444 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



country ; but of this kind of property the mining districts are 

 deprived by unwise policy. As it is now, it is almost im})Os- 

 sible to induce the capitalists of San Francisco to invest money 

 in, or loan money on, mining enterprises ; they have learned 

 by bitter experience that there is little safety for money in- 

 vested in canals and quartz-mills, where there is no title to the 

 lands save possession, which might be lost by abandonment or 

 forfeiture at any moment. The consequence is, that the per- 

 manent improvements in the mines are rare, in comparison with 

 the number which there would be if the mineral lands were 

 sold ; and where money is borrowed to make such improve- 

 ments, extravagant rates of interest are paid. As a result of the 

 comparatively small amount of capital invested, and the lack 

 of security for large investments of money in mining enter- 

 prises, there is little demand for labor, and the state is full of 

 poor men anxious to get work, but unable to find anybody to 

 employ them. The immigrants to a new country are gener- 

 ally poor men ; and, unless the state of business is such that 

 they can confidently expect to obtain profitable employment 

 on their first arrival, there is little encouragement for them to 

 come. In regard to the certainty of success upon first arrival, 

 California offers less encouragement to the immigrant than 

 many of the states in the Mississippi Valley, and will not offer 

 more until the tenure of lands in the mines shall be changed. 



The present policy drives away the money produced in the 

 state. Why do we send $40,000,000 of gold away every year ? 

 Simply because we cannot give good security for it. We have 

 nothing to give as security. We offer to pay twice as much 

 interest as anybody else, and our offer would be gladly ac- 

 cepted, if there were a certainty that we Avould pay as we prom- 

 ise ; but there is no certainty, no security. The $50,000,000 

 shipped by California to New York last year, would have 

 drawn $6,000,000 yearly interest here, while it will draw only 

 $3,000,000 there ; and the $8,000,000 shipped to London would 

 have drawn $1,600,000 here, while it will draw only $450,000 

 in England ; but the owners of the $40,000,000 prefer the 



