210 Transactions of the 



the homestead law. The wealth of a State is made up of the aggregate 

 wealth of its citizens; its growth in wealth depends upon their aggre- 

 gate earnings. True economy therefore dictates the placing of every 

 man in a position to add to the wealth of the State by his industry. 

 How can so good a disposition of our public domain be made, therefore, 

 as to give it to the poor, and thereby enable them to become producers 

 who might otherwise be a tax upon the energies of others. Every one 

 hundred and sixty acres actually occupied will not only steadily increase 

 in value, but on an average will turn olf more in value each year than the 

 price of its purchase; yet every dollar realized from it from year to year 

 will generally be expended in the support and education of the family 

 occupying it, and the purchase price, if the occupants be compelled to 

 pay it, will hang over him for years, if not paralyzing his energies, at 

 least clouding his hopes. The passage of the homestead law was a step 

 in the right direction. Let all unite in the interest of the laboring men 

 of the country, in the interest of an enlightened humanity, and for the 

 common good of all, in demanding that the public domain be set apart 

 forever as the free inheritance of "our own and our immigrant poor. Let 

 us at once demand of the next Legislature a repeal of the law whereby 

 speculators have become possessed of large tracts of swamp and over- 

 flowed lands — the very choicest we have. Let these, too, be held, if not 

 without price, at least for those who will cultivate them. Let it be 

 understood no fault is to be found with, those who have availed them- 

 selves of a bad law; the fault is in the law which permits them to profit 

 off the j)oor, or what is more frequently the case, embarrass the poor 

 without profit to themselves. 



The system of farming hitherto followed is both wasteful and disad- 

 vantageous, but it is believed to be wholly the outgrowth of the peculiar 

 embarrassments under which we have labored. Farmers have relied 

 almost wholly upon a single kind of crop. This failing, they have failed. 

 Nothing can be more risky. But it has been heretofore almost impos- 

 sible for the majority to diversify their crops and combine farming with 

 stock raising, because of the great cost of dividing up their farms with 

 fences so as to admit of this kind of husbandry. But if we would farm 

 profitably this must be done. Meat and bread must be grown together 

 if we would not deteriorate our soil. This is a truth well known to our 

 farmers, and yet one to which we have so far paid little attention. But 

 he who so farms as to exhaust his soil makes a present profit only to 

 insure a future loss. The farmer who grows grain and raises no stock, 

 as too many do, wastes the profits which should be realized in the glean- 

 ing of his stubbles, in the utilizing his straw stacks — a profit equal to 

 what farmers make in many parts of the world. The stubbie and straw 

 from a grain field, properly cared for, are worth more to the stock raiser 

 than the natural grasses which would grow upon the same land. This 

 shows at once the importance of combining the two interests. As fast 

 as men can prepare themselves to carry on this better system of farming, 

 it is to be hoped they will do so, and until then, in common justice, the 

 obnoxious law requiring A to fence his grain field against the depreda- 

 tions of B's stock should be repealed. Each man should be enabled to 

 possess his own. This policy of discriminating in favor of an inferior 

 against a superior one is a blighting wrong, which has worked a great 

 injuiy to the State. 



Among the very best indications for our future prosperity are the 

 preparations being made for irrigation in that section of the State most 

 needing it — the San Joaquin Valley. This great valley, the most exten- 



