The record-union., 1893-02-07

i Il liked nrOn0rtlOn
OF the crop. These farmers are generally
able, independently of TRANSPORTATION
companies or all other outside infiu-
ences, to so adjust their rental as to fix
the conditions of living among their ten
ants. Many of these landlords are broad
and liberal minded men, who see to it
| that their tenants who are up to or over
the average of men in thrift and dill
gence, reap their fair share of the re-
wards OF industry, and consequently
prosper in their work. Others are said
/ TO be more 'eXacting.
l know of land owners who raise
/ their rent whenever a reduction in rail-
( road rates can be secured. Under such
| circumstances the railroads must not be
4 blamed if an industrious and thrifty
population of small and iudeDendent land
owners does not establish itself alono
every new road built in this State, where
! land is not for sale at some price, even
/ though 1t he high price, in small tracts
to suit the purchaser. Dense population
OF independent land owners cannot be
established, no matter how many roads
we build or at what figures the rates of
| transportation are fixed. One of our
company's new roads in the San Joaquin
/ Valley, built a little over year ago, runs
tor fifty miles through the lands of one
firm. We hope and believe that the firm
Will construct irrigation bitches or sink
arteslan wells, both being feasible
fitting the land to be handled III small
| tracts and proceed to cut it up and offer it
| Tor sale at such figures as will bring peO-
pie into that region, but the matter rests
/ with the land owner, not with U.S. and he
| VIII be guided by his own interests. We
can only offer him transportation at
reasonable rates for anything that may be
produced on this land.
In regions where the annual rainfall is
insufficient to produce crops other than
the cereals, and where, consequently,
! irrigation IS required-and this is true of
| a greater portion of our State-the natural
| sequence OF events is perhaps for the
! land to be first held in large tracts, in
| order that capital may be safe in bring
| ing the water from the rivers and mount
ain streams, so that the cultivation of
land ON small scale may be profitable,
even though its price is high. Doubtless,
this is true, and, as | said before, we have
no complaint 10 lodge against the large
/ land owners or others who believe that
they are doing what is right to build up
! this State. But these conditions do affect
the railways, and their managers cannot
| change them. They must adapt their
| operations to them, and only ask that
! they be not blamed that because of the
difference in conditions which affect
railways in common with all other inter-
ests, the State of California is, in its
progress and development, different from
States east of the Rocky Mountains. l
have said that the railroads of this State
are fairly and honestly adjusting their
operations to the needs of their patrons,
In this connection, l desire To call your
attention to some facts that, to my mind,
are OF great significance in corroboration
OF this statement.
/ The counties of Sacramento, Solano,
| i olo, Sutter, HUba, Colusa, Glenn, Butte
and Tehama, covering the Sacramento
| Valley, navlgable waterways -affording
| the most et1ectual protection against un-
1al ,Tt4liA 10 rufa Z
| bly, be provided in any couutry-travers-
| ing every one OF these counties, showed
an increase in population in 1890 over
1 1850, of only 9,43S, or seven per cent:
5,71S, or more than half of this increase,
| being i'll the cities OF Sacramento and
/ Woodland, leaving for the rural popula-
ton, including the smaller towns and
villages, an increase OF only j,j1l, or four
per cent. Some of the counties have lost
in population, and, to some slight extent,
this may be due to the fact that there has
| been Il decadence in the mining industry
in those which extend up on the western
slope of the Sierras. In Yuba County,
/ ior example, where the loss in population
| in the last ten years was l,64S, $50 being
| in the city of Marysville, which is located
upon a navigable river, and in Butte
| County, which in ten years lost in popu-
/ latiOn 7S2 people, 406 of the loss Ueing in
/ the town OF Chico, the county seat. The
| truit-grOWer has gone upon the foothills
TO replace the miner, and oranges are al
ready being produced on n commercial
scale in these counties. The county of
! Iehama shows in 1890, as compared with
| 1850, an increase in population of 6l5 peo-
| pie, but this increase is all in the towns,
| the town of Red Bluff alone showing an
| increase of 5O2, the village of Nina I29
ana the village of Corning 30.
San Joaquin County, one of the most
fertile in the State, and perhaps in a
! position to be the most Independent of
railroads OF any county in this State, the
San joaquin River with its tributaries
and navigable sloughs Offering trausporta-
! ton to market in easy competition with
the railroads throughout the county,
shows an increase i'll population in 1880,
as compared with 1850, OF 4,2S0 people
| -Four thousand one hundred and forty-two
! of this increase is i'll the thriving manu-
/ featuring city OF Stockton, leaving for the
/ country and smaller towns an increase of
only is people in ten years. The same
condition of things exists in Stan!slaus
| County, also served by the navigable
waters of the San Joaquin River.
Why is this so? The explanation is
/ simple. In these portions of the State
large ranches, based mainly on the
original Spanish grants. exist and are
prohtably cultivated by their owners.
! Now, l am not prepared to say that these
counties are less prosperous than they
should be because Of these conditions.
] =
lation. as well as in taxable wealth and
area of land under cultivation, is to be
measured by the mere increase in popula-
| ton, lei me point you TO some portions of
| the State of California that depend ex-
clusively upon the lines Of the Southern
| Pacific Company for the transportation
of their products to the general markets,
| to the extent of requiring the railroads to
| transport deciduous fruits from $500 to
| 5000 miles from the point Of production,
! to be there marketed in cOmpetition with
/ fruits produced in the immediate nigh bor-
! hood. 1t is to be especially noted in these
cases that every intending settler can OBJ
tain land in small holdings at some price.
! / do not mean to say that this is not true
of the other counties l have mentioned,
/ but that i'll these counties there was in the
| beginning fewer Spanish grants-which,
| by the way, in their aggregate area of
very nearly 100000 of acres, cover over
\ % per cent. of the arabic area in this
State when we count in as 'iarable''
/ every acre of desert and mountain side
that can probably be reclaimed and it
| has been considered more profitable to
work the land in small than in large
| farms.
! Merced County, in 1890 as compared
with 1880, shows an increase of 2, ,429 peo-
! pie, or torty-three per cent, only 600 Of
this being in the towns. 1t is true that
! the San Joaquin River affords some trans
| portation TO this county but in the main
it depends upon the rail lines. Fresno
! County, which practically has no naviga-
BILE waterway within its borders, shows
an increase i'll 1890 as compared with 1850
! of -, 54S people, or 23S per cent; LOG of
| this increase was in the city of Fresno,
! the remainder in the country and smaller
tCt nfrlo