98 



CALIFORNIA. 



the State in 1898 was valued at $27,289,079, more 

 than $2,000,000 above that of 1897. 



The yield of oranges was about 12,000 car 

 loads of 12 tons each, and that of lemons 2,500 

 car loads. These sold at wholesale and in auction 

 rooms for $11,018,125. About 25,000 tons of beet 

 sugar were made. The fruit pack was approxi- 

 mately 2,000,000 cases, or about 50,000,000 cans. 

 The dairy product was estimated at 23,391,128 

 pounds of butter and 5,148,372 of cheese. The 

 .Miniated quantity of dry wines was 12,000,000 

 gallons- of sweet wines, 7,000,000; and of brandy 

 for ten months, 1,050,000 gallons. The raisin 

 crop was about 70,000,000 pounds. The prune 

 crop was much smaller than usual, amounting 

 to about 55,000,000 pounds by the lowest esti- 

 mate. Only about one third of the usual wheat 

 crop was raised 9,666,666 bushels. 



San Francisco. The number of manufac- 

 tories in the city during the year ending March 

 1 was 1,846; employees, 32,104; and the value 

 of the product, $77,189,116. The total transac- 

 tions of the Clearing House in 1899 were esti- 

 mated at $985,000,000. The largest amount of 

 clearings heretofore was that of 1891 $892,426,- 

 713. The imports in 1899 to the port amounted 

 to $35,747,535. 



Coulterville. This mining town, in Mariposa 

 County, was destroyed by fire in July the third 

 time it has suffered in this way. 



San Pedro Harbor. The beginning of work 

 on the breakwater designed to make San Pedro 

 a harbor of commerce and refuge was celebrated, 

 April 26, by a jubilee, attended by about 20,000 

 people. The first load of rock was dumped by 

 electric agency set in motion by the President 

 at Washington. 



Randsburg. This mining district was organ- 

 ized Dec. 20, 1895. In 1896 it produced gold 

 amounting to between $200,000 and $300,000; in 

 1897, $500,000; in 1898, $1,125,000. Recent de- 

 velopments are said to warrant expectation that 

 when the account is made for 1899 it will show 

 $3,000,000. This was one of the most desolate 

 regions in the West four years ago. A recent 

 observer reports that the ore chamber of the 

 Yellow Aster mine is already 40 feet high, and 

 as many broad, without finding the outside termi- 

 nus of the ledge in any direction. The excava- 

 tion is too large to be timbered, and the owners 

 are to put the mill in the mine, in the heart of 

 the mountain. It is the intentioja to begin on 

 top of the mountain and remove the whole moun- 

 tain down to the ore bed. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature was in 

 session from Jan. 2 till March 19. Thomas Flint 

 was chosen President pro tcm. of the Senate, and 

 Frank L. Brandon secretary. Howard E. Wright 

 was elected Speaker of the House, Alden Ander- 

 son Speaker pro tern., and C. W. Kyle chief clerk. 



A successor was to be chosen to United States 

 Senator Stephen M. White. After a prolonged 

 and bitter contest adjournment was had with- 

 out an election, 104 ballots having been taken. 

 The Republicans had 85 votes on joint ballot, 

 the Democrats about 32. Republican candidates 

 were llysses S. Grant, Daniel M. Burns, W. H. 

 I.. I'.arnes, Irving M. Scott, Robert N. Bulla, 

 George A. Knight, Thomas R. Bard, and others; 

 there was no caucus candidate. Democrats voted 

 for Senator White, John Rosenfeldt, and others. 

 I). M. Burns, to whom there was strong opposi- 

 tion on the ground that he was understood to 

 > the candidate of the Southern Pacific Railroad 

 Company, held about 30 votes only, but the op- 

 position was not united. The final ballot stood : 

 Grant, 30; Burns, 30; Barnes, 18; Scott, 4; Pat- 



terson, 4; Estee, 1; White, 24; Phelan, 6; Rosen- 

 feldt, 2; De Vries, 1. Charges of corruption hav- 

 ing been made in connection with the vote for 

 Senator, an investigation was ordered by a com- 

 mittee of the Assembly, whose report was filed 

 Jan. 27. The findings of the committee were that 

 the Speaker of the Assembly, Howard E. Wright, 

 had received aid in his election to the Legisla- 

 ture or to the speakership from the friends of 

 at least three of the candidates for the senator- 

 ship on the expressed or implied promise of his 

 vote and support, and that he had secured the 

 support of the San Francisco Call by leading the 

 owner and the manager to believe that he was 

 wholly unpledged. In regard to the charge that 

 money was unlawfully expended for the election 

 of Ulysses S. Grant" the report declared that 

 Milton J. Green had spent a large amount of 

 money to secure the election of Republicans to 

 the Legislature, presumably to aid in the election 

 of U. S. Grant to the senatorship. The report 

 concluded : 



" That, in view of the above findings of fact, 

 your committee recommends: That the conduct 

 of Howard E. Wright, Speaker of the Assembly, 

 as above set forth, be held to be reprehensible 

 in an extreme degree, and that no mere censure 

 on the part of the Assembly can meet the require- 

 ments of justice. 



" That the expenditure of large sums of money 

 in aid of the candidacy of a United States Sena- 

 tor in the manner above set forth is wrong and 

 reprehensible, in that it is calculated to corrupt 

 morals, to debauch the political system, to deter 

 poor men of ability from entering upon a sena- 

 torial campaign, and to give to the rich an un- 

 warranted and unjustifiable advantage over men 

 of equal ability and qualifications, but of limited 

 means; that the receiving of money by legislative 

 candidates from probable senatorial candidates, 

 either directly or indirectly, in aid of their own 

 candidacy, is reprehensible for the same reasons." 



In consequence of this report the Speaker re- 

 signed, Jan. 30. Alden Anderson, Speaker pro 

 tern., was elected to the vacancy, and F. E. Dun- 

 lap to Mr. Anderson's place. A resolution to 

 expel the ex-Speaker was defeated by a vote of 

 60 to 10. The affair was ended, March 9, by 

 the dismissal of the contempt proceedings against 

 M. J. Green. A bill was passed prohibiting can- 

 didates for the United States Senate from assist- 

 ing directly or indirectly with money or property 

 in the election of candidates for the State Legis- 

 lature, on the expressed or implied promise that 

 their votes shall be given to the senatorial can- 

 didate, and making the acceptance as well as 

 the giving of such money or property a felony. 



The bills introduced in the Assembly numbered 

 1,015; in the Senate, 750. 



Several measures changing the regulations for 

 election were carried. The form of the Australian 

 ballot was altered by one of these, the chief pro- 

 vision of which requires that the names of the 

 nominees of the different parties shall be printed 

 in parallel columns, each column ta. be headed 

 in display type by the name of the party whose 

 candidates are listed therein. It does not follow 

 the plan of permitting the voter to affix a mark 

 under the party designation, and thus vote the 

 straight ticket, but requires a mark to be placed 

 opposite the name of each candidate voted for. 

 The order in which the party names are to go on 

 the ballot shall be directed by the Secretary of 

 State, precedence to be given to the party which 

 polled the highest vote at the previous State 

 election. The purpose of the bill is to get the 

 names of the candidates of each party together 



