452 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



the white and the yellow Chinamen out of the country to- 

 gether, and obtain white, permanent Califqrnians in their stead, 

 I, for one, shall be heartily in favor of it. "California for per- 

 manent Californians," is the proper motto for every faithful 

 citizen of this state. We must have a political war ; the per- 

 manent Californians must conquer the rovers, and compel them 

 to settle down or leave. The great question is not whether 

 we shall produce much gold or little ; it is whether we shall 

 have social and industrial order or disorder, which is equiva- 

 lent to the question of ilie permanency or A-agrancy of the 

 population. I am confident in the belief that the sale of the 

 mineral lands would cause a considerable increase of our gold 

 yield ; but no matter how great a decrease might ensue, state 

 ^policy requires that the sale should be made, in any case. The 

 gold now dug does little benefit to California ; it slips through, 

 like water through a sieve ; and serves only to attract the 

 vagrants who visit the state merely to despoil it. All the 

 money under heaven will not pay for maintaining a system 

 under which three-fourths of the people of a large district 

 are vagrants, that is, rovers, and where six-sevenths are men. 



It is not unreasonable to assume, that if the present system 

 of mining titles be maintained, there will be very slow change 

 for the better in the vagrancy of the miners and the inequality 

 of the sexes during the next ten years ; and I do not hesitate 

 to say that, rather than the present state of afiairs should con- 

 tinue, the state government should take efifective measures to 

 put a sudden end to all gold mining in the state, by declaring 

 it a felony, and making it punishable by severe penalties, so 

 that thereafter the people of California would turn their atten- 

 tion to such pursuits as farming, horticulture, and stock-raising, 

 which contribute to the lasting profit of the state as well as 

 the temporary profit of individuals. 



California may be compared to a maiden who has been reared 

 to love the paths of purity and peace, but who has been intro- 

 duced of late into a corrupt society, and is now surrounded by 

 men who wish to dishonor her — enjoy her for a short time. 



