The record-union., 1897-06-25
OUR COMMERCIAL POSITION
Diversified Production Unequaled by Any
State in the Union.
This Pregnant Fact is the Guage of
of Her Commercial Pos
sibiIities.

Merry:
| In the consideration of CALIFORNIA; s
status. the future must be considered
even more than the present conditions.
California occupies a remarkable cons
mercial position, considered in any
sense. With her northern limit in ~
degrees north latitude and her southern
extreme at 81 degrees 30 minutes north,
this great State spans nearly ten de-
grees of latitude The seacoast of Cal
| ifornia equals half the coast of Mas
sachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut,
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, Maryland Virginia, North
Carolina, and to a point twenty miles
south of Charleston on the coast OF
South Carolina-ten Atlantic seacoast
States! Her area of 1SS,96l square
miles equals that of all the New Eng
land States. New York. Pennsylvania
and Ohio combined. In this immense
area we now have about one and
quarter million inhabitants, While
France, with 202,5 square miles area,
has thirty-six and a half millions, APP
proXimately. California can maintain
in comfort a population of thirty-tive
millions. 1t has at this time hardly
emerged from the pioneer condition as
regards population, While her position in
respect to a high civilization equals that
OF any State in the Union. Who shall
precisely forecast the commercial fu-
ture of this imperial commonwealth.
Commercial conditions are always
| largely controlled by climate, and in this
California is unique. Every known eli
| l1O
except the strictly arctic and the sub
tropical. On her great seacoast al
most perennial polar winds are blowing,
creating a distinctly different climate
| from the interior. San Francisco is
situated in this marine climate. Visitors
may note ladies in our streets wearing
Arctic furs in January and July, with
out necessity, save as mandate or
| fashion, in either case. But leave the
coast for the interior, east Of the mount
aims nearest the Pacific, and another
distinct climate is encountered, with
| high, dry temperature in the daytime
| during summer, and cool, but not cold,
winters. Again, ascend the Sierra Ne
vada at its eastern borders and find d
mountain climate, cool in summer and
| freezing in winter. At it's northern eX-
| treme the seasons somewhat resemble
! our Eastern climatic divisions, While
south of Sacramento we have no longer
winter but dry and rainy season, with
hardly distinguishable spring or au
! tumn.
These striking differences in climate
create the possibility of a diversified
production, unequaled by nay State in
/ Lot ha
produces can be grown in California, eX-
cept subtropical products. This preg-
nant fact is the gauge of her CONNER
cial possibilities, limited only by her
accessible markets.
Cheap transportation for her products
! to the markets of the world-that is
the main question which controls her fu-
ture commercial possibilities. The brill
| liant intellect of that great statesman,
William H. Seward, when he purchased
Alaska looking into the future with
prophetic forecast, declared that 'the
| Pacific Ocean would become the scene of
mans greatest achievements" In this
great history California will make her
mark Facing the Orient, Oceanica and
| Australia, who shall limit her ocean
| commerce westward? Her ships cross
| the meridian westward to reach the So
called Far East" From the dream of
centuries, Japan is already awake, and
1 China at last shows the effect of in
creased contact with modern civiliza
| ton. Australasia, peopled with our own
race, already invites our commerce, and
| Asiatic Russia reaches for Pacific wa
ters with the longest railroad in the
world. The ocean steamship on the
surface, and the electric cable on the
! bottom Of the great Pacific, are to be-
come the prime agents in this great
commercial development, which will
unite California and her sister States on
the Pacific to the Far East" Com
merce, recognizing no creed or nation
ality, aided by steam and electricity,
will solve the problem of her CONNER
| cial futurel
| Let us now look eastward, toward the
| Atlantic Ocean. How strikingly diff
| ferent are the conditions! A continent
5000 miles from ocean to ocean, with
| California on it's western limit. and two
great mountain chains to be Surmount-
ed-an immense empire between the
oceans, already the seat of unequaled
commercial, manufacturing and produc
| tive activity; beyond that another
great ocean, but only about half the
width of the Pacific, and then Europe,
| peopled by our own race-the seat of
modern finance, science, civilization and
| learning; her lands crowded with a pop
ulation demanding our products, and
ready to aid in the DEVELOPMENT of our
Pacific Coast when it can be reached
with economy in time distance and
cost.
Our country spans the continent-tru-
ly a goodly heritage for a great people
a land wherein are being solved the
great questions of modern civilization,
with a commerce urgently demanding
room for expansion. Across this great
continent, as upon the ocean, steam and
electricity are the great factors elimin
a.ing distance A magnificent railway
system supplies the demand of our peo-
pie for rapid transit, while electric wires
furnish us with the news of the world
hourly. The communications so liber
ally provided in railroads by the energy
and power of capital are worthy of all
praise and admiration, but they have
only supplemented what has been pro-
vided by nature. Water transportation
is also necessary to give due effect to
the industry of our people. Railroads
must necessarily absorb an undue share
| of the earnings of production in order to
assure profits to the great capital en-
ployed in their construction; but they
also confer untold benefits, supplying the
portation for perishable and valua-
bic property, securing rapid movement
of mails and cheap carriage for our peo
pie. The development of our great