that climate is indeed our largest asset. There is no doubt there are com- 

 munities with larger wealth than ours, there may be communities sur- 

 rounded by vaster resources than we can boast or care to claim, but we do 

 claim and boast that there is no spot on earth which can successfully con- 

 tend with us in the matter of climate. But climate is not all. We have a 

 back country, a large and rich one, and we have a field here for varied in- 

 dustrial enterprises, as the figures given heretofore must show. We may 

 not have as broad an area of farming land as that surrounding many other 

 cities, but there are few sections of this or any other country where there 

 are so many acres of ground each one of which will produce annually a car- 

 load of products whose value will, in some instances, run as high as $1000 

 when landed in Eastern markets. Indeed, that sum has been doubled in 

 many instances during the past year on single carloads of citrus fruit gath- 

 ered from the trees on a single acre of ground. Besides oranges and 

 lemons, there are crops produced here of winter vegetables, such as toma- 

 toes, green peas, cauliflower, cabbage, new potatoes in January and Feb- 

 ruary, and celery, the value of which crops, coming from a single acre of 

 ground will run all the way from $100 to $500. These are facts not known 

 outside of this community to a great many people, who think the Eastern 

 tourist crop is the only one we have. That may be the most valuable, but 

 it is reinforced by a great many others, the aggregate value of which is an 

 almost inestimable sum of money. The community is an exceedingly rich 

 one, as shown by the per capita distribution of its wealth. Wages are ex- 

 ceedingly high, employment steady for competent men. The farmers are 

 prosperous beyond what is common elsewhere. A very large number of our 

 people are those retired from active business, who have left behind them 

 in the East business Interests, financial and otherwise, from which they 

 draw a very large revenue annually, which they spend here in the expenses 

 of their households, and in many instances a good deal of this goes into new 

 enterprises in this community. 



Public Revenues and Expenses 

 OF California. 



CARL C. PLEHN. 



A REVIEW of the finances of a State or of any branch of government 

 is somewhat dry reading from certain points of view, but if one re- 

 members the immeasurable human interests affected, it becomes 

 anything but that. The vast wealth of our State is reflected in the 

 public expenditures. The sums raised cheerfully and willingly by the 

 people of California for the support of government in one department 

 and another are really enormous. 



The State or central government of California has an income of about 

 $11,000,000 per annum. The counties and the cities raise about twice as 

 much more. Altogether the public revenues of the State are about $33,- 

 000,000 annually, or about $20 for each man, woman and child in the 

 State. About half of this vast sum is spent upon the schools and the other 

 half goes to the running of the government of the State, counties and 

 cities, the maintenance of the poor, the keeping up of roads and the en- 

 forcement of law. 



Of the $11,000,000 of State revenues, about $7,500,000 are from 

 taxes. The so-called direct tax on property yields about $6,800,000 each 

 year, the poll tax $450,000, and the inheritance tax nearly $300,000. Two 



