The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1875-09-23
How they Live in California.

- letUcr from San francisco to the Irt-
6ane, after remarking upon the California
Bank failure and the prodigal expenditure
of Ralston and other suddenly rich men,
says This leads me to remark that not
even the prolific soil and auspicious climate
of California can maintain on large scale
or for long time the all -pervading extra
vagance in expenditure which here obtains
The whole scale of living is pitched too
high, while that of work is pitched too
low. There are too many diamonds, too
many 5000 gold watches, too many 5000
silk dresses, too many horses for which $500
and upward have been paid. My meaning
may be more clear when | state that in an
extended tour from the Mexican boundary
to the British possessions, covering more
than 5000 miles by land, [ have seen less
than 80 white men in the fields at manual
labor. A few have seen driving reaper
or team, but the agricultural hand labor, in
field and garden, like large share of the
indoor work, is done by the Chinese. At
the same time / have counted not less than
so race-tracks, most of them with specta-
tors stands and appurtenances complete.
Nowhere are the women as expensively
dressed. Theatres thrive even i'll the little
towns. a liquor shop is the first place of
business established in any settlement, and
is generally the best fitted and patronized.
Those of San Francisco are the most showy
and costly in the country. The practice of
drinking seems to have fastened itself on
all classes No one, am told, can be cleo
ted to any popular office who does not prac-
tice the habit of promiscuous tippling. 1t
to the gratitude of his constituents arises
from his procuring the new twenty-cent
coin to be minted, as this enables a gem
tleman to invite his friend to drink at the
minimum rate. l might add that the Ii
quors drank are mostly from the East,
though much of them from abroad, singu-
larly enough, the excellent native wines and
brandies being neglected.
This is an indication of the waste and
prodigality of the country. There are
plenty of evidences on all sides of this same
indifference to thrift. A newspaper sells
at five cents in the streets of this city, but
at ten elsewhere in the State. Boot black
ing is ''bit" Car conductors return their
tickets as change for % cents. 4 hack
from steamer or depot to hotel is $3.50,
and woe be to the intrepid traveller who
ventures to insinuatc that it is too much.
In practice, five and ten-cent pieces are
about as scarce as in New York, while of
bulky halfdollars there is q glut. Collec-
tions are made in stout canvas bags, and
ones pockets are loaded down with the
weighty, jingling metal. 1t is a partial
cure for the desire to return to actual speice
payments to be afflicted with the mi-bar-
barrie round disks of yellow and white me-
tai, known to our old people as "double
eagles and silver dollars. No country can
be thoroughly prosperous in which there is
no small change. We ought to be able to
buy something for penny. What is need
ed (not what is wanted) here is sharper
competition and closer economy in small
things. An infusion of hundred thous-
and thrifty Germans or Scotch would bring
things down to a wholesome level. Time
will bring it about.
The effect of this panic will not be last
ing A mercurial temperament and IN
tense devotion to ''luck" will soon restore
former conditions. The Emperor Napoleon
was wont to direct the savings of his sub
jects into rents by jelously keeping foreign
loans from the Paris Bourse. If one had
his arbitrary power he might with advan-
tage tax gold and silver mining speculation
out of existence and supply in their stead
something more stable. Governments,
State bonds, and the like, arc scarce here,
and besides they pay but five or six per
cent interest on their cost, and these fianan-
ciers want 10 to %. What must happen
to country where money commands one
to two per cent. per month interest? Far
mers, merchants and miners all over are
paying such rates. 1t needs panic oc-
casionally to convince men that they are
out of proper range.