A Report on Large Landholdings in Southern California With Recommendations, 1919, Vol. 1 (Classic Reprint)

Download or read book A Report on Large Landholdings in Southern California With Recommendations, 1919, Vol. 1 (Classic Reprint) written by California; Commission of Immig Housing and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-07 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from A Report on Large Landholdings in Southern California With Recommendations, 1919, Vol. 1 The State Commission of Immigration and Housing, in its work of protecting and caring for the immigrant has found itself constantly confronted by various phases of the land problem, and particularly by the difficulties attending the prospective settler of small means who tries to obtain a secure footing on the soil. In its second annual report, under the heading "The Land Situation," the Commission said: Few will take issue with the contention that California should comfortably support many, many times her present population. On the other hand it must be conceded that there have been times during the past few years when it seemed as if California was unable to support even her present limited population. That this paradoxical state of affairs does exist is in itself conclusive evidence of a weak spot in our social structure. The explanation seems to rest in the facts that on the one hand growth of population depends upon easy access to the land; whereas, on the other hand, the prospective purchaser finds land either obtainable only at excessive prices, or withheld altogether from the market by those who refuse to sell in the hope that the future will bring them a much higher price. To this increased value, these latter contribute nothing but mere abstinence. Land withheld from sale is practically nonexistent; thus the available supply is limited, and consequently prices on the land offered for sale are artificially and unnaturally forced up. Idle and unimproved land seems to constitute one of the safest and most profitable investments. And, unfortunately for the unemployed, the investment in land does not need the assistance of labor or require the payment of wages, nor does it compel owners of wealth to bid against each other for labor. Wealth may thus be invested and large gains realized from it by merely waiting, without its owners paying out one dollar in wages or contributing in the slightest degree to the success of any wealth-producing enterprise, while ever improvement in the arts and sciences and in social relations, as well as increase of population, adds to its value. By this means we foster unemployment, yet it is considered legitimate business to purchase land for the avowed purpose of preventing capital and labor from being employed upon it until enormous sums can be extracted for this privilege. This deplorable situation was recently splendidly summarized as follows: "California wants immigrants - with money enough, earned somewhere else, to buy our land of us, at a higher price than we paid for it. "In other words, California wants customers. We are looking, not for people or development, but for mercantile profit in a commercial transaction. And we have the goods to sell, too; the mercantile bargain is a good one, on both sides. "Is this too cynical a view? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.