Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-09-11
ANNUAL MEETING
OF THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
IMMIGRATION ASSOCIATION.
A Very Successful Beginning
nual Reports Submitted-List
of Officers Reelected.

!
migration Association was held at the Sec
retary's office, in this city, yesterday, at II
o'clock. The work of the Association
during the past year was reviewed in an
informal discussion, and the outlook for
the future The Board proceeded to the
election of officers for the ensuing year,
which resulted in the reelection of the
entire list as follows y. D. Rideout, Pres
ident Joseph StelIens, Vice-President
DR.. II. Latham, Secretary and w. p. Cole
man, Treasurer. n. d. Rideout Joseph
Steffens and w. s. Green were elected the
Executive Committee. 1t was resolved to
continue the work of the Association with
increased vigor. The Secretary's report
contained detailed statement Of the re-
ceipts and expenditures FOR the year, which,
| together with the question: OF funds for
future work, will be considered at the next
meeting of the Board To be held Thursday
OF next week, at y NJ, at the same place.
The report of the President was as follows
REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT.
GenaeInef, Of the Board Of Directors 1t becomes
( my duty at your first annual meeting TO report
our work for the past year. You will remember
that when our organization was made last year
We were entering, for us in the northern part of
the State, an untred field Organized attempts
had been made to induce immigration in other
parts of the State, notably in the southern coun-
| ties, which had proved eminently successful;
| but in the northern and central counties during
| the whole American occupation, there had
| never been any united efforts to make Known
| the resources for home seekers of the northern
| and middle part of the State
! Liberal sums of mono had been subscribed
in support of the State Association ut san Fran
| cisco, i'll the hope that those in charge of that
| Society would include the northern counties in
their work, but up to the time of our organic
| alton not d line concerning northern California
had been printed by that Society for publication
| The work of advertising q country larger than
| the two great States of New York and Pennsvl-
vania with q varied soil. climate and resources
was great one. The time of organization was
| in some respects unlavorabe. We were in the
midst OF an excited and heated political can
vass, which absorbed the attention of all classes
| TO the exclusion of all but the most pressing
| business duties. This condition of the public
| mind made it impossible to induce the people 10
perfect the local or county organizations tiff late
| in November. As soon as the Presidential CON
test was decided the work was actively com
me need.
| On the LIST of December, nine months AGO the
| Office OF the Association was opened We were
then without funds, and had only the bare
walls OF room An arrangement was made
whereby the furniture was put in here without
any money outlay on the part of the society
J On the LIST of December next the furniture viii
become the property OF the Association. The
first work after this was to create n conviction
ON the part of our people favorable to immi-
grafton To that end circulars were written
addressed to the press of northern California,
giving mass OF figures relating to immigration
III other regions less avorably situated and con-
ditioned than we are, and the enormous deyel-
opment OF all material resources as u conse-
quence.
1t is but simple justice to say here, that the
press of the northern part of the State without
exception, ably and earnestly seconded our
efforts. The result in this branch of our labor
was most satisfactory. 1t is safe to say that
never IN the history of our people has there
been SO profound CONVICTION on their part as
now that we need added capital brain and
muscle to develop the boundless resources of
this vast country.
Another important branch of our work was
70 induce the holders of large tracts of land to
divide them, and to sell them in lots to suit ali
| classes of purchasers. II was shown that the
inevitable result of these immense holdings was
| a sparse resident population, few improvements
10 the square mile, lew families to support local
| schools, churches, printing presses trade and
manufactures, and an army of nonresident
wandering laborers, who are aim ost valuelcss i'm
| support of local industries. 1t was shown that
| under this system large percentage of the
| families OF the landowners lived in the large
cities, remote from the holdings and that as a
| consequence the towns and villages in ex-
tended areas were infrequent, and, where they
did exist, made slow progress in wealth trade
| or population 1t was shown that with n soil rs
rich as that of the valley of the Nile with the
most favorable climate, vast bodies of timber
| Tor fuel and building, every kind of lasting
! building material, cheap and rapid transporta5
| ton by land and water Il vast water system and
good markets, we had made smaller increase
| III population for twenty years than any other
| region of the country, although those regions
making greater progress lacked many of these
| advantages.
could be divided and improved and thoroughly |
titled, so that each quarter section should have
Its family living upon it, building up towns
! and langnishing Industries and creating wealth
| that the burdens OF taxation would be i'm
| measurably lightened. In this branch of the
! Society work the result was mos. satisfactory |
7 in f,ttaY, -. :.
| suit purchasers at reasonable prices on long
| time in part and at low rates of interest IL is
| within bounds to say that never, since the
| Americans occupied the State, has so much |
| land been offered to actual settlers as now We |
could now find locations Tor many thousands of
| families.
| Another branch of work perhaps more imnor |
tant than either of these was the making known |
the advantages offered mere to those desiring to
leave Eastern regions and seek new homes |
ms involved the collection of data relating to
! the geography, topography, scenery, climate |
! Including rainfall and temperature) and the |
| economic Importance of climate to settlers the |
water system, forests, means of Transportation |
! production, markets. schools, churches print
| ing presses manufactures, trade. commerce and |
population. All this had to be gathered and SO |
stated as 10 meet the inquiries OF thousands of
different people. 1t had to be stated truthfuly
and comprehensvely, but as to interest every |
| class OF readers This was done and embodied |
| in an illustrated pamphlet of y pages. with a |
autographed map. Thirty thousand copies |
| were published and distributed
10
| be said that the pamphlet met with the univers-
| al communication of the press and public TWAS
| the unanimous testimony of those who had been |
| engaged in immigration work and had diSfrih- |
uted many hundreds of thousands of COPIES of
! all kinds of pamphlets. that this was the plain |
est, most truthful and comprehensive so far |
| published. Arrangements were made for their |
distribution IN a parts of the East The agents
| selected for this work had uncommon facilities
| ior It's Accomplishment. They had lists of names
in every county in the Mississippi valley and on
| h. do
| Bile classes as settlers.
At the time this work was in press, Mr. Hoag,
the Railroad immigration Commissioner at Chi |
| cago, wrote that he did not have a printed line
relating TO the northern part of the State which
| was OF any practical use for distribution. He
| also wrote that he had always been fully sup |
Piled with descriptions of the southern counties
In Il single year he had distributed 10000 pam
phiets from that region. As result of this con
dltion OF affairs, nearly all the inquiries were
| about southern California, northern California
| remaining unknown.
Soon after the distribution OF the pamphlet !
| description of our part of the State had COM
menccd there was a complete change People
| in all parts of the East wrote to Mr. Hoag and
| to this office, about northern California. More
than half OF all the inquiries received were con
! corning this region. Letters were daily received
| announcing a determination to come singly in
| falnilies, or in colonies As many as twenty
colonies in different parts of the Eastern States
| have been formed with a view of settling here
1t was intended on their part to arrange to come
| here this year. Some of them will doubtless do
! other season.
There has been no more unfavorable year for
| immigration since the crisis of 1873 than the
present one The business depression at the
East has prevented almost all sales of property
on the part of those who desired TO come West
| Ii has been impossible for them TO come with
out too great n sacrifice Here we had a dry
year and other unfavorable eondtions-such as
| grasshoppers and low prices-al tending to
make our work more difficult. In spite of these
difficulties here. and in the East, the practical
| results realized have been very considerable The
numbers who have come and settled on land
and are now making homes have been greater
! than, under the circumstances, could have been
| expected They have gone into all parts of the
northern counties-some into the foothills, and
| some into the valley counties Those who came
| in response to our representations have been
very desirable class of settlers, having means to
/ buy land and improve it. The numbers of this
class have notably increased within the past
six weeks.
| Mr. HOag writes within the past two weeks
! that from the present outlook We shall have all
| the people coming here in another season that
we can locate. He says that never before has
northern California attracted so much attention
as now. Hon. A. /. Chandler of Suffer county,
who has just returned from an extended tour in
| all the Eastern States, from the Gulf to Canada
| says that heretofore people knew nothing of our
part of the State but now our pamphlets are to
| be found in nearly every neighborhood and
that there is a general desire to escape from the
oppressive winters prevailing there and to
come 10 our winterless climate. The inquiries
received by our Secretary fully support what
| Mr.. Hoag and Senator Chandler say