The record-union., 1893-12-11
THE MERGED sUBDIvIDING.

THE MERGED SUBDIVIDING.
For many years the RECORD UNION
has been the persistent and consistent
foe of land monopoly; indeed it may
claim to be the pioneer in the agitation
against it. At no time has it wavered in
its endeavor and declaration to the end
that there should be promotion of Cali
fornia interests by the breaking up Of
large land holdings, and the substitution
of small farms. Perhaps this journal
above any and all other influences most
drew public attention to the evils of land
monopoly and the palpable effects upon
California development, by its recent
tabulation of holdings in the several CEN
tral and northern counties. and the statis-
tical showing that where these holdings
have been persisted in, the counties have
actually gone backward, and land mo-
nopoly has augmented, to the elimina-
ton of homes and independent citizen
ship.
We hail therefore every movement to
undo these conditions with warm ac-
claim. The latest effort to parcel out is
reported in the order of the Croeker
Estate Company to subdivide an i'm
mense tract of land in Merced County,
and offer it to settlers on such terms that
the energetic and frugal man. however
poor. can have opportunity to earn
home land holding that will maintain
himself and family, and secure to him
and them ample income.
What makes this offer especially in
viting is the fact that it relates to irri-
gated lands; that is to say, lands with ac-
companying water rights of the highest
class. Another feature that is significant
is that by consent of the Southern Pacific
Company the administration Of the order
of the Crocker Estate Company has been
given to the land department of the Cen
tral Pacific Company, which has SO sue
the encouragement of small home hold
ing on limited farm tracts.
Crocker and Huffman owned the AZ, 900
acres referred to. At enormous expense
they brought upon the lands the most
extensive system of irrigation in the
State. The canal conveying the waters of
the Merced to the land, is twenty-seven
miles in length to the great reservoir,
some six miles from Merced. This reser-
voir, covering some seven hundred acres
of land, is really lake. 1t is estimated
that the capacity of this water plant is
equal to irrigating 100000 acres of land.
The land to be subdivided and dis
posed of is in no case to be sold to specu-
lators, and it is not TO be so priced as to
put it out of reach of men of modest
means. The idea is to induce settlement
on these lands and their cultivation to
their full possibilities by genuine tillers
of the soil who are home builders.
It needs no great amount of intelli-
pence to understand what this means. 1t
means where are now unoccupied acres
the building of hundreds of homes,
occupied by independent. thoughtful
citizens, surrounded by thriving fami-
lies, and thus the enlarging and strength
ening of the bulwarks Of State prosper
ity and the development of the best
there is in the commonwealth. 1t means
a still broader test of the capabilities of
the soil of the great valley of the San
Joaquin; it means the marrying of land
and water under the most favorable con-
ditions possible for speedy and profitable
Weld of agricultural and horticultural
products.
1t is understood that the terms upon
which these lands are to be divided are
such that the payments will be but little
more than the interest upon the value
until such time as the lands will begin TO
yield to the producer the profit that will
enable him, if frugal, industrious and
persevering, to make payments upon the
purchase. In every instance the water
right is to accompany and be part of
the title to the land. The policy will be,
as we understand it, to favor the smaller
tract system as more rapidly building up
healthy communities and making the
final purchase the more certain, and con-
sequently the settlement permanent. So
too. there will be no favor shown to those
who may desire to purchase and place
tenants on the lands. The idea is to have
on every tract owners, men and women
who come upon them to make perma-
nent homes, not landlords who live upon
the rental wrung from tenants, and who
never yet contributed to the true pros
perity and upbuilding of country in
the sense that home-owners contribute.
What Are Your symptoms, Sufferer
Are they a furred tongue, headache, op-
Dression after eating, constipation? If So
-, a ra dvsDeptic and bilious and nothing