general stringency of the times, the uneasiness of capital, the clashing between laborer and employer, the uprising of the many against the few, the stagnation of trade the world over, the apparent overproduction of manufactures and crude material, each would give a different answer, and probably none of them would be the full solution of the question. The primary and immediate cause is the scarcity of gold. Other minor influences are generally local, and nearly all of them hinge on the former.

The best thinkers and financiers of Europe assume that the production of gold is less than the requirements, and gold coinage is nearly suspended. Assuming, therefore, the fall of prices to be caused by the diminished gold production, we must admit that if this were gradual, it would occasion no serious distress. It is the sudden diminution that causes the disturbance. Our people have the same elements of prosperity, but cannot divert the property they possess, or exchange to mutual advantage as when gold was plentiful. It is claimed that gold is hoarded in bank and Government treasuries. If this was so, the very necessity of the case would cause it to be brought out and used. The real truth is that it is scarce, and becoming more so, and unless new and prolific gold fields are discovered, the present depressed condition of trade will continue until prices adjust themselves to the increased value of gold.

Because the management of our gold and silver mines has too often been unwise and extravagant, and because in the days of our plenty we have disregarded small things, it should not be charged that the business itself is defective. On the contrary, its excellence is proved by its frequent success, even under admitted mismanagement.

Gold mining is a legitimate, honorable, and interesting occupation, and, when properly conducted, as safe as any that can be mentioned. The Government of Victoria, in Australia, already realizes how important to the Colonies and the mother country is the continued production of gold, and has enacted laws to assist the prospectors in discovering and working new gold fields; while California, with less wisdom and foresight, discourages mining. It should be the policy of our State, as of other countries, to turn her vast mineral resources to the best account. Instead of crippling the gold miner, he should be encouraged and afforded special facilities for his work. Instead of treating him as a public enemy, he should be regarded as a useful and important agent in maintaining the wealth of the country. Instead of stopping the work of those who injure without malice a small portion of the agricultural lands of the State, we should rather consider the vast importance of the gold yield, and seek some remedy or formulate some plan, whereby the miner may continue his work and the farmer at the same time be protected.

BIMETALISM.

While it cannot be denied that gold is the king of metals, and that all values are measured directly or indirectly by it, silver and other inferior metals should not be scorned. From present indications California will become a large silver-producing State. Having had a period of gold production, a new era of silver begins to dawn upon us. It is known that at

various times in the world's history, after an unusual output of gold, when that metal became scarce some inferior metal was substituted for it. Sil

ver was at first taken for this purpose, but copper, and even iron, were also used for money. To this extent bimetalism is admissible and possible, but any attempt to establish and to long maintain a fixed relative value between any two or more metals, must result in failure.

The idea of sustaining a double standard is an absurdity. The word

standard implies something having a fixed or permanent value. While any one substance may be accepted as the measure of the comparative value of many or all others, if a double standard was possible, it would be equally possible to have a quadruple or multiple standard. There must be one standard, or none.

Any act of Legislature to create and maintain a double standard would be no less ridiculous than the deed of Xerxes, who lashed the Hellespont because it destroyed his bridge, or of Cyrus, who punished the river Gyndes. So difficult has been the settlement of this question in times past-for it is as old as history-that the Chinese were compelled to substitute copper for gold as a measure of values. The standard, whatever its substance may be, is fixed only in name, for it fluctuates in obedience to the universal law of supply and demand; but as a standard it remains stationary, while everything measured by it fluctuates in proportion. This was shown in the case of United States currency during and immediately following the civil war, when paper was created a legal tender and assumed to be a standard. This was a fallacy, for while gold was said to fluctuate, it was in fact the currency that did so. In California, where we had no currency, the price of gold remained as nearly the same as it could, compared with other articles of commerce, and there was no change in the value of gold in other countries.

If it should be thought wise to make silver the standard, values would adjust themselves, and with an increased circulating medium, trade and commerce would prosper or seem to prosper as before. There would be no gold in circulation; if we wanted that metal we should have to buy it as we do any other commodity. Unless other nations also accepted the silver standard, our silver coin would be at a discount in all countries which retained the gold standard.

The acceptance by the United States of a silver standard would be a benefit to our State, for it would stimulate silver mining and lead to the opening of many mines now idle, whatever effect it might eventually have on trade and commerce.

We have the satisfaction of knowing that there are in our State practically inexhaustible reserves of the precious metals, which we can draw upon if we desire. That our people should not fully avail themselves of these advantages seems incredible.

DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING MANUFACTURING IN CALIFORNIA.

Another reason for encouraging mining in California is the difficulty which manufacturers experience in disposing of their products, owing to competition with the East and Europe, and to the small population of the State and Pacific Coast. If the miners cease to be producers they must embark in some other business or leave the State. If the former, there is no avenue open but agriculture, manufactures, or commerce, all of which are already full, not to say overdone. If there is no gold produced for exchange with other centers, it will prove a check to enterprise on this coast. The sudden cessation of the former golden income to our merchants, manufacturers, mechanics, and farmers, cannot but be felt in every department of industry.

Upon agriculture alone the former prosperity of our State cannot at present be maintained. In course of time, when our population becomes larger, and prices have sunk to a level with those in older States; when we form habits of economy, frugality, and providence; when we discover new coal mines, or learn to utilize our petroleum, and all the various resources

of our State, the general prosperity will equal that of others; but now, without gold, we have no special advantage over our sister States, save in climate.

Population of California and the Pacific Coast, as compared with other

It will be seen by the above figures that New York and the cities in its vicinity contain nearly twice as many people as the entire Pacific Coast. How would New York prosper if it depended solely on its own inhabitants for a market? How can California support large manufactories with so small a market, and against the competition of eastern dealers, who have far greater advantages and facilities, and produce manufactured goods cheaper than we can?

51,031

30,999

28,229

- 2,140,451

BUILDING STONES AND BUILDING MATERIALS IN

CALIFORNIA.

I have had occasion in all my reports to allude to the building materials already found and likely to be found, and the increasing use of them in the State. The subject is of such importance that I cannot refrain from again calling attention to it, to sum up recent discoveries made and to give general information, which I trust will be interesting and instructive to citizens of the State who have not the opportunity or the leisure to study the large number of reference works which treat on this subject.

HISTORY OF BUILDING IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE MATERIALS USED IN CONSTRUCTION.

The question as to what shall replace the perishable structures now so generally built in the State, and especially in the city of San Francisco, is one that should engage the serious and immediate attention of our people. To those who have not well considered this subject, the solution would seem to be simply the selection of some accessible stone and its immediate use in buildings, but such hasty action might prove an error.

In the history of the world very serious mistakes have been made in the selection of building stones, to the injury of individuals and communities.

There are certain conditions which render stones suitable and durable in one locality, but short-lived and nearly worthless in others.

This was strikingly illustrated in the selection of stone for the construction of the Parliament Houses in London.

In their native beds these stones had withstood climatic influences for centuries, and two fine buildings, Southwell Minster and York Minster, both of the same material, and both many years old, were still in a good state of preservation. But when the same stone was laid in the magnificent walls of the palace, in the smoky, acid, foggy atmosphere of London, decay early commenced, and a system of patching, painting, scraping, and cleaning was found necessary, which has been continued at intervals, to the disappointment and chagrin of the good people of the world's greatest city. The obelisk which stood for thirty centuries, more or less, in the dry atmosphere of Egypt, crumbled in a few years in New York. If it had been set up in Arizona, or on the Colorado Desert of California, and protected from wind-driven sands, its deeply sculptured hieroglyphics would, without much doubt, have remained legible for a thousand years more. The desirable qualities which characterize a really good building stone are: First, durability. Second, beauty. Third, ease with which it can be cut into suitable forms for use. And, Fourth, proximity to the cities where the stone is required.

The advantages of stone over other building material may be summed up as follows: beauty, durability, and safety from fire and ordinary earthquakes, the latter an important consideration in California, and one we may not ignore.

In the one item of insurance alone, should fireproof buildings replace those of wood, millions of dollars would be retained in the country, while the cost of the Fire Department system would be reduced to a minimum. The construction of good buildings gives employment to mechanics and workingmen, who are thereby enabled to support their families, and to live in comfort. Another consideration which is often overlooked is loss of capital employed in the construction of perishable buildings which become worthless in a few years. The rocks most generally used as building material are: granite, syenite, porphyry, diorite or greenstone, lavas, including basalt and trachyte; freestones or sandstones, and limestones, including tufa, travertine, and dolomite, slates, serpentines, etc.; all these are found in California and most of them are abundant.

The crust of the earth, as far as known to man, is composed principally of seven minerals, to the extent of nineteen twentieths, as follows:

When two or more minerals are mechanically mixed they form rocks, as generally understood. Some minerals occur in such large masses that they also are classified as rocks. The crystalline rocks as granite, syenite, gneiss, etc., are complex, and contain nearly, if not all the elements which enter into the composition of volcanic, plutonic, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks, including the metals, gold, silver, lead, tin, iron, etc.

They decompose to sand, kaolin, and alkalies, which form new combinations in soils and minerals. Sandstones, shales, slates, mica schists,

and argillaceous rocks, are built up of the ruins of older crystalline rocks, and, if we are not mistaken, return to their former condition and become crystalline rocks again.

In California building stones abound. It was a wise remark made by some writer unknown to me, but frequently quoted, that "Time seldom spares what it does not take time to create." This aptly applies to the art of building, an art greatly conducive to the comfort, prosperity, and happiness of mankind.

Wood was extensively employed in building ancient cities. These temporary houses were replaced first by brick, and then by those constructed of marble and other building stones. Wood was largely used in Rome. Up to the time of Augustus brick was the common building material, but the upper part of the better class of dwelling houses still continued to be of wood. From the reign of Augustus better materials were generally introduced, and after the great fire in Nero's time, a volcanic rock now called "peperino" came into quite common use. Nero did not allow the wooden upper structures to be renewed, and made the streets wider and straighter. Peperino is a volcanic ash, cemented by carbonate of lime or silica. It is very light, and for that reason suitable for a certain class of buildings. It was extensively used in the ancient cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. This rock, or one of a similar character, is abundant in California.

Specimens from ancient Rome may be seen in the State Museum, numbered 6437, and others.

During the splendor of the Empire magnificent and costly buildings, both public and private, were erected in Rome; each Emperor vieing with his predecessor in their construction. After the time of Augustus, the then known world was ransacked for new and elegant marble. It was early discovered that certain volcanic tufas or ash, called Pozzuolana, when mixed with the proper proportion of lime, became a hard and durable.

cement.

The discovery of the cementing properties of this material seems to have been accidental. At Baiæ, on the coast of Italy-which was a celebrated watering place and resort of the wealthy Romans in ancient times-it was thought desirable to increase the coolness of the situation by building the summer villas on masonry, extending beyond the shore, and surrounded by the waters of the bay. In experiments for this purpose, made with different cements or mortar, a kind of earth now known to be of volcanic origin, was discovered at Puteoli, to which the name of Pulvis Puteolanus was given, afterwards corrupted to Pozzuolana, by which it is still known. It is claimed by historians, that to the discovery of this cement, Rome owes, in great measure, the massive and stately character of her public works and buildings, and that without it, the magnificent bridges, aqueducts, and roads, would ere this have fallen into decay.

California is known to be rich in volcanic materials, and it is not unlikely that Pozzuolana may yet be found among them. Such a discovery by the State Mining Bureau would be worth more to California than the whole cost of the institution since its inception. The fact that our State is specially subject to earthquakes, must be admitted. It is also known that it is possible to construct buildings that will resist all but the most violent shocks. Since the weakest part of modern buildings is the cement or mortar with which they are put together, it is evident we must improve the quality of that, in order to insure their durability. It has been observed in many old Roman structures, that the mortar outlasts the stones themselves, and that where the latter have been worn away by the