-i a II' AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 1 75 



Oregon, on the north, is also separated from us by a high range of moun- 

 tains, which is not yel traversed by rail, and by a dangerous and tem- 

 pestuous sea. California must, therefore, rely wholly Upon herself. No 

 borrowed enterprise or neighborly influence can build up our industries. 

 ( >ur market to-day. and for all time, will be a distant one. And while this 

 is entirely true, yet California is the pivotal State of the Pacific Slope. 

 Her intimate business, political, and social relations, with all the Pacific 

 States and Territories, renders rapid, easy, and cheap communication with 

 them a necessity. Of all things now necessary to he done to advance the 

 commercial }>osition of our State, the completion of a line of railroad to 

 Oregon is the most important. 



This would open a new channel for OUT traffic, and it would give us direct 

 communication with Oregon, Washington Territory, Montana. Idaho, and 

 Dakota. The fact is that the great north, east, and west will he the prin- 

 cipal markets for our fruits and vegetables, hut. to succeed, we must have 

 something to sell and the best to sell. We should pattern after the older 

 and better experiences of the Eastern States, and he traders as well as pro- 

 ducers. Our success docs not depend upon our capabilities for production, 

 but rather upon what we do produce, and the price we sell it for. The time 

 has long since passed when we can live upon "brag" and grow rich upon 

 soil and climate. In this day the farmer who despises small gains, or looks 

 with contempt upon small farms and small farmers, is fighting against 

 inevitable destiny. Successful farming means successful competition. In 

 this age of rapid and cheap transportation, we must produce the best, or 

 the cheapest, or the most of an article, or we will fail. 



In the battle of life every man is an athlete entered for a race, and he 

 who gets in first Avins the prize. The farmer who succeeds will deserve suc- 

 cess. He is like the horse that sweeps around your course, in the excite- 

 ment of the race, with every nerve strained and every muscle distended, 

 doing a little better at each "effort — the last race gives him greater powers 

 for the next. In the past we have talked so much and done so little, that 

 the business world is holding the watch upon us now. 



RECORD OF CALIFORNIA PRODUCTION. 



We are making a record; let it be a splendid one. The truth is good 

 enough. We must convince people by our acts as to what we can do. We 

 must show them by sample that we can raise something that other people 

 cannot raise, and do something that other people cannot do. But the sam- 

 ple must be an honest one; it must be true to label. Our canned fruits 

 must not deceive the man who buys them. The stamp upon our wine 

 must tell the whole truth. It should be made a felony to put French labels 

 on California wines. If our wine is as good as the French wine, then this 

 is a fraud upon us; if it is not, it is a fraud upon them. It is a wicked 

 subterfuge that flatters the vanity of foolish men who prefer what is for- 

 eign because it is foreign, not because it is best. With our facilities to 

 produce, and to produce the best of everything, absolute business honesty 

 as to what we have for sale is more necessary than anything else that can 

 be done or said by us to secure a permanent success. A business lie 

 destroys the very business it would build up. 



WHEAT. 



I am not unaware that it is the usual expression of Californians that the 

 resources of this State are as boundless as is the great ocean which washes 



