The San Francisco call., 1905-01-04

Following is the message sent by
Governor George c. Pardee to the
thirty-sixth session of the California
Legislature:
Executive Department, State of Cali
fornia, Sacramento, Jan. 2, 1905.
To the Senate and Assembly;
Gentlemen-The Constitution of Cali
fornia commands that the Governor
shall communicate by message to the
Legislature at every session the ccndi-
tion of the State, and shall recon-
mend the enactment of such legislation
as he may deem eXpedient. Accord
ingly, have the honor respectfully to
transmit to and to lay before your
honorable bodies my biennial message
for the years 1903 and 1904.
In common with other States of our
Union, California has. during the last
two years, enjoyed great material pres
perity. Our many industries and inter-
been steady and, in most localities.
abundant. Wages have averaged as
good as ever before, crop returns have
been at least normal, and prices Of
products have, on the whole, been re-
munerative.
With especial respect to California,
not only has our State been a liberal
sharer in the prosperity of the nation,
but it has enjoyed an abundant and in
dependent prosperity. Our cities and
towns have increased steadily and even
rapidly in population and accumulated
wealth; our larger areas of farming
lands have, in large measure, been
subdivided into holdings of moderate
size and sold at prices which have been
within the reach of men of moderate
means. To a greater extent than ever
before, at least in the northern and
central portions of the State, new farms
have been established and green
alfalfa meadows and orchards now
greet the eye where a few years ago
only grain fields filled the landscape.
Separated as California is from the
more thickly populated portions of our
common country by hundreds of miles
of semi-arid mountain and plain, it is
marvellous to- see how our State has
drawn to itself tens of thousands of en-
thuslastic home seekers who have come
to cast their lots with us. Although
the means of travel have proven some
what expensive and not a little tedious,
even in these days of palace cars and
sWift-rolling trains, the tide of immi-
grafton is still setting our way and
will continue SO to flow so long as we
extend an unfaiiing hospitality toward
it. Our snowless winters our intensified,
diversified and yet highly specialized
agricultural pursuits are proving ire
sistible to thousands who find Eastern
summers exhausting, winters trying,
and the production of a few staple pro-
4. ducts, year after year, uninviting.
our State is no longer looked upon as
land of unbelievable legends and un-
realizable prophecies. The eyes of the
world are turned in our direction as
never before since the discovery of
gold.
The future is big with promise for
California. The splendid exhibit of
products made at st. Louis has proven
conclusive as to the claims our immi-
grafton literature has set forth. Cali
fornia has made good for all that has
been claimed. and her achievement bids
fair to rival the dreams of those who
loving California, have prophesied in
verse and oratory of her coming great
ness. 1t only remains for Californians
TO put aside individual and local zeal
ousies and unite in helping forward
everything that is likely to prove good
for the commonwealth to make us all
sharers In prosperity hitherto unpar-
alleled. God has been good to us: let
us be good to each other. whether of
the north or the south, city or country.
mountain or valley. Let US be all for
one and one for all.
In meeting the Legislature for a sec
ond time / wish to congratulate the
members upon the opportunity which
they possess to benefit their constitu-
ents by a serious devotion to duty dur
Ing the next two months. They can
benefit them by exercising economy In
making necessary appropriations and
oy vigilance In preventing appropria-
tons which are not necessary. They
can further serve their. constituents by
seeing to 1t that none bur useful laws
and those carefully framed shall be
passed. Loose and careless laws fill
the courts with litigation and impose
a heavy burden upon all Grasses of cit.
liens
Yet to guard against the passage of
such laws Is no easy task, when during
session of sixty days fifteen or eight
cen hundred bills are introduced which
must be read, printed, examined in
committee. reported and voted on. So
many of these bills as are unwise or
are unnecessary are stumbling blocks
IN the way of the passage OF measures
which are needed. 1t would be no small
legislative reform IL some means could
De found to impose check upon the
introduction Of multitude of bills
which will never accomplish any other
purpose than to waste the States
money when they are printed, or to
cumber the files when they are re-
ported
That the work OF the Legislature is
SO well done, when the disadvantages
under which 1t is conducted are con-
sidered, is remarkable, and shows how