Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-09-22
INTO, WEDNESDAY MORNING,

our soil and climate is brought into view. The en-
tire population Of California is about sol, 600 OF
these, one-third are engaged in mining, one-,hird
more form the metropolitan and manufacturing
population of the State, leaving about onethird Of
the entire population engaged in agricultural pur-
SUITS or less than SOC. 900 people.
The State Board of Agriculture for the State Of
Illinois reports the wheat product of that State for
this year 40 COO 900 bushels but the State Of Hi.
nois contains about 100000 inhabitants, at least
100000 of whom are operative agricuturists- an
agricultural population five times that of the State
of California The large yield of the harvest of this
year having established the persssenceo of wheat
growing capacity, the next question is how much
land remains to be added TO the wheat growing acre
age of the State. am persuaded that already the
best wheatgrowing sections of the State are fully
under cultivation of that cereal, except such Sec
tions require irrigation to make them productive
With the aid Of irrigation, however the wheat lands
OF the San joaquin valley alone capable of produc
ing larger annual yield than the entire production
of the State for this year. There are also lands in
the sections of the State possessing sufficient annua
rainfall to make a crop which have not as vet been
brought under cultivation 1t is probably no exag.
production of wheat equal to 100 200, 900 bushels
This is presented within the reach OF early posi-
bility
The problems Of both the present and future are
transportation and market. We have from the har.
vest of this year surplus for export of 100000
tons To reach its market this wheat must be
transported to the seaboard by rail and thence
by ocean around Cape Horn TO Liverpool. This is
the longest voyage made upon the earth for CON-
mercial purposes Our wheat must make q longer
voyage and pay higher rate of transportation than
any offered in the market at Liverpool. Owing to
this great distance cannot take advantage of the
rise in the breadstuffs in Europe, because cannot
reach the European market until the demand has
been in great measure supplied from the wheat
ports of Atlantic seaboari and of the Black Sea-
rise in the prices of breadstuffs in Europe to-day
which would cause general movement of wheat
from the interior to the seaboard, would at once
overtax the carrying capacity of the railroads
and the rivers of California. The first great need of
the producers of this State is cheap warehouse
facilities at tdewater This is the one imperative
necessity of the California farmer. AS soon as the
harvest begins the wheat should be moved
to the seaboard and stored in ware
houses accessible TO sea going vessels
We have produced SO, 900 eco bushels of wheat but
when we offer this in the market we find comb.
nation of forces producing low price. The market
is in the hands of merchants, commission men and
brokers. The large yield for export has raised the
rate Of tonnage, while the storage capacity Of
our warehouses is hopelessly inadequate To over
these disadvantages it will be necessaryto form
associations of wheat producers to build and own
wharves and warehouses at the seaboard. These
associations holding large quantities of wheat ready
to ship could be placed in receipt of the infor-
nation as to movements in breadstuffs in the lead
ing markets of the world now monopolzed by the
commission merchant.
The great natural outlet for the products OF the
Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys the Straits Of
Carquinez. 1t is already clearly manifest that this
natural outlet will In the future be the point
Of the largest export commerce of any port on the
Pacific. Whether by rail or by water, all CONNER
cial lines converge at Carquinez. The construction
Of warehouses and wharves at that port Of sufficient
capacity to answer the demands for storage of our
export surplus would confer the largest benefit upon
the grain. producers of the State. But the grain
growers confer this great benefit upon them
selves and to the advantage of facilitating the
plus product to its market add the saving of COM
mission and brokerage, and reap tie Iroft Of wharf
age and storage The aggregate of these items upon
this years surplus viii not fall short OF s3,000,0 0l0.
most earnestly commend this suggestion to the
careful consideration of the intelligent and enterprs
ing farmers of this State.
PRODUCTION AND TRANSPORTATION.
During the year our State has been visited by a
gentleman holding credentials as Commissioner of
Agriculture for the Government OF Great Britain
The object OF his visit to California was to
ascertain, FIRST our capacity for the produc.
duction of breadstuffs and beef, and second,
the probable future persistency of this cara
city. This inquiry on the part of the Govern
men of Great Britain grows out of the fact that tine
facilities for transportation Of beef and breaistufs
are SUCH that they may be produced in this eoun
try and transported to the consumers in
England cheaper than they can be produced
the other side of the The freight rates from
the great centers of the West and from the Atlantic
seaboard, are so low that the beef and breadstufs
raised in Nebraska and Kansas delivered in the
markets OF England at rate below the cost of home
products Of that country. The question is already
mooted as to whether the lands OF England and
Ireland may not be more profitably devoted to
other products than breadstuffs and beef
The present disturbed relation between the tenantry
and the landlords of Ireland grows out of the fact
that the staple articles of human food produced
in America and transported at such low rates to
very greatly reduce the profits of the tenants thus
reducing his ability to pay the rents heretofore OBJ
tanning. 1t is already manifest that America will
raise all the breadstuffs and beef for the European
market, and more than successfully compete with
the production OF these staples in those countries
This result is due to two leading causes First the
progress made in the invention and application Of
agricultural machinery. Within a quarter of a
century the labor of each operative agrcuturst has
been supplemented by labor saving machinery,
augmenting the productive power to an almost in
credible degree. 1t is the sober conclusion of in
vestigators that the agricultural machinery
ployed in the United States equal the productive
capacity OF 300, 900 eco of men, single farmer in
this State has chiefly, through the aid Of agricult
ural machinery, raised nearly one million
bushels Of wheat in single season. There is
instance in this State of single farm of 900
being cultivated by the employment of less than 300
men. Before the advent of machinery the same re-
suits could not have been attained by the enl-
poy ment of 5000 men.
The SC 3ond cause is to be found in the increased
facilities and constant downward tendency in rates
Of transportation The beef raised in the very
heart of this continent, even at the foot OF the
Rocky mountains is served fresh on the tables Of
England. In both these directions the limit of pos
sibilities has not been reached. We have scarcely
entered the broad domain of labor saving invention,
while the great science of transportation is scarcely
beyond its first infancy. From where we now stand
we see approaching the time when the fruits Of
valleys will appear the tables of London and
Paris as fresh as when picked from the tree and
vine. Estimated by comparison of tho cost and
facilities of transportation, San Francisco is nearer
to London to-day han the city of Buffalo to the
city OF New York at the beginning of the
century. The unmistakable tendency is to
eultiva every product where nature lends
the largest measure OF assistance. The great
advancement made in the means of transportation
and conimunica ton is working radical changes in
the industrial pursuits of the world The grain
fields of the West have forced the almost entire
abandonment of grain-growing in New England for
the more diligent and more profitable attention to
dairy products. In this we find an instance fully
illustrating the tendency already alluded to. The
same principle has equal application to all produc
tiops, whether of the farm or the factory The pe
culiar and special advantages possessed by any
locality inures to the benefit of all the world.
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