The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-07-25

the Union, no Spanish grants had
existed and the homestead policy Of
the Government had been in force, and
had been honestly and faithfully ad-
State would have been entirely differ
ent. 1t is even more than probable
that the population would have been
at least 100000 greater than at the
! present time.
What is here meant by the faithful
enforcement of the homestead policy
includes the original conception of its
promoters that the homesteader should
occupy, improve and cultivate the land
to which his homestead claim related,
for at least five years before receiving
a negotiab BILE title.
The first homestead bill was intro
duced into the House of Representa-
tives by George w. Julian of Indiana
and contained the provisions above
noted. This policy was based upon
eiiC StCoA thdt 1OV dCICS VI ldIlu Is
the proper quantity required by the
industry of a single cultivator and his
family. If that policy had been in
force from the admission of the State
into the Union to the present time,
every 100 acres of land capable of
profitable cultivation would have re-
manned in the ownership of the orig
inal homesteader, or his successor in
interest, and would have developed the
conditions that attend diversified farm
ing. The rich alluvial land of Califor-
mia in the interior and coast counties
would have been subdivided into 1861
acre farms, and the full capabilities of
the soil and the climate would have
been wisely complied with in this pur-
suit of the manifold objects of culti-
walton. This would mean small
orchards, small vineyards, small grain
fields, the home production of dairy
products, poultry, pork, beef and NUT
ton. The cuitivator of the soil would
have produced on his farm the full
round of his necessities in the way of
fruits, garden vegetables, milk, cheese,
pork, beef and the other farm products,
following the valuable precedent of the
early settlement of the Northwestern
States. The primitive condition of the
small holding in the. instance under
would have been perpet-
uated, because it would have been in
trenched agaist the assaults of land
by the multiplicity and value
of improvements, and the very high
value of the land.
Under this system there would have
been an abundance of white labor for
all the industrial necessities of the
There would have been no
place for Chinese labor. The urban
population, under a distributive system
Of land holding, affords sufficient elias
ITCHY in the labor supply to satisfy the
irregular demands Of farm labor as the
various seasons of harvest occur.
Rural trade centers in the way of
villages would have existed
everywhere, while all the larger inte-
rior cities would have been more pros
porous and more populous than now.
An official ascertainment of the con-
ditions of the land holdings of the Sac
Valley was made and pub :
Iished some twelve years ago, and it
was then disclosed that the holdings
Of one hundred land proprietors in the
Valley aggregated 100000
acres-an average of $4,000 acres to
The landlord. Conditions have not ma |
.erially changed. This vicious land sys-
tenn was inherited from the Mexican |
the former sovereign of
he soil, and the policy of that Govern |
ment, which generated this condition,
related to the semi barbarous occupa-
ion of cattle husbandry on large !
ranches, which, at that time, consti |
.uted the highest use of the soil. The |
condition of the fertile |
agricultural lands of California, from |
is earliest history to the present time, |
has constituted the greatest barrier to /
he industrial and commercial progress
If the State, and to its moral and ma
erial we'll being. To this monopoi.stjc /
condition is referab BILE the specu'dtTe
spirit which has attended the agr'cu'-
,lral and horticultural activities of the !
State.
The cost of reaching California de-
Ned to it in the earlier periods OF It's
history a supply of common White
abor. This deficiency was sought TO
De remedied by the introduction OF
,hinese labor. Farms, comprising H.
400. 90. 900 and even 10000 acres of lana.
devoted to wheat raising, found Their
Industrial necessities completely sup
,lemented by the cheap labor of me
over classes of Chinese, because these
,eople occupied a very low plane OF
civilized want.
Land monopoly was responsible Tor
he Chinese invasion, and if it had Seen
,errnitted to pursue its natural IL
tincts, the industrial system of Cali
ornia. as it relates to rural occuoa-
tons. would have presented but two
,lasses-large landed proprietors and a
servile Chinese labor. leaving
~ well-defined place for the non capt.
alist white man. This industrial
spect would have been completely
analogous to the conditions produced
" slavery in the Southern States.
where the industrial system conferred
relations upon tn. slave
,wner and the slave, with the common
fe relocated to the category of poor