14 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



tency is to cultivate every product where nature lends the largest 

 measure of assistance. The great advancement made in the means of 

 transportation and communication is working radical changes in the 

 industrial pursuits of the world. The grain fields of the West have 

 forced the almost entire abandonment of grain growing in New Eng- 

 land for the more diligent and more profitable attention to dairy pro- 

 ducts. In this we find an instance fully illustrating the tendency 

 already alluded to. The same principle has equal application to all 

 productions, whether of the farm or the factory. The peculiar and 

 special advantages possessed by any locality inures to the benefit of all 

 the world. The distribution and assignment of all productions to the 

 soils and climates best adapted to their growth, will prove as advan- 

 tageous to mankind as has been the division of labor into the various 

 trades, arts, and professions. In the production of breadstuffs Cali- 

 fornia possesses in her peculiar climate an advantage enjoyed by no 

 other country of which we have any knowledge. I refer to the 

 absence of rain during the period of harvest. In all other wheat 

 regions of the world inclement and unfavorable weather during 

 harvest time is one of the leading obstacles to successful wheat farm- 

 ing. Rains and storms during the period of harvest throughout the 

 temperate zone often inflict the heaviest damage, not infrequently 

 resulting in the total loss of crops. In California a disaster from this 

 source is never known or apprehended. From May to November our 

 grain ripens and is harvested under cloudless skies. This is an 

 advantage not easily over-estimated. 



The question as to whether all these great discoveries of science and 

 mechanical inventions, by which the productive capacity of men is 

 increased and manual labor saved, tend to disturb the more equal 

 distribution of wealth, and increase the disparity of condition between 

 the rich and the poor, is one that has engaged the"attention of the 

 most profound thinkers and employed the pens of the ablest writers 

 of modern times. I do not propose to enter the arena of discussion 

 with these learned men, either to dispute or agree with their conclu- 

 sions. I do, however, beg your indulgence while I present a few 

 obvious considerations bearing upon the general subject of the effect 

 of all progress in labor-saving discoveries and machinery. Labor is 

 the chief factor in the production of wealth. Wealth, then, as the 

 product of labor, must become more easily attainable in proportion 

 as the facilities for its creation increases. The harvesting machinery 

 and the more scientific methods of agriculture may diminish the 

 demand for labor in the production of bread, but the cost of bread 

 will be correspondingly diminished. The wants of civilized men 

 multiply and increase with the possibilities of supplying them, and rise 

 higher as the problem of supplying the more primitive wants reaches 

 a more satisfactorj^ solution. The demand for labor to supply the 

 higher comforts and the intellectual wants of life increases in exact 

 proportion as the demand for labor to supply the physical want 

 diminishes. The list of occupations increases with every new census. 

 New industries and new arts are constantly being added to the profit- 

 able occupation of industry. These new occupations relate to the 

 higher tastes and aspirations as mankind is elevated from lower to 

 higher planes of civilized want. 



The close identity between the interests of production and trans- 

 portation justifies some reference to the approaching completion of 

 the Southern Pacific Railroad. I have already alluded to the problem 



