words inscribed over the entrance to the Berkeley City Hall? You will not. Is there anything whatever anywhere in or about the City of Berkeley to suggest the origin of the city's name? Nothing whatever. As you approach the city of Washington, D. C., you see in the distance, a great monument, dominating the landscape the Washington monument. As you ap- proach the City of Berkeley, you can see from twenty miles away, a great tower of granite, overlooking the 8 City of Berkeley. This great Berkeley monument was built, entirely without any consideration of the Berke- ley tradition. The great Berkeley landmark, that is to say, the pre- tentious and architecturally commonplace and uninter- esting campanile, which dominates the Berkeley hill- side, will stand for all the future ages to commemorate the profound historical fact that Peder Sather was thrifty. To suppress a fine sentiment and to glorify money. How characteristically middle-class. Near the Sather Campanile stands California Hall, the administration building of the State University, the center of the intel- lectual life of California. Every student of history knows, or ought to know, that the character of a civiliz- ation is established more convincingly by the evidence of its monumental architecture than by any other evidence. If there is any one architectural monument in Cali- fornia, which should possess historical character and sentimental interest, that structure is California Hall. California Hall should be the very apple of the eye of California, as Salisbury Close is the apple of the eye of England, as the Forum Romanum is the very soul of Italy. And what do we find? California Hall is a granite box, entirely without any suggestion of the California tradition. In so far as historical character or sentimental in- terest are suggested, it would "belong** quite as well in Hinkmansville, Pa., or Hackensack, N. J. Californians are creating a magnificent million-dol- lar burst of architectural magnificence overlooking the Golden Gate, in San Francisco, to glorify a French historical tradition. There will be no lack of historical character or senti- mental interest here. This great architectural monument is to be a repro- duction of the Palace of the Legion of Honor in Paris. The French Government sends Sevres porcelains and Gobelin tapestries for the decoration of this magnificent palace, to glorify a French tradition which has no histo- rical or ethnological basis, whatever, in this part of the world. Californians can do nothing to honor their own Cali- fornia tradition, but they can spend a million dollars to glorify a French tradition. WASHINGTON SQUARE Leaving behind us the granite boxes on the Berkeley hillside, which the people of California are expected to admire as an exhibition of genius, let us go to Wash- ington Square in San Francisco. In the center of Washington Square, stands, on a granite pedestal, a statue of whom do you suppose? Benjamin Franklin. There is a Franklin Square in San Francisco, and one would suppose, that, if a statue of Benjamin Franklin were to be set up anywhere, it would be set up in Franklin Square. There will be no care- lessness about the great French monument near the Golden Gate. It is to be one of the finest things of the kind in the world. It is to be embellished with the finest sculptures. A French architect has been sent from France to make sure that French historical traditions are carefully pre- served. France must have the best, but any old junk in the form of a monument, is good enough for the Father of His Country. PORTSMOUTH SQUARE Leaving Washington Square, in San Francisco, let us proceed to Portsmouth Square. Portsmouth Square the center of the life of old San Francisco, in the roaring old "days of old, the days of gold, the days of '49." One hears much nowadays about "Americaniza- tion/* Americanization began in this community at precisely 8 o'clock on the morning of the ninth day of July, in the year eighteen hundred and forty-six, at which hour, Captain Montgomery landed eighty men, from the United States Ship Portsmouth on the beach of San Francisco Bay, and marched them to the Plaza of the Pueblo of Yerba Buena, where he read a procla- mation announcing the annexation of California by the United States and hoisted the American flag on the flag pole in front of the Custom House of Yerba Buena, to the accompaniment of a salute of twenty-one guns from the Portsmouth. This was unquestionably the most important event in the history of this community. On that day this community ceased to be a Mexican pueblo and began its eventful and picturesque career as an American town. The Fourth of July is all-America's day, the Ninth of September belongs to all California, but the ninth of July is San Francisco's own day. Yet the ninth of July comes and goes and the news- papers never mention its historical significance. San 12 Francisco seems to be ashamed of it. She seems to be trying to live it down. The French Colony celebrates the fourteenth of July, the Italian Colony celebrates Columbus day. Each foreign colony has a day to celebrate. San Francisco completely ignores the one day of the year, peculiarly her own. Why should San Francisco belittle and sup- press the one historical tradition that links her to the romantic story of the Conquest of the West? Obviously, the first step in the policy of American- ization, should be to make the most of American tradition. In the center of Portsmouth Square, you will find a beautiful monument of granite and bronze "to remem- ber Robert Louis Stevenson." This monument is sur- mounted by a bronze effigy of a mythical ship "Bona- venture" symbolizing the spirit of adventure which is assumed to have characterized the romances of Steven- son. But we do not have to go to the realms of fancy to find a ship to commemorate in Portsmouth Square. The Square derives its name from a certain particular, and historically important ship, the U. S. S. Portsmouth. Obviously, if any ship is to be commemorated by a monument in the Square it should be the ship for which the square was named. Nor do Californians need to go to the stories of Ste- venson for romance. The History of California is more romantic than anything Stevenson could have imagined. Stevenson made his literary reputation by the story of Treasure Island. California is more than a Treasure Island. California is a Treasure Empire. 13 Robert Louis Stevenson was, all his life, a Scotch- man, an exile from his beloved Scotland, pining for his native land. One of his favorite aphorisms was, * 'Scratch me and you will find a thistle.** His sojourn in this community was transitory and ephemeral. He had nothing whatever to do with public affairs in this country. That Portsmouth Square should be dominated by the personality of this Scotch novelist, to the detriment of San Francisco*s one invaluable historical tradition is surely wrong. Good taste and common sense, to say nothing of patriotism, dictate, that the American flag should have the place of honor in Portsmouth Square, for it was there that the flag was first raised in this community. The Stevenson tradition is one of San Francisco's assets. Stevenson was a genius, and he lived obscurely for a while in San Francisco. It is well that he should be remembered, but there are other places than Portsmouth Square in which to set up his monument. If Golden Gate Park is a good enough place in which to set up statues of President Garfield, and Gen- eral Grant, and Junipero Serra, and Thomas Starr King, it is a good enough place for the Stevenson monument. Or if objections can be made to Golden Gate Park, then the Stevenson monument can be moved back from the center of the Square and placed in an arbor in the rear. In the center of Portsmouth Square should stand a monument to old San Francisco, now forever gone, 14 "the good gray city loved around the world," and this monument should be built four square. And on the front of it, should be a bas-relief in bronze, showing the Pueblo of Yerba Buena as it appeared in 1 846 with the U. S. S. Portsmouth riding at anchor in the foreground, and with this should be a medallion portrait, in bronze, of Captain Montgomery and an inscription, reading, "Captain James B. Montgomery of the U. S. S. Ports- mouth, on the ninth day of July, raised the American flag in the Plaza of the Pueblo of Yerba Buena and pro- claimed the annexation of California by the United States." And on the other three sides of this monu- ment should be similar panels in bronze depicting the discovery of San Francisco Bay by Portola and another showing Fort Gunnybags and perhaps the arrival of Stevenson's regiment (here was a Stevenson who really belonged) with medallion portraits in bronze of Portola and Colonel Stevenson and perhaps William T. Coleman, leader of the Vigilantes, all with suitable in- scriptions. This monument should be surmounted by a flag-pole set in an ornamental bronze support, and every year on the ninth of July the ceremony of reading the proclamation and raising the flag, with a salute of twenty-one guns should be performed, "lest we forget." This annual celebration would give an additional interest to San Francisco. Every great city has an annual celebration pecu- liarly its own. New Orleans has her "Mardi Gras." St. Louis has her parade of the Veiled Prophet, St. Pe- tersburg, during the reign of the Czars, celebrated the 15 annual Blessing of the Neva. London has her Lord Mayor's Parades, and her Guard Mounts, Philadelphia has her New Year's Carnival, etc., etc. The ceremony in Portsmouth Square could be pre- ceded by a pageant, presenting the local color of frontier days, trappers in buckskin clothes, Mission Indians, stage coaches, post-riders, prairie schooners, and va- queros and a Captain Montgomery, wearing the Naval officers' uniform of 1846 high stock, cocked hat and epaulets, to hoist the flag and read the proclamation. On the twelfth of October, every year, Columbus lands at the foot of Van Ness Avenue to commemorate the discovery of the West Indies in 1 492. Are Americans less patriotic than Italians? Here is the way for San Francisco to find herself. Can she do it? San Francisco occupies a unique position in the center of the stage on which was enacted the closing scenes of the great drama of the Conquest of the West. To the north of San Francisco at Sonoma the bear flag was raised on June the fourteenth, 1846, to the south of San Francisco at Monterey, the American flag was hoisted and California annexed by Commodore Sloat on the seventh day of July, 1 846. It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of these events to Cali- fornia and indeed to all the United States. Consider that but one year six months and four- teen days elapsed after the annexation of California by the United States, until the discovery of gold by James Marshall at Sutter's Mill. By so narrow a margin and 16 by so slender a chance was determined the fate of Cali- fornia. The British naval squadron in California waters at that time was more powerful than the American squadron. There is not the slightest doubt that England would have annexed California, had the British govern- ment but known of the vast wealth of the California gold fields. Had Marshall's epoch-making discovery occurred but two years earlier, or had the annexation of California been delayed but six hundred days, Cali- fornia would probably today be a province of the Brit- ish Empire. In the midst of these dramatic events, the frontier post by the Golden Gate, occupied the center of the stage, and this historical interest is San Francisco's most valuable asset. Neither Seattle nor Los Angeles, can boast any such historical interest as that which attaches to San Francisco as the first and most impor- tant stronghold of American nationalism on the Pacific Coast. Moreover, there is yet another advantage which San Francisco would derive from an annual ninth of July celebration in Portsmouth Square. California was an- nexed by the Navy. The Navy would raise the flag and read the procla- mation and fire the salute, in Portsmouth Square, and thus San Francisco's position as the center of Naval activities on the Pacific Coast would be confirmed. The annual celebration in Portsmouth Square would add to the attractiveness of San Francisco. It would stimulate patriotism. It would boost the American 17 propaganda. It would stimulate recruiting for the Navy. It would give to San Francisco a definite historical back- ground. It would bring back from the romantic past, a gleam of that romantic charm and sentimental interest which attaches to "the days of old, the days of gold, the days of forty-nine." Portsmouth Square has a flag. It is kept in a latrine at the rear of the Square. If you search diligently you may find at one corner of the Square, a cheap little sign-board on a pole, on which is told the distance to San Rafael Mission and to which is added, by way of postscript, something about Captain Montgomery and the hoisting of the flag. A latrine for the American flag, a postscript on a cheap tin sign for Captain Montgomery, and a beautiful monument of granite and bronze in the center of the square for a Scotch novelist who never saw Portsmouth Square until thirty-five years after Captain Mont- gomery, by his historic act, had given the Square its name and its historic interest. There will be no cheap little sign-boards about the million dollar monument to French tradition, which is being built beside the Golden Gate. The ground for this magnificent French monument, was broken with a golden shovel, if you please. The ceremonies of the occasion, were on a scale, suggestive of the inauguration of a President of the United States. Three clergymen were needed to invoke the Divine blessing. It was all very French. A chorus of enthu- siastic Frenchmen sang the "Marseillaise." They sang 16 "Ye sons of France! Awake to Glory!" How about the sons of America? Is it not about time for them to wake up? A French flag, made of California silk, was reverently deposited in a bronze box under the corner- stone, and then a man named French, deposited a wreath on top of the corner-stone. The French Consul put in a good boost for France. The occasion was further graced by the presence of Frenchmen wearing the ribbon of the Legion of Honor of France. Vive la France ! The Palace will stand on the top of the hill, overlook- ing the Golden Gate, so that it will be the first thing seen by travelers approaching from the sea and the last thing seen by those departing. The Golden Gate dominated by a French tradition! It only remains to re-name the Golden Gate and call it "La Porte d'Or." From the newspapers, we get the following gem of American patriotism. "Any Frenchman who arrives in San Fran- cisco after next year, will wonder, as he visits Lincoln Park, whether he is really in his beloved Paris, or whether one of the most beautiful of the public buildings of that wonderful city has been removed bodily to the Golden Gate.*' The cost of this beautiful French monument will approximate that of the California State Palace in the Civic Center. In order that American traditions may be ade- quately commemorated in Lincoln Park, the Queen of 19 Roumania will provide a Roumanian Room. Now let the Akoond of Swat provide a Swatarian Room and then the park that was named for Abraham Lincoln will be complete. As for that vulgar Lincoln person, who never saw a golden shovel in all his life, and who was entirely with- out distinguished ancestry among the "haute noblesse" of France, let him be remembered somewhere else. We need Lincoln Park for France. When President Lincoln was struggling to save this nation, one of his most formidable antagonists was Na- poleon the Third, Emperor of France, and today San Francisco builds a monument to Bonaparteism, beside the Golden Gate and in Lincoln Park. Can you beat it? Buyers will come to San Francisco from the Orient and from South America, and the first exhibit that San Francisco will show them will be the glorification of French culture and French history. The American Army had to pay rent for the trenches which it occupied in France, and San Francisco gives to France, rent-free and forever, the use of the Golden Gate, for the exhibition of French art and culture. Meanwhile, an American flag, not made of silk, lies in the latrine in Portsmouth Square, and Captain Mont- gomery's cheap and shabby little sign-board rattles in the breeze. THE SAN FRANCISCO CIVIC CENTER The San Francisco Civic Center, presents one of those rare architectural opportunities, such as occur but once in the lifetime of any community. The character of a civilization is established more convincingly by the evidence of its monumental archi- tecture than by any other evidence. This is true, not only in our own time, but it has been true at every pe- riod of the world's history from the time of the remotest antiquity. If you wish to understand those civilizations which have preceded our own, you have only to study the monumental architecture which those civilizations have produced. The Pyramids of Egypt were built to idealize the Pharaohs, or God-kings of Egypt, in persuance of the policy of organizing a strongly centralized government, which the statesmen of Egypt believed to be necessary to protect the nation from pestilence and famine and civil war within, and from powerful enemies outside. In pursuance of this policy they built the Pyramids and the great temples and they decorated these structures with sculpture, which idealized the folk-lore and his- torical traditions which were dear to the hearts of the people. So well was this done that you have only to study the architectural monuments in the Valley of the Nile and straightway the entire structure of Egyptian society, political, economic, social and religious stands revealed before you. 21 On the Acropolis at Athens, stand those monu- ments, which, even in their decay, are the admiration of mankind. The unmistakable nobility of tone of the ancient Greek architecture testifies to the quality of the civili- zation which produced it. The Greek statesmen under- took to establish certain ideals, political, social and re- ligious in the minds of the people and they employed, as statesmen of every age and every clime, have done, the aid of monumental architecture to lend the utmost dignity and impressiveness to those ideals. They decorated their temples with sculptures which idealized the folk-lore and historical traditions which were dear to the hearts of the people. On the facade of the Parthenon, Theseus battles with the Centaurs, Athena disputes with Poseidon, for possession of the land of Athens and the Gods inter- vene to help the Greek heroes in their combats with the Amazons and the Persians. In the Forum Romanum, stand those architectural monuments, which testify to the wealth, the power and the political genius of Imperial Rome. The characteristic monuments of Imperial Rome are the triumphal arches, built to lend the utmost dignity to military parades, which testify to the super-impor- tance of militarism in the Roman scheme of govern- ment. These monuments are decorated with sculptures which tell the story of Rome's military triumphs. 22 On the arch of Titus, the centurions carry the seven- branched candelabrum from the temple of Jerusalem. The Arch of Cons tan tine narrates in sculpture, the story of his victory over Maxentius. The Arch of Septimius Severus commemorates his victories over the Parthians. The Column of Trajan is a sculptural narrative of his victorious campaigns against the Dacians. The Gothic Cathedrals of Northern Europe testify, in enduring stone, to the mysticism, the spirituality, the chivalry of the age that produced them. Not only is it true that the character of a civilization is established more convincingly by the evidence of its monumental architecture, than by any other evidence, but it is also true that national and racial temperaments find their most convincing expression in architecture. For example, the characteristic architecture of Italy is the architecture of arcades and colonnades, which ex- press the idea of dignity, inherited from the Roman tra- dition, the colonnade being the most dignified element of architectural design. The characteristic architecture of Spain, is the archi- tecture of balconies, which express the idea of domestic seclusion, inherited from the Moors. The characteristic architecture of France is the architecture of picturesque roofs of dormers and turrets and towers, which ex- press the gaiety of the French temperament. The char- acteristic architecture of Germany and the Netherlands is the architecture of gables, which express the practical, matter-of-fact Teutonic temperament, the gable being 23 the most practical solution of a facade in a country where the snow-fall necessitates steep roofs. The char- acteristic architecture of America is the high office building which expresses the economic and industrial flare of a middle-class civilization. The dome of the Capitol at Washington, symbolizes the idea of national unity. You will find nothing else in the literature, the music or the art of America, which expresses that idea as well as it is expressed by that architectural monument. The above brief, cursory, and necessarily superficial summary of some of the salient facts of archaeology will help us to realize the importance of the monumental architecture of the San Francisco Civic Center as an ex- ponent of the civilization which produced it. The well-built, earthquake-proof and fire-proof pal- aces of the San Francisco Civic Center will stand for thousands of years. A thousand years from now, as well as today, the monumental architecture of the San Francisco Civic Center will give the final appraisement of the civilization of our times, in this part of the world. A thousand years from now, as well as today, the monu- mental architecture of the San Francisco Civic Center will testify that the civilization of our times in this part of the world is a second-rate, middle-class civilization, incapable of idealizing its own traditions, or of finding its own historical and geographical locus, and com- pletely dominated by the unmanly and indecent cult of foreignism. 24 The San Francisco Civic Center is a six-million dol- lar exhibit of European archaeology, with California left out. There is nothing about the monumental palaces of the San Francisco Civic Center to suggest that they are located, either on the North American Continent or in the State of California. The San Francisco City Hall is a beautiful French Palais de Justice in the style of Louis the Sixteenth of France, who had nothing whatever to do with San Fran- cisco or with California, and this beautiful French Palais de Justice is richly decorated, inside and out, with sculp- ture, more or less suggestive of French tradition, and entirely without any suggestion of the California tra- dition. San Francisco first appeared on the map as an outfitting post for the mines. Now go to the French Hotel de Ville de San Fran- cisco, and study the sculpture with which the building is so richly decorated, and see if you can find the miner's pan and rocker, or the Indian's war-bonnet and toma- hawk, or the prairie-schooner and post-rider of the Plains, or the ships of the Argonauts, or the frontier- man's cap and rifle, or the old semaphore that stood on Telegraph Hill, to commemorate steamer day, one of the local institutions of old San Francisco, or the sea- lions, or figures symbolic of the Trade Winds, that bring commerce to San Francisco, to suggest that San Fran- cisco is a seaport, or anything to commemorate Portola, who discovered San Francisco Bay, or any suggestion of the Great Fire. London has her Fire Monument. 25 There is not so much as a stroke of the sculptor's chisel on the facade of the San Francisco City Hall to com- memorate the Great Fire. The Flora and Fauna of California are completely ignored in the decorative ornament on the San Fran- cisco Hotel de Ville. The building is profusely decorated with lion's heads, the French sculptor having apparently never heard of the California bear. These things are not taught in the Ecole de Beaux Artes of France, and the French architect, a member of the French Academy, and therefore, doubtless, an artist of extraordinary tal- ents, and the French draughtsmen and French sculptors, who helped him to produce the building, never thought of them. The fact that the San Francisco Hotel de Ville is, otherwise, one of the most successful, possibly the most successful, architectural project of modern times, is outside of the question. The complete suppression of patriotism and senti- mental interest in the monumental architecture of the San Francisco Civic Center is an outrage upon the natu- ral rights of the boys and the girls who are growing up in this community. The City Hall of Philadelphia is surmounted by an effigy of William Penn, forty feet high, to commemorate an historical tradition. The New City Hall of New York City is decorated with sculptures which tell the story of Manhattan Island. The City Hall of St. Louis is designed in a French 26 architectural style, to commemorate a French historical tradition, appropriate to that locality. The City Hall of Chicago is a typical American office building of a monumental type. It has remained for San Francisco to build a three- million dollar French Hotel de Ville, which completely ignores the California tradition, and which might as well be located in Bordeaux or Marseilles, or any other French city, insofar as historical character or sentimen- tal interest are expressed. Is it because there is a German House on Polk Street within sight of the Civic Center, that we have a French Hotel de Ville on Polk Street? Let them fight their battles somewhere else. The dirty, contemptible, cat-and-dog fight between Germany and France must be kept out of this country. Having given us a French Hotel de Ville, the au- thorities are now building for a California State Build- ing in the Civic Center, an Italian "Palazzo" of the pe- riod of the early sixteenth century, a period, of which it may be remarked, in passing, that its political ideals are reflected in the ' Prince" of Machiavelli. At that period, in the long and eventful history of Italy, when the great ducal houses of Florence and Rome and their retainers, were fighting for supremacy in the streets of those cities, they were compelled to build their palaces like fortresses to withstand a siege. Because of this interesting historical fact, the Cali- fornia State Building in the San Francisco Civic Center is being built to resemble a fortress. 27 Unquestionably the California State Palace belongs to that type of structure which is known to architects and archaeologists, the world over, as the Italian semi- fortress palace. Why not have built a California State Building that would have suggested California? The answer is sim- ple enough. The cult of foreignism forbids it. Cali- fornians are not allowed to produce any Californian ar- chitecture. If they build a San Francisco City Hall it must commemorate the Bourbon Kings of France. If they build a California State Palace, it must commemo- rate the peculiar political conditions of cinque-cento Italy. The German colony, the French colony, and the Italian colony are represented by the monumental archi- tecture at the San Francisco Civic Center. The Ameri- can Colony is not represented. On the facade of the old Pioneer Hall, in Fourth Street, destroyed by the fire, there was a panel in bas- relief, representing the cavalry charge at the battle of San Pasquale. You will not find anything like this on the facade of the California State Palace in the San Francisco Civic Center. It might interfere with the pure Italian renaissance character of the facade. No sug- gestion of the California tradition can be permitted. Now, there is some excuse for an Italian architectu- ral display in the San Francisco Civic Center. Italian thrift and industry have contributed powerfully to the building up of California. After the great fire, the Italian quarter in San Francisco was the first to be re- 28 built. Roman architecture, reflecting the pride and dig- nity of **Senatus Populusque Romanus" would have been a fine thing for the Civic Center. The old City Hall, with its great Roman Corinthian Order, had a certain dignity and a certain charm, in spite of inferior materials and noticeable errors of design. But the California State Palace, has no historical character, other than what it borrows from the worst political period in Italian history. Instead of commemo- rating "Senatus Populusque Romanus, " it commemo- rates the age of the Borgias and of Machiavelli. The architects of the San Francisco Civic Center, working with their eyes fixed on Europe, so to speak, have made it an exhibit of European archaeology with California left out. To them, apparently, a patriotic conception of American architecture is incomprehensible. For them there is no California tradition. For them Fre- mont the Pathfinder found no paths. For them Kit Car- son the scout, blazed no trails. For them Junipero Serra founded no missions. For them no poet sang, "Above the pines the moon was slowly drifting The river sang below The dim Sierras far beyond uplifting Their minarets of snow." For them the tradition "Hispaniarum et Indiarum" does not exist. As for the politicians who govern San Francisco, it would be useless to try to explain to them, that monu- mental architecture should possess historical character. 29 You might as well try to convince an Esquimau of the importance of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. There are statues over the entrances to the San Fran- cisco Library, but they suggest nothing American, noth- ing Californian. In Golden Gate Park you will find bronze statues of Goethe and Schiller, of Robert Burns, and of Cervantes. Where is the statue of the author of "The Psalm of Life," and "Hiawatha," and "Evange- line?" There is none. Where is there a statue of our own Jack London or our own Frank Norris ? There is a monument to Longfellow in Westminster Abbey, that is to say, the English are more American than San Francisco. THE GALLOMANIA PROPAGANDA IN CALIFORNIA The Great War cost this country seventy-five thou- sand precious lives, a national debt of some twenty-six billions and a Gallomania Propaganda. The proponents of the Gallomania Propaganda in California, base their hopes upon the unreasonable ar- gument that California should be a cultural protege of France, because of the fact that one hundred and forty- odd years ago, King Louis the Sixteenth of France and his ministers, found the thirteen American Colonies to be the most convenient battle-field on which to fight England. It is one of the indisputable facts of history, that the French King, in helping the American revolution, was concerned only with the interests of France. He con- sidered it to be to his advantage to disrupt the British Empire. The idea that the American Republic is a creation of King Louis the Sixteenth of France is preposterous. Since when have kings been the champions of republics ? The object which the French Government had in view was to secure the Mississippi Valley for France. The Comte de Vergennes considered that the Ameri- can colonies would be less of a menace to France under a flag of their own, than they would be under the flag of England. Vergennes planned to confine the United States to the territory east of the Alleghany mountains. 31 One of the objects which the French King and his ministers had in view, when they sent a French army under Lafayette to the aid of Washington, was to re- cover Canada for France. These facts, which any one can find in the history books, reflect no discredit on France or Frenchmen. The French Government simply played the game for France and it happened that they played into the hands of the Americans. The attitude of mind of the Fathers of the Republic toward France is shown by the fact that Thomas Jeffer- son, when President, seriously proposed an alliance with England against France, and Jefferson had lived in France, was well conversant with the French language and literature and was personally a Gallophile in sympathies. To come down to our own times and our own Cali- fornia, the absurdity of this Gallomania Propaganda in California will be evident to anyone who takes the trou- ble to remember that there is not a single French name on the map of California and that France has contribu- ted less to the colonization and development of Cali- fornia than any other of the great European nations. Comparatively small countries, like Ireland and Switzer- land and Portugal, have each contributed a greater num- ber of immigrants to the colonization of California than have come to this country from France. Even Russia has a better claim than France to an historical tradition in California, inasmuch as Russia established a colony 32 in California, as far back as 1813, two years before Waterloo, which hoisted the Russian flag at Fort Ross, near the mouth of the Russian River. Moreover, not only is there no historical or ethnological basis for a Gallomania Propaganda in California, but we have also to consider that the French flag has never appeared in this part of the world except as a menace to American interests and American policy. The French tried to conquer Mexico, in defiance of the Monroe doctrine, and made a failure of it. Bazaine's army was compelled to retreat from Mex- ico under threat of war from this country. Having failed in Mexico, the French tried to establish them- selves at Panama and failed again. The best brains of the Ecole Polytechnique of France, went to Panama and made the most spectacular failure in the history of scientific enterprise. Having failed in Mexico and at Panama French statecraft and French diplomacy now turn their atten- tion to California. The Gallomania Propaganda in California was in- augurated by the presentation of a gold medal to the City of San Francisco, by France, through the French Ambassador to the United States. This presentation of a medal to San Francisco by France, was an act of patronage on the part of France. Medals are handed down from above, not up from below. In rewarding San Francisco with a medal, France 33 took the position of sitting in judgment upon the merits and demerits of San Francisco, the pose of a superior. What right have the French to patronize San Fran- cisco, a city in which they are scarcely known? The French have never played an especially pre-eminent part in the affairs of San Francisco. San Francisco was not rebuilt after the fire with French money. French names are few and far between on the assessment roll of San Francisco. France has failed in her important enterprises in this part of the world, at Panama and in Mexico. San Francisco is a success. Since when have the successful been patronized by those who fail? The proposition that Americans in California must relinquish their birth-right to their own historical and geographical standpoint, and submit themselves to the domination of a Gallomania Propaganda, which has no historical or ethnological basis, whatever, in this part of the world and which aims at making California a cultu- ral protege of France, along with Tahiti and Madagascar and all the other French colonies, is a personal insult to every American worthy of the name. There is room for only one national propaganda in California, and that is the American Propaganda. No other national propaganda must be allowed to take root in the soil of California. California is not French, never has been French and must not be put in the degrading position of doing homage to France. Japanese state-craft plans to establish, in California, an economic base for Japan. 34 French state-craft plans to make California a cultural hinterland of France. It is the plain duty of every American in California to see to it that they both fail. A Legion of Honor, based upon the traditions of a foreign country and patronized by a foreign govern- ment, is a Legion of Dishonor for Americans. As for those native-hyphenates who are Americans in San Francisco and French in Paris let them expect no admi- ration from Americans. If they want to be French, let them go to France and stay there. Native hyphenatism is unwholesome and should be suppressed. What is to become of America, if she can not count upon the undivided loyalty of her own children? Native hyphenatism is the "little rift within the lute, that yet will make the music mute." The place to build magnificent million-dollar monu- ments to glorify French history is in the French colonies, not in California. American architects should be producing American architecture instead of reproducing French architecture. The example is bad. If Franco- Americans, born in California, build a French palace to glorify France, what is to prevent all kinds of native-hyphenates from build- ing more of these things to glorify other nations? Do we want California to degenerate into a group of for- eign colonies, dominated by foreign ideals and foreign traditions, foreign sympathies and more or less by for- eign interests and policies ? 35 When the Pioneers were fighting their way through the Indians to get to California in the old days, they were not doing it to establish a new cultural hinterland for France in California. Nobody can find fault with the idea of honoring heroes, but it should be worked out on an American basis, and without the taint of foreignism. San Francisco needs schools wherewith to advance the American Propaganda and lacks the money where- with to build them, but she can spend a million dollars for a palace to advance the Gallomania Propaganda. San Francisco has raised enormous sums of money for foreign charities and foreign propagandas, and in the meanwhile, down in Portsmouth Square, Captain Mont- gomery's cheap and shabby little signboard rattles in the breeze. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN^ THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PF- WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON - DAY AND TO $1.OO ON ~ OVERDUE. .-- - : YB 20409 44 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY