THE
ARGONAUTS OF CALIFORNIA.
Page 348.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE RETURN--GREAT CHANGES.
Jo.--Good morning, William, how
do you do?
William--Very well, very well, I thank
you, but you have the advantage of me, sir.
Jo.--Why; don’t you remember Jo, your old
chum?
W.--What! Is this Jo? Is it possible? So
it is, so it is. When did you arrive from California?
Jo.--I have just arrived.
W.--Did you return by water, Jo?
Jo.--Oh, no! I came by rail across the
continent.
W.--Well, I suppose there are a great many
of the boys of ‘49 still living in California and intending to end their days
there, are there not?
Jo.--Oh, yes, there are several thousand
remaining upon the Pacific Coast, and they all seem contented with their new
homes.
W.--Well, how many are there now living of
the Forty-niners; have you any idea, Jo?
Jo.--Judging from the number of those who
are now living who joined the Pioneer Association in the various States, there
must be at least about 15,000.
W.--Well, that was a grand and pleasant
adventure, the departure of so many thousands for the other side of the
continent to search for gold, wasn’t it? And I suppose you boys all enjoyed it,
too and profited by the experience?
Jo.--Yes, we certainly did, and I doubt if
there was ever in the history of the world an adventure similar in character
and magnitude, and which created such wonderful effects as the gold discovery
of California, for as far as our observation extends, the existence of such
another vast gold field is improbable, unless it may be that in the unexplored
regions of Africa rich gold fields may exist, but even if such discoveries should
be made, such are the numbers and
Page 349. Illustration.
Page 350.
character of the savage
tribes that inhabit those regions, they would be of little value to the
civilized world.
W.--Well, I suppose you observe the great
changes that have taken place here upon this side of the continent since you
left forty years ago?
Jo.--Yes, indeed, I do, and ‘tis difficult
to realize the great changes that have taken place in so short a space of time,
and which are visible when crossing the continent from Hangtown to Jersey, for
towns and cities have sprung into existence, and sections of the country are
now thickly populated where but a few short years ago were barren desert
places, occupied only by roving bands of savages. And all of these changed
conditions are due to the gold discovery in California.
W.--Yes, yes, you are right, and it was
the means also, through the energy of you gold diggers, of building up a great
and prosperous country upon the other side of the continent, as well as
producing a condition of prosperity over the entire country. But, Jo, I want
you to tell me why it is that so few of you old pioneers succeeded in your
expectations of obtaining great wealth in a country where so much gold was dug
from the earth, for it seems to me that you are the ones who should have been
the most successful.
Jo.--Yes, it does seem so, but if we did
not succeed in holding on to what we dug from the earth, at any rate we have
the satisfaction of knowing that our friends here in the East got their share
of it in the course of their business transactions.
W.--Oh, well, that’s very generous of you
old miners, and no doubt is a great satisfaction.
Jo.--Yes, and I hope you received your
share; did you not?
W.--Oh, well, yes, yes, moderately! Only
moderately so; but then I’ve no cause to complain; no cause to complain. But
tell me, Jo, why it was that you boys who dug it out of the earth didn’t keep
your share, too?
Jo.--That I will endeavor to do if you
will explain to me why it was that after we had dug it from the earth, and had
shipped it to you here in the East by the ton, so small a portion of you
succeeded in getting a share of it?
W.--Does the idea seem to strike you that
our great prosperity here is not general, and that only a small portion of us
are enjoying the advantages of the great gold circulation.
Page 351.
Jo.--Yes, from all the evidence, with a
money circulation of nearly fifteen hundred millions of gold that has been sent
to you here at the East, there does not appear to exist a general prosperity,
for the strikes, the great labor organizations, and the various theories
adopted by your agitators and explained from the platform are evidence of the
fact that a great portion, at least, do not share in the general prosperity.
Now, why is this?
W.--Well, I must admit that such is really
the case, and that there should exist so much poverty with such a great money
circulation is difficult of comprehension. Can you explain the phenomenon, Jo?
Jo.--Hardly, William, for you know that it
is the business of the miner to dig the gold from the earth only, and for the
business men of the country, who use it, to devise the proper means for its use
and distribution.
W.--Yes, that is true enough, true enough;
and that it is not equally distributed, and that all portions of our country
and persons do not share in the use and possession of it, is, in my opinion, an
evidence that the conditions created by the improper use of it are not well understood.
Is that your opinion?
Jo.--That may be possible. Will you
explain further?
W.--Yes. All of these dissensions that
exist among us, such as the land-reform agitators, the socialist and the labor
organizations, strikes, the anarchist with his bomb, as well as the inclination
to monkey with dynamite generally, by a certain class of men, are but the
effects (indirectly, perhaps), of the great amount of our gold circulation.
Jo.--I see, William, that you still
entertain the same old Puritanical notions of too much money, and all of our
labor has been in vain, then.
W.--Oh, no, your labor has not been in
vain, Jo. Send us all the gold from California that you possibly can, for the
annual yield from your mines is hardly sufficient now to make up for wear and
tear, and for what is sent to foreign countries. What I mean is, that there is
too much gold in circulation to the ratio of silver, for the general good.
Jo.--Then, in your opinion, if there was a
greater amount of silver in circulation to the ratio of gold it would change
these unnatural conditions that now exist?
Page 352.
W. - Yes, I most certainly do, Jo.
Jo.--Will you explain why?
W.--Well, observation shows that the great
bulk of the gold from California seems to concentrate in the chief towns and
cities. Now this, of course, is to the advantage of the bankers and capitalists
generally, and is the chief reason why that class of men advocate the single
standard. Now ‘tis plain to see the effect of this, for we all have a desire to
obtain gold, and it was that reason, and to satisfy that desire, that sent
thousands of you boys around Cape Horn and across the barren deserts to
California, was it not?
Jo.--Well, yes, that was the cause.
W.--And with the desire to acquire wealth
in the easiest and quickest manner possible, and with the least labor, now
wasn’t that the idea, Jo?
Jo.--That was our idea of it, William.
W.--Well since the greater portion of the
gold from your mines flows into the towns and chief cities, and to linger
there, and since all have the desire to get a share of it in the easiest and
quickest manner, and with as little exertion as possible, it is therefore
evident that in order to do so, it was necessary to go into the towns and
cities after it, was it not?
Jo.--That must be the conclusion.
W.--Now this increased gold circulation
had the effect of stimulating all the various industries; this created a demand
for labor, raised the price of it, and brought to our shores the surplus
laborers of Europe who desired to get their share of it, but this was not all,
Jo, for the laborers of the farming districts all over the country rushed into
the big cities also, and these are the evil effects produced. Why, you ask?
Because this concentration of labor from foreign lands and from the
agricultural districts into our great cities created an over supply of labor
which is the direct cause of all these dissensions among us. Now don’t you have
that idea of it, Jo?
Jo.--Well, perhaps you are right, and in
your opinion the circulation of silver to an amount equal to gold will remedy
the evil, is that it?
W.--Yes, yes, but don’t speak too loud or
my associates in the bank over there may overhear our conversation, and censure
me for holding opinions and advocating a policy that would be rather
detrimental to our business.
Page 353.
Jo.--What! You a banker, William?
W.--Oh, yes, in a small way.
Jo.--Well, then, I can return your
compliment by saying that it is very generous in you to advocate a policy for
the general good that would be detrimental to your business.
W.--Yes, yes, but I think the time is soon
coming when ‘twill be necessary to adopt such a policy, for the present gold
circulation is bringing into existence such a state of affairs that a reaction
must, from the nature of things, take place. But I do not wish you to infer,
Jo, that the great abundance of gold that you miners have sent us has been the
direct cause of such unnatural conditions; by no means, but it is in the manner
of using it. Now you know that if you should spread upon some barren sandy spot
certain fertilizing substances, with a little water, and fail to properly
prepare and cultivate the ground, that weeds and poisonous plants will come
into existence upon the spot, these plants are entirely useless, perhaps, but
this fact does not prove that the fertilizing substance was an injury by any
means, but only that it was improperly used, and just so it is with gold and
silver. These metals are the fertilizers for all human industries, and the
various socialist theories, labor organizations, strikes, etc., are the
obnoxious weeds brought into existence by its improper use. Now, am I not
right, Jo.?
Jo.--That may be the case, but, please
tell me, William, why the greater circulation of silver will change such
conditions.
Wm.--Well, for the reasons that silver
will circulate more freely among the working classes, and also in the country
among the small villages and farmers.
Jo.--Can you give good reasons why silver
would circulate more freely, and to a much greater extent in the agricultural
districts than gold?
Wm.--Certainly, certainly I can; for the
reason why gold concentrates into the great centers of population is because it
can be used to much better advantage by the bankers, brokers and our larger
business houses in the cities; it is easier to handle in large sums, requires
less space for its storage, and its value being more uniform than silver there
is therefore less risk in hoarding it up; these are the principal reasons why a
single gold standard is more to the interest of the business community, and to
us bankers in particular.
Page 354.
Jo. - Now please explain the
effects which will be produced upon the country generally, and how such changed
conditions will be created by the circulation of a greater proportion of
silver, for even granting, as you maintain, that silver will circulate more
freely among the farmers, why will this fact create a change for the better?
W. - Well, it is plain, Jo,
that the less is the gold in circulation to the ratio of silver the less will
be the facilities for acquiring it, for since the bankers, etc., will have little
desire to hoard up the latter, the greater will be its circulation, and for
this reason will circulate more freely among the working men, as well as among
the farming community.
Jo. - Well, granting that it
will, as you say give to the agricultural districts an increased circulation of
money, what good effects are to result?
W. - Now, here is just the
point, Jo, for is it not plain that our single standard gold circulation has
caused very injurious effects upon such remote portions of the country, and
which proves that the great prosperity is not general, by any means. That it
has built up large cities is very true, as well as transportation facilities,
by building thousands of miles of railroads, but how about the farming industry
of the country? Should not that also receive its proper share of prosperity
enjoyed by the thicker settled portions of the country? I should think so,
shouldn’t you, Jo?
Jo. - Why, yes, I should
certainly think so.
W. - Well, but how does the
case stand? Whilst a few persons have been enabled to acquire immense wealth in
our large cities, the greater portion of our farming lands from Maine to Iowa
are heavily mortgaged, and here in the New England States an entire new order
of things has been inaugurated, for the sons and daughters of the farmers have
gone into the cities in order to acquire wealth by an easier method than
farming, and the farming lands, which were almost entirely deserted by the
younger ones, are falling into the hands of foreigners, and in some portions of
the country at the West it is impossible to procure labor sufficient to harvest
the crops. Havn’t you observed this in your traveling about the country, Jo?
Jo. - Yes, I have, for only a
short time since I visited a district where I once lived, in the State of New
York, and I found that about all, who are now living there upon the farms are
the old people
Page 355
The younger ones have nearly
all gone into the towns and cities to engage in business, to learn trades and
professions. I must say that in the
absence of the younger members of the country it gives to it a sad and dreary
look, and in some few cases a very desolate appearance for I saw a portion of
the country which forty years ago was rich farming land, but such is its
condition now that if a resident of the sandy sage-brush lands of Colorado or
Utah could be transported and placed upon it, he would feel perfectly
contented, and would not pine for his Western home.
They tell me also that it is almost
impossible to obtain assistance to harvest their crops, and in many cases are
compelled to send to New York for foreign laborers. Yes, ‘tis evident, William, that great
changes have taken place in the past forty years, at least in this portion of
the country. Whilst visiting that
section of the country I met an old lady, a former school-mate, and she spoke
of the changes that had taken place in a sad tone.
“Oh,” she said, “this is not the country
that it was in our day, for the young people all leave the farms for the big
cities as soon as they get old enough.”
In answer to my inquiry in relation to a
few of my former companions she said :
“They all went into the towns and cities;
some learned to be doctors and some to be lawyers; some one thing and some
another. Do you remember Sam Hobbs
? Well he got to be head engineer in a
sausage factory and made lots of money, and then there is Al Peck; you remember
him, of course ? Well he was up here on
a visit a few years ago dressed up in the finest rig, with his gold watch, and
diamond pin and things. He said he was
superintendent of a gin-fizz mill, if you know what that is, for I am sure I
don’t. Well, Al is real kind and
tender-hearted, for he did sympathize with John so much because he had to rake
hay out in the hot sun, then he pitied us all so much, too, because we were
compelled to live out here in the country so far from the city, that it was
really distressing to hear him.
“Ah, yes,” she continued, “but those were
happy days. What gay times we had in the winter, and how we all did enjoy
piling into the big sleigh and going to the singing-schools and parties around
the country, as well as to the apple and the husking bees, too. But all of those pleasant times are past,
Jo. I don’t believe
Page 356.
that you could get enough
young men and girls together now around here in the country to start one of
them old-fashioned kissing bees.”
And my old school companion has a good
memory, too, William, for she continued by asking:
“Do you remember, Jo, the husking bee that
you had in your father’s big barn? ‘Twas in ‘48, I think, the year before you
started for California. I remember well, Jo, how you went the day before and
hid away in a handy place a whole bushel of red ears of corn and got more than
your share of the fun. How selfish that was in you, wasn’t it, Jo, to go and
leave the other boys shivering out in the cold? Oh, well, I suppose you have
long since repented of it; havn’t you?”
I told the old lady that I certainly had,
but said I:
“Mary, although ‘tis a pleasure to recall
to mind such pleasing incidents and events of our boyhood days, yet as we
advance in years we often have cause to grieve for neglected opportunities in
the past, and in recalling to mind the little incident you have mentioned, with
its happy surroundings, pretty girls and a bushel of corn, there comes over me
a feeling of sadness and of sorrow that I didn’t ----”
“Didn’t what, Jo? She asked.
“That I didn’t make it two bushels instead
of one,” I answered.
W.--Well, it is very evident that the
conditions under which we are now existing must be changed, for society, as
well as the future welfare of our country, demands it.
Jo.--Well, what is your opinion of the
various theories advanced by George, Bellamy and others. Would they not afford
relief if adopted?
W.--That is possible, but a transient
relief only, for they do not remove the absolute cause of it all; these remedies
advocated by them are to our national, political and social organizations, what
the drug of the physician is to the human or physical organization; while they
may afford relief, they do not effect a permanent cure, or remove the cause of
the disease. Now, according to our present state and condition of affairs,
whilst our commercial interests are of first importance, and the building up of
our great cities, with their 14 and 16 story buildings the chief aim and
consideration, the agricultural interests are entirely overlooked, and rich
farming districts
Page 357.
are almost entirely
depopulated or occupied by a foreign race. I know that to the great mass of
bustling business men in our cities, these facts seem of very trifling
importance, but, Jo, what would your gold of California be good for without the
products of the soil to give it value, for the value of gold and silver is
dependent upon, and determined entirely by, the amount of such productions.
Why, Jo, if the wheat crop of the world should from any cause be reduced
one-half, the amount of gold in circulation being relatively greater it would
consequently be cheaper, and would require a hatful of it to purchase a barrel
of flour, and if the crops were an entire failure you couldn’t sell your gold
for more than 25 cents a bushel.
Jo.--I don’t exactly understand why it is,
or what possible reason these socialist reformers can have for maintaining that
the private ownership of land is the chief cause of the existence of poverty
and distress among us, when there are millions of acres of unoccupied lands now
open to settlement, with labor in demand in the farming districts, as well as
good opportunities for renting, leasing, or for working upon shares good
farming lands within a short distance from our large cities.
W.--Yes, yes, that is all true enough, but
these agitators in saying that the private ownership of land is the cause of
poverty have no reference whatever, Jo, to farming lands, but only to city
lots, for their ideas do not extend beyond the city limits. Why, did you ever
hear of one of these men advising the unemployed working men to go into the
country, occupy the public lands, and live by the cultivation of the soil? No,
you never did.
Jo.--Well, I suppose that it would be a
useless undertaking to try to induce persons, even those who were brought up
and raised upon a farm (as no doubt the great majority of the idle men in your
cities were), to leave the bustle and excitement of a city life and to live in
solitude upon a farm.
W.--Yes, no doubt it would, and could
hardly be expected of them; but the inducements should be such that the rising
generation of the farming districts will be satisfied and content to remain
there in the future, and this can in my opinion be accomplished by remitting
all taxes upon farming land for a certain number of years, that is, upon such
lands as are located in the more remote sections of the country, and including,
of course, also the adoption of the double standard of money.
Page 358.
J.--Do you mean that the present money
circulation should be increased by an equal amount of silver?
Wm.--Oh, no, no! I don’t believe that our
money circulation should be increased one dollar, but that a certain amount of
silver should be substituted in place of the same amount of gold to be
withdrawn from circulation; this, as I said before, would have the effect of
causing a more extended circulation of money throughout the country, which
again would have the effect of creating a wider field for the distribution of
labor. Now, am I not right, Jo?
Jo.--Yes, I think you are, and the good
effects that would result would be only a question of time. But allow me to ask
if there do not exist other causes why the sons and daughters of the farmers
are so ready to leave their homes and crowd into the towns and cities, besides
the desire to make money easier and quicker?
W.--Oh, yes! Yet these other causes are
the effects of the causes before mentioned, for the farmers themselves, the
great majority of them, look upon farming as simply a business speculation, and
that it is really necessary to make all the money possible in order to make it
pay; this kind of farming means hard work for all, and drudgery for the women
folks, and to escape from it the only refuge is the city; but that ain’t
farming, Jo.
Jo.--No, it is not. Whilst up in the
country I made a visit to a farm house where I often visited in early days, and
the old lady had much to say about the desolate appearance of the country now
that the younger ones had all left.
“Well,” says she “the farmers themselves are the cause of it all, for all
they thought about was what money they could make off the farm, and they didn’t
seem to realize that there was any use at all in trying to fix up the place for
a pleasant home for the boys and girls, that would induce them to remain with
us; our boys have been gone now for many years, and rather than to see the
girls worn out with this endless drudgery, I advised them several years ago to
go into the village and work in the factory.
“Oh, yes,” she continued “we have the farm
here yet, what there is left of it, but it wouldn’t sell for enough now to pay
off the mortgage; do you see yonder the 50-acre lot where we used to raise such
crops of corn; it is all covered now with weeds and briars for it has been
farmed to death, and just see the poor crows sitting on the fence beyond; they,
too, seem to realize the situation,
Page 359.
and every little while they
fly over the cornfield and wonder, I suppose, why the boys don’t start to
planting corn. I really pity them.” The old lady continued by saying “farming
is not now what it was when I was a girl ;then the farmers took pride in fixing
up and making the house and grounds attractive, and there was a pleasure then
in living upon the old homestead until we children all got married and moved
away. Well, I am thankful that my girls didn’t marry farmers; they are not
wealthy, they both married mechanics down in the village; they have nice
comfortable homes and pretty children; are happy, and I am contented, and I
expect that we will soon move down into the village, too, for there is a man
here who wants to take the place to work upon shares for a few years, and I
guess he can have it as long as he wants it.”
W.--Yes, the picture you have drawn of
that section of the country, Jo, will apply equally as well to others parts of
the country, for the great desire to make money by farming has been the ruin of
some of our most valuable farming lands. Well, I must leave you now, but please
tell me, Jo, why you brought your mining tools with you? Did you expect to
strike a lead on the way across the continent?
Jo.--Well, yes, I thought it possible. How
is the bed rock over there under your bank, pitching?
W.--Yes, but we don’t allow any
prospecting or panning around there; call in and see us, Jo, but don’t bring
you mining tools along, so good-day.
Transcribed by:
Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Proofread by Betty Vickroy.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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