206 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



adopted, and others constantly coming for adoption, and all competent 

 and willing to take charge of this property and carry it on — would such 

 an individual, a tlii'ifty farmer if you please, consider himself hopelessly 

 involved if he should, by some unavoidable occurrence, owe one fifth of 

 the taxable valuation of his property? ]No. All he would ask would 

 be to be permitted to pa}' a reasonable interest for a reasonable time in 

 which to pay the principal. Why, the cash value by the census report 

 of farms alone — not including farming im])lements and machinery — 

 amounted in eighteen hundred and sixty to six billion six hundred and 

 fifty million dollars, a sum more than twice as large as the national debt. 

 I repeat, there is no cause for discouragement. On the contrary, there 

 is reason to rejoice; though our debt is great, we are possessed of bound- 

 less resources with which to meet and discharge that debt; though our 

 stature as to territor}', population, and Avealth is of gigantic proportions, 

 yet as a nation we are not in a state of decline, but in the very bloom 

 and vigor of youth; though our burden is large, yet our growing 

 strength will enable us to bear it easil}-. We have reason to rejoice, too, 

 that we are in fact as well as in theory a nation of li-eemen — that we are 

 in a condition as a nation to practice the doctrines we have preached as 

 political axioms of our faith, that all men are created equal, and that all 

 governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, 

 and thus demonstrate before the world that man is capable of free, endu- 

 ring self-government. Let us regulate our actions according to the 

 principle of justice, and not unnecessarilj- be drawn into Avar with foreign 

 powers, and thereby increase our national burden. Then, with our 

 iDoundless and ever-augmenting sources of wealth to be developed by our 

 ever-expanding population, enlarged by a constant stream of immigra- 

 tion from Europe, we shall at once mount u])ward in the scale of pro- 

 gress and civilization Avith a velocity that shall leave all other nations in 

 the distance. And now, Mr. President, permit me to say that we, as 

 Californinns. have occasion to feel a just pride that California is a part 

 and parcel of this great and glorious nationalit}'. From her position it 

 is her mission to act an important part in the future, as she has done in 

 the past, in sustaining the imtional credit, and furnishing the sinews of 

 currency. Her golden treasures flowing into the national system for 

 twelve years prior, as well as during the great rebellion, Avhen all our 

 hopes hung breathless upon the nation's fate, gave temper to its nerves, 

 added strength to ever}- bone, muscle, and tissue of the body politic, and 

 snjjplj-iiig a constant stream of life-giving nutriment^ gave it power to 

 meet the shock, surmount every obstacle, and come forth crowned with 

 enduring laurels of victory. It was the high privilege of California to 

 first unlock the golden fountain. The discovery and development of the 

 mines here led to the discovery and development elsewhere — in Austra- 

 lia — Colorado — and all over the Pacific slope of North America. Every 

 field of enterprise, every nation, agriculture, commerce, all industrial 

 pursuits, and perhaps every human being upon the globe, have felt their 

 influence. 



But great as have been the results of the discovery of the precious 

 metals — the impulse given to the world's march, or the particular benefit 

 to our own countr\^ at a most opportune period — we cannot ignore the 

 fact, that agriculture is the foundation, and, therefore, the most im])or- 

 tant of all other pursuits. Without increasing production by cultivating 

 the soil, no civilized nation could exist — blot out this paramount pursuit, 

 and but few of the present population of the globe would be able to sur- 

 vive. But while agriculture is by common consent placed first in the 



