Let's not forget that Frederick Funston has also made major contributions to Homeland Security. With his example, we would rest assured if we were faced with any mass attack or disaster. As the commander of the Presidio at the time of the 1906 SF Earthquake and Fire, he declared martial law and took over the city, in flagrant violation of the law. He had his troops shoot people as looters who were trying to save their belongings from the fire. He attempted to make firebreaks by setting off dynamite, and was so incompetent that we have him to thank for the fire spreading west of Van Ness Avenue. Of course, other civic leaders were not too much better. The emergency committee which ran the recovery ignored reports of rats and the danger of bubonic plague because they believed that plague was a Chinese disease and they saw no problem in ridding the town of Chinese. Many white citizens died of plague as a result. The story of incompetence, fraud, and discrimination goes on -- a grand tradition. Too bad Mark Twain wasn't dead then. Hilton Obenzinger Stanford University