The herald., 1895-12-31
Mr.. !. w. He:lman in the San
Francisco Call
CALIFORNIA is SUBSTANTIAL
Business Improving and Money Cheap
and Abundant
The Fruit Industry as a Wealth Producer.
Possibilities OF Sugar Beet Cult
ure-Confidence Renewed

the San Francisco Calls splendid Christ
mas edition "A contribution by MIR. l.. w.
Hellman, president of the Nevata Bank
of San Francisco and the Farmers and
Merchants 3 INK of Los Angeles, occupies
a promineu; place. Nc. Hell slnln's paper
is as follows:
There ia every reason to believe, ] think.
that San Frlpci-cp and the stale of Cali
fornil genera ly are at present upon nat
may be called sound fn,nci Il basis. [
do not say this otfnand or as a general
proposition calculated to boom he state to
the outside woe d, but oniy after due con-
sider.tion and a somewhat careful exami-
nauon into all the facts necessary to base
such n statement upon and win The knowt-
edge before me, too, that, having made
the statement. l may reasonably be eX-
peclei to support il.
While it is true hat there may have been
but little money made by the people this
year. it is also trle that there il a better
and stronger feeling in financial and BUSH
ness circles generally throughout The Stale
THAI there was AT The close of 1894. There
is also a feeling Of more certainty as to the
future year, and business men confidently
anticipate and are making preparations for
a moderate but substantial increase. This
is true of almost every line. l. is also a
fact that during the past year there h1s
been but little or no speculation INDUCED
Ill and this, take it, Is Il good omen for III,
immediate future. Land and products
alike seem to have lost their speculative
values to an extent, and there is no per-
ceptible infiation of values On the com
trary, values at present are based upon, il
not entirely up to. intrinsic worth. Aud
when there is II noticeable mere $50 in such
values and based upon such conditions, it
ID quite plain, l take it, that an era OF
sound prosperity is being ushered in.
n tho ma 1T hII III asS has certainly
been better than il was the year before.
and what has helped it is the fact that
money has bsen abundant and the rates of
interest have declined, and the banks have
been ready and willing TO supply sufficient
funds, upon good security. to good busi-
ness houses aud enterprises.
Another significant indication is that
the savings banks have all had AS many
deposits thi. year as they could safely
take care of, and Notwithstanding the hign
rate of taxation in his city the rate of
interest TO borrowers has not been i'll
creased.
There is still one considerable drawback
to San Francisco. 1t is that our manufac-
turing interests have not increased as
rapidly ~ we could wish, or even as much
as has thu general business prosperity.
But even in this direction there is. think,
a much better feeling than there was at
the close of 1914, and the prospects for the
decidedly encouraging. Labor has so
been in much better demand this year than
it was last year and promises to he in still
greater demand in 1895. The San Frau
cisco street railway companies have made
a great many improvements and eXsen-
sions, having given employment to thou
sands of men and millions of dollars of
capital, and yet there is still much to be
done in the near future in thi, direction.
The San Joaquin Valley raiiroad has
given great impetus to the interior. 1t
has given employment to large numbers of
men, and in many way has benefited the
entire state. And yet this is only the be-
ginning. The new Valley road is one of
the important factors that can be relied
upon to add to the prosperity of the state
in many ways for many years to come.
II comes into the field rs a competitor
for the business of hauling California
freight and passengers to aud fro through
the great San Joaquin valley. 1t is pre-
eminentiy an enterprise by, of and for
the people OF California. Its success is al
ready assured. More than twenty-five
miles of roadbsd has actually been laid,
though the project ia not quite year old.
Work is being pushed rapidly, and the
day OF doubling is passed.
Large sums of money have been invested
in real estate by our wealthy men, espec-
tally by Claus Spreckes and others. This
has helped great deal to restore CONT
dence in that direction. The handsome and
substantial structures erected within the
past year like the Union Trust company 3
building and the Parrott block, the great
new buildings projected, like the Call build
ing on Market street, giving employment
to great many laborers and skilled me-
chanics, have all had the most beneficial
effect locally, and promise to be even more
beneficial in the future year. The greater
employment of labor that these new enter
prisaa haUa v11a d1 I,OSSihla has nAturlllV
helped along the retail trade great deal,
and the merchants and storekeepers have
enjoyed better business than for some
time before.
In other lines the increase has been felt.
The wine interests of the state did quite
we'll last year. The price of dry and sweet
wines is more than 20 per cent better to-
day than it was before the combination
which took place in that interest a little
over year ago. California wines are in
creasing their popularity in the eastern
stetes. The future of this industry is very
promising.
A great deal of gold is being produced
in this state now. This has and is still in-
creasing our circulating medium to very
beneficial extent, which has been marked
all over the state. The large production Of
oil in Los Angeles has also had its effect.
1t has reduced the manufacturers cost OF
fuel to material extern, and promi Sos
EF0tI DeIleub Ilot Only 10 tudt Guy. Dut 10
the entire section. Our principal iudustry--
erain-has not been very profitable this
year, either to the farmers or shippers. but
to some extent the crop has proven more
beneficial than it was the year previous, and
that in itself is encouraging.
Our orchards have, however, done very
well-much better than last year. Our fruit
industry has brought great deal of money
into this state and has added not a little
to the present feeling of security which
prevails. In addition to the three beet
sugar factories already established in Cal
ifornia, two large retinerles are projsc ed
and will in all probability be CONSTRUCTED
during the coming ycar-one of them in
Los Angeles and the other in Orange
county. These, l take it, are pleasing in
dications for the future. The beet sugar
industry i, IN it's infancy in California, but
it is growing very rapidly and promises TO
become one of the great products of the
Golden state. A great many acres of land
will probably be planted iii becs du Ing
the coming pear In Los Angeles and
Orange counties the acreage devoted 10 this
industry is considerable.
Some of the lands along the coast are ex.
cellent for sugar-bset raising, and l tbiuk
can confidently bespeak a great increase
in this line in the very near future. We
have enough good land in this state suila-
Bile to sugar-beet culture to supply the Ell
tire United States with sugar. and wien
our farmers realize once the advisabi y
and protitableness of planting diversified
crops, instead OF grain only. they will ii d
believe, that in most instances sugar-beets
can be raised in connection with grain
greatly to their own banefis and profit.
ti..vs rl,af bp