The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-06-14
"A BRAZEN LIAR

The Herald Is not in the habit of call
ing names, but finds 1t difficult to restrain
its indignation when some dyspeptic fly
y-night stays few days in California
and then sets in to spend the rest of his
life in lying about the state and its people.
In American Homes" for June, pub
lished at Knoxville, Tenn, appears an
anonymous screed that is mass of false
hood, without even a pretext Of fairness
and candor. Liberal extracts from it are
quoted, as follows:
The social and economic conditions
that obtain on the coast are something
deplorable, and this state of affairs is
largely the result of purely local condi-
tons which cannot be ameliorated, and
therefore there are no good times in
store for them, however much prosper
ity We may enjoy in the future.
We are infinitely superior, both as
people and in resources, to the worth
less, restless. purposeess people who
have focked together to form a ragged
fringe of civilization on the western
coast, for interior California, as whole.
cannot be populated in a much greater
degree than the rest of the great west.
The principal interior towns are little
more than names, constituting small
GASES in the midst of a vast desert,
from which they are hardly won by
the use of water.
The small land owners are prac-
tically denied the right to make a
living. because the local markets are
glutted from over-production, and they
labor under the enormous disadvant-
age of being over 2OoO miles from Chi
cago, their nearest and best market.
and what profits they might expect
from shipping there are absorbed in
the exorbitant freight charges. This
is but one Of the insurmountabe OBJ
stacles that confront them in their
hopeless struggle for mere living in
that poverty-cursed state. A more
hopeless situation could not be mag
ined or devised than that which holds
the masses in a grasp as relentless as
fate.
The publication Of such Internal ROT
cannot harm California. 1t is worthy Of
notice only as showing to what depths OF
dyspeptic depravity human nature can
descend. Such a man would find some
thing to kick about in heaven; but it Is
some consolation to know that the gates
are not ajar for such souls.
So far as Southern California is con-
cerned, it is enjoying rapid, healthy
immigration, made up in large part
of the best people of the east,
who have come here to escape the
rigors and other drawbacks of less
favored chimes. Its resources are large
and varied, adding constantly to the
wealth and comfort Of the people. Los
Angeles has suffered less from the six
years Of panic and hard times than any
other city in the country, in proportion to
its size, industries and resources. San
Diego, the southwestern outpost of the
country, is prosperous and happy; while
Riverside, Redlands, Pasadena, Pomona,
San Bernardino, and other thriving inte-
ror cities can afford to laugh at the talk
abo0t Small GASES in the midst Of a
vast desert" emanating from the able
prevaricator who makes such a bad use
of the columns of the Knoxville maya
zine. The Small landowners may be
denied the right to hve," but they are
living just the same, and making money
at it.