The record-union., 1892-03-05

of the fertile region of Southern Siberia,
which will be recognized as an exact re-
production OF the Sacramento Valley:
Almost the first popularity of West
! Siberian landscape that strikes q traveller
/ from America is the complete absence of
/ fences and farm houses. The cultivated
land OF the peasants is regularly laid out,
/ but the nelds are not inelosed, and one
! may ride for two or three hours at time
! through fertile and highly -cultivated
i region without seeing a single fence,
farmhouse or detached building. The
/ absence of fences is due TO the Siberian
/ practice of inelosing the cattle in the
common pasture which surrounds the
/ village, instead of fencing the fields that
lie outside. The absence of farmhouses
is explained by the fact that the Siberian
! peasant does not own the land that he
cultlVates, and therefore has no induce
ment to build upon 1t. With very few
/ exceptions, all of the land III Siberia be-
! longs to the Crown. The village COM
munes enjoy the usufruct of it, but they
have no legal title, and cannot dispose oft
nor reduce ii to individual ownership.
/ All that they have power to do is to
! divide 1t among their members by peri
! odIcal allotments and TO give TO each
head OF family a sort of tenancy-at-will.
| Every Tune there is a new allotment the
( several tracts of arabic land held under
/ the crown by the commune may change
1 tenants; SO that if an individual should
1 build house or barn upon the tract of
which he was the temporary occupant
he might, and probably would, be forced
sooner or later, to abandon it. The re-
suit OF this system of land tenure and
this organization OF society is TO aggre-
! gate the whole population in villages,
and TO leave all of the intervening land
unsettled. In the United States such
and Iiumen would be dotted with
/ houses, granaries and barns; and it
| seemed very strange to ride, as we rode,
! for more than eighty miles, through a
country that was everywhere more or
! less cultivated, without seeing a single
| building of any kind outside of the 81
lagos.
Mr.. Remnants declaration that in the
United States such a farming region
would be dotted with farm houses and
granaries, relates TO a past, not present
and coming condition. The tendency
everywhere is to large holdings, and it
makes no difference whether the monop-
olist is an individual land-holder, a corpo-
ration or government, the effect is the
same. The land ceases to be the home of
men and becomes simply a fertile waste
"a waste where no human habitations
exist, whatever its intrinsic fertility may
be.
The question will naturally be asked
whether the tendency observed in the
Sacramento Valley is common through
out the State. My observation has ex-
tended TO most of the counties Of Califor-
MIA. Let us take for illustration one of
the most progressive counties in the San
Joaquin Valley, the County of Fresno.
| In 1870 there were forty-four holdings of
5000 acres and upward, aggregating 847,-
379 acres. In 1880 there were fifty hold
| ings of 5000 acres and upward, aggre-
! eating 995,577 acres. In 1885 there were
forty-eight holdings of 5000 acres and
upward, and they aggregated 1,061 ,955
acres. In 1890 there were forty-one hold
ings of 5000 acres and upward, and the
aggregate was 943,557 acres. The largest
land-holding in this county had increased
| from 1863, 464 acres in 1875 to 239, 486 acres
in 1890. Here a single firm of land
holders had added 10000 acres of land to
their already large holding. The same
firm held in MERGED County in 1890
200,386 acres. and in 1890 Do, 232 acres.
Thus in Fresno and MERGED Counties
this single firm now own 462, us acres.
The student OF the statistics will be
struck with one fact everywhere appar-
ent, to wit: the land held by the estates is
not divided up. There is but one single
instance in the Sacramento Valley where
| the amount of land set down opposite the
holder decreases when the holding
passes to the ownership Of an estate; that
instance relates to the holding OF Hugh j.
| Glenn. In 1880, Mr.. Glenn being alive,
he appeared on the assessment roll as the
owner of Sc, 900 acres Of land. In 1890 the
estate of Hugh J. Glenn appears for a.
600 acres. This decrease was due wholly
! to the fact that Mr.. Glenn died leaving
his estate heavily encountered by debt
and portion had to be sold. There has
| been no sale of any land since the debts
| of the estate have been adjusted. In
other instances, where the individual APP
peared first on the assessment roll and
subsequently the same land is assessed
| to his estate, the holdings increased in
the same ratio with private holdings.
The instances of this are frequent A
large holding already cited, relating to
! Fresno, will serve as an illustration. The
! holding is that of Miller 81 Lux. In 1875
Miller d Lux appeared on the ASSESS
ment roll for 169, AGA acres. This holding
rises steadily notwithstanding the death
of one of the partners, until upon the as
sessment roll of last year the firm of Mil
Ter q Lux appears for 239.4S6 acres.
Like instances of this are found in Sac
ramento, Butte, Yolo, Colusa and other
counties of the State.
The question arises as to the details by
which this aggregation has been achieved.
Again the answer is not far to seek. 1t
was through the facility with which land
may be made the basis of security for the
/ repayment of money borrowed. If you
have followed the statistics you will OBJ
serve that the increase of the holdings
made the greatest progress between 1888
and 1880. The aggregate amount of
the mortgages found on the assess
ment roll i'll 1882 was $50, 953, 826. In
! 1890 the amount had increased to
Sl68, 097, 1926. This, Of course, included the
mortgages upon city and country real
estate; but still more remarkable fact
remains to be noted. In 1882, when the vol
ume of mortgages reached but $50, 900, 900,
| the value Of the property mortgaged was
set down at Sac, 3l9, $40. In 1890, when
the value of the mortgages had reached
| $16S, 097 1875, the value of the property
affected by mortgages was set down at
S200.O00 200. Thus the value of the equity
| of redemption had decreased from 1882 to
1880 S246, 100000. A mortgage is treated as
an interest in land affected thereby. The