The morning call., 1891-06-04
AN IMMIGRATION CONVENTION.

a meeting of delegates from the Chamber
! of Commerce, the Produce Exchange, the
| Stock Exchange and the Real Estate Ex-
! change is called for next Tuesday to consider
| the subject of holding a convention to in
| duce immigration from the East TO this
| State. The subject is not new; it may be
| said TO have been thoroughly and exhaust
| lively ventilated at periodical intervals dur
! ing the past twenty years; but still, the
situation has changed since 1880, and there
! are now reasons why Eastern farmers should
come here which did not exist then. Cali
fornia's capacities and resources are dis
coyery of yesterday.
The problem which will have TO be con-
siderad on Tuesday is exceedingly simple.
Here is State in which faithful. intelligent
agriculture leads to a competency, and oc-
casiOnally to afluence. There, in the East,
are States in which the same faithful toll
leads TO nothing after a life of drudgery.
The farmer of the E Ist can exchange his
farm there for farm here, not as large, but
large enough to support family in COM
fort How can this be exp lained to the East
ern farmers so that they shall understand
and believe it and act upon the belief? That
IS the question which the promoters of our
immigration convention have before them
They will not lose sight of the fact that
much of the cauyassing FOR immigrants
which has been done IN the past has been
done in the interest OF land schemes, and
that from the hour of the discovery that this
was the fact the eloqueuce of the movers
has fallen upon deaf ears. People who go
round praising the climate aud soil and
wonders of California, and wind up with
Offering a few acres of land al an exceedingly
low price, inspire suspicion and not conf
deuce Eastern cities are full of pamphlets
descriptive Of the extraordinary capacity of
this State TO grow fruit; but the pamphlets
generally contain postscript in which the
reader is assured that a small quantity of
this extraordinary fruit land is still for sale
by Messrs. S. & So. When the Eastern
man reads this, he throws the pamphlet
away, concluding. not unreasonaDly, that
the Californian is playing him for a tender
foot Even the pleasant words which the
President aud his friends have spoken about
Us since their return to the East have car
ried less weight than they would have done
if California had not been doubtful State
politically
Any agency which it might be proposed
TO establish in the East or Europe to en-
courage immigration in this State should be
entirely disconnected with land schemes.
The agent should have no land to sell, north
or south. 1t should be made apparent that
his expenses were not betrayed by land syn
dicates, and he should be put on his guard
against indulgence in flowers of rhetoric.
Hard facts are what tell. He should be pre-
pared TO show that IN half dozen or more
counties in this State land which viii yield
a net income four times as large as can be
got from Eastern land can be bought for
twice the price Of Eastern land per acre.
He should have in his hand official stats
ties TO show that the damage done to crops
in this State by droughts is not on the
whole much greater than the average dam
age from the same cause in some Of the
grain States, and he should have tables to
illustrate the gradual increase in the fruit,
raisin and wine crops since 1880.
People must remember that in the absence
OF sudden bOOms, such as are caused by gold
discoveries, popular migrations are slow. 1t
takes a great many years to transplant half
million of people from one home to
another. TIE United States were as attrac-
tive to Europeans sixty or seventy years ago
as they are now. but the entire foreign i'm
migration from 1920 TO 1910 was only about
50,oO0 For some years there has been a
riyulat of immigrants from parts of Europe
and the East to this State. number of
Eastern colonists have planted themselves
in select localities in the southern counties.
a Dutch colony lately established itself at
MERGED. Some German settlements have
been made in other counties. These set
tiers, if they thrive, VIII draw others, but
the process viii be slow 1t may be accel-
Grated by holding out encouragement to
newcomers, but the encouragement must
be judicious and conducted in a broad liberal
spirit