446 li E S O U K C E S OF C A L I F O II N I A . 



" monopoly" argument presupposes not only that the persons 

 employed for wages to work the mines will earn enough to 

 support themselves and families, but also that the monopolists 

 will make a large profit, otherwise their monopoly would not 

 last long. The " precarious" argument presupposes that only 

 a small portion of the mining land will continue for any con- 

 siderable time to pay a living profit ; and that therefore there 

 is little encouragement for capitalists to invest their money in 

 mining land. The " monopoly" argument presupposes the in- 

 vestment of large amounts of capital — the very thing which 

 the mines most need ; the " precarious" argument presupposes 

 that mining will be more profitable for a man who runs about 

 than for one who stays at or near one place. 



All the great social evils which I have mentioned as pre- 

 vailing in California, are traceable directly to the roving char- 

 acter of the people ; render the population permanent and you 

 necessarily cure the evils. It is admitted that our mines will 

 not be exhausted, and that the number of miners in the whole 

 state will not decrease much, if at all, during the next fifty years. 

 It is entirely safe to predict that Siskiyou, Xevada, Shasta, 

 Placer, El Dorado, Plumas, Sierra, Tuolumne, and Calaveras, 

 will be mininor counties in 1950. Now if the minino: is to be 

 continuous, why should not the miner be permanent ? There 

 is no necessity that he should be a nomad ; on the contrary, 

 his own pecuniary profit and the welfare of society require that 

 he should have a fixed residence, and not until he gets that, 

 can he be a valuable citizen. 



But it is said the mining population cannot be permanent, be- 

 cause mining is a " precarious " business. Well, I should like 

 to know what business would not be " precarious," if conduct- 

 ed as mining has been in this state during the last ten years. 

 Here are one hundred thousand men, mostly without homes ; 

 not staying in any one place more than four months at a time, 

 on an average ; spending one day out of three in prospecting ; 

 refusing to work unless they can make big wages ; running suc- 

 cessively to Gold Lake, Gold Bluflf, Kern River, Fraser River, 



