The Placer herald., 1872-01-06
SACRAMENTO CORRESPONDENCE.
SACRAMENTO. Jan. Cd. 1879.

DEAR HERALD:-If ever the spirit of enuii and
unrest had possession Of mortal, this demon has
held me in thralldom during the "holidays"
Hollow days, truly; dreary and dark, with wind,
rain, fog mud and cold separated from my fam
lily, and nothing to do, it has been wcarisome
time to me; so much so that when we saw per-
son smile Ill the street knew that he was
nothing but n base hypocrte and that all his
apparent Joyousness was put on for the occasion
and that i'll his heart he was swearing at the chill
ling scene around him. The result is that We
are down
on HOLIDAYS.
Just while in this gloomy mood we met good,
honest Senator, who coaca,Ted don't misunder-
stand me- we did not drink. This gent, Mr..
O'Connor of Nevada, says he will introduce n
bill to amend the Constitution so as to have the
| Legislature to meet after the "holidays," and
| thus accomplish saving of about seventeen
! hundred dollars a day to the State, or the aggre-
| gate of over twenty thousand dollars, and allow
us, that is, the Legislators and we camp followers.
to stay at home with our families instead of rid
ing round the country on the hotel railroads with
| a free pass in our pockets The cry will come
up, oh! this is meanness, what is twenty thous-
and dollars to rich State? 1t is true economy,
not to hint that it would have a purifying effect
| by keeping our legislators from too much famili-
arty with these monopolsts. EVIL oommuni-
cations corrupt good Manners" and these hol-
| days generally spent in San Francisco where
the axes and small and large edge tools are to be
ground, and where many poor devil is tram
meled during the rest of the session.
| FREE PASSES.
While in a scolding mood we will give notice
that Senator has informed us that he intends
| to offer bill making it criminal for member OF
the Legislature to receive free pass for his ben
! eft.
CHRISTMAS
Was celebrated here in the usual manner by
| giving gifts, and many little heart was made
| glad, and many little eye made bright by the
innocent fiction of old Santa Claus filling the
empty stocking with the coveted toys. 1t is a
night to celebrate by giving to the young and
! the poor, and the anniversary OF the day that
the Father of all gave to his children a Savior
| whose example has been sanctifyng to the world
| ever since.
| NEW YEARS
Is another day, an oasis in the desert of thirteen
that all people ought to commemorate. 1t is a
| day for retrospection and examination and MAX
ing VOWS, which is healthfu exercise TO the
soul. The mere making of these resolutions
| does good, but alas, they are seldom kept. They
that is the VOWS, generally lie along the pathway
of the succeeding year like the broken fragments
of some old ruin, or rather like the broken frag-
mcnts of crockery where the team of some ped
| der in that article has away and scattered
| the contents on the roadside Fragments by
the law of simple suggestion, brings me to speak
| of what tho
STORM KING
VIII probably accomplish for the railroads. Not
the amount of damage done, but the amount Of
benefit likely TO accrue from it to them in the
way Of legislation. 1t is already said in certain
circles 'Well after such losses the Legislature
| will not think of reducing freights and fares.
''Straws show the way the wind blows" This
| will be the dodge. Yet have confidence IN
the integrity of our Legislature. The people
ought to food them with petitions if they do not
| act without
NO FENCE LAW.
| There has been much discussion on this ques-
ton and we do not know how you people of the
mountains feel about it. Bat there grave
| reasons against the passage of this law, that we
! have not seen urged anywhere. Farming is fast
becoming monopoly in this State, and this is
another step towards facilitating the progress Of
the evil Upon this subject cut slip from
the Oakland Transcript as follows:
cone man in California owns $50, 600 acres Of
| land and there are twelve men who own over
| 27S6, 900, or an average OF more than ll4OOO
| acres each. One company OF ten men have a
fence of over one hundred and sixty miles around
single tract"
| The above is ominous Of the future. If fenc-
ing is done away with, these large land grabbers
and farmers will introduce steam plows cultivate
their thousands of acres, and drive out all the
small farmers, because they can cultivate for less
money. They are now doing it, Then they
will get clear of all taxes nearly ALL for fences
are taxable property and this makes us revenue
and prevents them monopolizing so much. The
| small farmers are the salt of the land-they are
the virtuous, intelligent friends of our free in
sttutions-far more Incompatible than the
masses in our densely populated cities. We do
not like to legislation for capital. There may
| be portions of the valley where 1t might be pol
| cy in the government, but fail to see even
that.
AN ANECDoTE
By Mark Twain While in Damascus, speaking
of land boundaries, he says they have nothing
| but heaps Of stones to mark their possessions,
and in his quaint way remarks that an lntelli-
gent American could IN one night accumulate II
| large tract of land in that country" This is an
illustration of the practical working OF the mo
| fence law"
THE APPoRTIONMENT.
1t is made the duty to fix the apportionment
at this session, but there will be much of
souabble about the matter that it may lie over to
another session. The mountain counties are
going down and losing representation and every
| thing centering in our cities. San Francisco
will have full one-fourth Of our next Legislature
under fair apportionment.
| DIsTRIcTING SAN FRANCISCO.
There is no way to prevent An undue influence
in this city but by dividing it up into districts
1t is proposed and will be contended for, to make