444 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
country ; but of this kind of property the mining districts are 
deprived by unwise policy. As it is now, it is almost impos- 
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 minesare 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. Asa 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 would pay as we prom-{ 
ise; but there is no certainty, no security. The $30,000,000 , 
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 
