Daily Los Angeles herald., 1880-11-27

our public domain was so large,
The undoubted wealth which we
pesseased was go diffused, that very
little attention was paid to vital
eoonomic problems. The philoso-
ply Of : whole people was Of that
hAppy-go-lucky kind to which a
opondthrift who has come into q
largo inheritance naturally CRAWL
tasss. He has nothing to do but
20 riot in the present abundance
and shelter himself under the scrip.
torAl aphorlsm that enough for the
day 10 the evil thereof. But the
tine for grave reflection comes in
~ experience ofpeoples as well as
q individuals. In the United
States We have at last reached q
cage ct which 1t is impossible to
nhut our eyes to the fact that our
public domain has been squander-
~, that eur fertile lands are In
hands determined to work them or
hoId them for q high price, and In
which Arcadia 10 over even for the
Do6t favored nation of earth.
In View OF the unprecedented
Immigration of the laboring class
" Europe to this country this year,
notably In October, and the proba.
BE continuance of the movement
In years to come, the ultimate ef-
fsets Of this immigration on our
welfare should be carefully consid.
cred. The failure of crops in Eu-
rops In 1873 and 1879; the expan-
slon Of the CONSUMPTION lists pre-
paratory to increasing the stand
Ing armies of some Of the European
nations; the revival of business in
the United States; the migratory
Instinct implanted in man-all
these are given as reasons for the
movement. The true explanation
Il that the immigrants hope to
better their condition.
In past years, before the unoccu.
pied agricultural lands owned by
the people Of this country were ex.
hAusted, we could absorb the i'm
migrants as they arrived. We
oould supply them with rich lands
e TIL. A large proportion of them
were distributed in the newly-set-
tied districts of the West. If they
gomAined In the Eastern States to
labor on farms, the laborers they
displaced emigrated to the West
and took public lands, out of which
they made farms. The immigrants
we're absorbed into the body
polite Of the American people, and
soon lost their nationality; resi-.
dsnce Of one generation only was
nscsssary for them to lose their
native tongue.
A great many people thought
that II full crop of grain We're Sc
cured in Europe, ii would tend to
oheck this excessive immigration.
On the superstition that European
countries have produced an aver
age crop this year-which 10 prob
ably the case, excepting in a few
dlstricts In southern Russia-and
with the certainty that we have a
surplus greater than that of 1879,
how will these conditions affect
immigration? In this case the
distress among the tenant farmers
of England and ireland, of the
small farmers of France and on the
great Russian farms, will be more
severe than it has ever before been.
The surplus we have to spare is SO
great that 1t will control the price
ct wheat In Europe. Our wheat
growers are 80 overburdened with
debts that they are forced TO sell at
any price, to delay the coming of
the inevitable foreclosure of mort
RACES. It matters not at how low
. price English, French or Rus.
sian wheat growers offer their pro-
ductions for sale. We shall lay
oar wheat down in their markets
Tor less money per bushel than
they can grow 1t for. Our produc.
On are forced to sell their wheat
tor less than the cost Of production,
u Il be necessary to hold the mar
kst. 1t is silly to boast over the
fact that we have reduced the cost
of the production of wheat, and the
oost Of Its transportation to Europe,
= such low figures as to enable us
p distress and impoverish the
wheat growers Of Europe in their
own homes, and render them un-
willing to longer till their fields;
- grind them between the upper
and neither millstones Of COMPETE
Ven and bankruptcy; in effect, to
1seee them by . threatened impov-
eflehmeDt to leave the lands they
have lived on for generations and
$3.50 to ".
Qur method of raising wheat
xlth money obtained by mortgage
- The land. the mortgages bear
~ from nine to eighteen per cent.
l1oeoot, and of saving the crop by
- ueo Of high.priced machinery,
~ ooet Of which IL secured to the
1ofaeturers by mortgage notes
1fjog ten per cent. interest, ne.