— 140 — 



That this committee shall hold its next meeting in San Francisco at rooms of State 

 Board of Horticulture, Tuesday, December 11th, at 1 o'clock p. m. 



H. WE1NSTOCK, Chairman. 

 FRANK H. BUCK, Secretary. 

 DOUGLAS T. FOWLER. 

 H. P. STABLER. 

 N. W. MOTHERAL. 

 GEO. D. KELLOGG. 



RESOLUTIONS. 



Mr. Sprague submitted the following resolutions, which were referred 

 to the Committee on Resolutions, with instruction to report as soon as 

 possible: 



The Convention of California Fruit Growers, assembled at Sacramento, California, 

 November 21, 1894, believes that the high roads are the arteries of a nation's commerce, 

 and, as being essential to the nation's well-being, should be owned and controlled by no 

 private monopoly; that railroads are the high roads of the nineteenth century; that 

 whoever owns them owns a monopoly so tremendous and overshadowing that it'should 

 only be permitted in the hands of the people's government, to be operated for the benefit 

 of the people ; therefore, be it 



Resolved, That the interests of the people of California imperatively demand that a 

 line of railroad through the length of the two great valleys of the Sacramento and the- 

 San Joaquin should be constructed and operated or controlled by the State, and that 

 the Legislature be asked to submit to the people such legislation as will secure the early 

 construction of such road. 



Resolved, That it is the sense of this convention that the United States Government 

 should foreclose its mortgages against the Central and Union Pacific railroads at their 

 maturity, and assume control of the same under such regulation of service as will 

 secure efficiency and yet not extend the evils of political patronage. 



THE WRIGHT IRRIGATION DISTRICT LAW; ITS DEFECTS AND 

 REMEDIES THEREFOR. 



By L. M. Holt, of Los Angeles. 



California is possessed of an arid climate. The lands of the State, as 

 a rule, produce crops with great uncertainty, when the natural rainfall 

 is depended upon for the needed moisture. Some lands although nat- 

 urally rich and productive are absolutely of no value without the appli- 

 cation of moisture artificially. Other lands sometimes produce crops 

 and sometimes they fail to do so. While still another class of moist 

 lands produce good crops every season by virtue of the natural moisture 

 in the soil. 



Because of this arid condition of the State, this country was con- 

 sidered originally of no value from an agricultural standpoint, and 

 hence the original Mexican population devoted their energies to raising 

 stock and cultivating in a limited way the few tracts of moist land to 

 be found along the margins of streams or in the vicinity of cienegas. 



The placer gold boom of 1849-50 gave the State a vigorous start in 

 the direction of mining. After the bursting of that boom many of the 

 temporary miners returned East to their old homes, while others, driven 

 by force of circumstances, sought to make a living or competence in 

 stock raising and ranching. 



Gradually it became evident that California soil was productive when 

 the moisture was sufficient. Fortunes were made by farming on a large 

 scale, because of the big crops raised and the high price of the products. 

 At other times fortunes were lost by farming on a large scale by the 



