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Land Monopoly In California

Land Monopoly In California image
Parent Issue
Day
25
Month
May
Year
1877
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Ti.' o men who negotiated the treaty uudor whioh California passed under the American flag perniitted about olí the nivtarally good land in tho State to remain in the hands of parties who had prooured grants of immense traets {rom the Mexicim and Spanish Governments. Tho consequenee is that California is almost as oompletely monopolizod by a íew rich proprietors as England. The ovil eonsoqiionees of tliis bluuder haye become apparont within tho pust. iVw hijeare, the paralysis of all ordinary industry nnd the eessation of middlc-class immigration. In fact, the poorest of the Southern States offer better inducements to settlers of thc agriculturnl olass than are to be found on the Pacific slope, with all its marveloua tertilitjy. A recent act of Congress, ostensibly designed to faeilitato the reclamation of large sections of apparenüy barren land, is operating to aggravato the existiug evil of lamí monopoly. Thc distriots in question could only be rendered fertile by heavier expenditures than single small farmers could afford; bnt, instead of framing lawB to faeilitato the co-operation of persons holding farms of moderate área, the persons who got np the Drsert Land act seem to have offered p:irticular encouragement for the extensión of the monopoly systciu, and tlie remainiug public lands in the Stnte are passing rajiidly into the hands of capitalista, who secure titlo at little more than the oost of improvemonts neoessary for irrigation. The people of tho State are a good deal exercised about this new calamity - for the exclusión of an indcpend(;nt elass of small farmers is nothing less than a calamity; but it will probably be found impracticable to arrest it in time to leave any portion of thc lands free from the grasp of the monopolists.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus