CALIFORNIA,

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1085, 3 August 1880, Page 2

CALIFORNIA,

■'■ The state of . Calif oriiia; once famous for its\wonderful gold, yield, ..is in danger of becoming' infamous for its. revolutionary politics. The 1 centre, of discontent is San Francisco. The eitraordinary developement of this. city is claimed as one of the wonders of the ago ; and, it is a magnificent product of. modern activity.. "Where, else," it has been proudly asked, " hasp there been assembled'so cosmopolitans population of vigorous and ambitious people?" Mel bourne approaches, but does not equal it. Tlte' onjy^.port of a riehlydownred territory of "more than 300,000 square miles, San Francisco ought to present to the world a history of unchecked progress. Yet we find a writer in the Californian summing up. what h:is happened to this favoured m'efcroplis dining the last two years in the following terms: — "No fire like that of Chicago has devastated San Francisco. No pestilence h;is driven away our people as from Memphis or New Orleans. Our trade has not been diverted by a successful rival. No war'] has interrupted our commerce, no floods i or droughts have destroyed the staples in which we deal. Yet our banking | capital and deposits were reduced, during 1879, 23,000,000 dollars. The loans made on mortgages in the city have fallen from 24;000,000dol in 1877 to 15,000,000 in 1878, and 9,500,000 in 1879, the release exceeding the amounts loaned. Our rich men are fleeing to the ''East and to Eurppe. No new enterprises are being undertaken. ' Old ones are winding up, or curtailing their I business. Money never was so abundant for loans upon or the purchase of securities of undoubted character like United States bonds, now .quoted, at 107, though paying only 4 per cent. interest per annum ; but it is not to'be had at any price, where the slightest risk is involved in its use, or for loans on country property. Real estate is everywhere unsaleable, or will bring but a fraction of its recent value. Building has almost ceased." A majority of the population are hitting wildly at the people above them — the capitalists (who to a great extent are emigrating) ; and at the. people below them — the Chinese (who also are beginning to emigrate t$ the Eastern States). A sense of wrong has taken possession of the European working classes and temporarily maddened them. Unlimited freedom in the acquision of wealth, says the proletariat, of, San Francisco, is an. evil which should be put down by the strong hand, of the law. ' It is easy to point out how much fallac3',,a i nters into the composition of this doctrine ;>it is not so easy to acknowledge how much truth it contains. There can be no limit to the. , acquisition of wealth but the. .tights are frequently ignored. In California, as in other States of 'the' Union, gigantic commercial monopolies are a growing danger to the community. Railways and other great works are in the hands of powerful corporations, which fatten on the public, while in respect to land the "big estate " evil is growing to alarming pro- • portions. These things press heavily on the lower classes, who have retaliated by an indiscriminating war against wealth. The consequence is that the capital of individuals is being removed to safer States and countries, while the corporations, and monopolies, and big estates defy the revolutionary spirit. —