Fi'uit Farming for Profit in California, loi 



accumulation of capital wliicli generates enterprise in 

 infinite variety. Incidental to this great leading in- 

 dustry, other industries become possible. But the 

 industrial fabric, like all other structui^es, has its archi- 

 tectural design, its foundation, and its superstructure. 

 The extent to which the basis industry of a common- 

 wealth is the source of all industrial prosperity is not 

 apparent to casual observation, nor even to close 

 analysis. An approximation of the extent to which all 

 industries are dependent upon some great leading and 

 standard industry can be reached by imagining, for 

 illustration, that all the iron mills of Pennsvlvania and 

 all the mines of that State were suddenlv eliminated 

 from the industrial category. It is not difficult to 

 imagine the disaster which would ensue. In fact, the 

 statement that the whole industrial fabric would fall 

 will be readily received. In the building of common- 

 wealths we must observe the analogies of all great 

 structures, and in building our California the question 

 naturally arises : AYhat have we here possessing eco- 

 nomic advantage in the intensified competition of pro - 

 duction throughout the world, which constitutes at 

 present, or will constitute in the future, a basis of our 

 industrial system ? As already noted, the existence of 

 such industries, or basis industry, with its wealth- 

 generating power, will eventuate in enterprises as broad 

 as the field of human activity. Mining for precious 

 metals was the original and paramount industry of the 

 State. It attracted the pioneer population, but coun- 

 tries prolific of precious metals are proverbially poor. 

 The production of a million or ten millions of gold and 

 silver, as a result of mining, proclaims the impoverish- 



