The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-07-02
Deiusory ideas OF csiifornia.l

Deiusory Aues>s okssNHihAorniosi Oh
Bishop Atkinson, Che Episcopal
Bishop in North Carolina, has fur
nished the Wilmington IN. o. Jour
nal letter from resident Of high
position in California, whose charac-
ter the Bishop endorses, and whose
business of AN assayer proves the
confidence reposed in him by the
merchants and miners of California.
The subject of the letter is emigra-
tion, especially as it concerns South.
ern men, to that State. The writer
considers it a great error to suppose
that California presents any unusual
advantages either for capital or labor.
Whilst the general condition of the
country is prosperous, and it is eyi-
dent that it will be the future seat Of
q large and fourishing common
wealth, this result must be the work
of time. The professions there are
crowded to excess; clerks are largely
in excess of the demand; many hun
dreds of good accountants in San
Francisco can find nothing to do.
The opinion is expressed that there
is no city in the worldwhere the pro-
portion of unemployed clerks is so
large, and yet every incoming
steamer is adding to their numbers.
There is no demand for any but the
actual laborer and the man who is
able to work on the farm, though it
is doubted whether tho condition
even of these last is much better
than on the Atlantic border. A man
who has some knowledge of agricul.
ture and rais;cSS cattle, end who oan
reach California with from S. 900 to
Sl5, 1000, might establish himself on
q farm and probably do we'll, although
the raising of grain has rarely paid
until within the last few years, and
if good crop should be raised in
the Atlantic States this year, prices
would be likely to recede to their old
non-paying figure. Much of the
effort to induce immigration to Cali
fornia is believed to originate with
capitalists, the value of whose pro.
perty is enhanced by the demand
which increased population must give.
In regard to the mines, it is stated
that the superficial deposits, where
the gold was easily available, have
been very generally worked out, and
while mining is very extensively
carried on, yet, as the gold now ex-
tracted is obtained almost entirely
from the working of quartz, or from
shafts run at great cost into some
ancient deposist of gravel, covered
often to great depth by formations
which contain no gold, the indi-
vldual miner has few chances of find
ing a place where he can work on his
own account. He mustgo to the mines
as q laborer-unless he has the
means to buy a mine, or to enable
MN to meet the expense of looking
for and opening one-and he will
lind that there, as elsewhere, there
are quite enough men in the coun.
try for the work which offers. In
regard to arabic land lying unculti.
waited, the most of it is owned, and
cannot be bought for less than five
dollars an acre, after which there
will be houses, fences, barns, &C., to
build, farming utensils and stock to
buy. and year to wait before any
return comes in. Whilst it is q land
highly favored with great and varied
resources, having capacities to sustain
many times its present population
OF 4OO, 600. it must expand gradually,
and whoever goes there without re-
sources can hardly fail to come to
want. There are Southern men
there who would gladly return if
they could, and those at home are
a a1vised to remain where they are,
as preferable to emigration.
NEwBERRY G. H., June 27.