108 



CALIFORNIA. 



of sex, be disqualified from entering upon or 

 pursuing any lawful business, vocation, or pro- 

 fession." 



The following most ample provisions were 

 made for the election relative to the Constitu- 

 tion : 



SEC. 4. The Superintendent of Fruiting of the State 

 of California shall, at least thirty days before the first 

 Wednesday in May, A. D. 1879, cause to be printed 

 at the State printing-office, in pamphlet form, simply 

 stitched, as many copies of this Constitution as there 

 are registered voters in this State, and mail one copy 

 thereof to the post-office address of each registered 

 voter ; provided, any copies not called for ten days 

 after reaching their delivery office shall be subject to 

 general distribution by the several postmasters of the 

 State. The Governor shall issue nis proclamation, 

 giving notice of the election for the adoption or rejec- 

 tion of this Constitution, at least thirty days before 

 the said first Wednesday of May, 1879, and the boards 

 of supervisors of the several counties shall cause said 

 proclamation to be made public in their respective 

 counties, and general notice of said election to be 

 given at least fifteen days next before said election. 



SEC. 5. The Superintendent of Printing of the State 

 of California shall, at least twenty days before said 

 election, cause to be printed and delivered to the 

 clerk of each county in this State five times the num- 

 ber of properly prepared ballots for said election that 

 thei^ are voters in said respective counties, with the 

 words printed thereon, "For the new Constitution." 

 He shall likewise cause to be so printed and delivered 

 to said clerks five times the number of properly pre- 

 pared ballots for said election that there are voters in 

 said respective counties, with the words printed there- 

 on, " Against the new Constitution." The Secretary 

 of State is hereby authorized and required to furnish 

 the Superintendent of State Printing^ a sufficient quan- 

 tity of legal ballot paper, now on hand, to carry out 

 the provisions of this section. 



It was provided that the Constitution should 

 take effect and be of force on and after the 

 4th of July, 1879, at 12 o'clock meridian, so 

 far as related to the election of all officers and 

 the commencement of their terms of office and 

 the meeting of the Legislature. In all other 

 respects and for all other purposes it should 

 take effect on January 1, 1880, at 12 o'clock 

 meridian. 



The Convention adjourned on the 3d of 

 March, about two months previous to the elec- 

 tion, and a vehement campaign against it was 

 commenced. It was conducted with so much 

 virulence that it probably in the end produced, 

 as is usual in such cases, a reaction in favor of 

 the instrument. A canvass of the position of 

 the press of the State on the question, includ- 

 ing some papers of neighboring States with 

 business interests closely identified with Cali- 

 fornia, showed on April 19th one hundred and 

 fifty papers arrayed against the Constitution, 

 and only forty-seven urging its adoption. 



A Eepublican mass meeting on March 19th, 

 at Sacramento, adopted the following among 

 other resolutions : 



Fifth. That, inasmuch as the ruffian king of the 

 sand-lots has ordered his followers to support the 

 new Constitution, and has, through his brutal speech- 

 es and his self-appointed and unscrupulous newspa- 

 per organ, made support of that instrument the teat 

 of membership in his so-called Workingmen's party ; 

 and as the proposed new Constitution is dangerous in 



its tendencies, experimental in its main provisions, 

 lacking in the essential qualities of a Constitution, con- 

 spicuous for its sins of omission, and generally un- 

 worthy the confidence of the people, we call upon all 

 good citizens to unite in defeating him and his schemes 

 and Constitution, believing that the adoption of the 

 new Constitution under such auspices would work ir- 

 reparable damage to California ; that as Republicans 

 we oppose it, as citizens we oppose it, and we ask the 

 party and people to aid us in defeating Kearney and 

 the new Constitution at one and the same time. 



One speaker said : " The election of May 

 7th for or against the new Constitution was 

 to be the most important one in which the 

 people of California were ever called upon to 

 take part. The Kearney party had made the 

 adoption of the new Constitution a party 

 plank, and the Kepublican party must declare 

 against it and defeat Kearney and his Consti- 

 tution also ; for a victory for Kearney in May 

 would go far toward giving him victory in 

 September, when Congressmen are to be elect- 

 ed and a Legislature chosen. The people must 

 in May decide whether they will leave the 

 safe retreat in which they have prospered for 

 thirty years, and sail away into experimental 

 seas under a Constitution which the men who 

 made it can't explain and the people who read 

 it can't understand. The Eepublicans of the 

 State must take position against the instru- 

 ment, this mongrel Constitution which it is 

 sought to crowd down the throats of the peo- 

 ple." 



The vote on the Constitution was a very full 

 one. In the counties of the State which were 

 equally settled, the vote cast was nearly as 

 large as that given at the Presidential election 

 in 1876. The following counties serve as an 

 illustration : 



The same rule is observable in all the agri- 

 cultural counties with one or two exceptions. 

 Three counties exhibited an increase over 

 1876, two agricultural and the third mining, 

 viz. : 



These changes agree with observed facts. 

 Railroad extension has been settling up Marin 

 and Mendocino very rapidly. The recent min- 

 eral discoveries in Mono have attracted a large 

 population. But nearly all the other mining 

 counties have been losing, viz. : 



