The San Francisco call., 1896-05-03
AN INTELLIGENT REPORT.

1t is pleasant to compare Chauncey NJ.
Depew's estimate of California with the
supercilious and querulous attitude of nu-
merous transient visitors to the State.
Although Mr.. Depew's inspection was nee
essarily unsystematic, hasty and superb
cial, he saw some things which to his alert
appreciation of what are the most valu.
able contributors to happiness pre-
sented an exceedingly alluring picture.
AT ne recent banquet given at Brooklyn,
\. y, in honor OF his birthday he lndi-
Gated one of the most important and as
yet unconsidered functions of the Govern
ment, namely, a wise adjustment of the
Incompatible resources of the country to
the needs of the people. He showed how
millions of inhabitants are suffering hard
ships and poverty through lack of intelli-
gence in their distribution and in the en-
ployment of their energies. Then he
turned to contemplation of the oppor-
tunities offered by California for assuring
the prosperity, comfort and content of q
population whose extent he would not
dare to estimate. He said:
1--WE know SO little of the magnificent
scenery, the unique succession of fertile
valleys and the climatic and product
i've possibilities of California because na-
ture, always jealous of her treasures, has
placed the Pacific Ocean on one side of the
golden coast and thousand miles OF
desert on the other. The heat in that des-
est was 107 in the car in March and Yuma
is SAID to be the hottest place in the
world. After twelve hours of in
tolerable heat and suffocating dust the
| traveller comes almost instantaneously
| into garden of roses, fields of evergreen,
alfalfa grass and groves of orange,
lemon, peach and other trees filling the
air with the perfume of their blossoms or
laden with golden fruit. The desert ends
and paradise begins where irrigation has
redeemed the sand and made it fruitful
land of annual wealth.
"The lesson of California is the marvellous
difference between the profit pro rata of
large and small farms. We rode for
thirty-tive miles through one farm of 1Oo,-
600 acres and through others of 10000 and
$1,000 acres. The large farmers as rule
were complaining of the low price of wheat,
the comparative worthlessness of stock
and the diseases in the vines of their
vineyards. But every man we met who
was growing oranges, lemons, apricots,
prunes or olives upon ten or twenty acres
and giving to the culture a personal
trained, educated and scientific attention
was averaging $500 an acre from orchards
which were five years old. Upon these
figures the mind is taxed to determine the
number of families which could live in
unaccustomed comfort and in unequaled
| climatic conditions in California. l could
not help contrasting my fathers old farm
up in Peekskill in the early days, with its
annual crop of stones and taxes. with that
of the gentleman whom / visited, whose
| coy cottage was a home of comfort and
culture, and whose ten acres, with enough
labor only to keep him healthy, yielded
him $1,000 year. He pressed the button,
and then irrigation. good soil and the
most heavenly of climates did the rest. We
are naturally a boastful people, and vet
the better know our country the more
am convinced of our boundless basis for
Dragging"
This refers only to the material aspect
of the case, and that alone is OF great i'm
portance. But the distinguished speaker
further declared that the largest and
finest building in every town in California
was the public schoolhouse. Thus he set