COMMERCE. 339 



for investing money securely in California are few compared 

 with other countries, and the chief causes of the difference are 

 to be found in the defects of our land-titles, and the unsteadi- 

 ness of business. There is no place where capital needs the 

 constant attention of a prudent manager more than in this 

 state. There are so many revolutions in business, that a brief 

 neglect may cause the loss of a fortune. It is a very unsafe 

 country for money left in the charge of agents. Their com- 

 mission is high, and they will usually give much less atten- 

 tion to a bailor's property than to their own. The interest of 

 money is too high for investment in state stocks. The bonds 

 of the state of California are all sold in New York, and the 

 interest is made payable there, and nearly all are held there or 

 in Europe. Most of these bonds bear only seven per cent, in- 

 terest annually, not half the current rates here. So of the 

 bonds of our towns and counties, for nearly every town and 

 county has its debt, the bonds are mostly held abroad, and the 

 interest is too low for the demands of capital in California. 

 There are then no state stocks that can be owned here, and 

 thus we are cut off from one of the best and most extensive 

 fields of investment. Labor is so high that we have few fac- 

 tories. The titles of farming-land are as a general thing inse- 

 cure. Farming, as a business conducted on a large scale, is 

 extremely uncertain. Our population is so small that the 

 market is easily overstocked, and freight to Europe and the 

 Atlantic states is so expensive, that a surplus can only be sent 

 away with difficulty ; and we are so remote that any shipment 

 is accompanied by many risks, for between the time when the 

 vessel sails from San Francisco and the time when she arrives 

 at Liverpool, there is an interval of three or four months, dur- 

 ing which period a ruinous depreciation may occur. The flue 

 tuations which occur in the grain market, have their parallels 

 in all other kinds of agricultural products : cattle, sheep, and 

 wine. There is no title to mineral land save occupation ; and 

 mining on a large scale is more dangerous than farming. 

 Whenever any branch of business becomes so established as 



