STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 185 



that the races now upon the earth, and the religions now contending, must 

 wind up all there is of human history and human greatness; that these 

 races must work out all that can he done. This is a great and soher truth. 

 At last the new land of ours came prominently in view as the new land 

 of promise. Situated as the old Canaan, with a similar climate and with 

 similar soil, with the great Pacific answering to the western sea, the moun- 

 tains and desert stretching hetween here and the other States, answering 

 to the desert surrounding Canaan, and to Europe, on one side, with high 

 mountains, higher than Xebo, Pisgah, Herman, or Lebanon, and with 

 grander scenery than ever existed in that older land. When our old 

 pioneers, who are celebrating the admission of our State into the glorious 

 Union, when they passed into our borders they brought with them more 

 than the children of Israel bore into Canaan. They had not only the ark 

 of the covenant, but the Christian religion and the Constitution of our 

 great country, with the principles of liberty; and they found here already 

 erected Christian altars, and they found it a Christian land. There was 

 no heathen to be driven out; no Dagon or Bel were worshiped here. We 

 have a grander people than the Jewish people, because instead of having 

 one family here we have them all, of every kindred and tongue; we have 

 all the great races of Europe with us; the great races that have been the 

 civilizers of other lands; they have come into the new land of promise. 

 And what is the result of this ? We have finer breeds of cattle than those 

 of Bashan; we have finer grapes than those of Eschol; we have richer figs 

 than those of Damascus; and there is no Dead Sea within our borders. 

 Similarly situated, so far as the Old World was concerned, is our Califor- 

 nia situated to the new. All our breeds of animals have improved upon 

 the stocks that were brought to this country, and we hear from the East — 

 though I am not much of a horseracer — day by day that our horses are 

 outspeeding all the fleetest of foot. Europe produces nothing that excels 

 us in speed, nothing superior to the American cattle, and nothing equal to 

 the American citizen. 



Nor do the Eastern States equal us in the production of the human ani- 

 mal. Here the other day — and I speak of it with no disrespect — some 

 gentleman was standing upon a platform, and, observing the Grand Army 

 people when here — and they were a representation of the best men and 

 women of the East, from every quarter of this great Union — " why," he 

 said, " I could tell a California man or woman the moment he or she stepped 

 past the platform. They were a superior animal, and why? They are 

 better sheltered, they are better fed, they are better trained, they are better 

 educated in every line and walk of life. A man of seventy-two years here 

 is strong and vigorous, and if he had remained in Indiana or Missouri, or 

 any of those States, he would not have a tooth in his head; they would have 

 been shaken out by the chills." Here you have long continued health — ten, 

 twenty, thirty, and forty years of continued health; no disease or sickness. 

 This is a proud and glorious State. Take this hall; take what we have 

 here before us to-night as an example. Suppose that some earthquake 

 should engulf this hall and all its contents in a great chasm, and years 

 hence some explorer should dig into the ruins, and what would he find? 

 Everything that is beautiful to the eye, everything that is pleasant to the 

 taste, everything that is useful to man, and nothing that dishonors, drags 

 down, or destroys the moral character of man or woman. But, you go to 

 the ruins of the ancient temples and dig beneath their foundations, and tell 

 me what will you find? Why, you would find there worshiped idols and 

 things that would make any educated American blush to look upon. This 

 marks the difference between the civilizations. For a moment let me refer 



