Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-11-16

MT only to prevent i'm grafton to Califnr-
MIA, but to decimate her population. There
were many objects of human desire which
bore the same price in the gold and green
back sections of the country; for example,
a theater ticket was the same, cigars, beer,
whisky and all amusements and admis-
sions to amusements, street-car fare, post
age stamps and great many other quite
inconsiderable things, were the same
whether you paid for them with green
backs or with gold. 1t is also well estab-
lished now that there was but very little
difference between the cost of a suit of
clothes in the two sections, notwithstand-
ing the purchasing power of gold was as
sumed to be two and half times greater
than the purchasing power of greenbaeks.
The result 10 the common laboring classes
was about the same.
Now, suppose TWO brothers, one resid-
ing in Ohio with $4,000 il green backs,
and the other in California with $4,000 in
gold; the Ohio party proposes TO emf
CRATE TO California. and converts his availa-
bic fOrtuueinto the currency of the coun-
try to which he emigrates He starts in
California with 81 600 in gold. The other
proposes to leave California for Ohio, and
starts with his $40 600 in gold and arrives
in Ohio with $4,000 III the circulating
medium of that country. To the masses
of men no amount Of persuasion could be
effective in the way Of convincing these
two people that the one had not gained
$50, Goo and the other had not los. $500
There WAS sentiment about the posses
sion of S25, GOO, which was quite sufficient
TO induce the Californian 10 take his So
900 and convert it into that volume; he
felt TO be worth S25 eco By the operation;
ho hi, a cox O0O i,,,.s t-,.J Il
and if he held on to his $25 900 ia green
backs up to the period OF the resumption
of specie payment the purchasing power
of the greenbscks would eventually have
eQualed the purchasing power OF the gold.
There was an indehnable faith in the
minds cf all Americans, that the recuper-
alive power of this country was ,reat
enough to eventually redeem in gold all
the obligations Of the Government, includ-
ing the entire war debt, which also in
cluded the greenback issue. But leaving
all the considerations of the relative pur-
chasing power of the two species of cir
culating medium brought into compare
son, you have still remaining that diff
cult thing to handle, the question OF SEN
timent. A man would prefer for the sem
timentGl reason alone TO have fortune
rated at S25 600 il country where his
money was taken apparently without dis
count in exchange for the necessities of
life, even though the actual purchasing
power of his fortune was not greater
than the $4,000 exchanged tor it,
and the reverse of this was true !;
there was an insurmountable sentiment
which forbade the man with fortune of
$1,000 in greenbacks going into a country
where $4,000 of it must at once be dis
-, -+-,tn
mist in the world could not convince that
fellow that he had not lost Sc, Geo by NOV
ing; he had lost il in feeling he had lost
it in sentiment. He stood among his fel-
lows in Ohio as man worth $4,000; he
stood among his fellow-men in California
rated at 81 900. The point is that dollars
are dollars in the common estimate, and
likewise acres are acres, and the man hav-
ing l 600 acres of tillable fertile land, pro-
ducing competency for himself and his
family, and convertible into $4,000 has
sentiment against converting the proceeds
of the sale into 200 acres elsewhere.
"The truth is that good land can be pGr-
chased in California for from $50 to S75 an
acre, Just as good land as the party sold for
$50 per acre in the Eastern States. There
are choice lands in California which will
not sell for less than $3.50 to $3.50 an acre ;
and they will not sell for less than that to
anybody, because our own people are will
ing TO pay it, and because the present hold
ers are not willing to part with them Tor
even that price. 1t is no use to talk about
lands becoming cheaper in California they
will not become cheaper. Our own people
will not part with them they know their
value they are holding what they have,
and will buy more. l am persuaded that
-, r.f +lo In co1n Af
the last five years have augmented the aver
age of the holdings rather than diminished
them. The inherent tendency is TO aug
ment the average acreage Of individual
holdings in this State, and the lands are
held at the prices asked for them because
they have justified that valuation, and be-
cause the quotation is not fiction as to
their value. They are not overrated, and
the proof of it is that their owners, who
know their history, and have had expert
ence in their cultivation, will not take less.
Now, in very truth, for all purposes to
which land is devoted, the best lands in
California are worth five times as much as
the best lands in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana or
Ohio. This is capable of demonstration.
If there was any way of making test, or
instituting an inquiry into the results of
agricultural operations projected upon the
very choicest piece of land that can be
found in the Mississippi valley north of the
mouth of the Ohio, and the choicest piece
of land under cultivation in California. the
result would show that the California land
would beat the Eastern land more than FIVE
to one. The value of land devoted to agri-
culture is determined by its net product as
an annual income Land will always have
a value beyond the interest rate of money,
because of the security of the investment.
Suppose the Government should issue
tomorrow one hundred or five hundred
million of bonds, agreeing not to call them
in for thirty years, and bearing three per
cent interest, they would go on to the
market at twenty per cent. premium, that
is, each bond for one hundred dollars would
sell for one hundred and twenty dollars, be-
cause there was g certain income of three
per cent. for thirty years, and because the
security would be absolute. Now an acre
of land, which after paying the cost of its
cultivation and preserving its fertility, will
Weld three dollars an acre, ought to be
worth as much as Government bond; the
security is as absolute, and the time indie
terminate But an acre of land intelli-
gently cultivated in California will produce
more than three dollars an acre. more than
ten dollars, more than twenty dollars. Cul-
tiysted up to the limit afforded by the eli
mate, and the diversity OF agriculture made
possible under our climatic conditions, an
acre will produce twenty dollars profit.
Most Calitornians would regard this as an
extremely moderate statement. But what
do you suppose the bond OF the Govern
ment would be worth bearing twenty per
cent. interest? 1t would be worth a pre-
MUM Of at least $50 per cent."
How does California on Wheels con-
vince the people of the superior value of
our lands?"
by showing the diversity OF our field
culture. The value of land is determined
by the value of its product. A profit of 81
an acre is all the corn raiser can expect. a
profit of IS an acre is beyond the expecta-
ton of the wheat raiser; but a profit Of
800 an acre is not in excess Of the reason
able expectations of the fruit grower. Be-
sides the cost of cultivating declines with
the rise of clemency. The absence of sum
mer storms and wintry tempests is OF itself
oh