The record-union., 1897-05-07

primary conditions necessary 10 Sieat
future. There is no other place IN the
world, 1 believe, where people can buy
what is needed for comfortable living
so cheaply as they can here. In her
agricultural development the people Oh
the State seem to be doing very Weil'
and if they continue, as L nope they
will. the best possible will be reached.
But there is still much to be desired in
the direction of manufacture.
THE imports of California are
much greater than her exports, and
while the latter are of raw products,
what comes to us from outside the
State consists largely of manufactured
goods This is not as it should be, and
/ would like to see California take her
rightful place among the States as a
great manufacturing center, instead OF
accepting a 1.-THE for her raw material
and paying the other nine-tenths TO
have it fashioned by her more skillful
sisters into shapes and forms for the
use of her people California needs a
more varied distribution of labor, dis
tribution which shall weave the inter
ests of her people together ana make
them more dependent on each other S
skill and handiwork, rather than on the
the labor of those outside her borders.
People are never at their best where
they sell their products raw ana buy
them back in manufactured forms.
They tell you that this cannot be cor
rected because labor is too high priced,
yet we do not utilize the labor we can
get For years the fiber of India was
taken to Scotland there put into wool
and in the form Of grain sacks was sent
to California by the millions, when
California had the climate and the
cheap food for the workmen, and the
only thing to make the manufacture
impracticable here was the price of Ia
Dor. If we could have had the cheap
labor of Eastern Asia with which to do
a portion of the work the industries
created would have given employment
and support to two Americans for
every Monaghan, but the Americans
lost the work for the lack of the indus
tries which would spring up in the de-.
velopment of the raw material. This
could only be done by workmen whose
average price was not much above the
rate paid by other manufacturing coun-
tries of the world. The State must
have more industries if she is ever to
be great and sperous-for I know of
no people who sell their raw material
and buy their manufactured goods who
ever attained success-and the only
way to have more Industries is to have
labor at a price which will permit of it's
utilization.
mo intelligent man questions the
general benefit of our labor-saving ma
| chimes, which have added so immensely
n tho nd #
country; yet we might as we'll rule
them out as to turn away the labor of
the Chinese. We have received very
little benefits from Eastern Asia in
comparison with what we ought to
have had. The commerce of Gina and
India have been enriching Western
Europe for many centuries and build
ing up great cities all along the line
of it's march, while the west coast of
America has turned away this trade
from our doors. Large manufactures
could have been in existence here to-
day if we had availed ourselves of the
cheap labor which is at hand, and as
[ have said, the industries created by
these would have supported a large
population of our people. There are
mouths to feed and bodies to clothe
| and minds to educate and the indus
| tries necessitated by these wants are
many and varied.
Il had the pleasure of being present
at the anniversary dinner of the b.
hemian Club a fortnight ago, and wit
messed there a scene not only memoir
able but significant in San Francisco.
l saw the Chinese Minister and his
suite welcomed with a heartiness and
hospitality which did honor to the
good sense and friendly hearts of those
well-known clubmen, whose reputation
for wit keen appreciation of the best
things in the intellectual world. and
| Independence in expressing their opin-
ions. have made the club famous.
Courteous, kind and manly were the
words in which the clubs President
who is with us to-night-greeted the
| distinguished envoy from China: and.
when the cheers which welcomed WI
Ting Fang had subsidized the Minister
began his response in words which
We're beautiful to hear for they
touched the hearts of his listeners.
1 have come said he ito find an
old friend He might have added. 7
think, with truth that he had found
many new ones, and friends, too. who
would assist him in righting any
wrongs, if wrongs they We're. which
had been suffered by his people at the
hands of ours; and as he proceeded
with his speech it seemed to me that
| CHINA had sent us a representative who
would do honor to his own country and
at the same time show us Americans
that all the virtues did not belong to
| any one race or creed.
Il hope that the fine spirit of the
| bohemian Club may find many imita-
| tors on this side of the continent. as it
| no doubt Will in the East. China can
wait, for she is a country which counts
| her age by centuries instead of years.
and was old when the first Egyptian
| kings We're crowned.
Perhaps 1 should apologize for in
| truding here a subject which may seem
removed somewhat from the field in
which our thoughts and illusions would
naturally gather, but we are tonight a
| brotherhood, and within that compre-
hensive circle one may be permitted to
speak for that part of humanity which
in this country must be more or less
| defenseless because it has no vote, and
whose offense. I have sometimes
| thought, lay in its ability to save mon
ey where others waste.
"All these economic questions we,
as officers of the Southern Pacific Com
pany are deeply interested in studying,
| for our prosperity runs on parallel lines
| with those of the State. Califor-
MIA, compared with the rest of the
/ United States, has already mere rail-
road facilities than her population