Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-19
What Homeseekers Need

I always wanted to see California have
Chamber OF Commerce MILITANT
An energetic strong body, with safety
system PLAN to surely and securely place
the feet OF home and, health seekers upon our
soil.
At a state convention in Sacramento on the
subject of development and promotion I urged
my specific ideas in address OF which 1
can give you but a few scattered extracts, as
follows:
Industrially speaking, California is in its
early youth. California has hundreds OF thou
sands, and even millions of broad acres of
land with rainless summerss backed by i'm
mense watersheds which furnish supply of
irrigation bitches in connection with which
the land offers to the new settler and home-
seeker at the prices now existing a yearly
return of 20 per cent to 200 per cent.
We have the railroads and trolley lines per-
meating rural districts; the most beautiful
and the most valuable climate in the world;
the best soils that the sun ever shone upon,
and a high average condition OF organized
society We have advertised and we have
been advertised by our beautiful products,
and ''by our loving friends" as the saying
goes, but taking the state as a whole we
have not done proper amount OF coioniza-
tion work.
To accomplish such result closer rela-
tionship between the actual work OF colon
ization by the boards OF trade, development
societies. chambers Of commerce. etc, must
be inaugurated. These organizations have
done admirable work, and will continue TO do
so In the line OF advertising and exploitation
settlement or arrangement or movement OF
people To make the work more methodical
and certain in its results 1 would plan the
actual handling Of the settlers by the pubic
organizations. A specific illustration of the
plan under which believe such public bodies
should operate in the building UP of a new
district would be about as follows
First. That the local board Of trade or
ganize on a regular commercial basis and
make a canvass for members in the usual
way They form land pool. Let this pub
wt1N 60 ha
lie body canvass the valley or district 10 pe
advertised and secure options for long
term on at least half of the large and even
some of the small holdings in that valley or
section. To secure an option for long term
on a piece of property may seem to be an
in possible thing. Under the circumstances
upon which such an organization would work
there can be no reason why land owners
should not give from two to three and -FOUR
years to properly carry out the plans OF col
onization and development in any district. In
the first place, the large land holder. II ne Is
desirous of a growing population, can auord
to give a long term option to snch an organ
ization very readily, whereas he could not
afford to give such to the average real estate
operator. In the first place, the man holding
from 1000 to 10000 acres Of land, when joining
in a movement which will control the whole
district can readily that when one-half OF
his land has been sold and populated the
other half has more than doubled or trebled in
value and therefore he has both the. cake ana
the penny at one and the same time. He can
enjoyment OF his money and result in having
the other half worth two times more than
the whole was valued in its original condi-
tion. To accomplish the cooperation or large
land owners the board of trade would have
to agree TO sell the land only to bona fde
settlers, who would build and improve, and
plant and dwell upon the place. With these
conditions confronting them and under proper
influence and pressure the large land owners
of any district could afford to align themselves
with the workings of the local board of trade
and have their lands or portions of them put
upon the market.
While California is desirous of having sew
eral million more people out here, and while
everything is ready and in shape to insure
them a prosperous career after their arrival,
the fault is not with the people that they do
not come 1t Is on account of the lack OF
method and proper system in handling them.
People move freely in groups. The eX-
penses of salesmanship on large unoocupied
tracts of land is enormous Soil fertility, abun-
dance of irrigation water desirability of cli-
mate may show an absolute perfect location
to the intending settler; but his wife may
spoil the whole deal, because of the absence
OF neignbors, schools and stores.
Remember the laws of human nature, that
the going Of one person through dark strip
of wooded country at night is a ghost story,
but as soon as you have a crowd it is coon
hunt.