Butte record., 1856-01-19

little or no revenue coming into the coff-
ers of the State, our bonds and warrants
on the treasury greatly deprecated in
value. and it was not until much lairr
period that they commanded over sirtg
cents on the dollar. Thus was the State
compelled for every service performed.
for salaries of officers, for work done or
materials furnished, 10 add nearly one
hundred per cent. 10 the price for which
the same could have ben had if the
treasury had rot been entirely depleted,
or rather, empty. from the beginning
The Constitution, too, provided for a
Government on TOO grand and expensive
IL scale to admit of an economical adj
minisiration of its affairs Many Offices
were thus create d, unnecessary at the
lime, and causing vast outlay Of money
in their organization and SUPPORT an
nual instead of biennial SESSIONS of the
Legislature were authorized; in word
so cumbrous and expensive was the ma
chinery Of Government thus provid d
Tor. that many and important alteration
in that instrument have already been
suggested in view of gre~trr economy
in future, and stil others are demanded
by the condition Of The treasury and the
requirements ct the p oile.
At th.'t day, too, there was markei
difference in the condition of the coun
try from that presented now. The frs
immigrant n, and lh-t Of several sue
ceeding years, CAM hith"r not as set
Il re, but as adventusers, Sc king TO bot
ter their condition from the rich go
fields of California, and then speedily
return to their homes on the her
coast. Few, if anv, brought with them
heir families, their farming implements,
or their household gods; bat equipped
with those modern and novel implements
Of progress, the pick and rocker, wan
dersd along the g"lden PAGERS Of eur
rivers, or delved in the rugged noun
tain side, in search Of the glittering ore,
Which was to take back light. and CON-
fort, aud y, to hear h-sides far away
where expectant fathers, mothers, wives
md children, awaited the coming of the
wanderer
The consequence of this WIS state
of society nuparallel d in the his ory OF
St.tes, and unsettled in its character.
Each one roaming at large in quest OF
new discoveries, taxes could neither bs
lsvi' nor collected, ant taxable prnp-
erty of cou Sc was rare.
Our fertile valleys and boundess
plains, now yielding their rich products
TO the husbandman, aud contributing so
largely to the support of thu State, were
then deso!ate-the sod unturn, by the
pl"ughshtre, unadorned by the farm
house. The revenue collected for tn
first three or four years was for this
reason far inadequate to meet the re-
p"ated and necessary DIM .nds on the
Treasury.
Each year, hoping to abolish the scrip
system and assume cash Paym nts, the
floating indebtedness of the State was
funded, and bonds bearing an interest of
seven per cent. per annum issued in its
stead,-renderi"g it necessary to impose
additional taxation upon the people in
order to meet accruing interest and pro-
vide for the gradual redemption Of the
bonds thus issued
The foregoing, however, are not the
only facts connected with the debt of
the State worthy of consid.' alton. in es-
timating the many and extraordinary
causes which have rendered necessary
the expendi'u ure of large sums over and
above the revenue received into the
Treasury.
OF the existing State debt, about one
million two hundred thousand dollars
were expended in providing for the me-
cessities of the sick, destitute and insane;
one hundred and twenty thousand for
Census of 1852, taken in accordance
with constitutional requirement three
hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the
erection Of Prison and wall fol the
safe keeping of convict~: one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars for the Insane
Asylum Building and furniture, thirty
thousand for furniture for the Capitol
last year, and twenty-thrre thousand
seven hundred and eighty-nne dollars
and eighty-two cents in 1851 Sheriffs,
FIR guarding prisoners, in 1851, forty
six thousand and ihirty-"ne dollars
ten thousand for rent of State offices for
the year 1855; not less than sixty thou
sand for previous Years; = and other
equally important expenditures not me-
cessary here to specifically enumerate,
amounting in the aggregate to sum
but little less than the entire indebted
ness of the State at the pr sent time.
Notwithstanding the difficulties which
surrounded and seriously embarrassed
the State Government in its incipiency
and VIII CT 10 some extent still exist, the
credit Of California, abroad and at home
has been well sustained by the prompt
ness with which outstanding bonds have
been redeemed, at maturity, in every
instance, and the punctuality which has
always characterized the payment of in-
tcrest when due.
A comparison of the financial condi.
ton of California with that of other
Weatern States, can be favorably insti
tuted--the States of Missouri, Iowa and
Wisconsin alone, having a smaller a.
mount of indebtedness than Californin
the others much laroer The State debt