USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol I > Part 23
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writers, of scientific achievement, as well as of the products of the soil and of the mine. The publication has met with such widespread appreciation that it now goes, by annual subscriptions, to more than 15,000 homes in all parts of the world, while more than this number of copies are distributed by the American News Company and its branches. Jack London, Joaquin Miller, Gelett Burgess, W. C. Morrow, Luther Burbank, John Muir, Flora Haines Loughead, Eleanor Gates, and a hundred other writers of prominence are represented in its pages. Editorial sheets, with clippings from the maga- zine suitable for reprinting, are sent out each month to every newspaper of prominence in the United States. Between five and ten thousand artistic posters showing in color some striking figure characteristic of the west, and calling attention to the contents of the magazine, are distributed and dis- played throughout this country and Europe. The magazine carries over one hundred pages of advertising, most of it relating to California and the west, telling of products of soil or factory, or setting forth the claims of health resorts of the advantages of special counties or towns. Words of praise and appreciation for this magazine are numerous, and its great value in up-building the state by reason of the class of readers which it commands is impossible to estimate.
The London agency of this company prints monthly and distributes wide- ly its monthly publication, abroad, devoted exclusively to telling of Califor- nia and adjacent states. It is given out by the many agents and sub-agents of the company throughout Europe, Asia and the Orient, and is growing constantly in effectiveness and influence.
Rufus P. Jennings, executive officer of the California Promotion Com- mittee. furnishes the following facts regarding the new time in Califor- nia :
It is a great human interest story, this of the coming of home-seekers to a new country, of the tilling of untilled fields, of the turning up of virgin soil by the plow. It is a story of hope, of courage, and should be a history of substantial progress in the development of each locality.
"Our Unpeopled West" is more than a catchy phrase. Those who have noted the findings of the twelfth census have certainly observed that the center of population has moved but slowly westward and that a large portion of the population of the United States occupies a portion less than
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half its eastern area. The progress made in the development of irrigation in our states ranked as arid and semi-arid has thrown a vast extent of now tillable lands open to settlement and gives greater promise for the future. In the city of Chicago alone there are more people than there are in the entire state of California. California has a seaboard greater than all the New England coast. In size it is second only to Texas, yet it has a popula- tion of but 1,500,000.
In California we have an organization known as the California Promo- tion Committee. Its object is to settle and develop the state. We work on the principle that though there is no one section which will suit every- body, there are localities in the state fitted to the needs of every home-seeker. When we find someone who is interested in California we try to present, in an unbiased manner, the resources of every portion of the state. Should we find that the prospective settler prefers any one region we furnish spe- cific information on that particular locality. We believe that in a new coun- try men of the right sort are needed more than money. Money without the application of human brain and brawn will not develop natural resources, nor will it make two blades of grass to grow where one has grown before.
The California Promotion Committee represents the leading commer- cial organizations of the state of California. The committee was organized about a year and a half ago, and in that time it has expended $50,000, with the result that thousands of home-seekers have been satisfactorily settled. I believe that by an organization on broad lines, covering the entire state, and all sections working in harmony, much greater results have been achieved, not only for the state at large, but for each section and from the standpoint of those who have come to California-and this is most important of all- I believe that they have been more honestly and satisfactorily located than if we had endeavored to impress them with any particular section and "knock" other localities. In fact, if a man writes about another state-Ore- gon or Washington, for instance-we always refer him to the proper sources of information in those states, firmly believing that a man rightly settled will become a producer: but if unwisely settled he himself not only fails to prosper but the entire community feels the setback resulting from his "hard times."
An important industry in our state, and one which we consider offers
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exceptional opportunities to the man who is familiar with this pursuit, is dairying. The value of dairy products in California is more than $18,000,- 000 each year, and yet $1,500,000 of dairy products are annually imported into the state. With 300,000 acres planted to alfalfa, California ranks sec- ond only to Colorado. Our climate permits cattle to graze the year round, without housing or being fed in winter. California butter is of fine quality and has a large export. Our cheese is said not to be as good as eastern cheese, which is imported, but the dairying industry is as yet nascent in this state. It is only a few years ago, probably not more than ten or twelve years at the utmost, that modern dairy methods and machinery, cream separa- tors and their like, came into anything like general use. The industry needs only more experienced, scientific butter-makers to make it one of the most important in the state. We possess all the natural qualifications in our dairy products to make cheese which shall be second to none, and as this industry develops, California cheese will assume a high place in the world's markets.
Another industry in California which has become of immense import- ance in the development of the state is the raising of citrus and deciduous fruits. This product amounts to more than $40,000,000 each year, exclusive of home consumption, and the raising of small fruits, such as berries, etc. The fruit harvest in California is unique. The rapid development of this industry, which was of comparative unimportance eighteen years ago, has called forth the most highly systematized organization of an army of 250,- 000 workers, to each of whom is allotted some special task. The two in- dustries, dairying and fruit raising, each present opportunities to the set- tler. But the opportunity in each for any incoming home-seeker must be gauged by the capital he has to invest, his previous training and his natural inclination, and other things being equal, including the important personal equation, by the period that he can await returns. It takes several years of patient labor and the investment of some capital to get an orchard-lem- on, olive, fig, apple, cherry, peach, pear, quince, etc .- into bearing where it will yield an income. Often the returns are exceedingly large, consider- ing the acreage, giving an income per acre of from $200 to $500 annually. but the newcomer must have ability and patience to bide his time. On the other hand, a dairy farm will yield more immediate returns. In fact, it may become productive of an income from the first month of its estab-
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lishment. It requires more assiduous care throughout the year, although even in the "idle months" the prosperous fruit grower will give time and attention to his orchard.
Chicken raising is an industry which in California has attracted much attention from home-seekers. It is a curious fact that out of more than 60,000 letters received by the California Promotion Committee, more than one-half have inquired about the opportunities in this industry. The most notable chicken-raising town in California is Petaluma, in Sonoma county. In the first four months of this year I am informed that 1,484,441 dozen eggs were sold in Petaluma for shipment and cold storage alone.
"At an average price of 25 cents a dozen," says a press dispatch, "the income to the egg ranchers for this period exceeded $375,000. In addi- tion, more than $15,000 worth of chickens were shipped from Petaluma. The annual egg output of Petaluma has been estimated at 2,200,000 dozen, but it is said that 5,000,000 dozen will not be too high an estimate for 1903." Petaluma has a population of 5,000. The twelfth census showed that there were 850,000 white leghorn fowls in Petaluma, exclusive of other breeds. There are many other sections of the state in which poultry raising is car- ried on on a wholesale scale. Even so, there is an importation in California of several million dollars of poultry products yearly.
Diversified farming and the raising of small fruits are industries which appeal to many and in which the rural population of California derives a large living. The success in cultivation of small plots of land under irriga- tion is one of the greatest of all factors in the state's progress. Thousands of newcomers to California engage in diversified farming and small fruit farms with success. As the California Promotion Committee, we find that the publication of what has been done, giving names and addresses of parties, is effective. In publishing such matter without comment the prospective set- tler is able to judge for himself whether the industries mentioned appeal to lim. It is a method which in my opinion is beneficial, not only to the state, but is of advantage to the prospective settler.
One of the most notable instances of success in small farming is that of Mr. Cleek of Orland, who has lived on a single acre of land for twenty-five years, and from it has made enough to support himself and wife and put money in the bank almost every year. In fact Mr. Cleek has accumulated suf-
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ficient capital from this plot to be able to loan money. Thomas Oats has an orchard two miles from Sacramento, from which he realizes $1,200 an acre for Royal Anne cherries. Florin, in Sacramento county, is noted for its strawberries. Up to August 5th last year, Florin shipped 1,095 tons of strawberries, having a value of $131,400. Robert Barneby, at Florin, rented five acres of land on equal shares. The patch yielded 2,900 crates, from which Mr. Barneby received as his half, after paying for all crates and bas- kets, $1,026. I have names of about thirty others at Florin, which possesses a railway station, a country store and some other scattered buildings, who have done as well. Margaret and Lizzie McMurray, at Fair Oaks, off a quarter of an acre of phenomenal and Logan berries, sold $300 worth of berries net, besides $144 worth of plants. Wing Stewart of San Diego, five hundred miles south, has forty bushes of guavas on a patch of ground 30 by 68 feet in size, from which he picked 2,000 pounds of fruit; before the season closed in February, he picked another thousand pounds. J. E. Hayden this year tells me he sold $500 worth of strawberries from one acre of ground. The output of berry farms is not included in statistics of the state's fruit crop.
When an inquirer wishes to know either about dairying or fruit-rais- ing and wishes to balance the relative merits of each, these are presented to him in the fullest manner possible: he is informed of the conditions and opportunities in each industry in the localities with which he is most im- pressed, and the decision is left entirely to him without any attempt to influence his choice, either directly or by an unfair presentation. To supply this information requires a large and competent staff. Over 200 letters are sent from the Promotion Committee daily, in answer to inquirers from all parts of the world. The committee maintains a headquarters in San Fran- cisco. These headquarters, by the distribution of great quantities of litera- ture, etc., help to arouse an interest among Californians in regard to their own state, as well as to furnish a convenient opportunity for visitors to ob- tain information. In fact, the work done at home, in the commonwealth itself, must be the foundation of all real success in the upbuilding of the state. What one organization can accomplish singly is infinitesimal when compared to the results obtained when all citizens are aroused to enthusiasm and lend their co-operation in seeing that home-seekers are satisfactorily established in the new land. California has been conspicuously successful
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in advertising its resources. The state has now reached a period of steady industrial growth and this advertising has taken on a sober, honest tone. The publication of glittering generalities is frowned down upon. In the entire history of California, embracing that period since agriculture and in- dustrial enterprises have come to vie in commercial importance with min- ing, I know of only one large colonization project where the intending set- tlers have been willfully misinformed as to the opportunity awaiting them. Needless to say, this project is a total failure. Co-operation is the watch- word in California's progress. The man who cultivates the soil should have the best we have to give. I believe we are giving him our best.
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CHAPTER XVII.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.
By Professor John Swett and the Author.
HOW THE PIONEERS MADE EARLY PROVISION FOR A FUND THAT WOULD PROVIDE EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES ON A GENEROUS SCALE-GOVERN- MENT LANDS FORMED THE BASIS FOR AN EXTENSIVE SYSTEM OF IN- STRUCTION, WITH LIBRARIES IN EVERY SCHOOLHOUSE-SAN FRAN- CISCO'S FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE AND FIRST SCHOOL TEACHER-AN OUT- LINE OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE STATE'S PLAN OF INSTRUCTION- NORMAL SCHOOLS.
Throughout the civilized world, wherever those that teach are inter- ested in the great problem of education, California is known as one of the most liberal states in the Union in educational matters, and her generous system of public instruction has been the model and the wonder of many countries.
The fathers builded well, and they laid deep the foundations of the present public school system soon after the Argonauts of '49 had made the rich country of the Pacific their home. The foundation of the public school system of the country was laid in the constitutional convention at Monterey, in September, 1849.
The select committee from the state convention reported in committee of the whole, in favor of appropriating the 500,000 acres of land granted by Congress to new states for the purpose of internal improvements to con- stitute a perpetual school fund. At the outset there was a provision in the report that the legislature might divert the fund to other purposes, if exigencies should arise. Semple, of Sonoma, was chief debater in the de- feat of that provision by a vote of 18 to strike it out to 17 against the propo- sition. It was by this close vote that a perpetual and inviolable fund for schools was secured. Semple, whose ideas on the subject were matured and far-reaching, argued in elaboration for a uniform system and for grade schools.
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A section providing that a school must be in session at least three months every year to secure the fund, was adopted. When Article IX of the Constitution was under discussion (this relates to education) it was found on the ground that it created a large school fund, and that this fund would be a source of corruption. The article recites that "a general dif- fusion of knowledge is essential to the preservation of the rights and liber- ties of the people." Under this article free schools are created in every dis- trict, public school taxes are provided, and the sale of lands is arranged for the creation of a perpetual fund.
When the provisions of this article were assailed Semple again became the champion of the liberal provisions, and his views won. He had clear ideas on educational matters and is really the founder of the public school system.
About the close of the first session of the legislature, at San José, 1849-50, Mr. Corey, of the committee on education, got a postponement of school taxation, on the ground that the other taxes of the state formed a burden already.
Though the foundation for the schools of the state was thus laid early and well, San Francisco, independently of the general law, established the first school by an ordinance of her common council. On April 8, 1850, H. C. Murray drew and got passed an ordinance that authorized John C. Pel- ton to open a public school in the Baptist chapel of the new town of San Francisco. This was the first public school in California. The hours of teaching were from 8:30 a. m. until noon and from 2 to 5 p. m. The school age was established at from 4 to 16 years, and the membership was limited to 100 pupils.
It should be stated that before this public school was organized, Thomas Douglass opened a tuition school. This was in April, 1848. He had but six pupils and he taught in a small schoolhouse that had been built in Octo- ber, 1847, by order of the town council. The school was in one sense under direction of the council. On April 1. 1848, the population of San Francisco was about one thousand and there were in the vicinity some sixty school children, or children of school age. In May the Douglass classes embraced thirty-seven pupils, but it was not long until the gold excitement cut the number to eight pupils.
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During a part of the year 1847 a Mr. Marston, a Mormon of consider- able enterprise, opened a private school and he was so popular that he se- cured twenty pupils, a considerable number for those times.
In April, 1849, Reverend Albert Williams opened a private school and succeeded in getting twenty-five pupils. His school was in session until September of the same year.
On October II, 1849, John C. Pelton and his wife arrived from Bos- ton with books and furniture to open a school on the New England plan. They began in December, 1849, with but three pupils, but their enterprise was soon made a free public school, as before stated.
The first state school law, under the provisions of the constitution, was passed in 1851. It was cumbersome and in many ways defective, but it was a start in the right direction. David C. Broderick, afterward famous in national politics, was a member of the legislature when the school bill was under dis- cussion. He supported the educational plan of the administration warmly and did much for the cause of the schools. The law of 1851 provided in a crude way for a survey and sale of school lands, but in a manner so im- practicable that no lands were ever sold under its provisions. There were many other defects that were remedied thereafter.
The first school ordinance passed under the measure known as the state law of 1851 was that of San Francisco, which was adopted in Sep- tember, 1851. It provided for a board of education of seven members, a city superintendent of schools, and other officers, and appropriated $35,000 to carry out the educational plan. Thomas J. Nevins, father of the ordinance, was the city's first superintendent of schools. The first schools organized under this law were the Happy Valley School, of which James Denman was the first teacher, and the Powell Street School, of which Joel Tracy was the first teacher. These schools opened on December 17, 1851. Washing- ton Grammar School was opened on December 22, 1851, with F. E. James as principal. During the year 1852 the following schools were organized : Rincon, January 28. Silas Weston, principal; Spring Valley Grammar, February 9. Asa W. Cole, principal : Union Grammar, June, Ahira Holmes, principal: Mission Grammar, May, Alfred Rix, principal.
The average daily attendance of all these schools during the year 1852 was 445, and the average attendance during 1853 was 703. It is noted that
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among the teachers employed during 1853 were: Ellis H. Holmes, prin- cipal of the Washington School; John Swett, principal of Rincon School; Joseph C. Morrill, principal of Spring Valley School. The salaries of prin- cipals in San Francisco during 1853 was but $1,500 a year.
The first superintendent of public instruction of the state was John G. Marvin, and his first report to the legislature was on January 5, 1852. He recommended the repeal of the defective law of 1851, asked for the sum of $50,000 for the schools and for a tax rate of five cents on the $100 for the purpose of raising a school fund. He also requested that the office of county superintendent of schools be created for each county in the state. Another highly important recommendation-one that has become an im- portant part of the law-was that school libraries be established. He also desired that the proceeds of the sale of all tule lands-chiefly overflowed and once tide-water lands-be applied to school purposes. From these sources he estimated that there would be a school fund of $9,975,400.
In an appendix to his report, Mr. Marvin gave extracts from letters of inquiry addressed to him by various county officers and to postmasters. A few extracts from these will show the educational condition of the state at that time : Butte county had 50 children, but no school; Calaveras county, 100 children, and no school: Colusa, 75 children, with some prospect of a school next year; El Dorado county, 100 children, but no school; Contra Costa county had some 400 children. Postmaster Coffin, of Martinez, wrote: "There are nearly 150 here. There is but just the breath of life existing in the apology for a school in the town. I presume it will be de- funct ere one month passes away." Marin county had 60 children, and a mission school at San Rafael; Mariposa county, 100 children, "no school organized;" Mendocino county, 70 children, and a school of 20 pupils on Russian river; Monterey county, 500 children-two schools of 40 pupils each in the city-179 at San Juan, and no school; "morality and society in a desperate condition;" Napa county had 100 children, and three schools in the county, one of which was at Napa City, and numbered 25 scholars; Nevada county had 250, and four schools, two of which were at Nevada City, one at Grass Valley, and one at Rough and Ready; Placer county had 100 children, and one small school at Auburn; San Joaquin county had 250 children, and two schools, both at Stockton. Mr. Rogers, the teacher
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of a private school at Sacramento, reported that there were 400 children in that county, and no schools except two primary and one academy, a high school in the city of Sacramento, all private.
He says: "This city has never spent a cent for elementary instruc- tion. My sympathies are with the public free schools, but in their absence I started a private school."
Santa Cruz county had 200 children, and two schools, both in the town, numbering 65 scholars.
Santa Clara county had 300 children. The Young Ladies' Seminary, at San José, in charge of the Sisters of Charity, had 90 pupils; and the San José Academy, Reverend E. Bannister, principal, had 60 pupils. Through the exertions of Hon. George B. Tingley, a subscription of five thousand dollars was raised for the benefit of this academy. There were two primary schools at Santa Clara, with 64 scholars, and two other schools in the town- ship, numbering 35 scholars.
Santa Barbara county had 400 children, and one public school in the town, under supervision of the common council, who paid the two teachers together seventy dollars per month. There was also a small school at Santa Inez.
Concerning San Francisco it is reported: "In May last, the common council, under authority of the charter, authorized the raising of $35,000 as a school fund for the present year. In September, 1851, the same body passed the present excellent school ordinance, and appointed Aldermen Ross, Atwell, John Wilson, and Henry E. Lincoln, to form the board of educa- tion. These gentlemen chose T. J. Nevins superintendent."
Three public schools were organized at that time-Happy Valley School, No. 1, 163 scholars, James Denman, principal; District No. 2, Dupont Street School, 150 pupils, Mr. Jones, principal; Powell Street School No. 3, 60 pupils, Joel Tracy, principal.
Among the private schools the principal were as follows: San Fran- cisco Academy, Rev. F. E. Prevaux, 31 pupils; Episcopal Parish School of Grace Church, 40 scholars, Dr. Ver Mehr; Wesleyan Chapel Select School, 33 scholars, Mr. Osborn, instructor; St. Patrick's School, 150 children, Fath- er McGinnis, principal; Church of St. Francis School, 150 pupils, Father Langlois, principal.
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