TO IMPERIAL VALLEY 287 



persons with "interests" in the valley to advertise 

 these. 



In the two or three weeks that I spent in the farm- 

 ing localities I was unable to accommodate myself 

 to the slipshod appearance of the farm buildings, 

 both houses and outbuildings. While this is a weak- 

 ness of the Western farmer in general, here it ex- 

 ceeded; though perhaps it is excusable in view of 

 the trying climate that prevails for half the year. 

 There is here, naturally, a larger percentage than 

 usual of farmers who are unmarried, or whose 

 womenkind do not live, at least continuously, on 

 the farm: and without the woman the home can 

 hardly be. Anyhow, the effect is discouraging, and 

 suggests the idea, which is no doubt a true one in 

 a great proportion of cases, that Imperial farmers 

 as a whole are just "sticking it out," with a view to 

 selling as soon as they can. Neither the chance vis- 

 itor, nor, I would suggest, the prospective buyer, is 

 likely to react happily to this impression. 



We passed through one or two small settlements 

 with stores, telephones, and post-offices, and with 

 bales of cotton piled awaiting shipment. Automo- 

 biles were common, and soon became a nuisance 

 with their obscene noises and the clouds of dust 

 they gave in return for the right of way. When a true 

 democracy arises one of its first jobs will be to abol- 

 ish the automobile as an offensive chattel of privi- 

 lege. By noon we were in El Centro, the county seat 

 of Imperial County and the metropolis of the valley. 



A sharp little earthquake had occurred in this 

 locality some weeks before, and its work was plainly 



