. After earthquake and fire . y the resi-dents and disregarded by builders, but they are now renderedprominent and their memory is revived, because at such placesthe lack of special care in construction has caused buildingsto collapse. There was no regional subsidence in San Fran-cisco, as far as can be ascertained. The fire has obliterated much valuable evidence in regardto structural defects in buildings, but enough survives to tella perfectly plain story. No scientifically designed and hon-estly built structure was injured by the earthquake; manywell designed and dishonestly built structure
. After earthquake and fire . y the resi-dents and disregarded by builders, but they are now renderedprominent and their memory is revived, because at such placesthe lack of special care in construction has caused buildingsto collapse. There was no regional subsidence in San Fran-cisco, as far as can be ascertained. The fire has obliterated much valuable evidence in regardto structural defects in buildings, but enough survives to tella perfectly plain story. No scientifically designed and hon-estly built structure was injured by the earthquake; manywell designed and dishonestly built structures suffered andmany more that were both faulty in design and wretchedlybuilt did collapse. The earthquake is a master inspector; nopolitical pull, no sham masonry, no certificate of an incompe-tent board of works will prevent the ruthless exposure of badwork when Nature sets about to make a crucial test. Andthere was lots of dishonest and foolish construction in SanFrancisco, as there is in every rapidly built city anywhere on. The Ruins of the City Hall. 82 AFTER EARTHQUAKE AND FIRE. this continent or even on some of the others. Of all the archi-tectural frauds in San Francisco, the City Hall stood, as it fell,in a class by itself. During the long term of years occupiedin the building of it, the City Hall has enriched a successionof contractors and it was notorious for bad work. It is asorry sight; the big dome has been stripped of its stone, leav-ing a bird-cage of steel trusses, the roof has fallen and thewalls have crumbled; it looks like the disheveled remains ofa dolls house, shaken to pieces. The building that housedthe Citys administration and should have been an example ofarchitectural skill and artistic taste, has collapsed miserably,because every stone of it was laid in putrid politics; it is adisgraceful ruin, the great dome is stripped of its veneer ofstone as thoroughly as the iniquity of the builders stands plainto every beholder. Let the City Hall stay as it is f
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