The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-07-26
LOWER CALIFORNIA.

| LOWEK (ALifOkiNtR.
For a region that lies. geographical
| Iy, in the thick of things, littlea is
heard or known of Lower California.
Joined to busy Southern California and
mentioned in history as one of the
earliest places occupied by white men
in the western littoral of North Amer
| lea; fronting on that part of the Pa
cific which carries Hawaiian. Austral-
| ian, Philippine and Central American
traffic and lying In the latitude of
Texas. Florida and Georgia, with the
thriving mainland OF Mexico close by,
it ought to be a definite factor in af-
fairs. Especially is this true when one
considers it's attractions and resources.
Thirty years ago a writer in Harper's
Monthly said that the climate of its
great table land, was the most equable
in the world, and that was not, as it
turns out, an overstatement. In this
respect Lower California is an irlprov-
ed Southern California Then again,
it's soil is rich, it's mountain range
yields abundant water, it is prolific In
minerals including gold and copper. 1t
is a better region than Florida, which
it mates on the map as a continental
cape.
Yet how little 1t counts for! Once
In a while smugglers are reported on
It's frontier and the other day its Mex
lean Governor, Sangines, was arrested
for shooting a prisoner with his own
hand. That about tells the story of
life in Lower California There is no
mining or agriculture to speak of, no
commerce Of any account and few in
habitants. Nobody ever hears from La
Paz, the southern capital-a city lying
the glory of the northern capital,
Ensenada, departed with the San Die
go boom That place. sunlit on its
Incompatible bay, may have, one hun
dred or perhaps two hundred inhab-
itants; and the whole peninsula north
of La Paz probably does not boast 5000;
the remaining population of about
$4,000 lives in the extreme South and
includes Indians. Yet Lower Califor-
mia is larger by 10000 square miles, |
than the Empire State OF New York |
and could, with a proper system of ir-
comfortably support millions |
of people. 1t could be another France |
for fruit and wine; another Colorado |
for minerals: another Newfoundland |
for fisheries. All it needs. as a preIim-
mary. is the American flag.
Lower California would have been a |
part of the United States if the men
who made the treaty of Guadalupe
representing the Americans.
had known their business. But they
were Fasteners to whom a place
which looked arid in summer-the pos
sibilfties of irrigation being then I'M
not appeal. Even Alta
California was fiouted in that day and
by men of the intelligence of Daniel
Webster. So 1T came about that Lower
California, which might easily have
been annexed with California proper
vas left out, as something not worth
he taking. Il
But the peninsula is sure to come in.
it is not a part, of
Mexico but OF the United States. so
much SO that Mexican troops inter,7e5 ,
or It's northern garrison have to trav- s
Il over 1000 miles on American rail-
Dads to reach their posts 1t will have .
certain strategic value when the c
'anama canal is built; and the chancas t
I gives FOR progressive people to get :,
fch are manifold. Where these condi- Y
ions exist the doctrine of Manifest Il
Destiny Will ultimately apply, the
ways and means being a mere matter /;
4 detail. We may add that none NJ Il
he logic of the appeal against holding
he Ftlipinos touches the aanexa- q
ion OF Lower California. the place V
aving so few inhabitants as IN rsisa 7
o race question of Importance. q