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12 ROASTS EVERYTHING IN THE ANGEL CITY O.W. Orcntt, Visitor Frdm the East, Full of Grievances WRITES HIS HOME PAPER ALL ABOUT IT Even the Soil Produces Nothing and the Lamp Posts Yield Him No Delight To learn the news about yourself you must go away from home, Is about the way a famous old adage runs. And the latest news about our selves, that Is Los Angeles, appears In the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram of February 20, which, under a black scare head, publishes a letter from O. W. Orcutt of that snowbanked town that reads thusly: "Owned by railroads. "Los Angeles no place for the poor man. "Dreams of wealth are not realized. "O. W. Orcutt writes about con ditions." Wouldn't those headlines stop n chug chug wagon? And to think that we In Los Angeles have been enter taining Orcutt. This Orcutt Is suf fering from mental Indigestion and writes strablsmlcallttes. He sees wrong In everything and everything Is wrong In him, and his fairness and sense of justice is wrapped up In that horrid case of indigestion. ' Orcutt Not Believed That Orcutt is not believed at home is shown by the appended letter and the spirit breathed by the writer also shows that Orcutts are the exception and that only once in a generation does the state of Massachusetts rid herself of the Orcutt variety of hu manlcus freakus. The letter is as follows: WORCESTER, Mass., Feb. 20, 1905. ;.:\v-. 17 Wellington street. Editor Los Angeles Herald, Los An geles, Cal: Dear Sir — The writer takes the lib erty of inclosing herewith for your perusal a clipping from one of our local (Worcester) papers of this date, and, as a citizen of Massachusetts and this fair city, begs to voice an indigna tion that it seems as if every fair minded person, and especially those who have ever visited your state and city, should feel upon reading such an article. Much of that which this Mr. Orcutt writes is true, so far as my personal observation has taken it in, but his article is so full of unreasonable and exaggerated statements that such part of It as might have proven acceptable and Interesting to many of us Is dwarfed into insignificance by a lot of scurrilousness, which if it were not so extremely nonsensical might be amus ing. I, too, have visited your city, as well as other parts of your state, and, as evident in the case of our friend Or cutt, I went there a comparative stranger; but unlike him. who, it would appear, has been "up against it" good and hard, I found your city clean and wholesome. There were some fleas to be sure, but I allowed that, as Mark Twain said in reference to the dog, they were sent by God just to re mind us that we were human. I found your people agreeable and hos pitable; your business men gentleman ly, up-to-date, and comparing quite favorably with those of our own city. Your public servants, especially the . poor policeman and your railroad em- j ployes were civil and attentive to duty. ) I patronized your barbers and had as good service and at the same price as is afforded by my Worcester or Boston artist. I saw your "cheap" Chinese help, though not in as large numbers as our friend Orcutt seems to have seen, and, whatever your local opinion may be, I am free to say that were I a citizen of your state I would employ them every time in preference to much of the poor white help you have, even If the wages were the same (and I pride myself upon being in tensely American). I visited some of the places that Mr. Orcutt claims to have seen, but my vision was neither obscured by my love for Massachusetts nor blinded by prejudice, and how any sane person could visit the places and see the sights which our friend describes as "not much anyway" without having a lasting impression of their beauty made upon his mind' Is beyond my comprehension. I fear that the hopes of our friend Orcutt were raised too high before he Btarted for the land of sunshine and flowers, but aside from a natural dis appointment he may have experienced in not finding a veritable heaven, he seems to be suffering from an aggra vated attack of blues or homesickness. Whatever it may be, I sincerely trust that he will remain with you long enough to become better acquainted with a truly fine country and a fine people, and that, having been more successful In finding the dollars he may have gone for, he will have the manliness to write another letter to hla local paper and frankly acknowl edge that he wag jußt a trifle mistaken. The fact that Massachusetts Is, In my opinion, one of the best. If not the very best, for a live man to live In (and get a living), and that everything considered, Worcester Is one of the finest cities In the land, does not In any way detract from my respect and admiration for the great state of Cali fornia, the city of Los Angelei and otber nearby places Mr. Orcutt men tlons, and those who have contributed so largely to its building up. I write this with the utmost respect for my late fellow-townsman, but In « spirit of fair play, and I trust that you will feel like sparing the space to make It public. Very respectfully, HERBERT LINCOLN ADAMS. In the language that follows Is the way that orcutt paints the glories of sunny southern California: To the Kdltor of The Telegram: I hope your readers may profit by what I have to say In regard to south ern California. The railroads out hern write up all they can about the south ern part of the state, and tell of bl<? Inducements, for men to come to Los Angeleo. Most all, or a greater part of the real estate men have their ofllces In tents; yes, nothing more or less than tents; then they advertise land cheap, $5 down, $1 a week. It Is all a graft, and the eastern man who comes out here for health and wealth gets taken In, too. I uall to mind a trick a barber played on me. I went In to get a shave. He shaved mw, put hot towels on my face, nnd let me go. I handed him out a silver dolla' and he gave me back 15 cents. A chum of mine got the same as I did, but It cost him $1.50. They try and get all the eastern people they can to come here, and get their money; and they do It, too. Even the little newsboys are onto It, too. There are two evening papers that sell for 1 cent, and good papers, too. One will hear the boys sing out, "Two great papers for a nickel." They are learning quickly, I tell you, to make money. The police are very good; they never catch anyone, unless It Is some poor hobo, and they take htm and make him work in what they call the chain gang. This class of people help build the streets of Los Angeles. A man who gets out of funds Is taken in, and has to wear the ball and chain anywhere from thirty to ninety days. Of street lamps, the city has very few, and they are a good ways apart. That makes holdups easy, and there is lots of that sort of thing done. The thieves go so far as to knock a man down nnd rob him within 100 feet of the police station. No Fragrance in Flowers There are fine flowers out here, but in midwinter one may as well try and get fragrance out of a stone. One cannot see any green grass, but can ride for miles, and all one can see is dusty fields and a few green trees and sage bushes. The dust will soil any clothes one can put on, there is so much alkali In the ground. When it rains it seems to me it comes down salt water instead of fresh. When a man buys land he has to buy the water. It Is all irri gated land out here. All the orangs groves and everything is Irrigation. The eastern man who thinks he can come out here and raise vegetables anl get a living makes a big mistake. I will tell why. The greater part of the vegetables are raised and peddled out by John Chinamen. There must be about 4000 of them in that line of busi ness, and no man out here will try to do it, a native, I mean, so why should a man from the east think he can? The chink will sell cheaper every time than the white man. There must be about 8000 to 10,000 chinks in Los An geles, and they are right In the heart of the city. The chink is no fool. Chinese Sell Certificates Here is something that they do out here. Take a Chinaman that has been In this country fifteen or twenty years and wants to go home. He sells his papers to some Chinaman from Mexico, and when the authorities find out about him not having papers they deport him to China. That gives him a free trip home; he is money in and the United States is out a good round sum. The town Is overrun with carpenters and brick masons. They can't work more than half the time, so they tell me, and I feel sure it is true, becaus? they don't build many brick buildings, but nearly all cottages, about 20 by 30, or 30 by 40 feet. We call them shacks back home. The poHtofflce Is a one) story structure and has a tarred roof. Hut I will say there are a few fine buildings in the city. I took a run down to San Pedro. They crack that town up In the east. All there is there is lumber yards ati'i a few saloonH. One to read of it In thf; east would think It was a great place. The land down there is not very good and low down and there are very dirty streets. This place is twenty-five miles from Los Angeles, and it takes the electric cars an hour and a half to run down there. They run every forty-five minutes. They don't make very good time on the electric cars out here. They have very small cars, and the rails are not as far apart as in the eastern states, It being a 3%-foot gauge. Japanese Employment Offices I would like to speak of the Japanese employment offices. There are about twenty-five or thirty of them, and the people In Worcester will see that there are a few little brown men in Los An geles. They will work for nothing, and they and the chinks will ruin thiß country In time. I think the climate Is good, but one can't live on climate alone, und when it rains, there being no aewem, the water ia a foot deep even In the main streets, and it doesn't dry off for four or five days. The mud is like a paste, and once It gets on the clothes It la hard to get It off and it always leaves a stain. They have a new way of building big blockß out here. They make the bane Just a the same width as the top, way down into the ground some twen ty feet or mure, and when there come* LOS ANGELES HERALD: MONDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 37, '1905. » *ood ruin It •washes th« underpin ning nil away. Th*r« Is nothing up to rUt* out thin wsy that 1 can we. Everything come* from eastern »tate«. All the street car* are from Bt. Louis, and so on with all one n<»es. Railroads Own Country The railroads own this country and a man coming In here cheap from the east thinks he can go back for the same as It cost him to get out here, but It will cost anywhere from $10 to $20 more to get home "than It does to get here, as I will show you. 1 came out here for $68.60, ami went up a few days ago to see what I could go home for by the same line and was told for $78.75, and furthermore they, even went so far as to tell me I did not get out here for that money. Sunday Is about the same as any other tiny. limn shops are open and so are billiard and pool rooms, and one can see men any Sunday morning shaking dice for the cigars. Oo Into some of the saloons Sunday night and one will see men playing cards at a table In one end of the room, with a big pile of poker chips piled up. This Is the truth, and the police don't see It, or, -If they do, don't say anything. 1 wan out one Sundny morning and came to a church on one of the many streets In this town. The windows were open and I could hear most all the preacher siild, only for one thing, and that was that there was a pool room on the other side of the street with doors wide open nnd a large crowd In there, mostly young men, i making n. loud noise and playing pool. Carpenters work Sunday. In fact, It Is no day of rest out hero In the city nf angels. No Place for Poor Men A poor man never wants to come here for work; It Is no place, but a man with plenty of money can have a good time. One will hear people say: "Why. just see the blue sky!" I think the sky Is just us blue In Massachusetts as If is anywhere on God's earth. I hope you will print this, as It may save some poor man from losing all he has In this world. A man coming out here with only about $500, nnd nil he has got to do, he thinks, is to get off the train, ask the first nian he meets, and he Is going to get work then and there. Let him try it. He will find he will spend most of the $500 before he gets out of Los Angeles. The drinking water is so bad that one thinks when he first tnstes it, it must bf: a dose of salts. These people cut here call it fine water. It may be to the native, but not for me. All that keeps Los Angeles up and before the world is the eastern men coming out here to pass the winter. The real estate man meets him at the depot, sells him land,' tells him what is in store for him, gets his money, puts up a shack for him, and that adds one more to the lost list who have been roped in. A man to make money here wants to pet Into real estate at once, put up a tent, hang out his shingle, and then the money comes in on every trainload. He gets all the X Z. marks if he look 3 out and gets to the station on time. Visited Pasadena I went over to Pasadena, the crown of the • valley, as the Spanish used to call it.' It is not a very good name for it. Pasa dena is in the foothills and about ten miles from Los Angeles. It costs four bits. 50 cents, for the round trip, two electric lines, short and long. It was an extremely hot day when I went there, and I did not enjoy it much. There was nothing to see anyway. One can "go up into Mt. Lowe from there, but it is not worth the time and money. It costs $2.50 from Los Angeles to Mt. Lowe and return. One sees no pnper money out here, all Is gold and silver. The living out here Is high, and so 1p rent, a four-room house being from $15 to $20 a month. One cannot get any good steak or in fact any good food, without paying for It, I tell you. I dropped in a store the other day an'J asked the man in charge what he asked for a bushel of potatoes. Ho lcoked at me hard and says, "How many pounds are there in a bushel?" San Gabriel was the residence of the early Spanish fathers, this place being selected in 1771 for a mission. It is still standing, and there 1 are still meetings there. One thing that struck me as funny is the way Franciscan fathers did in the early days. There Is a wall of cactus around the church, and they used to catch the poor In dians and keep them there until they would join the church. It must have been hard on the poor Indian. Old Adobe Houses The old adobe houses look queer. Most of the Mexicans live In that kind of house, made of brick dried In the sun, about ten feet wide and twenty five feet long. Three stools, with most of the legs gone, an old table, and once In a while a stove is found. All eat and sleep In the same room. I did. not see anything but Mexicans, and don't know us there Is anything but them out near San Gabriel. They are a dirty pet, take them altogether. Ther^ Is a little Mexico in Los An geles, up in the north part of the town, and joins Chinatown. They are, us one would think, all in one. It looks that way; but on looking again, you van pick out the adobe buildings easily. Six dally newspapers are published In Los Angeles. They cost 6 cents a copy for all morning issues, so you see one has to pay to read out here. I, get your ever welcome paper here every week, and see the home news. The news stands charge a nickel for It; but I would rather give that price for R than not see what U going on in tha world. I would like to pen a few lines about the old cribs up In the north end, on Alameda street. The Bteuin cam run down that street, and a few years ago the cribs were In full blast. It used to Bhock the tourist com-, ing in that 'way. Prostitution was rife. They are trying to get rid of the crlbe, and may in time, but It will be GET INTO THE SWING^ BUYING AT THE BIG CPiliilf'STOttE Our new importations, coining direct to us from China and Japan are here now. The very clever designs and the '• material arc far ahead of what is usually brought to this country. 1 The prices are lower than similar quality commanded in the past. We shall introduce the line this week with a special that is well worth 25c a yard, at 15 Gents Today we show the first of the new rugs. The designs and colorings are brought out in a beauty and strength that makes them the most attractive rugs that have been presented in many seasons. They are all of the standard makes, including Bigelow Axminsters, Bigelow Wiltons, Beauvais Axininsters and French Wiltons. You will be impressed with their great beauty at once. German Inlaid Linoleum just imported, such as we will display ."today is the finest in real value and designs that has yet come to us; and the new English Inlaid Linoleum excels anything ever before- produced by the factories in England. We are offering the new Hnglish Cork Carpet at prices that made it the best and cheapest - covering for floors ever manufactured. • » ■> "•':■■' . " ■ :'■' * In clearing out our' stock for the new Spring importations, shortly to arrive, we have set aside for a special | sale at big price cuts a lot of odd pairs and two and three pair lots of curtains and portieres. ; They are all late arrivals and have sold quickly because of their exquisite pat- terns and quality. The best will certainly go first. Being the : ; last of their lots the prices are cut about one-half. ' ,;- E®is43;S4-5 547* SO BROADWAY 'BSD Our model Colonial Rjw 1 • Hi "BoB o H m\ '' you are *?U? UM '* un " B * cottage built in the store W®l&{P i M" 1&i1 &iP k H I^/f*^^Y*ll J^MC ifk we can supply you wlth a te»«| .iTiallilt-l 1 1 Clltl.luto\tt izT^ztxm furnish your home. • ' i "^SW V '>V 1 Absolutely no charge. JUxf L^fri^elevy, Cal. 1 hard work to do so, as the city is full of that class of people to this day. The police don't drive them out. More Police, More Hold-ups The city put on fifty new officers Thursday, and a chum of mine re marked there will be more holdups now, and, sare enough, In twenty-four hours there were six holdups. Two masked men entered a cafe, drove all the waiters upstairs, and took $250 out of the till. Then they ran out; a big policeman took after them, but a shot from the robbers took all the ardor out of him. lie made up his mind it would be safer going the other way, so made tracks any way but the way the rob bers were going. I have only seen two policemen since I came to Log Angeles, buf of course there are a lot of them. There are lota of lleas out this way, and one wants to get a room In a new house, or he will be eaten up alive. Down at Long lieach it Is fine; but one wants to look out and not go In bathing, for he may lose hl» pocket book. There are lots of light -lingered people in and mound Long litach and Los Angelf.-s, no It pays the newcomer to look out for his money. I Will try and Rive from time to time an accurate account of Southern Cali fornia, and hope If any poor man Is intending coming here that he' will profit by what I say, and should he be pig-headed enough to try his link, he ' will find I have told the truth. A. W. OItCUTT. ; Los Angeles, February 13. Relatives Will Not Claim Body | The "body of Bernard llellaud of Mondovl, Mich., who committed sui cide at the Loralne hotel last Friday night, will be burled in Los Angeles. Yesterday v telegram was received fiom a son of the deceased. The tele gram stated that the relatives wero unable to send any funds for the shipping of the body and asked thut Interment be made In Los Angeles with whatever arrangements could be c greed upon by the county. TO I'HKVKNT TIIK <illll' Laxative Mruniu guliilnu. the world wl(t« Cull I Urlp laniedy, rcmuvva tin, luuw. Cull for the full num., Mild luvk fuf (lguatur* uK E. \V. Utov*. i tie. - FUNERAL OF CHARLES WELLS Last Rites Over Remains of Promi- nent Angeleno The fuiier 1 of Charles M. Wells was held at the home, :;515 South Main street, yesterday afternoon. A large number of hlB former friends and ac quaintances ussembled for the last rites. Dr. J. S. Thomson, pastor of the Independent Church of Chrlßt, officiated. Burial was at Rosedale cemetery. The* following, who were assocluted with the deceased In his public work, acted as pull beaieru: Nlles Pease, O. T. Johnson, J. H. Bptres, , John Goode, Heddeiv and George Steele. A majority of the officers of the chamber of commerce were present. Mr. Wells was twice president of the organization. Many beautiful floral offerings attested to the 'high esteem tn which ho was held. Noticeable among these were designs sent by the chamber and. by the Elks. If you iv.int to co runt, «'. Itn.vdork, A*. nt lllluuli Central H- H, -M 8. Si-rlug. • HOLLENBBCK LODOH, NO. Jl9, ' J\ F. and A. M., will confer the Beo- : ' VaV ond degree Tuesday evening, Feb- /V3r\ ruary 28. J. WILL DICK. 1 • ▼ » Secretary. - 4 WORK BASKET HER CASKET Widow Had Ordered Her Ashes Burled In Sewing Receptacle -I Special to Ths Herald. NEW YORK, Feb. 28.— 1n accordance with a clause in the will of Mrs. Con-_- Btance Miller, an aged and wealthy widow of New Rochelle, , her .' ajuhes were deposited In a work basket sha had used for years and burled In a grave alongside the resting place of her husband, John Bentz Miller.' jj The strange burial took place] In Woodlawn cemetery, the grave being dug In the frozen ground. Mrs. Miller always bud a fear thut she might be burled alive, and In ordei^ to prevent that ahe left a stipulation tn her will that her body be cremated. The undertaker placed the ashen in h, Klaua Jur, which was tied Into ths»" basket.