Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-06-26

q LARGE and fourishing commonwealth nu3
this result most be the work OF Tune aua
Il is vain to expect that the present genera
ton can anticipate 1t. :; tho
Tn nv opinion there is nothing III the
present condition of the county ~ vol
rant any large increase of poPuiatloi'' anu
believe that very many OF those VINO are
now coming, will bitterly regret the step
The professions are crowded 10 excess.
San francisco has at least twice as many
doctors and lawyers as are required, ana
the same is true of every village IN the
state. Clerks are largely In excess OF
the demand. [ suppose there are
to-day many hundreds of men IN San Fran
cisco between the ages Of twenty and for
ty who write we'll, are good accountants
and anxious to work. yet can find noth1ng
to do. A young man of fair abilities ana
qualifications is paid from $50 to you per
month to act as general clerk; more ad-
yanced clerks and statesmen get from S6O to
S12O-these are the general rates OF pay
ment, though in large establishments, con-
fidential business men are often paid very
much more. | think it fair, however, to
say that the young clerk (of twenty re-
ceives, when he can get place. $4O per
month the more experienced, say from
twenty-five to thirty years OF age, ABOUT
500.
For $40 month young man can pay
his board and clothe himself decent:y-no
more On 800 per month, man who has
q wife and one or two children, may live
with the closest economy, but that is ALL
Now. as have before said, there are a
great many young men Of the first class,
and a great many of the second-(men
with families)- who find it impossible to get
employment in San Francisco, and among
the latter, especially, there IS much want
I have been in the country tor many
wears, and have never yet seen the time
when there was not large number OF
these men walking the streets of San Fran
cisco, day after day, and month after
month, in the vain search OF employment.
I do not believe that there is any city In
the world where the proportion OF unem-
ploved clerks is so large, and yet every IN
coming steamer is adding to their numbers.
| Men come to San Francisco with, perhaps,
enough to sustain them month or so, ex-
pecting in that time to find pleasant and
| easy employment. There Is absolutely no
demand for their sarvioe9, ana IN many
cases thew soon come to actual want. lam
sure that there are numbers now on the
streets of San Francisco who do not know
| how they shall live through the coming
week, and every steamer adds to them.
The fact is, there is no demand for any
but the actual laborer, with one exception,
which 7 shall mention, in California, and
there is really no great inducement offered
at present even to the day laborer. There
are quite as many of that class in the coun
| try, Americans, Irish and other Europeans
and Chinese, as are required, and at this
! time, many more SO.
1t is, therefore, in my opinion, very
unvise step for any one to come mere,
trusting to his physical strength or wits to
sustain him after his arrival. The only
one to whom [ think inducements are Of
fered is the man who has some knowledge
of agriculture and raising cattle--who can
reach here with from 5000 to $40, O00-
$4,000 would be better. Such man,
with such capital, might establish himself
on farm and probably do vel, although the
raising of grain has rarely paid until within
the last few years, when wheat has com
manded high price, from reasons which
you understand. Let q good crop be
raised in the Atlantic States this year, and
prices here would recede to their old non
paving figure. The fact is, the effort to
| induce immigration to California originates
with capitalists-the owners of all kinds OF
property. the value of which is enhanced
by the demand which increased population
must cause and then in our country
perhaps in others-there are many who are
ready to join in any song of laudation of
the peculiar advantages they enjoy, and to
proclaim that their particular spot OF earth
| is more highly favored than any other
Newspapers very generally echo the capital
lists, and the papers of California have of
| late been filled with the most glowing &C
counts of its varied advantages, and doing
everything possible to induce immigration.
| These accounts, scattered over the country
at a time when Opposition has greatly re-
duced the cost of passage, and also when,
| from the peculiar condition Of the South
ern States, O general restlessness prevails,
so that numbers are easily induced to go
anywhere, if they can hope to escape some
of the evils from which they suffer, have
sent, and are sending many men OF all
classes to California Isay 'of all classes, y
but of those who come the majority are OF
any class but the one which is best capable
of sustaining itself
The small farmers, the planters of the
South, men who have been accustomed to
live comfortable, easy lives, gather to-
the general wreck and make their way to
San Francisco And what shall they dc
when they get there I assure you that
for the physician, the lawyer or the clerk
there is 10 opening whatever, nor is there
any demand for any artisan, so far as I am
| aware.
The man who is able to work on farm,
| and who reaches the country without en-
cumbrance, may, perhaps, find work-it il
not likely that he would starve, but as farm
wages, at the best, are only about $50 pei
MONTH do not believe that his condition
is much better here than on the Atlantic
border.
But, perhaps you will ask, what Of the
mines answer that the superficial de
posts, where the gold was easily available
have been very generally worked out
Mining is carried on very extensively il
California, and will continue to be fol
years but as the gold now extracted is OBJ
tanned almost entirely from the working O.
quartz, Or from shafts run at great cos
into some ancient deposit of gravel, covered
often to great depth by formations which
contain no gold, the individual miner has
few chances of finding place where he
can work on his own account. He mus
90 to the mines as laborer unless he ha!
| the means To bny a mine or to enable him