21 



rather than its decrease. The coming of additional population to Cali- 

 fornia to engage in any pursuit or undertaking, of any nature whatever, 

 is an unmixed good. The chief obstacle in the Pacific States to the suc- 

 cessful prosecution of all enterprise is the sparsity of population. There 

 are economies of production, possible to large populations, which are 

 unknown to thinly settled countries. The best market for the products 

 of every country is the home market. Take the cases already referred 

 to. We ship wool from California and submit to a reduction equal to 

 the cost of freight and commission, and we wear the clothing manufac- 

 tured from that wool, to which has been added the skill and industry 

 which have enriched another country, with the freight cost and commis- 

 sion added to the manufactured article. The difference between the 

 economy of manufacturing at home, therefore, represents the cost of ship- 

 ping raw material to the place of manufacture and the cost of shipping the 

 manufactured article or clothing back again, and also represents the loss 

 of the opportunity to create wealth by the amount of the difference 

 between the staple and the fabric. This in our case constitutes a very 

 large margin in favor of manufactures. Our population is estimated at 

 1,250,000. Let us for a moment anticipate the result if that population 

 were doubled, and the population of California stood in the census 

 report at 2,500,000. Would the natural resources of the country be inad- 

 equate to the employment of its people ? In the first place, we would 

 have an accession of 1,250,000 home consumers. We would have double 

 our present capital. We would have double the supporting popula- 

 tion for every species of industry and enterprise. The local rates 

 of transportation would at once descend, because the same fixed charges 

 would answer for the new as well as for the present demand ; and the 

 net result of that augmentation of population, that enterprise and capital, 

 that addition to every element of civilized life, would be an increase in 

 geometrical rather than arithmetical ratio ; the products of all employ- 

 ments would be more than doubled, and the opportunity and condition 

 of the labor of California improved. The chief difficulty of the present 

 is the circumscribed character of labor's opportunity. Give us twice the 

 number of our present cities, or double the population of those already 

 existing, and the possibilities of all life would be greatly expanded. The 

 chief difficulty of the present is the irregular character of employment. 

 The fruit industry of our State gives greater proportionate employment 

 to labor than the cereal industry. - 



I have taken a single instance, but at the same time the most notable, 

 of the irregularity of employments. The vineyard owned by Senator Stan- 

 ford is the largest in the world. It covers 3,900 acres of bearing vines. It is 

 operated under a single control, and is the largest operation of its kind 

 known. The statistical facts relating to it would be the equivalent of 

 statistical facts relating to 39 vineyards of 100 acres each, and the facts 

 are as follows : Exclusive of any labor, employed in planting, or graft- 

 ing old vines, the operations of the vineyard require the labor of 135 men 



