The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-03-04

currency its broadcast meaning it is any
thing which one person will take from an
other in trade but in its more restricted
sense, currency is nothing but legal
tender Judge Kelley is right in restrict
ing the sense Of the word currency be-
cause there is no profitable means of
ascertaining the value Of bank checks,
postotice money orders, bills Of exchange,
notes and credit paper Of all kinds. There
is sense in the Judges limitation. The
Tribune must tight it out with the Treas
ury officials for the figures given by Judge
Kelley are the official figures.
In closing, Judge Kelley gives com
parison between California and Mime
sofa, and claims that these figures show
that hard money has been curse 10 the
Pacific slope We give his own languaR
in full, as follows
That was an unfortunate reference the
gentleman made to California. He held
her up as an example Of prosperity to be
envied by the suffering people OF her sis
ter States, and ascribed her prosperity to
her reputation and notification OF the
great legal tender law Sir, it may be an
act Of temsrity, but | am prepared to pre-
sent her rs a warning to those citizens of
other States Nho believe that by con
tracing the volume Of money they can
promote the welfare Of the people or
hasten the day when prosperity shall
again dwell within our borders In
natural gifts and geographical position
California eXcels any other State III the
Union. In abundance, variety, value and
accessibility her resources exceed those Of
any other State or nation. She is as &C
oessible by ocean voyage to Caucasian
immigrants as are the island provinces Of
England She is by rail within SIX days
of the cities of the East, crowded With
skilled and aspiring Workmen. She is the
exclusive American producer Of Quicksll-
yer, her mines Of cnnabar being many
and rich. | need not refer to her wealth
III gold and silver OF her production OF
wheat, wine and wool. The world knows
how great it is, for it enters as a distinct
item into national statistics In recen:
years her lands have yielded unusually
large crops per acre of superior tobacco,
and in the MERGED and other valleys cot
ton is now grown with profit. She has
the only great deposit of tin that Of San
BernardinO, yet discovered on this CONT
nent and is not without COAL copper and
iron She has lakes Of burax, mountains
of sulphur, and produces the fruits Of
the world, growing Strawberries in the
open air more than nine months IN the
year Her climate is as heal, hful aud de-
lcious As that Of Sicily, If which she is an
enlarged and improved edition No
other State presents So many or such great
attractions, yet measured by all that
makes the true greatness Of State she ID
one Of the least progressive Of the Ameri-
can slsterhuod Stunned by men IF en-
terprise whose capital Is limited, Ia, r
wealth does not attract the laburing masses
Of the Eastern States, Great Britain, Or
the continent. hIle Immigrants have
flown into the cold Northwest by the
thousand, they have hardly gone INTO Cal
| IformI by the score, and her laborlng
classes are pariahs, who DO not speak our
language or seek t. establish i'll interest
in our country by acquiring homes or
land, SO that there, among the golden
sands and verdant helds Of California, is
the land owned by few capitalists and
the labor performed by homeless wander
ers. Do | exaggerate the picture Let
facts speak.
Let me compare her with States i her
own age who are almost absolutely with
ont mineral resources, whose summers
are brief. whose winters long and severe.
whose farms lie nearly two thousand miles
away from the seaboard, the profit on
whose products is greatly reduced by the
immense cost Of bringing them to the sea
board, and the prices of the nanufac-
tured articles they consume are enhanced
by the tact that they have to traverse the
same long lines of transportation. Let
me compare California with Iowa, NiscOn-
sin, or Minnesota. In order to do this
justly, We must bear iii mind the fact
that California was admitted to the Union
Sept. 8, 1850 that Iowa, having been
admitted Dec. %, 1896 had preceded her
not quite four years that Wisconsin was
admitted May 2g, l84S, prec. ding her a
little more than two years, and that Min
nesota was admitted May H., 1888. and is.
therefore, nearly eight years her JUNIOR.
How do these purely agricultural and al
most hyperborean States compare IN all
that constitutes the true greatnets of a
State with their more richly endowed
and happily located sister : The extent Of
her territory Is vastly greater than that Of
any Of them, yet the census II 1870
shows her population to have been 582.
OBJ, Of whom 49, 80 were Chinese /;
while Iowa, four years her senior, had a
population Of !, $50, 637 Wisconsin, but
two years her senior, a population of
l ,064, $50, and Minnesota, nearly eight
years her Junior, was nearly her equal IN
population, having 446, 056.
Time Will not permit me to run a paral-
lei between her and each Of these States
TO make the contrast with Iowa would
present differences striking and i'm
mense that they would stagger credulity.
| therefore take Minnesota, the youngest
eight years, or nearly one-third younger
than she-and the mos remote from the
seaboard, the one also which stretches
farthest into the wintry north, whose
boundary is the northern boundry Of the
country, and whose season for the growth
and gathering OF crops is limited to half
the year. The area Of California is 1873, v
9lS square miles, and that Of Minnesota
50, 900. In 1860 California had 379, 994
inhabitants and Minnesota but I72, O23 :;
The increase in California for the succeed
ing ten years was but 1870 223, while that
Of Minnesota was 274. 033, which is SO, $40
in excess Of the increase Of California,
which started into the decade with. more
than 100 per cent. in advance The as
sessed wealth of Califo MIA was, in 1860,
Sl39, 654, 667, and in 1870 it was S269,-
GA ,O68 All increase of little more than
80 per cent. The assessed value in Min
nesota in 1860 was over 81 900, 900, and
IN 1870 over $84, 900, 600; an increase Of
over 16O per cent. The assessed value Of
real estate in California in 1860 was over
SGT, OOO, 900, and in 1879 was over $780,
900 200, showing an increase in real estate
Of over sos, 200, 900, leaving but about
w, 100000 to evidence the increase Of
every other species Of property. The as
"a. ..C,