440 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



nia and Sonora was producing a corresponding reduc- 

 tion in the expenses of transportation. 



For example, the price of a pack mule in some 

 parts of the mining districts a few months ago was 

 about §500, whereas they can now be purchased for 

 less than §150. The cost of transportation from the 

 principal landing on the San Joaquin River to the 

 Sonoranian camp was $75 per hundred, whereas at the 

 present time it is only about $7. 



This has reduced the prices of provisions in the 

 placers one and two hundred per cent. Some of the 

 merchants who had large stocks of goods in the mines, 

 and those who were engaged in transportation at the 

 prices formerly paid, have suffered by the change, 

 and it is natural that they should feel incensed against 

 that class of foreigners who have contributed most to 

 effect it. 



But it is thought by others that the great majority 

 of the laborers and consumers in the mining districts 

 have been benefited by this change, and that it would 

 be injurious to the prosperity of the country to restore 

 things to their former state by the expulsion and pro- 

 hibition of foreigners from the mines. 



Americans, by their superior intelligence and 

 shrewdness in business, generally contrive to turn to 

 their own benefit the earnings of the Mexicans, 

 Chilians, and Peruvians in this country, and any 

 measure of exclusiveness which is calculated to diminish 

 the productive labor of California would be of exceed- 

 ingly doubtful policy. 



When applied to by the different parties for my 

 opinion on the question of expelling foreigners, I have 

 uniformly told them that no persons, native Americans 

 or foreigners, have any legal right to dig gold in the 



