The record-union., 1896-01-14
sACRAMENTO 1886

fornia have been unavailable for coloni-
zation. Recently a combination has
been entered into between the holders
of the most fertile lands of the Sacra-
mento Valley-lands which in all time
since the settlement of this State have
been inaccessible to the new conner;
| lands possessing intrinsically FIVE times
the value of the average plains lands of
this State. This combination has been
1 formed in the hope of opening an extern
sive region to settlement, presenting the
broadest, most striking enterprise in
this line ever suggested.
| That combination has now been COM
pleted by the signature of the owners of
the land to documents which commit
them for a limited time to a joint effort
| to open these large and most fertile
areas to settlement. What is required
is sufficient capital to launch this enter
prise. It's magnitude and its merit will
do the rest. In this combination of
lands, embracing nearly seventy-four
miles of navigable water front ON the
Sacramento River, is found an oppor-
tunity for breaking through at once the
one hitherto insurmodntable obstacle to
the settlement of the Sacramento Val
| ley These lands have been combined
at rates which will justify their offering
at less than half the price heretofore
offered for colony lands. The event
marks the close of distinctively his
torical era of land holding in California
The next question which confronts
this enterprise is, Where can the cap
ital be found for the consolidation of
these lands into the ownership of a sin
| gle corporation designed solely to seq
regate them and secure their settle
ment? They are incumbered by mort
cages held in San Francisco of more
than $4,000 900. 1 have been informed
there is in the vaults of the banks of
San Francisco to-day over 100000 900.
The question arises can the capital nee
essary to make this empire of fertility
the basis of an empire of population be
found on the Pacific Coast If not, then
| the effort must be made in foreign
money markets, where at the very out
set the enterprise must stand discred-
tied as having been repudiated at home.
The success of this effort will be cru
cial test of the ability of the people of
California to unite upon an enterprise
The questions which arise and which
must be answered I take the liberty of
asking now: Will the motives of the
persons who have promoted this un-
dertaking be impugned? Will its merits
be inquired into by those who make the
law of public opinion concerning it, so
that their assertions relating to it will
have a solid foundation in truth?
Can this undertaking, fraught with
so much of promise of good to Califor-
mia, receive encouragement. at the
hands of capitalists at home where it's
real value may be fully and clearly un-
derstood? Will the people of California
make themselves masters of all the
facts relating to it, and if they find it
worthy of their support can they be
united in an effort to carry it to COM
plete success? Will it receive at the
hands of the public journalists of this
State that judicial fairness which all
public enterprises, having for their OBJ
ject the good of the commonwealth, are
entitled to receive? In brief, will great
undertaking, having for it's object only
the reinforcement of the population
and the capital of California, receive at
the hands of the people of California
fair and candid consideration and treat
ment?
Los Angeles arose from city of 5000
" q City VI uGcIly 4OOyOOO III 1GSS lIldn
| twenty years, simply by reason of the
capacity of her citizens to act together
in the upbuilding of their country. The
same statement is true of every city
and every commonwealth that have en-
joyed any degree of prosperity within
| the past century. 1t is through this uni
fed effort alone that prosperity can
come to California. The provincial spirit
which objects to an instrumentality of
good to all of the commercial territory
tributary to San Francisco is the one
thing which has constituted the great
est obstacle to the growth of this State.
The enterprise, the energy, the prosper
ity and the growth of any locality is an
exterior manifestation of the interior
character of the people residing there,
and these attributes, to be effective for
the good of any community, must be
unified by a consensus of effort
We of California can bring to our
State new era of prosperity only by
offering encouragement to .all who are
willing to work, and it is this encour-
agement which has been grudgingly
withheld in all our history.
VIM. II. MILLS.
San Francisco, Jan. IL, 1896.