hubert howe bancroft - Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History ...

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AIDS AND OBSTACLES. 73
a republican country. In California it would tend to
redeem the youth, which, on the plea of shunning the
labor-levelling Chinese, 8 is drifting into deplorable
idleness, vagabondage, and lawlessness, which retard
progress and desirable immigration, and deter capital
from opening new avenues for employment and
wealth.
Among other obstacles may be mentioned a high
rate of interest, 4 the larger profits of elementary industries,
the lack of water-power in eligible quarters,
the cost of transportation, the high value of good
sites, and doubtful land titles, scanty population,
unsettled conditions, the limited quantity of iron and
hard wood, and the high price of coal.
The civil war gave a decided impulse to industries,
by increasing the cost and risk of transportation. But
the opening of the overland railway undermined many
kinds of business by bringing cheap markets so much
nearer, and it disturbed many more by unsteady rates
and other attendant insecurity. The speculative
spirit of Califomians had, moreover, tempted to
many undertakings, with insufficient capital and experience,
and the consequent failures spread discouragement
and lowered industrial credit. Nevertheless,
progress has been japid for so young a state, dating
properly from 1849, and this in face of so many
obstacles and the naturally slow unfolding of manufactures.
In the accompanying end note I give an
outline of the leading industries, chiefly with respect
to their beginning. Their development is best compared
by an examination of the census reports. That
of 1860 enumerates nearly 1,450 establishments, with
a capital of $11,000,000, employing 6,400 hands, paying
$5,500,000 in wages, using $11,000,000 worth of
* This undesirable competition and consequent hostility, and the irregularity
of employment, hold back much desirable immigration and capital.
Australia has pointed a way in not only imposing a protective tariff against
cheap foreign production, but against the entry of undesirable labor in the
form of an inferior and unassimiiating race.
4 Two and three per cent monthly in early years, and one per cent until
lately.