The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-24
THE FUTURE REALIZED.

The visiting stranger who is curious to
see what the whole of rural California will
be when it shall have been brought nearly
to its highest development should visit
that part of Alameda County known as
Eden Township the principal towns of
which are Haywards and San Leandro. 1t
is only an hours run from San Francisco
by ferry and steam-train, or a half hours
run from Oakland by the electric cars. A
visit to this section will show most of
those strange conditions which make rural
life in California so different from that in
any other part Of the United States. 1t is
instructive to enumerate these peculiari-
ties, particularly as Haywards is not on
the itinerary of tourists and unfortunately
is hot regarded as one of the sights" of
California.
The first observable fact is that it is a
fruit-growing region, and next that the
fruit is mostly of those choice kinds that
are grown only in California. Then it
will be discovered that the orchards are
very small in comparison with Eastern
farms. Next it will be seen that the houses
are immeasurably handsomer and better
kept than in any other rural district in the
world that every house has its handsome
lawn, carefully tended flowers and superior
outbuildings and fences. In short, all the
external evidences indicate not only pros
perity, but degree of refinement and
pride unknown anywhere else under the
sun in rural communities.
1t is true that Haywards is large town
of several thousand residents, but as they
all live and thrive directly or indirectly
upon the products of the soil of that imme-
diate vicinity, it is town representing
rural life in California in its finest form.
Hence the object lesson is all the more
valuable, as it demonstrates the fact that
when all the fertile sections of the State
are as well settled and developed as this,
such beautiful towns as Haywards, each
supported by the soil resources of a section
very restricted as to size, will exist almost
within sight of each other on every hand.
The stranger will find In this section
about Haywards roads finer than the streets
of most cities, and will observe that they
are kept in perfect order and free from
dust and mud. The orchards will show a
care in their treatment that can be found
nowhere else.
If he looks closer into the lives of the
people, he will find them in every moral
and intellectual respect vastly superior to
other rural people that he has ever seen or
heard Of The men and women dress in
the best styles, the schools are taught by
the ablest educators, the numerous
churches have handsome structures and
accomplished clergymen, and reading
clubs, literary societies, frequent parties
and picrfics, public halls and libraries, all
show that we have something surprisingly
different from anything to which the
stranger is familiar.
The visitor, if he is intelligent, will dis
cover that two main causes have con-
tributed to the making of this alluring
picture. They are the small size of the
orchards and the generous profits of the
industry. These conditions are peculiar to
California. By living close together people
are benefited in an infinite variety of ways,
and from the profits of their efforts they
are enabled to provide themselves with
those wholesome comforts and luxuries
which expand the mind and elevate the
soul. This is why the rural population of
Eden Township is so immeasurably supe-
rior to that of the Eastern parts of the
United States. 1t is in this effect
upon men and women that the noblest
achievements of a residence in rural Cali
fornia are seen, and as it is most vital that
this should be understood in the task of
making the world acquainted with the in
ducements which California offers to home
seekers, there is no better way of teaching
the lesson than by informing strangers OF
the eloquent state of affairs existing in
Eden TowOshin