CHAPTER XVI.

GROWTH OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.

One of the most marked features of modern industrial and social life in California is the remarkable immigration movement of the last few years. Though there had been a following of the star of empire toward the west ever since the days of the Argonauts, the movement was not organized by Californians until the beginning of the California Promotion Committee.

Mr. Hamilton Wright has summarized the story of that organization as follows:

The California Promotion Committee is a disinterested society, supported by public subscriptions and kept alive through the work of its members and officers who give their services gratuitously. The movement for an organization of this character started in April, 1902, but it was not until September of 1902 that it was placed on a good running basis and not until the middle of October that the work began to show effective results. Since September, 1902, the results of the Committee's work have proved cumulative. Its influence and reputation have constantly widened. The number of inquiries from all parts of the world have increased and the committee recognized as a public institution devoted to the welfare of the state has sent unbiased information to thousands of persons who have now settled and are owning homes and farms as the result of correspondence with the committee. The fund for carrying on the work came through popular subscriptions in amounts varying from one to fifty dollars monthly for the period of one year. The movement was very popular from the first, for there were those who recognized its necessity to such an extent that they were willing to contribute funds, although the benefits which accrue to them are those in which they share with the rest of the state and the community at large. Many organizations are established to bring colonists and develop other interests of the state. Comparatively few succeed to such an extent that enthusiasm in the work is manifested in continued financial support. Why, then, has the

California Promotion Committee been successful and what are the methods under which it has attained success? One answer is sufficient for both queries. The California Promotion Committee has been managed throughout on the principles which apply to a reliable, up-to-date business concern. The work has been impartial, it has been vigorous, and more than all it has been effective. Other states contemplating or already engaged in development work have sent their representatives to California to study the methods of the Promotion Committee and have expressed themselves as profiting with the knowledge gained. In fact, the secretary of the Merchants' Association of Honolulu, H. T., came to San Francisco, studied the work of the California Promotion Committee, returned to Hawaii, and now in Hawaii there is the Hawaii Promotion Committee. A Texas organization has had its representative here studying California methods of advertising, while a New Orleans commercial body has adopted the methods of the committee.

The Promotion Committee has brought, in results traceable, thousands of people to California and these people have settled down into the work of the community, purchased property and are a substantial and progressive ele

These families have settled in different portions of the state according to their needs and according to the ability of each section to give them that for which they seek. It is a tribute to the sagacity of the business men who support the committee that the territory sought to be colonized is of far greater extent than the locality from which the immediate profits of their business are derived. It is generally recognized that, however earnest, no amount of promotion work can ever create an oasis of prosperity amid a desert of financial or agricultural stagnation, and that the general level of prosperity must be raised in order that one section shall prosper. The committee thus takes a broad attitude and discourages invidious comparisons between different sections of the state. The committee has advertised in the best magazines and these advertisements have brought inquiries in answer to which more than 300,000 pieces of literature in regard to California have been sent. The committee has sent lecturers through the east, California farmers have gone through eastern farming districts. Articles on California. have been spread abroad through eastern newspapers and magazines. In connection with the California fruit growers the committee has done work.

in the east with the view of assisting in harvesting and caring for the fruit crop.

One feature about the work of the California Promotion Committee is that every letter to an interested easterner is answered personally and not, as is often done, by printed circulars which do not give the thought and individual attention which is necessary not only to explain to a man why it may be desirable for him to locate in this state, but to give him the specific information which he seeks. The same state or commonwealth will appeal to no two men in precisely the same manner, and thus a circular on general lines will not constitute the direct appeal which a personal letter will when you give a man just the information he desired.

This personal plan of work is a factor in the success of the California. Promotion Committee as an agent to develop this splendid state. The committee has had in the field a number of representatives, sometimes as many as six, who have lectured and talked personally to the easterner upon what California has to give him. The committee's representatives have been men who are intimately acquainted with the agricultural and industrial conditions in California, who have themselves engaged in building up the state and are therefore able to speak convincingly.

The National Magazine, of Boston, Massachusetts, has the following to say of the committee:

"The work of the state development has reached an advanced stage in California, where the leading commercial bodies, boards of trade and chambers of commerce have formed themselves into a central organization known as the California Promotion Committee. The Promotion Committee is devoted exclusively to promoting the settlement and development of the state at large. Its purposes are wholly public and its members are representatives of the local organizations. The success of the committee has been remarkable. During the past year and one-half it has brought thousands of settlers to the state and located them through the farming and fruit-raising districts. The committee has been instrumental in bringing a great amount of capital and inducing industrial establishments to locate in California. Considering that it is the only organization of its kind in the world, and that it has no ulterior purpose to serve, the innovation has been worthy of its support. If the

commercial bodies of the other states can combine with like success they will do well to follow California's example."

The success of the work of the California Promotion Committee is a revelation of the enthusiasm which has been displayed in all sections of the state and the co-operation which is the greatest factor in the work for greater California.

One of the foremost results accomplished by the committee since its organization has been the success attending its efforts in dividing up large tracts of agricultural land, so that this land would be open to small settlers. Already the California Promotion Committee has heard from more than fifty of the largest land owners in the state, that they will be willing to sell their lands to intending purchasers in blocks of one, five, ten, fifteen and twenty acres. In all cases the terms are favorable to the settler, and in many instances wage for work is taken in lieu of cash payments. Almost all of the settlers are possessed of some means, and already many have taken advantage of this splitting up of great tracts. Formerly much of the best land in the state was not available to the settler, because it was held in great blocks and managed on a large scale, the workers being merely transient. These large holdings were due partly to the fact that many of the holdings came through large Spanish land grants and this new management on a large scale continued long after the grants had been confirmed and had passed into other hands. Now, however, the settlers are getting more from the land than ever before, because they are farming it in small blocks and are established permanently. They are not transient laborers, but are permanently settled in the country and are a most valuable addition to the wealth of the state.

The California Promotion Committee has been instrumental in securing several important conventions to the city and in assisting in bringing many others. During the visit of the German Agriculturists to California last May the committee was in charge of the itinerary of the party and had the visit of these important people lengthened from three to eight days. The German Agriculturists visited all portions of the state and upon their return to Germany their views of California were printed and widely disseminated. The committee is now co-operating with the California Creamery Operators' Association with a view of securing the convention of the National Butter

Makers' Association in 1905. The convention will meet in St. Louis in October, 1904, and will then determine on the convention city for the succeeding year. Inasmuch as about 8,000 butter makers from all parts of the United States attend this convention, it is very important that it should come to California. Correspondence and personal work has already been done to secure this convention, and the Creamery Operators' Association are preparing for a good exhibit at the World's Fair as a part of the work of getting the Butter Makers' Association convention to come to California.

The committee is conducting an efficient campaign for tourist hotels in many sections of the state, and it is shown from experience that an increase of hotels in desirable localities create an increase in the number of tourists. California has infinitely greater diversity and scenic attractions than Switzerland. The amount of money raised annually from industries supported by tourists alone in Switzerland exceeds $40,000,000, and there is no reason that a greater amount should not be expended in California. The state is already equipped with some of the finest tourist hotels in the world and those who have visited hostleries state that in both accommodations and rates, California compares favorably with Switzerland. There is room, however, for many more tourists than those who now come here.

From the start the success of the California Promotion Committee has been remarkable. There was a firm determination, which has been strictly observed throughout the work of the committee, to exclude all "boom matter," to present in a comprehensive and accurate manner the actual resources of the state, the opportunities for settlers, the price of land, etc. It is for this reason that the efforts of the committee in advertising the state in the east have brought remarkable results. Although the committee has advertised on a most extensive scale, yet their advertising has not been of a "boom" nature. No exaggerated statements have been disseminated, and only facts have been given, so that the prospective seller has not been disappointed upon coming here. At the start of the committee's work display advertising was taken in prominent eastern magazines, having an aggregate circulation of 12,000,000 copies. The purpose of this advertising was to call the attention of those interested in California to the fact that by writing to the California Promotion Committee they could secure reliable and unbiased information. upon all portions of the state. In addition to the display advertising the com