STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 161 



whether the agricultural interests of the State are being conducted in a 

 manner to secure the greatest benefits from the advantageous circum- 

 stances with which we are surrounded. * 



Our geographical situation is all that could be desired to enable us to 

 make the most of whatever we may produce by exchanges with other 

 peoples and other countries. When we look out across the continent, 

 from our very doors to the shores- of the Atlantic, we find a people 

 anxious to buy for cash the surplus of nearlj- everything we can produce. 

 The miners of Nevada want of our surplus wheat, barley, corn, potatoes, 

 beans, fruits, wines, woollen goods, etc., etc., and in exchange they give 

 us their gold and silver. The extreme East and the old West are ask- 

 ing for our fruits, our wines, our silks, our leather; in fact, everything 

 we have to sell finds a ready market at remunerative prices all along 

 this great thoroughfare, from the commencement of our own foot-hills to 

 the extreme borders of the continent. In fact, the people beyond the 

 Atlantic are urging us to enter largely into the production of the raw 

 silk and silk seed, to supply the demand for their consumption, which is 

 millions of dollars' worth annually. If we look out at the Golden Gate, 

 into and across the Pacific Ocean — to say nothing of our advantageous 

 commercial relations already existing with the countries along the coast, 

 both north and south — to say nothing of the numerous islands and the 

 whaling fleets which look to us for their supplies — we see the vast 

 myriads of Asia, with their heretofore exclusion walls broken down, and 

 their ports thrown open, inviting us to the enjoyment of a commerce 

 rich beyond precedent, and which, if judiciously nursed and cultivated, 

 cannot fail to secure to us advantages attainable by no other State or 

 country. 



Surrounded, as we thus are, by so many advantageous circumstances, 

 it becomes us seriously and searchingly to inquire how we may best 

 prepare ourselves for securing, in the greatest degree, the benefits they 

 offer. What shall we cultivate — what shall we produce, to enable us to 

 supply all these various demands to the best advantage? We possess 

 so many varieties of soil, so many varieties and conditions of climate, that 

 our natural capacities for production are almost as varied and extensive 

 as the demands upon us. 



Viewing all the circumstances which surround us, and which go to 

 make us what we are, what should be our policy in reference to the 

 agriculture of our State? That policy, in my opinion, is plain and easy 

 to be determined. Our public domain, our lands in general, should be 

 divided up into small farms or parcels, each one of these to become the 

 home and homestead of a family, dependent for a livelihood upon the 

 cultivation of that homestead. 



Since the organization of our State, the greatest drawback upon our 

 prosperity has been in this very land question. Through the unfortu- 

 nate management of our General Government, the baneful system of 

 Spain in the disposition of her public domain was entailed upon us, and 

 Spanish grants, valid and invalid, real and spurious, covered a large por- 

 tion of our best agricultural lands throughout the State. Time and other 

 circumstances have in a measure worn away the effects of this system, 

 but in its place has sprung up another, equally detrimental to our pros- 

 perity. * 



I refer to the accumulation of our lands in the hands of corporations 

 and wealthy individuals for speculative purposes. Thousands of acres of 



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