346 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
enough every day to equal his wages, and as no one else ‘saw 
the piece previous to the time when he took it, it is almost 
impossible to prove theft, even if fopnd upon him. But it is 
not customary to search laborers when they leave their work, 
for the honest men would probably not submit to the humilia- 
tion. In quartz mines the term “ knocking down” is given to 
the system of theft of rich bits of the rocks by the laborers, 
and it is said that some mines where the rock is very rich, are 
plundered so extensively that they are far less profitable than 
those wherein the metal is equally diffused through a wide 
vein, so that the workmen can find no small pieces worth 
stealing. To what extent the influence of such dishonesty— 
the existence of which, as I have said, is recognized in the 
popular speech—may go, we have no information or estimate; 
but I am satisfied that though they may be serious, they are 
in themselves far from sufficient to account for the utter dis- 
trust with which capitalists look upon enterprises for the de- 
veloping of our auriferous wealth. 
I have thus mentioned three theories which, in my view, 
whether considered each separately or all jointly, are unsatis- 
factory and insufficient to account for the evil. If there be 
any other theory I have not heard of it, or it does not occur 
to me now. I have already spoken of the greatness of the 
evil; it strikes at the very basis of our prosperity as a state, 
destroys the field of labor, drives our capital away, renders 
trade unsteady, and contributes to deter immigration and to 
make our mining population a set of wanderers. 
There is something radically wrong in the financial and in- 
dustrial condition of that country where the capital is not 
invested in the main branch of industry. So it is in Cali- 
fornia. Many important improvements are needed in the 
mineral regions, but the money cannot be obtained to make 
them. We send away $40,000,000 annually, because people 
abroad are not satisfied with the security which we offer, 
though we would, and could with advantage, pay three times 
as much interest as it can earn in the Atlantic states or Europe. 
