Project Gutenberg's California and the Californians, by David Starr Jordan

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org


Title: California and the Californians

Author: David Starr Jordan

Posting Date: September 4, 2009 [EBook #4755]
Release Date: December, 2003
First Posted: March 12, 2002

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CALIFORNIA AND THE CALIFORNIANS ***




Produced by David A. Schwan.  HTML version by Al Haines.








California and the Californians



By

David Starr Jordan

President Stanford University




The Californian loves his state because his state loves him. He returns
her love with a fierce affection that to men who do not know California
is always a surprise. Hence he is impatient of outside criticism. Those
who do not love California cannot understand her, and, to his mind,
their shafts, however aimed, fly wide of the mark. Thus, to say that
California is commercially asleep, that her industries are gambling
ventures, that her local politics is in the hands of professional
pickpockets, that her small towns are the shabbiest in Christendom, that
her saloons control more constituents than her churches, that she is the
slave of corporations, that she knows no such thing as public opinion,
that she has not yet learned to distinguish enterprise from highway
robbery, nor reform from blackmail,--all these statements, and others
even more unpleasant, the Californian may admit in discussion, or may
say for himself, but he does not find them acceptable from others. They
may be more or less true, in certain times and places, but the
conditions which have permitted them will likewise mend them. It is said
in the Alps that "not all the vulgar people who come to Chamouny can
ever make Chamouny vulgar." For similar reasons, not all the sordid
people who drift overland can ever vulgarize California. Her fascination
endures, whatever the accidents of population.

The charm of California has, in the main, three sources--scenery,
climate, and freedom of life.

To know the glory of California scenery, one must live close to it
through the changing years. From Siskiyou to San Diego, from Alturas to
Tia Juana, from Mendocino to Mariposa, from Tahoe to the Farallones,
lake, crag, or chasm, forest, mountain, valley, or island, river, bay,
or jutting headland, every one bears the stamp of its own peculiar
beauty, a singular blending of richness, wildness and warmth. Coastwise
everywhere sea and mountains meet, and the surf of the cold Japanese
current breaks in turbulent beauty against tall "rincones" and jagged
reefs of rock. Slumbering amid the hills of the Coast Range,

  "A misty camp of mountains pitched tumultuously",

lie golden valleys dotted with wide-limbed oaks, or smothered under
over-weighted fruit trees. Here, too, crumble to ruins the old
Franciscan missions, each in its own fair valley, passing monuments of
California's first page of written history.

Inland rises the great Sierra, with spreading ridge and foothill, like
some huge, sprawling centipede, its granite back unbroken for a thousand
miles. Frost-torn peaks, of every height and bearing, pierce the blue
wastes above. Their slopes are dark with forests of sugar pines and
giant sequoias, the mightiest of trees, in whose silent aisles one may
wander all day long and see no sign of man. Dropped here and there rest
turquoise lakes which mark the craters of dead volcanoes, or which swell
the polished basins where vanished glaciers did their last work. Through
mountain meadows run swift brooks, over-peopled with trout, while from
the crags leap full-throated streams, to be half blown away in mist
before they touch the valley floor. Far down the fragrant caņons sing
the green and troubled rivers, twisting their way lower and lower to the
common plains, each larger stream calling to all his brooks to follow
him as down they go headforemost to the sea. Even the hopeless stretches
of alkali and sand, sinks of lost streams, in the southeastern counties,
are redeemed by the delectable mountains that on all sides shut them in.
Everywhere the landscape swims in crystalline ether, while over all
broods the warm California sun. Here, if anywhere, life is worth living,
full and rich and free.

As there is from end to end of California scarcely one commonplace mile,
so from one end of the year to the other there is hardly a tedious day.
Two seasons only has California, but two are enough if each in its way
be perfect. Some have called the climate "monotonous," but so, equally,
is good health. In terms of Eastern, experience, the seasons may be
defined as "late in the spring and early in the fall";

  "Half a year of clouds and flowers, half a year of dust and sky,"

according to Bret Harte. But with the dust and sky come the unbroken
succession of days of sunshine, the dry invigorating air, scented by the
resin of the tarweed, and the boundless overflow of vine and orchard.
Each season in its turn brings its fill of satisfaction, and winter or
summer we regret to look forward to change, because we feel never quite
sure that the season which is coming will be half so attractive as the
season which we now enjoy. If one must choose, in all the fragrant
California year the best month is June, for then the air is softest, and
a touch of summer's gold overlies the green of winter. But October, when
the first swift rains

  "dash the whole long slope with color,"

and leave the clean-washed atmosphere so absolutely transparent that
even distance is no longer blue, has a charm not less alluring.

So far as man is concerned, the one essential fact is that he is never
the climate's slave; he is never beleaguered by the powers of the air.
Winter and summer alike call him out of doors. In summer he is not
languid, for the air is never sultry. In most regions he is seldom hot,
for in the shade or after nightfall the dry air is always cool. When it
rains the air may be chilly, in doors or out, but it is never cold
enough to make the remorseless base-burner a welcome alternative. The
habit of roasting one's self all winter long is unknown in California.
The old Californian seldom built a fire for warmth's sake. When he was
cold in the house he went out of doors to get warm. The house was a
place for storing food and keeping one's belongings from the wet. To
hide in it from the weather is to abuse the normal function.

The climate of California is especially kind to childhood and old age.
Men live longer there, and, if unwasted by dissipation, strength of body
is better conserved. To children the conditions of life are particularly
favorable. California could have no better advertisement at some world's
fair than a visible demonstration of this fact. A series of measurements
of the children of Oakland has recently been taken, in the interest of
comparative child study; and should the average of these from different
ages be worked into a series of models from Eastern cities, the result
would surprise. The children of California, other things being equal,
are larger, stronger and better formed than their Eastern cousins of the
same age. This advantage of development lasts, unless cigarettes, late
hours, or grosser forms of dissipation come in to destroy it. A
wholesome, sober, out-of-door life in California invariably means a
vigorous maturity.

A third element of charm in California is that of personal freedom. The
dominant note in the social development of the state is individualism,
with all that it implies of good or evil. Man is man in California: he
exists for his own sake, not as part of a social organism. He is, in a
sense, superior to society. In the first place, it is not his society;
he came from some other region on his own business. Most likely, he did
not intend to stay; but, having summered and wintered in California, he
has become a Californian, and now he is not contented anywhere else.
Life on the coast has, for him, something of the joyous irresponsibility
of a picnic. The feeling of children released from school remains with
the grown people.

"A Western man," says Dr. Amos Griswold Warner, "is an Eastern man who
has had some additional experiences." The Californian is a man from
anywhere in America or Europe, typically from New England, perhaps, who
has learned a thing or two he did not know in the East, and perhaps, has
forgotten some things it would have been as well to remember. The things
he has learned relate chiefly to elbow room, nature at first hand and
"the unearned increment." The thing that he is most likely to forget is
that the escape from public opinion is not escape from the consequences
of wrong action.

Of elbow room California offers abundance. In an old civilization men
grow like trees in a close-set forest. Individual growth and symmetry
give way to the necessity of crowding. Every man spends some large part
of his strength in being not himself, but what some dozens of other
people expect him to be. There is no room for spreading branches, and
the characteristic qualities and fruitage develop only at the top. On
the frontier men grow as the California white oak, which, in the open
field, sends its branches far and wide.

With plenty of elbow-room the Californian works out his own inborn
character. If he is greedy, malicious, intemperate, by nature, his bad
qualities rise to the second degree in California, and sometimes to the
third. The whole responsibility rests on himself. Society has no part of
it, and he does not pretend to be what he is not, out of deference to
society. "Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue," but in
California no such homage is demanded or accepted. In like manner, the
virtues become intensified in freedom. Nowhere in the world can one find
men and women more hospitable, more refined, more charming than in the
homes of prosperous California. And these homes, whether in the pine
forests of the Sierras, in the orange groves of the south, in the peach
orchards of the Coast range, or on the great stock ranches, are the
delight of all visitors who enter their open doors. To be sure, the
bewildering hospitality of the great financiers and greater gamblers of
the sixties and seventies is a thing of the past. We shall never again
see such prodigal entertainment as that which Ralston, bankrupt,
cynical, and magnificent, once dispensed in Belmont Caņon. Nor do we
find, nowadays, such lavish outgiving of fruit and wine, or such rushing
of tally-hos, as once preceded the auction sale of town lots in paper
cities. These gorgeous "spreads" were not hospitality, and disappeared
when the traveler had learned his lesson. Their avowed purpose was "the
sale of worthless land to old duffers from the East." But real
hospitality is characteristic of all parts of California where men and
women have an income beyond the needs of the day.

To a very unusual degree the Californian forms his own opinions on
matters of politics, religion, and human life, and these views he
expresses without reserve. His own head he "carries under his own hat,"
and whether this be silk or a sombrero is a matter of his own choosing.
The dictates of church and party have no binding force on him. The
Californian does not confine his views to abstractions. He has his own
opinions of individual men and women. If need be, he will analyze the
character, motives and actions of his neighbor in a way which will
horrify the traveler who has grown up in the shadow of the libel law.
The Californian is peculiarly sensitive as to his own personal freedom
of action. Toward public rights or duties, he is correspondingly
indifferent. In the times of national stress, he paid his debts in gold
and asked the same of his creditors, regardless of the laws or customs
of the rest of the United States. To him gold is still money and a
national promise to pay is not. The general welfare is not a catchword
with him. His affairs are individual. But he is not stingy for all this.
It is rather a form of largeness, of tolerance. He is as generous as the
best, and takes what the Fates send him with cheerful enthusiasm. Flood
and drought, temblor and conflagration, boom and panic--each comes in
"the day's work," and each alike finds him alert, hopeful, resourceful
and unafraid.

The typical Californian has largely outgrown provincialism. He has seen
much of the world, and he knows the varied worth of varied lands. He
travels more widely than the man of any other state, and he has the
education which travel gives. As a rule, the well-to-do Californian
knows Europe better than the average Eastern man of equal financial
resources, and the chances are that his range of experience includes
Japan, China, New Zealand and Australia as well. A knowledge of his own
country is a matter of course. He has no sympathy with "the essential
provinciality of the mind which knows the Eastern seaboard, and has some
measure of acquaintance with countries and cities, and with men from
Ireland to Italy, but which is densely ignorant of our own vast domain,
and thinks that all which lies beyond Philadelphia belongs to the West."
Not that provincialism is unknown in California, or that its occasional
exhibition is any less absurd or offensive here than elsewhere. For
example, one may note a tendency to set up local standards for literary
work done in California. Another more harmful idea is to insist that
methods outworn in the schools elsewhere are good because they are
Californian. This is the usual provincialism of ignorance, and it is
found the world over. Especially is it characteristic of centers of
population. When men come into contact with men instead of with the
forces of nature, they mistake their own conventionalities for the facts
of existence. It is not what life is, but what "the singular mess we
agree to call life" is, that interests them. In this fashion they lose
their real understanding of affairs, become the toys of their local
environment, and are marked as provincials or tenderfeet when they stray
away from home.

California is emphatically one of "earth's male lands," to accept
Browning's classification. The first Saxon settlers were men, and in
their rude civilization women had little part. For years women in
California were objects of curiosity or of chivalry, disturbing rather
than cementing influences in society. Even yet California is essentially
a man's state. It is common to say that public opinion does not exist
there; but such a statement is not wholly correct. It does exist, but it
is an out-of-door public opinion--a man's view of men. There is, for
example, a strong public opinion against hypocrisy in California, as
more than one clerical renegade has found, to his discomfiture. The
pretense to virtue is the one vice that is not forgiven. If a man be not
a liar, few questions are asked, least of all the delicate one as to the
"name he went by in the states." What we commonly call public opinion--the
cut and dried decision on social and civic questions--is made up in
the house. It is essentially feminine in its origin, the opinion of the
home circle as to how men should behave. In California there is little
which corresponds to the social atmosphere pervading the snug,
white-painted, green-blinded New England villages, and this little
exists chiefly in the southern counties, in communities of people
transported in block--traditions, conventionalities, prejudices, and
all. There is, in general, no merit attached to conformity, and one may
take a wide range of rope without necessarily arousing distrust.
Speaking broadly, in California the virtues of life spring from within,
and are not prescribed from without. The young man who is decent only
because he thinks that some one is looking, would do well to stay away.
The stern law of individual responsibility turns the fool over to the
fool-killer without a preliminary trial. No finer type of man can be
found in the world than the sober Californian; and yet no coast is
strewn with wrecks more pitiful.

There are some advantages in the absence of a compelling force of public
opinion. One of them is found in the strong self-reliance of men and
women who have made and enforced their own moral standards. With very
many men, life in California brings a decided strengthening of the moral
fibre. They must reconsider, justify, and fight for their standards of
action; and by so doing they become masters of themselves. With men of
weak nature the result is not so encouraging. The disadvantage is shown
in lax business methods, official carelessness and corruption, the
widespread corrosion of vulgar vices, and the general lack of pride in
their work shown by artisans and craftsmen.

In short, California is a man's land, with male standards of action--a
land where one must give and take, stand and fall, as a man. With the
growth of woman's realm of homes and houses, this will slowly change. It
is changing now, year by year, for good and ill; and soon California
will have a public opinion. Her sons will learn to fear "the rod behind
the looking-glass," and to shun evil not only because it is vile, but
because it is improper.

Contact with the facts of nature has taught the Californian something of
importance. To have elbow-room is to touch nature at more angles; and
whenever she is touched she is an insistent teacher. Whatever is to be
done, the typical Californian knows how to do it, and how to do it well.
He is equal to every occasion. He can cinch his own saddle, harness his
own team, bud his own grapevines, cook his own breakfast, paint his own
house; and because he cannot go to the market for every little service,
perforce he serves himself. In dealing with college students in
California, one is impressed by their boundless ingenuity. If anything
needs doing, some student can do it for you. Is it to sketch a
waterfall, to engrave a portrait, to write a sonnet, to mend a saddle,
to sing a song, to build an engine, or to "bust a bronco," there is
someone at hand who can do it, and do it artistically. Varied ingenuity
California demands of her pioneers. Their native originality has been
intensified by circumstances, until it has become a matter of tradition
and habit. The processes of natural selection have favored the survival
of the ingenious, and the quality of adequacy has become hereditary.

The possibility of the unearned increment is a great factor in the
social evolution of California. Its influence has been widespread,
persistent, and, in most regards, baneful. The Anglo-Saxon first came to
California for gold to be had for the picking up. The hope of securing
something for nothing, money or health without earning it, has been the
motive for a large share of the subsequent immigration. From those who
have grown rich through undeserved prosperity, and from those who have
grown poor in the quest of it, California has suffered sorely. Even now,
far and wide, people think of California as a region where wealth is not
dependent on thrift, where one can somehow "strike it rich" without that
tedious attention to details and expenses which wears out life in effete
regions such as Europe and the Eastern states. In this feeling there is
just enough of truth to keep the notion alive, but never enough to save
from disaster those who make it a working hypothesis. The hope of great
or sudden wealth has been the mainspring of enterprise in California,
but it has also been the excuse for shiftlessness and recklessness, the
cause of social disintegration and moral decay. The "Argonauts of '49"
were a strong, self-reliant, generous body of men. They came for gold,
and gold in abundance. Most of them found it, and some of them retained
it. Following them came a miscellaneous array of parasites and
plunderers; gamblers, dive-keepers and saloon-keepers, who fed fat on
the spoils of the Argonauts. Every Roaring Camp had its Jack Hamlin as
well as its Flynn of Virginia, John Oakhurst came with Yuba Bill, and
the wild, strong, generous, reckless aggregate cared little for thrift,
and wasted more than they earned.

But it is not gold alone that in California has dazzled men with visions
of sudden wealth. Orange groves, peach orchards, prune orchards, wheat
raising, lumbering, horse-farms; chicken-ranches, bee-ranches,
sheep-breeding, seal-poaching, cod-fishing, salmon-canning--each of
these has held out the same glittering possibility. Even the humblest
ventures have caught the prevailing tone of speculation. Industry and
trade have been followed, not for a living, but for sudden wealth, and
often on a scale of personal expenses out of all proportion to the
probable results. In the sixties, when the gold-fever began to subside,
it was found that the despised "cow counties" would bear marvelous crops
of wheat. At once wheat-raising was undertaken on a grand scale. Farms
of five thousand to fifty thousand acres were established on the old
Spanish grants in the valleys of the Coast Range and in the interior,
and for a time wheat-raising on a grand scale took its place along with
the more conventional forms of gambling, with the disadvantage that
small holders were excluded, and the region occupied was not filled up
by homes.

The working out of most of the placer mines and the advent of
quartz-crushing with elaborate machinery have changed gold-mining from
speculation to regular business, to the great advantage of the state. In
the same manner the development of irrigation is changing the character
of farming in many parts of California. In the early days fruit-raising
was of the nature of speculation, but the spread of irrigation has
brought it into more wholesome relations. To irrigate a tract of land is
to make its product certain; but at the same time irrigation demands
expenditure of money, and the building of a home necessarily follows.
Irrigation thus tends to break up the vast farms into small holdings
which become permanent homes.

On land well chosen, carefully planted and thriftily managed, an orchard
of prunes or of oranges, of almonds or apricots, should reward its
possessor with a comfortable living, besides occasionally a generous
profit thrown in. But too often men have not been content with the usual
return, and have planted trees with a view only to the unearned profits.
To make an honest living from the sale of oranges or prunes or figs or
raisins is quite another thing from acquiring sudden wealth. When a man
without experience in fruit-raising or in general economy comes to
California, buys land on borrowed capital, plants it without
discrimination, and spends his profits in advance, there can be but one
result. The laws of economics are inexorable even in California. One of
the curses of the state is the "fool fruit-grower," with neither
knowledge nor conscience in the management of his business. Thousands of
trees have been planted on ground unsuitable for the purpose, and
thousands of trees which ought to have done well have died through his
neglect. Through his agency frozen oranges were once sent to Eastern
markets under his neighbor's brands, and most needlessly his varied
follies for a time injured the reputation of the best of fruit.

The great body of immigrants to California have been sound and earnest,
fit citizens of the young state, but this is rarely true of seekers of
the unearned increment. No one is more greedy for money than the man who
can never get much and cannot keep the little he has. Rumors of golden
chances have brought in a steady stream of incompetents from all regions
and from all strata of social life. From the common tramp to the
inventor of "perpetual motions" in mechanics or in social science, is a
long step in the moral scale, but both are alike in their eagerness to
escape from the "competitive social order" of the East, in which their
abilities found no recognition. Whoever has deservedly failed in the
older states is sure at least once in his life to think of redeeming his
fortunes in California. Once on the Pacific slope the difficulties in
the way of his return seem insurmountable. The dread of the winter's
cold is in most cases a sufficient reason for never going back. Thus San
Francisco, by force of circumstances, has become the hopper into which
fall incompetents from all the world, and from which few escape. The
city contains more than four hundred thousand people. Of these, a vast
number, thirty thousand to fifty thousand, it may be, have no real
business in San Francisco. They live from hand to mouth, by odd jobs
that might be better done by better people; and whatever their success
in making a living, they swell the army of discontent, and confound all
attempts to solve industrial problems. In this rough estimate I do not
count San Francisco's own poor, of which there are some but not many,
but only those who have drifted in from the outside. I would include,
however, not only those who are economically impotent, but also those
who follow the weak for predatory ends. In this last category I place a
large number of saloon-keepers, and keepers of establishments far worse,
toward which the saloon is only the first step downward; a class of
so-called lawyers, politicians and agents of bribery and blackmail; a
long line of soothsayers, clairvoyants, lottery agents and joint
keepers, besides gamblers, sweaters, promoters of "medical institutes,"
magnetic, psychical and magic "healers" and other types of unhanged, but
more or less pendable, scoundrels that feed upon the life-blood of the
weak and foolish. The other cities of California have had a similar
experience. Each has its reputation for hospitality, and each has a
considerable population which has come in from other regions because
incapable of making its own way. It is not the poor and helpless alone
who are the victims of imposition. There are fools in all walks of life.
Many a well-dressed man or woman can be found in the rooms of the
clairvoyant or the Chinese "doctor." In matters of health, especially,
men grasp at the most unpromising straws. In certain cities of
California there is scarcely a business block that did not contain at
least one human leech under the trade name of "healer," metaphysical,
electrical, astral, divine or what not. And these will thrive so long as
men seek health or fortune with closed eyes and open hands.

In no way has the unearned increment been more mischievous than in the
booming of towns. With the growth of towns comes increase in the value
of the holdings of those who hold and wait. If the city grows rapidly
enough, these gains may be inordinately great. The marvelous beauty of
Southern California and the charm of its climate have impressed
thousands of people. Two or three times this impression has been
epidemic. At one time almost every bluff along the coast, from Los
Angeles to San Diego and beyond, was staked out in town lots. The
wonderful climate was everywhere, and everywhere men had it for sale,
not only along the coast, but throughout the orange-bearing region of
the interior. Every resident bought lots, all the lots he could hold.
The tourist took his hand in speculation. Corner lots in San Diego, Del
Mar, Azusa, Redlands, Riverside, Pasadena, anywhere brought fabulous
prices. A village was laid out in the uninhabited bed of a mountain
torrent, and men stood in the streets in Los Angeles, ranged in line,
all night long, to wait their turn in buying lots. Land, worthless and
inaccessible, barren cliffs' river-wash, sand hills, cactus deserts'
sinks of alkali, everything met with ready sale. The belief that
Southern California would be one great city was universal. The desire to
buy became a mania. "Millionaires of a day," even the shrewdest lost
their heads, and the boom ended, as such booms always end, in utter
collapse.

Mr. T. S. Van Dyke, of San Diego, has written of this episode: "The
money market tightened almost on the instant. From every quarter of the
land the drain of money outward had been enormous, and had been balanced
only by the immense amount constantly coming in. Almost from the day
this inflow ceased money seemed scarce everywhere, for the outgo still
continued. Not only were vast sums going out every day for water-pipe,
railroad iron, cement, lumber, and other material for the great
improvements going on in every direction, most of which material had
already been ordered, but thousands more were still going out for
diamonds and a host of other things already bought--things that only
increase the general indebtedness of community by making those who
cannot afford them imitate those who can. And tens of thousands more
were going out for butter, eggs, pork, and even potatoes and other
vegetables, which the luxurious boomers thought it beneath the dignity
of millionaires to raise."

But the normal growth of Los Angeles and her sister towns has gone on,
in spite of these spasms of fever and their consequent chills. Their
real advantages could not be obscured by the bursting of financial
bubbles. By reason of situation and climate they have continued to
attract men of wealth and enterprise, as well as those in search of
homes and health.

The search for the unearned increment in bodily health brings many to
California who might better have remained at home. The invalid finds
health in California only if he is strong enough to grasp it. To one who
can spend his life out of doors it is indeed true that "our pines are
trees of healing," but to one confined to the house, there is little
gain in the new conditions. To those accustomed to the close heat of
Eastern rooms the California house in the winter seems depressingly
chilly.

I know of few things more pitiful than the annual migration of hopeless
consumptives which formerly took place to Los Angeles, Pasadena, and San
Diego. The Pullman cars in the winter used to be full of sick people,
banished from the East by physicians who do not know what else to do
with their incurable patients. They went to the large hotels of Los
Angeles or Pasadena, to pay a rate they cannot afford. They shivered in
half-warmed rooms; took cold after cold; their symptoms grew alarming;
their money wasted away; and finally, in utter despair, they were
hurried back homeward, perhaps to die on board the train. Or it may be
that they choose cheap lodging-houses, at prices more nearly within
their reach. Here, again, they suffer for want of home food, home
comforts, and home warmth, and the end is just the same. People
hopelessly ill should remain with their friends; even California has no
health to give to those who cannot earn it, in part at least, by their
own exertions.

It is true that the "one-lunged people" form a considerable part of the
population of Southern California. It is also true that no part of our
Union has a more enlightened or more enterprising population, and that
many of these men and women are now as robust and vigorous as one could
desire. But this happy change is possible only to those in the first
stages of the disease. Out-of-door life and physical activity enable the
system to suppress the germs of disease, but climate without activity
does not cure. So far as climate is concerned, many parts of the arid
regions in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado, as well as portions of Old
Mexico (Cuernavaca or Morelia, for example) are more favorable than
California, because they are protected from the chill of the sea.
Another class of health-seekers receives less sympathy in California,
and perhaps deserves less. Jaundiced hypochondriacs and neurotic wrecks
shiver in California winter boarding-houses, torment themselves with
ennui at the country ranches, poison themselves with "nerve foods," and
perhaps finally survive to write the sad and squalid "truth about
California." Doubtless it is all inexpressibly tedious to them;
subjective woe is always hard to bear--but it is not California.

There are others, too, who are disaffected, but I need not stop to
discuss them or their points of view. It is true, in general, that few
to whom anything else is anywhere possible find disappointment in
California.

With all this, the social life is, in its essentials, that of the rest
of the United States, for the same blood flows in the veins of those
whose influence dominates it. Under all its deviations and variations
lies the old Puritan conscience, which is still the backbone of the
civilization of the republic. Life in California is a little fresher, a
little freer, a good deal richer, in its physical aspects, and for these
reasons, more intensely and characteristically American. With perhaps
ninety per cent of identity there is ten per cent of divergence, and
this ten per cent I have emphasized even to exaggeration. We know our
friends by their slight differences in feature or expression, not by
their common humanity. Much of this divergence is already fading away.
Scenery and climate remain, but there is less elbow-room, and the
unearned increment is disappearing. That which is solid will endure; the
rest will vanish. The forces that ally us to the East are growing
stronger every year with the immigration of men with new ideas. The
vigorous growth of the two universities in California insures the
elevation as well as the retention of these ideas. Through their
influence California will contribute a generous share to the social
development of the East, and be a giver as well as a receiver.

Today the pressure of higher education is greater to the square mile, if
we pay use such an expression, than anywhere else in our country. In no
other state is the path from the farmhouse to the college so well
trodden as here. It requires no prophet to forecast the educational
pre-eminence of California, for the basis of intellectual development is
already assured. But however close the alliance with Eastern culture, to
the last, certain traits will persist. California is the most
cosmopolitan of all the states of the Union, and such she will remain.
Whatever the fates may bring, her people will be tolerant, hopeful, and
adequate, sure of themselves, masters of the present, fearless of the
future.









End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of California and the Californians, by 
David Starr Jordan

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CALIFORNIA AND THE CALIFORNIANS ***

***** This file should be named 4755-8.txt or 4755-8.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
        https://www.gutenberg.org/4/7/5/4755/

Produced by David A. Schwan.  HTML version by Al Haines.

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.



*** START: FULL LICENSE ***

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
https://gutenberg.org/license).


Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works

1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.  See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.

1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.

1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.

1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.

1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.

1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that

- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."

- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
     License.  You must require such a user to return or
     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
     Project Gutenberg-tm works.

- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
     of receipt of the work.

- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.

1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.

1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.

1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.


Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm

Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.


Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.

The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at https://pglaf.org

For additional contact information:
     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
     Chief Executive and Director
     gbnewby@pglaf.org


Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit https://pglaf.org

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate


Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.

Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.


Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.


Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:

     https://www.gutenberg.org

This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.