Year: 1860

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much merit has been before our different
Legislatures. 1t has been treated with levity.
Its supporters have suffered themselves to be
ridiculed from their position. We trust the
matter will now receive the earnest and Sc
rious consideration which its importance de-
mands. law guaranteeing Homestead
rights to unmarried men would rebound to
vast good. Our argument in favor OF such
provision is mainly based upon the peculiar
social position of our State A marked fea.
ture of California population is the vast dis.
parity in pont If numbers that exists be.
tween the sexes From the initiation Of emf
grafton to these shores, tie unfeltered male
has been crowdng upon us in shoals. The
same spirit Of adventure is yet ulging him
ththerward. He fingers here for a brief pc
rod. lie courses about our territory. and
fres and tolls away. We see him hurrvine
to the sea board. He leaps over the tatiraI
OF the ocean steamer, and bids us adieu for
ever. Elsewhere, for the future will he an
chor his energies and hopes


A tlippant Legislature may laugh and ieer
at matrlmony. 1t Is licensed lest, and vet
very threadbare 1t should not .hwart prop
er legislation. The laws of nature as we'll as
society invite the union of the sexes, and
award such consumpation with richest and
chastest joys. From the nuptia compact
flow those domestic relations which sweeten
the bitterness of life and cement mankind in
enlightened aud virtuous brotherhood. Tho
the skies are as bright here AS elsewhere, and
our atmosphere as bamy and invigoratinr-
though labor is better remuneraed than in
other portions of our hemisphere though
trade throbs through as many diversified ar
terles-though cur soil is uxuriant beyond
compare, and there sleeps in valley and hill
top lmmeasurabe wealth of yellow mineral
notwithstanding such accumuaing induce
ments to locaizaton and permnnency of
abode, our vigorous young men flee away
from us as atfrighted mountain deer. The
reason of their sudden departure is very OBJ
vious. What matters the most successful
accumulation of worldly effects while the af.
fections are poised like birds in mid air, with
nothing to rest upon, and the heart is void
and empty? They leave us in search of so.
cial commune. They leave us in pursuit of
a home and a tireside a d domestic mate
We have spoken of the disparity Of the sexes
in regard to numbers. Such disparity is the
bane Of the State. More than all else it
retards our progress and development II
Legislation could be bent in any manner to
supply the desideratum and reclaim to our
shores our departing youths, then will our
floating and solourning population become
fixtures of the soil, and immense good ensue
There is natural and commendable pride in
the possession of property. The ambition of
the entire human family is to secure home
Apart from the wild and specializing spirit
which ntesis the people of this State Cal
tornia pursuits are in The main precalious
and vascillating. A weeks toll will some
to bursting. lie often struggles for months
thereafter, with no increment to his hoard,
goaded on by the phantom of hope. Rest,
lessness, dissatisfaction, disgust and often dis
spation ensue. In his olden home it would
require years to amass as much as lays con
ceaed in his humble cabin. On the noun
tain side and in the pleasant canyon lie has
health and strength. He would ngcr there
for years or forever, if a sweet and loving
bride was there to receive his morning adieu,
or extend an evening welcome. He is eager
to invest bis gains in decorating an acre or
two with substantial enclosure, and Joyous
and durable ediice He would like to sur
round himself with domestcated animals
California is good enough for him-good
enough for the girl be left behind him with
the promise of continuing love. She can
easily traverse the billows and reach him on
this side of the continent. In fact he has the
means to start away and bring her to his new
home. But no. The law will not protect
him in abstracting an acre to his own use in
the mineral regions. The law will not secure
his little mountain improvement from the
pursuit of remorseless Gre ditors He may
lose his all in another adventure and incur
debts. This it is that makes him restless.-
This it is that wings his hopes to other lands.
This it is that destroys all patriotism for Cal
ifornia. He delves away, and consumes fiery
liquids with his companions. Sometimes he
leaves us with much coin about him. but
more often with a broken heart and broken
constitution; and all because stupid Legisla-
lures have refused to protect him in Cali
fornia home


The married agriculturist is happy in the
reflection that his hep-mate and little ones
are secured from pressing want in their new
home, amid the vcissiludes of fortune. The
single man, pursuing the same avocation,
burning to amass suificiency for the mar
ried state, is stripped of all his accumulations
in one fell moment. The metropolitan clerk
has bis matrimonial ambition. If his city
lot and humble domicil were protected from
legal invasion he would economic his earn
ings and incline his thoughts to future resi-
dence in our State He fritters away his
money and physical strength. His energies
are devoted to obtaining means for hasty de-
barca;ion. These are a few of the many and
cogent reasonings that should sway our pres
ent Legislature to a law awarding homesteads