CALIFORNIA 



1066 



CALIFORNIA 



age and its union district high schools. At 

 Chico, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, San 

 Francisco, San Jose and Santa Barbara there 

 are normal schools, and at the head of the 

 educational system stands the University of 

 California, at Berkeley. The state has an- 

 other university of first rank Leland Stanford 

 Junior (which see), at Palo Alto, and many 

 colleges and denominational schools. 



The percentage of illiterates in the state 

 that is, of people above the age of ten who 

 cannot read or write is 3.7; it would be con- 

 siderably lower than this if it were not for 

 the foreign-born population. 



State Institutions. For taking care of its 

 defective and dependent classes, the state has 

 established insane asylums at Agnew, Napa, 

 Stockton and Ukiah; a school for the deaf, 

 dumb and blind is at Berkeley, a home for 

 feeble-minded children is at Eldridge, and a 

 home for adult blind at Oakland. The penal 

 institutions include state prisons at San Quen- 

 tin and Folsom City, a state reform school at 

 Whittier, and the Preston School of Industry 

 at lone. The state has been progressive in its 

 attempts to avoid that harm to lesser wrong- 

 doers which results from housing them with con- 

 firmed criminals, and has established a reform- 

 atory in which first offenders are confined. 



Government. California is governed under 

 a constitution dating from 1879, but in 1911 

 twenty-one amendments to this docurrient were 

 adopted. Most of these were concerned with 

 minor matters, but several of much importance 

 provided for the initiative and referendum and 

 for women's right to vote on an equal basis 

 with men. There are certain restrictions to 

 suffrage rights; no Chinaman may vote, nor 

 can one who has been convicted of a crime or 

 who cannot read the constitution and write his 

 own name. 



The executive power is vested in a governor, 

 lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, comp- 

 troller, treasurer, attorney-general and surveyor- 

 general, each of whom is elected for four years. 

 There is no bar to reelection. The legislature 

 consists of a senate of forty members, elected 

 for four years, and an assembly of eighty 

 members, elected for two years. The length of 

 sessions is not limited, but pay is allowed 

 members for only sixty days. The judiciary 

 comprises a supreme court, consisting of a chief 

 justice and six associates, elected for a term 

 of twelve years; a superior court for each 

 county, and inferior courts established by the 

 legislature. 



Local Government. The units of local gov- 

 ernment are the fifty-eight counties, which 

 are administered under uniform laws. Pro- 

 vision is also made for the organization of 

 townships. A commission form of government 

 is permissible for all cities and towns, and in 

 1914 no fewer than fifteen cities had adopted 

 this plan, among them the capital city. 



California has a state flag, adopted in 1911. 

 It displays, on a white background, a dark- 

 brown grizzly bear, with a red stripe below and 

 a red star above. The legend is "California 

 Republic." See illustration, in FLAG color plate. 



History. Compared with that of the Eastern 

 states, the history of California has been short, 

 but it has been full of interest and romance. 

 The Mexican peninsula of Lower California 

 was discovered in 1533, but not until 1542 did 

 an explorer enter the limits of the present 

 state. This was the Spaniard Cabrillo, who vis- 

 ited the vicinity of Santa Barbara. In 1579 

 Sir Francis Drake made important coast ex- 

 plorations, sailing as far north as 43, by reason 

 of which he claimed the territory for England. 

 However, not until almost two centuries later, 

 in 1769, was the first attempt made at settle- 

 ment, by a Spanish Catholic mission, estab- 

 lished at San Diego by the Franciscans. As 

 this was successful, other missions were 

 promptly erected, and by 1823 there were 

 twenty-one, some well to the north of San 

 Francisco. This mission period is one of the 

 most interesting in the history of the state. 

 The buildings themselves, of a style of archi- 

 tecture with which people have been made 

 familiar in recent years through restorations 

 and imitations, were most picturesque, with 

 their surrounding orange groves, grape planta- 

 tions and cattle ranches ; and the religious work 

 which was done from these as centers was little 

 short of marvelous. Over 80,000 Indians were 

 converted to Christianity and taught farming 

 or other civilized pursuits. 



The Spaniards, however, had never acknowl- 

 edged the right of the friars to the land; the 

 former had begun settlements in 1777, which 

 after the Mexican revolution in 1821 increased 

 and expanded. The missions began to decline, 

 and in 1834 were formally disestablished by 

 the Mexican government, the Indian converts 

 being scattered and the valuable buildings left 

 to plunder and decay. Recently there has 

 been a movement in California for the preser- 

 vation of these old landmarks. 



The people of the United States had early 

 begun to feel an interest in this far western 



