Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-01-01
THE DAILY RECORD-UNION.
QUINTUPLE EDITION.
IFor the REcoRD-UN1oNI
THE SOCIAL AND MATERIAL FU-
TURE OF CALIFORNIA,

must speculate boldly. The surprises of
human progress are SO many that calculation
10 batfied by them, and facts laugh to scorn
every day the fanciful estimates of the closet
philosopher. 1t is not very far back to the
time of Queen Elizabeth; the nineteenth
century is really but as yesterday in the
worlds history yet at that time the popula-
ton of all England and Wales was less than
i've millions, and the Government viewed
with increasing alarm the enormous growth
of London. whose population of 300 600 was
thought to bebecoming unmanageable, and be-
yond any commissariat talent to feed and care
for. And now London alone contains within
less than million as many souls as England
and Wales could muster then, and its sup
ply of necessaries and comforts is far
beyond anything that the subjects of
good Queen Bess could have conceived pos
sible. And in modern times States grow very
much faster than formerly. The force of en-
terprise, of commerce, of life in every shape,
is quicker. Colonies no longer have to
struggle for bare existence a generation or
Two. 1AeIc ID AO lOhSCI any SuCu as
isolating community. Commerce and art
and science penetrate the remotest regions,
and follow and support and assist the adven-
turer. Wherever in these days Man finds the
raw material of wealth he can transmuteit into
gold, and can change that gold again into all
the luxuries and comforts of sensual and
self-indulgent and exigent age. As for Cali
fornia, she has been dowsred with peculiar
gifts, and at the same time menaced with
peculiar dangers, and he who would estimate
her prospects Alright must comprehend and
fairly gauge the conditions of her progress.
If we are concerned merely with the ques-
ton of material gro with, none can doubt that
the outlook is most promising. The whole
tendency of American development, invest
ment, exploitation, is now Westward. The
Atlantic States are practically exhausted as
fields for new enterprises. Possessing great
unexpended resources, their future growth
will be comparatively slow, though eminently
prosperous Il is in the West, and especially
in the Far West, that the large possibilities
of the future loom up. The rapid and com
prehensive expansion Of transportation lines
is piercing all the tributary regions of this
side of the continent, and gradually bringing
them under the control of one gigantic rail
road system which will unite the West
and South, and bring Europe and the
Orient into intimate connection. This
system, extending from the Alaskan
of the Gulf of Mexico on the south,
and gathering from both sides as it passes
southwards the rich and varied produce of
Oregon, Washington Territory, California,
Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas
and Mexico, will create and stimulate, not
only at its principal termini, but all along
themain trunk and all along every feeder of it,
new and unexampled commercial activity !;
will induce settlement; will evolve unthought
of markets; will in all the ways through
which improved transportation agencies oper-
ate conduce to The growth of population and
the increase of wealth and comfort through
out the immense area embraced in its
workings.
It would be idle to try to estimate the
precise results of the completion of this great
railroad system, nor is it necessary to know
more than that it must produce consequences
in all respects analogous to those which SIM
liar enterprises have produced elsewhere.
The material growth of California then is
as we'll assured as anything can be. The
wheat-producins capacity of the State has
not SO far been tested seriously. The crops
of to-day, though relatively large, are really
insignificant when the available cereal area
is considered. 1t is not an exaggeration TO
say that when our wheat lands are all under
cultivation, California will produce enough
grain in q good year to keep the world from
starvation if even all the harvests of other
countries should fail entirely. With wheat
must also be placed wine and wool. Regard
ing the first of these it may be said that
provided the phylloxera can be excluded
there is no reason why our viticulturists
should not in few years inherit the enor-
nous wine trade which the devastated hills
of France are now vainly endeavoring to
retain. The wholesale adulteration at pres
emit practiced by the French wine-makers
must shortly accelerate instead of averting
their ruiz Skill and drugs will not long
compensate for the absence of pure wines,
and if our viticulturists pay attention to the
Improvement of their vintages they must
succeed in securing the markets of Europe.
The wool interest will grow without
o,J 1o,cv .,Ia
are engaged in it seek to produce the best
samples in the market, instead of merely
trying TO make sales regardless of quality
or the truth of their representations, they will
have nothing to fear in competition.
AS to our mineral wealth, it is evident that
while it will continue to be a considerable
factor in our prosperity, it must henceforth
occupy a subordinate position. 1t is true
that possibilities of great discoveries in this
direction must still be reckoned upon. 1t
must not be forgotten that there is solid
reason for believing in the auriferous richness
of those extinct and long-buried chan
nels which formerly carried the rivers of old
California. The so.called Blue Leads have
been no more than scratched thus far, and no
man can venture to predict what is reserved
for future exploration. Nevertheless it may
be fairly assumed that the agricultural and
viticultural interests will hereafter maintain
their supremacy, and will be the mainstays
of Californis's prosperity. Whichever way
we look there is good reason to conclude that
the successors of the present genera
ton will find ample resources at their
disposal, and that they will be SUBJ
jected to none of the difficulties which
are associated with barren Soils and
unpropitious climates. Bet it must be
remembered that no matter what Nature may
do, Man is always able to Illustrate her boun-
ties and bring her bene6cent purposes to
naught. The fairest and most prolific regions
under the sun have been turned into bowling
wildernesses by the persistent action of hu-
man folly and malignity ere now while under
the yivifyiug and restorative influence of
human thrift and industry the most arid and
ungrateful deserts have been forced to yield
an hundred fold, and to furnish from their
bot and stony bosoms the subsistence of ex-
fens;ve communities. The hardy peasant pro-
nrietor who tolls over the sandy plains Of
Flanders draws from those unpromising fields
a far richer reward than the deep alluvfal
soil Of Sicily yields to the brigand-cursed and
ACKNOWLEDGMENT culture of that island
II ia NOT therefore, enough to show that a
---a, material resources in