Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-17
OUR STATE,
ANNUAL ADDRESS By GENERAL
\. p. CHIPMAN.
Delivered Before the State AgricuIt-
ural Society, at Sacramento,
September fG. 1856.

Z
ural Society, at Sacramento,
September fG. 1856.
The following annual address was de-
liyered before the State Agricultural So
ciety, in the Art Gallery of TIE Pavilion, at
Sacramento, Thursday evening, September
1G, 1886, by General n. P. Chipmau, Of
Red Bluff, before an immense audience:
! Nr. Presdtrk La,5ics and ,;enit7aen: IN 1879
| immigTated TO California in !, palace car The
! halo which surrounds the '4aer does not adorD
| my brow. Coming here as 20 Il sanitarium, my
| health Was restored but fell under the spell Of
| your glorious skies, the luxury your charms for
| physical existence, the wealth of gifts bestowed
! upon you by bouutffin Creator, the almost
ItnlilleSS variety OF yOur productions and pCSs
biiitie', the uniqueness OF your civilization the
| grandeur OF your mountains. the exuberaIt
f.utfulEeSs OF your valleys, the destinations of
! your vast mining operators ard specnlntiOus
| The sweet conten:meEt of an older, 4 slower,
| but solder and broader civilization lost its hold
| upon me. / jo ned the caravan Of fortune
! hunters on this far on coast, and became Cali
! tOrnian Like yOu, plunged into great enter
prises, not content with the slower but surer
| pathway 10 competence and happiness: like
| cou thought that wealth could be struck from
| the forest the mine, the soil, with the touch OF
! the cnchantoI's wand. Following your seduc-
! tive example Gistlain@d small change and
| small tllDgS LIKE You. l ElOtCG III natures
| gifts and sgunnGered her bountliul oppOrtuni-
| lies, and, lisc you, am here today ragged.
| hungry and subducd, and ina0Iiring what snail
| do 10 be saved.
| California has beon born several times. sIr.
President, bGt it IS still in the hrocs of its com
| plete and final emancipation from the lOlps
| and errors of its carly days. We are today
| ffcnted with questions more sefiols and far
| reaching than ever before in the history of our
state 10 speak accurately these questions have
| been ever present nn' they went Gnhetded. and
! in spite If he warnings Of e. reriencc IN spite
| of a gradual GsCadence in certain directions; ia
| spite OF the sound advice OF our best thinkers
\ and workers ~ the 5 ale, California has yet to
| make 5 highest and best history and achieve
| its highest and best m ssi0n. ike the man of
| genius who relies upon inspiration and Natures
| gifts, and VIII not work. and who linGs himself
| outstripfei hy the pl0dder, Ca1f rnia, with its
| unrivaled advantages, is far Behind many sis
| ter States in growth OF population and general
! Development Of its resources.
In glaucins through the reports Of this society
| l find that our people have been tod many
| truths; have beeu frequently warned have been
| over and over again reminded of their neglect
! and misuse OF PlOrtuaities The Specu ative
| aud trusting in-ehance tendency of our people
| has been uppeTmost; they have scOrued old
| fashioned methods; they have reached out for
more acres than they could cultivate, more
| lniues than theycJuld develop, more water than
| they could use and their energies have been
| directed rather to holding together what they
| have than 10 development and use. | am rot
| saying we have mace no progress, for propose
" "
| not advanced as we should.
| To notice some Of the causes of our slow
growth to point ont some OF the great questions
| that press upon us; TO show what ana
| what we may be: 10 make little self eXamina-
| tion and administer little self reproof, shall
occupy the hour accorded Y me.
POPULATION.
The movements of population furnish an in
teresting study, and to large degree denote the
relative prosperity aud growth OF the States 1t
| needs 20 argument to show that our great want
| now, as it ever has been, is more people and
| less lard per capita. Governments are insti-
| tuted and maintained for the many and not for
| the few. sparse population retards growth,
leads to invidious classes, the massing of large
| landed properties in single hands, discourages
individual effort, does not offer the advantages
and Inducements of CONT etit,On, removes that
| friction of contending interests essential to
| activity and progress. People build for them
| selves better homes surround themselves with
| more civilizing influences. have greater social
| advantages and means of education in direct
proportion to the density or sparseness of popu-
lation.
What have we been doing, and where do we
stand?
| In $50 we were the twenty-nnth State III or
der of population in 1880 we were the twenty
sixth; in 1870 ard 1880, the twenty fourth Many
of the Eastern States have dropped back while
many OF the Western States have leaped TO the
| front. Iowa ra' ked the tWenty-seyenth h In 1850
and in 1850, the TENTH Illinois went from eiev-
| enth to fourth: Ohio has remained third
| throughout four decades; Pennsylvania, the sec
l
| sixty years, while Virginia has gone back from
| the first 10 the fourteenth in the same time
The percentage in growth is more startling and
| signilican From 1850 10 1860 California in
creased sos per cent. We were digging gold in
| those days. From 1850 to 1870 we drcpDed down
| to 47.4 per cent Dakota IN that decade in
| creased l93.1 per ceut.: Kansas, 239 per cent
Nebraska, 526.4 per cent; Minnesota, 1856 per
| cent.
| From 1870 to 1850 we increased 5l.3 per cent,
while Dakota increased S53.2; Kansas, 1888 per
4 ataTaf Anl. 10 f4Ftyaf Ft,s
Territory, 2l55 per cent; Oregon, 92,S per cent.
| have enGcayored to con1iue these illustra-
tions 70 States into which people have gone to
| seek homes and to pursue agriculture mainly.
| The census of 1890 showed that fourteen States
| and Territories had larger percentage of in
crease than ours, and that tair yf0ur States and
Territories had larger population TO the same
area.
Examine these figures and tell me why Da-
| k0ta should gain nearly twenty while We were
| gaining one: or Nebraska and Washington
| Territory. five to our one. Oregon two to our
| one? Find the causes and state the remedy and
| you have solved the problem OF the future pros
| perty OF this State.
| CAUSES OF OUR SLOW GROWTH CONSIDERED.
! will venture to enter upon this dangerous
| ground short d'stance otHers must explore it:
| the truth must be learned il we are to expand
| to the limits of our capabilities,
| First-rherc is Il dstrnst in the East OF cur !
civilization end our power to protect lie and
property, and this diStrust has arisen. in part
| from the presence of the Chinese aud the con
! stant conflict among the laboring classes which
| il engenderS, aud il part from the false i'm
| preston that We re not yet divorced from that
| ruds 9nd Somewi...t III bnleut period when men
| habitually went armef and the law of the land
was Oiteu what the camp made il. The typi-
| cal Californ an, III many peaceful homes of the
| East. is q walking arsenal with long hair and
siOuch hat and pr0iane aild vulgar tongue. PEG
| pie are still reading Bret Hartc Mark Twain
and Joaquin Miller. California is still country
| of romance and adventure, and Californian is
still an object OF wonder and curiosity.
The pilgrimage or the knight Templars three
| years ago the war Of the railroad companies
last year. that made il possible to see California
| for \ small sum OF money, and the recent com
ing of The hosts o the Grand Army of the Re-
| public this year have done much to CONVEY cor
| rect impressions and force clearer knowledge
of what we are. But we should follow up these
| Impressions with accurate and reliable informa-
ton there should be q bureau connected with
this Society, TO which the Legislature should
give ample means that should disseminate the
truth Widespread as to our resources and the
state Of society.
LACK OF RELIABLE IMPORTATION As TO RE-
SOURCES.
And this leads me to state the second great
cause for our slow growth, which is lack OF cor
rect and reliable information as to our resources
California, unlike any other State in the
Union, embraces almost every known climate
possesses widely diversified and distinct dis
trictS peculiar to themselves, and adapted 10
distinct and peculiar uses. One going into Da-
kota Kansas Nebraska iowa or indeed almost
aay State east of the Rocky Mountains, knows
the whole country when he knows county. 1t
is question with him mainly of price OF land,
| nearness TO transportation, schools, churches,
and the like; not so here. He knows nothing
of Tehama county by learning all about Los
Angeles county he may know all about Marin
county and be totally ignorant of San Joaquin
county, and he may know all these and know
nothing of the many charming and lovely places
| to be found in PlumaS. Lassen and other noun
tain counties What we want is Bureau of In
| formation, supported and literally endowed by
the State, to which any one can go and learn all
that is to be known about all parts of the Sta'e.
How can we hope that Eastern people will
know where to gp when we, ourselves, are ig-
norant of parts OF the State remote from where
we live?
LAIGE LAND HOLDINGS.
Third place among the causes of slow
| growth the fact of our large Individual land
holdings, and an indisposition TO subdiyide and
sell This evil, think, is fas, correcting itself.
Large farms are no longer relatively profitable
| the price of wheat and the falling OFF in yield
are forcing change; generation hence will
witness the breaking up of the great ranches
the statute of descents and the Probate Conrts
will settle this difficulty, and meanwhile we can
( find abundant room elsewhere for a healthy in