California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



LET'S SWAP. 



H\ • 



QlWD. Aghicultobist: The oft-returning 

 jS^ rp.il or fancied corner in coin that 

 Ti^ so vexes those that are short of the 

 Qn article suggests the question, Do 

 5^ we not use more coin than we need 

 to? If one-third of the business of the 

 country could be done without recourse 

 to banks or coin, it would relieve the 

 pressure on the other two-thirds of busi- 

 ness transactions. Many of our boss 

 mechanics could receive several tons of 

 wheat from their customers who produce 

 it, perhaps flour it at a mill owned by 

 another customer, and deliver it to their 

 workmen at the same, or less, price than 

 they pay for flour at retail. A hundred 

 weight of nice salt pork, delivered to a 

 laboring man at the producer's price, 

 would be far better for all parties than 

 the same amount of pork bought by the 

 "four bits' worth," at retail price. 



Nearly all the productions of the coun- 

 try that are consumed in the country 

 could be handled without handling cash. 

 Even the little bill due the editor of the 

 family paper might be settled to his sat- 

 isfaction with some of the farm or the 

 shop productions, and an extra sack of 

 something put in would send the paper 

 to fathers, brothers or friends "iu the 

 States." [That's so.— Ed.] 



Many family men who work in the 

 harvest field might profitable receive at 

 their doors, before rains set in, a half 

 ton of flour that would count them even 

 better than the coin that the ranchman 

 has with difficulty obtained for them. If 

 every ranchman iu the country could pay 

 one hundred dollars of harvest expenses 

 without recourse to coin or banks it 

 would make a noticeable relief of the us- 

 ual narvest pressure. 



The operatives in many Eastern man- 

 ufactories would be very glad to get a 

 car-load of canned fruits, flour, etc., froui 

 California and return goods to balance 

 the account. The sections with which 

 we exchange but little are sections whose 

 xcorkmen we had better import rather 

 than their goods. Wisconsin and Mich- 

 igan \vagons had better be made in Cali- 

 fornia. Let us "trade most with those 

 that trade most with us." 



It is, or ought to be, for the interest of 

 bankers and mechanics that the people 

 flourish. One well-fed, fat, spirited 

 team, though harder to drive, is worth 

 luore to a ranch than a dozen submis- 

 sive, half-starved "crow baits." 



C. A. W. 



Cozy Nook, July, 1876. 



THAT "MATTER OF POLICY." 



Ed. AGRictnLTDKisT: Mr. 0. L. Abbott, 

 in a letter published in your June num- 

 ber, calls you ta task for republishing a 

 "blue" account of bee-keeping in San 

 Diego. I had read the "blue" account 

 with much satisfaction, feeling sure that 

 though "blue" it was also true. 



We are told by that prince of physic- 

 ists, Tyndall, that blue waves of light 

 are far smaller than red waves; these lat- 

 ter, consequently, would pass through 

 media impervious to the former. 



Now, Mr. Editor, it seems to me that 

 the eye of your California journalist con- 

 tains some film that checks the blue 

 rays. Blue never disturbs the equanim- 

 ity of his optic nerve. The yellows and 

 greens of jealousy occasionally tinge his 

 pen, but rose is the color ho delights in 

 Whatever tint is visible to the ordinary 

 eye, the journalistic eye sees but rose 



To those who live in California, and 

 understand this little peculiarity of lite- 



rature, no harm, perhaps, accrues; but 

 to outsiders, who are seeking whither to 

 emigrate, a great wrong'^is done. There 

 are annually hundreds, i'f not thousands, 

 who come to this State misled by over- 

 colored statements of facilities to be en- 

 joyed here in making homes and acquir- 

 ing farms. They are families of small 

 means, and are led to expect that on ar- 

 rival they will be able to obtain a quarter 

 section of Government land, fit for the 

 plow, at Government price. These ex- 

 pectations are derived from a perusal of 

 the aforesaid literature. I do not say 

 that any special pamphlet or journal 

 states it as an express fact that farming 

 lands in healthy localities can be had at 

 $1 25 per acre, but the reader of current 

 journalism is led to infer that such is the 

 case. The Bidletin lately blamed the 

 Chinese for keeping thirty millions of 

 acres of public land unoccupied. Had 

 they blamed Nature for forming rough 

 chapparal hills of dry, hard grit, quite 

 uninviting, as the San Diego bee-keeper 

 found them, they would have been near- 

 er the truth — a "blue" truth, though. 



The copy-book still instills into the 

 youthful mind that "honesty is the best 

 policy," and I am prepared to back the 

 copy-book against Mr. 0. L. Abbott. I 

 maintain that the immigrant who comes 

 to this State induced by dishonest repre- 

 sentations is a positive detriment to the 

 State. He is apt to become a public 

 burden while here, and to return home 

 to disseminate a far "bluer" opinion of 

 California than the clear truth warrants. 



It would be well if all intending immi- 

 grants could be advised that ordinary 

 farming land i-anges in price from $25 

 for unimproved, to $300 for well-located 

 and improved, per acre; that crops are 

 very precarious on account of drought, 

 especially in inland counties; and, fin- 

 ally, that "all this fine talk of our des- 

 tinies is, half of it, ignorance, t' other 

 half rum." 



A little less trumpeting, gentlemen of 

 the press. Let another man praise thee, 

 and not thine own mouth. 



Edw. Bekwiok. 



THE INDEPENDENT PRESS. 



BY A. G. S. 



Editor Cal. Ageicultdkist; You will 

 please accept the friendly greeting of a 

 once active typo brother, now for some 

 dreary years prostrated by calamity and 

 laid on the shelf of heljiless retirement. 

 An editor is apt to find a "hard road to 

 trabel," especially if he ventures to run 

 a sharp and forcible reform journal, 

 against the raging tide of money power 

 and popularity, amidst the fogs of party 

 and sectism, ignorance, prejudice, anti- 

 quated custom, and old Madam Grundy, 

 and he naturally craves the sympathy of 

 his fellow-craftsmen and of all high- 

 thinking minds. Who can be independ- 

 ent? It takes a hero in the type wilder- 

 ness, as well as with the plow to break 

 the grubby field, and no puny or timid 

 hand can ever accomplish great things. 

 Realizing this fact, you have probably 

 counted the cost, and made up your mind 

 for a manly struggle and a valiant battle. 



The newspaper is a universal neces- 

 sity, if Hottentotism is not the settled 

 law and gospel; and wherever you find 

 refinement in society, with mental devel- 

 opment and moral rectitude, and external 

 polish and attraction in houses and lands, 

 you may be quite sure the smart news- 

 paper is scattered freely around. And, 

 furthermore, if new departures are open- 

 ing up, it is pretty evident that the au- 

 dacious and truth-telling editor is making 

 things hot, and shaking up the dry bones 

 of old fogyism and bloated upper-ten- 



dom. So, all the working class, who are 

 proud of themselves and their country, 

 and ambitious to shine and excel in the 

 elements of true civilization, will be 

 proud of your paper and subscribe liber- 

 ally and write abundantly. Come on, 

 then, come on! Your clean columns, 

 unchoked with'party toadyism and cow- 

 ardice and selfish compromise, will wel- 

 come and encourage a free and fearless 

 correspondence, which should character- 

 ize all American journalism in the glori- 

 ous Centennial year. 



I place the newspaper always at the 

 very head and front of every public 

 enterprise and institution; and, say what 

 you will of professions and professional 

 men, the newspaper ranks far above 

 them all, in whatever department, be- 

 cause it includes and represents them all. 

 It is, indeed, the brains of the world 

 condensed — a real schoolmaster and 

 mighty educator iu every family. 



Wonderful upheavals, evolutions and 

 revolutions are marking our time with 

 the convulsive throes of regeneration and 

 a new birth, social and actional. It is 

 the era of labor, and the toiling classes, 

 everywhere, are called to dignity, honor 

 and self-respect. The workers are in- 

 cluded in the common household and 

 brotherhood, and will therefore not be 

 long content to stay out in the cold, or 

 in the hot sun, but must claim each his 

 full and just share in the noble strife, 

 the victory, and the glory. 



Human toil is no longer classed with 

 the forced draft of the horse and ox, but 

 is the voluntary choice of the highest 

 manhood, which scorns the sneers of 

 haughty wealth, pride and ignorance, 

 and stands up independent — making 

 labor, not money, the enduring corner- 

 stone of all government and society, and 

 the chief virtue of all politics and re- 

 ligion. 



Workingmen and women produce, and 

 should claim, all that kings or Belknaps 

 steal, eat, wear and waste, and it is about 

 time for the i^ennyroyal blood of money 

 aristocracy to step down and out. All 

 the world belongs to the workers, and 

 the newspaper is their speaking trumpet, 

 with co-operation for the mighty pass- 

 word! Common sense in everything 

 will lessen taxes and increase our well- 

 being. Support the voice and the press 

 that speaks in your behalf. Your own 

 independence demands the independent 

 journal. Support it, dear toiling broth- 

 ers and sisters, as it labors for you. 



Champlin, Minn., July, 1876. 



A CALIFORNIA LAND TRANSAC- 

 TION, 



An Open Letter to tlie Hon. Mayor, 

 Council, Voters and Tax-Payers of 

 tlie Paeblo San Jose and People of 

 California. 



CozY NooK, July 1st, 1876. 



I take the liberty to address you from, 

 and in behalf of, an afflicted community. 

 I do so with some confidence, as circum- 

 stances have placed me in a difl'erent (I 

 cannot say at present whether better or 

 worse) position from most of my neigh- 

 bors, for I never bought the "city title" 

 to my place. 



The situation, as I understand it, is 

 this: Some ten or twelve years ago, a 

 number of industrious, enterprising men 

 who had seen too much of land grants 

 and land renting, found what they be- 

 lieved to be a lot of Government land, in 

 the mountains about eighteen miles from 

 your beautiful city. The land was diffi- 

 cult of access, and as a whole poor iu 

 quality. Believing their title would be 

 sure, and under the homestead law, very 

 cheap, they had the courage to face the 



difficulties and go to work to make them 

 selves homes in the mountains. Tin 

 difficulties were even more than they an-: 

 ticipated. The grizzly bears killed their 

 stock, and the smaller animals made 

 fearful inroads on their poultry. The! 

 wild Spanish cattle and horses tramped 

 and destroyed their grain. The Stale, 

 county and district taxed them on tli- 

 full value of their homes, and for soiii^ 

 time they received little or no bemtit 

 from the school and road funds. .\u 

 amount of hard work that nearly bank- 

 rupted many settlers was obliged to be 

 done to get an outlet for wood, coal, etc., 

 I the case being such that the county could 

 do but little on the roads. 



About the time the roads could be 

 used, the city of San Jose was supposed 

 to have obtained title to the land, and a 

 man who believed he had some rights to 

 the land made .ipijlication for the whuli- 

 tract of 7,000 or more acres. His appli- 

 cation, although refused by the council, 

 obliged most of the settlers to buy the 

 "city title" — the settlers receiving f(ir 

 their money one of California's most 

 nauseating institutions, a "quit claim" 

 deed. 



The settler's lot had been hard work 

 and poor pay, consequently there were 

 about as manj' mortgages to record as 

 deeds. To men accustomed to prosperi- 

 ty, the interest on the mortgages, added 

 to their already heavy load, would have 

 seemed unbeariible, but there ia a great 

 deal of hope accompanying large hearts 

 and strong hands, and the settlers were 

 getting much attached to their healthy 

 homes. The wild animals were fast dis- 

 appearing in answer to the crack of rifles 

 that wasted very little lead; the roads 

 and school privileges were much im- 

 proved, and better times seemed near at 

 hand, when, to the consternation and 

 disgust of all the settlers, a U. S. Deputy- 

 Marshal appeared and served them with 

 papers issued at the instigation of what 

 I once heard called "The San Jose Land 

 Company," but usually known by the 

 pungent term of the F — T — s. Prompt 

 and honorable action on the part of the 

 Pueblo authorities saved many Irom loss 

 by this annoyance, as the case was very 

 promptly thrown out of court; but the 

 decision was not soon enough to saVe 

 many from buying another "cjuit claim" 

 to keep their title clear enough to satisfy 

 the owners of the mortgages. 



And now, after ten or more years of 

 struggle, comes the "kill or cure" of tho 

 settlement, in the shape of a Spanish 

 grant called Los Huacas, which seems to 

 have permanently and wholly swallowed 

 up Government land, city title, F. T. 

 claim and all. But the owners of Los 

 Huacas offer a tonic called a warrantee 

 deed instead of another quit claim, and 

 very considerately agree (in articles of 

 agreement given to many of the settlers) 

 to take any bonds of the Pueblo San Jose 

 that may be issued by the city to recom- 

 pense settlers who had paid the city 

 soniethinr; for nothing, said bonds to ap- 

 ply as credits on articles of agreement 

 given by Los Huacas owners to settlers. 



It is these lands I have in view as I 

 write you, and I have made the state- 

 ment much longer than I would had I 

 not known that many just and honest 

 voters and tax-payers of San Jose were 

 not acquainted with the facts in the case. 



I am told San Francisco was compelled 

 by law to refund in .a similar case. 



The most profitable part of "going to 

 law" is usuidly the part swallowed by 

 "those who manage the case" for the 

 contending parties, and I believe there is 

 too keen a sense of justice, too true a 

 business economy, too much laying out 

 for future prosperitj' in the people of 

 California's most beautiful city for them 



