Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-10-02
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.

LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.
DEAR CHRONICLE: In my last, |
tried to give you and your readers a
pen picture of Los Angeles City and
4 its surrounding country, dwelling al
most exclusively on the beauty of its
scenery and the genial healthiulness of
its climate. l shall now endeavor to
give you more practical account Of
it as place of residence and business.
l will preface my remarks by saying I
am very much disappointed in many
things. " ISL
As regards Los Angeles City, 1
think it poor place for any one to
come to, unless be has good deal of
capital (this class of people can do we'll
anywhere, you know, because all of
the trades. professions and followings
are full-crowded, indeed-and the
number Is being daily increased
Trade is very dull at present, and bus
mess of all kinds languishing. The
city has not suffi cient population in or
around it to SUPPORT the number of es-
adjustments now here. 10 fact, it is
acknowledged that the trade of the
city comes principally from the crowds
of winter visitors who are drained
during their brief stay here by nearly
every one with whom they come in con-
tact. The city will never be manu-
featuring place because there is no
cheap fuel available. wood here selling
fran $500 to $500 per cord. Then,
as railroad centre" it is a failure.
Every train that enters the city on one
side passes Immediately out at the 9TH
er, stopping no longer than they do at
any other way station. There are no
machine shops here, no transfer de-
pots, no revenue, in short, to the city
from the business of the roads.
You have, no doubt, heard that the
two principal banks of this place have
suspended payment for month. This,
nomindHy, grew out of the failure of
the Bank of California, at San Fran
cisco, but, really, out of the want of
coin to supply the demand. There
was buta moderate excitement here
over the failure of the Bank of Cali
fornia, and no signs of run upon the
banks here. A few small depositors,
it is true, withdrew their funds in the
afternoon when the news reached here,
but no general disposition was mani
tested by the heavier depositors to do
likewise, yet the banks were,so short of
cash that they could not meet the Or
binary demands of the times, aud
closed their doors for month. The
truth is the banks here do not keep on
hand as much as ten per cent. of their
deposits, proportion entirely made
quate TO insure safety. The conse-
quence is closed doors at the slightest
signs of panic. The money is all
loaned out on real estate security, and
can not be called in at once, and much
of it can never be called in from the
very simple reason that the debtors
have great difficulty in making enough
profit out of the soil to pay the inter
est on the loan, to say nothing of re-
funding the principal. 1t is thought
that this little difficulty about ready
cash will lead the banks to begin to call
in some of their loans, which will be
u source of trouble to the farmers and
throw on the market thousands of
acres of land, for which there will be
no purchasers. [ do know that the
closing of the banks has stagnated
business terribly, and will in the long
run hurt Los Angeles considerably.
| do not think this country success
in an agricultural point of view, altho'
in some localities vegetation of all
kinds grows to an incredible size and in
the greatest profusion however these
are localities highly favored by dame
nature My reason for thinking it
poor country for agricultural purposes
lies in the great difficulty in getting
water with which to irrigate, and land,
be it ever so rich and productive other
wise, without water, without the facili-
| ties for irrigation, Is more useless and
improbable than the reftIesI clay bank
in Tennessee. In consequence of this
lack of water, there are thousands of
acres of land around here lying idle
and uncultivated The agricultural
lands too are limited, and are held at
such exorbitant figures as to exclude
,he poorer class of farmers from buy
ing, or if they buy, to entail on them
debt whose interes. they can scarcely
pay, to say nothing of refuuding the
principal. 1t seems to be the fact,
however astonishing it may be, that as
a rule the farmers are not making both
ends meet With squirrels and goph-
ers (rests almost as destructive as the
grasshopper) gnawing at their trees
and crops, and usurious interest gnaw-
ing at their profits, with, as l said be-
fore, in many localities. an insufiiciency
of water, and limited market, they
are slowly but surely come to realize
that this is not adapted to farming. |
am informed by reliable men that the
greater part Of agricultural lands are
under heavy mortgage. High prices
we're paid for them in the beginning,