CHAPTER V.--_The Don in his Broad Acres._
"The one great principle of English law,"--Charles Dickens says, "is tomake business for itself. There is no other principle distinctly,certainly and consistently maintained through all its narrow turnings.Viewed by this light, it becomes a coherent scheme, and not themonstrous maze the laity are apt to think it. Let them but once clearlyperceive that its grand principle is to make business for itself attheir expense, and surely they will cease to grumble."
The one great principle of American law is very much the same; ourlaw-givers keep giving us laws and then enacting others to explain them.The lawyers find plenty of occupation, but what becomes of the laity?
"No. 189. _An Act to ascertain and settle the private land claims in theState of California_," says the book.
And by a sad subversion of purposes, all the private land titles became_unsettled_. It ought to have been said, "An Act to _unsettle_ landtitles, and to upset the rights of the Spanish population of the Stateof California."
It thus became not only necessary for the Spanish people to presenttheir titles for revision, and litigate to maintain them (in case of anyone contesting their validity, should the least irregularity bediscovered, and others covet their possession), but to maintain themagainst the government before several tribunals; for the government,besides making its own laws, _appeals to itself_ as against theland-owners, after their titles might have been _approved_. But thisbenign Act says (in "Sec. 11"), "That the Commissioners, the Districtand Supreme Courts, in deciding on the validity of any claim, shall begoverned by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; the law of nations; thelaws, usages, and customs of the government _from which the claim isderived_; the principles of equity, and the decisions of the SupremeCourt of the United States, etc., etc."
Thus the government washes its hands clean, liberally providing plentyof tribunals, plenty of crooked turnings through which to scourge thewretched land-owners.
Don Mariano had been for some years under the lash of the maternalgovernment, whom he had found a cruel stepmother, indeed.
As it was arranged with Clarence, the meeting would take place that dayon the broad piazza of John Gasbang's house, this being the most centralpoint in the rancho.
The heads of families all came--the male heads, be it understood--as thesquatters did not make any pretence to regard female opinion, with anymore respect than other men.
All the benches and chairs that the house contained, with the exceptionof Mrs. Gasbang's sewing rocker, had been brought to the porch, whichwas quite roomy and airy.
At ten minutes before two, all the settlers were there, that is to say,all the old men, with their elder sons.
Clarence, Romeo, Tom and Jack, sat together in a corner, conversing inlow tones, while Gasbang was entertaining his guests with some broadanecdotes, which brought forth peals of laughter.
At five minutes to two, Senor Alamar, accompanied by Mr. Mechlin,arrived in a buggy; his two sons followed on horseback.
Clarence had time to look at them leisurely, while they dismounted, andtied their horses to a hitching post.
"They are gentlemen, no doubt," observed Clarence.
"You bet they are," Romeo coincided. Evidently he admired and likedthem.
"How much the boys look like the old man," Tom said.
"They look like Englishmen," was Clarence's next observation.
"Yes, particularly Victoriano; he is so light he looks more like aGerman, I think," said Romeo.
"I think Gabriel is very handsome," Tom said, "only of late he seemsalways so sad or thoughtful."
"That won't do for a man who is to marry soon," said Romeo. "I think hehas always been rather reserved. He has only a cold salutation to give,while Victoriano will be laughing and talking to everybody. But,perhaps, you are right, and he is changed. I think he is less reconciledthan the others, to have us, settlers, helping ourselves to what theyconsider their land. He certainly was far more talkative four or fiveyears ago. I used to work with them in ploughing and harvesting time,and both boys, and the Don, were always very kind to me, and I can'thelp liking them."
"The ladies, though, ain't so affable. They are very proud," said Tom;"they walk like queens."
"They didn't seem proud to me, but I never spoke to them," said Romeo.
Gasbang went forward to meet his guests, and all came into the porch.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen," said Don Mariano to the settlers, liftinghis hat and bowing. His sons and Mr. Mechlin did the same. Clarencearose, and so did the other young men with him, returning theirsalutation. The elder Darrell, Pittikin and Hughes followed thisexample; the other settlers nodded only, and remained sitting with theirhats on, looking with affected indifference at the trees beyond.
"I thank you for your courtesy in complying with my request to have thismeeting," he said. Some nodded, others grinned and winked, others smiledsilently.
"Take this chair, Senor, and you, Mr. Mechlin, take this one. They arethe best in my establishment," said Gasbang. "The young gentlemen willfind seats somewhere on the benches."
Clarence came forward and offered three chairs. Mr. Mechlin took his armand presented him to the Alamars.
"I take pleasure in making your acquaintance, and I hope to have theopportunity to thank you for your kind co-operation more appropriatelyafterward," said Don Mariano. His sons shook hands with Clarencecordially, and accepted the proffered chairs.
Don Mariano excused himself for not speaking English more fluently.
"If you don't understand me I will repeat my words until I make mymeaning clear, but I hope you will ask me to repeat them; or, perhaps,some one of these young gentlemen will do me the kindness to be myinterpreter," said he.
"Romeo talks Spanish; he can interpret for you," said Victoriano.
"You talk English better," Romeo proudly replied, thinking he could tellhis wife that the Don had asked him to be his interpreter.
"Perhaps Mr. Clarence Darrell would do me the favor," said Don Mariano.
"You speak very good English, senor. We understand you perfectly. You donot require an interpreter," Clarence said.
"That is so; you speak very well," said Mr. Mechlin.
Gasbang and Pittikin added: "Certainly, we understand him very well."
"Of course we do," said Darrell and others.
"You are very kind," said the Don, smiling, "and I will try to be brief,and not detain you long."
"We have all the afternoon," said Hughes.
"That's so, we ain't in a hurry," said several.
"Only let us out in time to bring the milch cows home, before nightcomes on," said old Miller, dryly.
"Exactly, we want to look after our cows, too," said the Don, laughing.
All saw the fine irony of the rejoinder, and laughed heartily. Millerscratched his ear, as if he had felt the retort there, knowing well,that with the exception of Mathews and Gasbang, he had killed and"_corraled_" more of the Don's cattle than any other settler.
"Speaking about cows, brings us at once to the object of thismeeting,"--Don Mariano, still smiling, went on, saying: "You know that Ihave lost many, and that it is natural I should wish to save those Ihave left. To do this, and yet not ask that you give up your claims, Ihave one or two propositions to make to you. The reason why you havetaken up land here is because you want homes. You want to make money.Isn't that the reason? Money! money!"
"That's it, exactly," said many voices, and all laughed.
"Well, I can show you how you may keep your homes and make more moneythan you can by your present methods, while at the same time, I alsosave my cattle. That little point, you know, I must keep in view."
All laughed again.
"To fence your fields, you have said, is too expensive, particularly asthe rainy seasons are too uncertain to base upon them any calculationsfor getting crops to pay for fencing. I believe this is what most of yousay; is it not?"
"We could have raised better crops if your cattle hadn't damag
ed them,"said Mathews.
"I beg to differ; but supposing that you are right, do you think youcould be sure of good crops if you killed all my stock, or if I tookthem all away to the mountains? No, most assuredly. The rainy seasonwould still be irregular and unreliable, I think. Yes, I may say, I feelsure, it is a mistake to try to make San Diego County a grain-producingcounty. It is not so, and I feel certain it never will be, to any greatextent. This county is, and has been, and will be always, a good grazingcounty--one of the best counties for cattle-raising on this coast, andthe very best for fruit-raising on the face of the earth. God intendedit should be. Why, then, not devote your time, your labor and your moneyto raising vineyards, fruits and cattle, instead of trusting to theuncertain rains to give you grain crops?"
"It takes a long time to get fruit trees to bearing. What are we to dofor a living in the meantime?" asked Miller.
"Begin raising cattle--that will support you," the Don replied.
"Where is the capital to buy cattle with?" Gasbang asked.
"You don't require any more capital than you already have. I can leteach of you have a number of cows to begin with, and give you four orfive years' time to pay me. So you see, it will be with the increase ofthese cattle you will pay, for I shall charge you no interest."
"What do you expect us to do in return? To give back to you ourhomesteads?" asked Hughes.
"No, sir; I have said, and repeat again, you will retain yourhomesteads."
"And will you stop contesting our claims?" asked Mathews.
"I will, and will give each one a quit-claim deed."
"You will not fight our claims, but you don't want us to plant grain onour land," said Gasbang.
"You can plant grain, if you like, but to do so you must fence yourland; so, as you all say, that fencing is expensive, I suggest yourfencing orchards and vineyards only, but not grain fields--I mean largefields."
"Pshaw! I knew there was to be something behind all that display ofgenerosity," muttered Mathews.
Don Mariano reddened with a thrill of annoyance, but quietly answered:
"You are too good business men to suppose that I should not reserve someslight advantage for myself, when I am willing you should have many moreyourselves. All I want to do is to save the few cattle I have left. I amwilling to quit-claim to you the land you have taken, and give youcattle to begin the stock business, and all I ask you in return is toput a fence around whatever land you wish to cultivate, so that mycattle cannot go in there. So I say, plant vineyards, plant olives,figs, oranges; makes wines and oil and raisins; export olives and driedand canned fruits. I had some very fine California canned fruit sent tome from San Francisco. Why could we not can fruits as well, or better?Our olives are splendid--the same our figs, oranges, apricots, and trulyall semi-tropical fruits are of a superior quality. When this factbecomes generally known, I feel very sure that San Diego County will beselected for fruit and grape-growing. In two years grape vines begin tobear; the same with figs, peaches and other fruits. At three years oldthey bear quite well, and all without irrigation. So you would not haveto wait so very long to begin getting a return from your labor andcapital. Moreover, an orchard of forty acres or vineyard of twenty willpay better after three years' growth than one hundred and sixty acres ofwheat or barley in good seasons, and more than three hundred acres ofany grain in moderately good seasons, or one thousand acres in badseasons. You can easily fence twenty or forty or sixty acres for avineyard or orchard, but not so easily fence a field of one hundred andsixty, and the grain crop would be uncertain, depending on the rains,but not so the trees, for you can irrigate them, and after the trees arerooted that is not required."
"Where is the water to irrigate?" asked Miller.
"The water is in the sea now, for there we let it go every year; but ifwe were sensible, judicious men, we would not let it go to waste--wewould save it. This rancho has many deep ravines which bring water fromhills and sierras. These ravines all open into the valleys, and run likeso many little rivers in the rainy season. By converting these ravinesinto reservoirs we could have more water than would be needed forirrigating the fruit trees on the foothills. In the low valleys noirrigation would be needed. If we all join forces to put up dams acrossthe most convenient of these ravines, we will have splendid reservoirs.I will defray half the expense if you will get together and stand theother half. Believe me, it will be a great God-send to have a thriving,fruit-growing business in our county. To have the cultivated land wellfenced, and the remainder left out for grazing. Then there would not beso many thousands upon thousands of useless acres as now have to be. Forevery ten acres of cultivated land (not fenced) there are ten thousand,yes, twenty thousand, entirely idle, useless. Why? Because those tenacres of growing grain must be protected, and the cattle which don'tknow the '_no fence_' law, follow their inclination to go and eat thegreen grass. Then they are '_corralled_' or killed. Is it not a pity tokill the poor dumb brutes, because we can't make them understand thelaw, and see the wisdom of our Sacramento legislators who enacted it?And is it not a pity to impoverish our county by making the bulk of itsland useless? The foolishness of letting all of the rainfall go towaste, is an old time folly with us. Still, in old times, we had, atleast, the good excuse that we raised all the fruits we needed for ouruse, and there was no market for any more. But we were not then, as now,guilty of the folly of making the land useless. We raised cattle andsold hides and tallow every year, and made money. When gold wasdiscovered, we drove our stock north, got a good price for it, and mademoney. But now no money will be made by anybody out of cattle, if theyare to be destroyed, and no money made out of land, for the grazing willbe useless, when there will be no stock left to eat it. Thus, the countywill have no cattle, and the crops be always uncertain. Believe me, inyears to come, you will see that the county was impoverished by the 'nofence law,' unless we try to save our county, in spite of foolishlegislation. If our wise legislators could enact a law obliging rain tocome, so that we could have better chances to raise grain, then therewould be some show of excuse for the '_no fence law_,' _perhaps_. I say*PERHAPS*, because, in my humble opinion, we ought to prefer cattleraising and fruit growing for our county. We should make these ourspecialty."
"I think it would be much more foolish to trust to a few cows to makeout a living while trees grow," said Miller, "than to the seasons togive us grain crops."
"No, sir; because cattle are sure to increase, if they are not killed,and you could make cheese and butter, and sell your steers every year,while trees grow. You have been seven years a settler on this rancho. Inthese seven years you have raised two good crops; three poor, or onlymiddling, and two, no crops at all."
"Yes, because your cattle destroyed them," said Mathews.
"No, sir; my cattle were not all over California; but the bad seasonswere, and only in few places, moderately good crops were harvested; inthe southern counties none at all. We had rains enough to getsufficiently good grazing, but not to raise grain."
"I think you are right about the uncertainty of our seasons, and I thinka good dairy always pays well, also a good orchard and vineyard," saidDarrell. "But the question is, whether we can adopt some feasible planto put your idea into practice."
"Yes, how many cows will you let us have?" asked Hager.
"I will divide with you. Next week I shall have my '_rodeo_.' We can seethen the number of cattle I have left. We shall count them. I shall takehalf, the other half you divide pro rata; each head of a family taking aproportionate number of cattle."
"That is fair," Darrell said.
"I don't want any cattle. I ain't no '_vaquero_' to go '_busquering_'around and _lassooing_ cattle. I'll lasso myself; what do I know aboutwhirling a _lariat_?" said Mathews.
"Then, don't take cattle. You can raise fruit trees and vineyards," saidDarrell.
"Yes, and starve meantime," Mathews replied.
"You will not have to be a vaquero. I don't go '_busquering_' around_lassooing_, unless I wish to do
so," said the Don. "You can hire anIndian boy to do that part. They know how to handle _la reata_ and_echar el lazo_ to perfection. You will not starve, either, for if youwish, you can make butter and cheese enough to help to pay expenses. Ithink this State ought to make and export as good cheese as it nowimports, and some day people will see it, and do it, too. Thus, with theproduce of your dairies, at first, and afterward with your fruits, youwill do far better than with grain crops, and not work as hard. Let thenorthern counties raise grain, while we raise fruits and make wine,butter and cheese. You must not forget, either, that every year you cansell a number of cattle, besides keeping as many milch cows as youneed."
"Where can we sell our cattle?" asked Hancock.
"Cattle-buyers will come to buy from you. But if you prefer it, you candrive your stock north yourselves, and make a good profit. Since 1850, Ihave sent nine times droves of cattle to the northern counties, and madea handsome profit every time. The first time we took stock north, was in'50; I took nearly six thousand head--three thousand were mine--and theothers belonged to my brothers. We lost very few, and sold at a goodprice--all the way from eighteen to twenty-five dollars per head. Aboutfive hundred of mine I sold as high as thirty dollars per head. I madesixty thousand dollars by this operation. Then out of the next lot Imade twenty-seven thousand dollars. Then I made twenty-two thousand, andso on, until my tame cows began to disappear, as you all know. In fouryears after my cows began to get shot, my cattle decreased more thanhalf. Now I don't think I have many more than three thousand head. Soyou cannot blame me for wishing to save these few. But believe me, theplan I propose will be as beneficial to you as to me, and also to theentire county, for as soon as it is shown that we can make a success ofthe industries I propose, others will follow our example."
"If you have only three thousand head, you can't spare many to us, andit will hardly be worth while to stop planting crops to get a few cows,"said Gasbang.
"I think I will be able to spare five or six hundred cows. I don't knowhow many I have left."
"We will buy from somebody else, if we want more," said Darrell. "Wewon't want many to begin with; it will be something of an experiment forsome of us."
"For all of us here. Perhaps you understand _vaquering_; we don't," saidHancock; all laughed.
"Then fence your claim and plant grain," Darrell retorted.
"I am not so big a fool as to spend money in fences. The '_no fence_'law is better than all the best fences," Mathews said.
"But what if you make more money by following other laws that are morejust, more rational?" said the Don.
"The 'no fence' law is rational enough for me," said Miller.
"And so say I," said Mathews.
"And I," said Gasbang.
Hughes nodded approvingly, but he was too much of a hypocrite to commithimself in words.
"We did not come to discuss the 'no fence' law, but only to proposesomething that will put more money in your pockets than killing dumbbeasts," said Mr. Mechlin.
"Then propose something practicable," said Mathews.
"I think what has been proposed is practicable enough," Darrell said.
"Certainly it is," Mr. Mechlin added.
"I don't see it," said Mathews.
"Nor I, either," added Gasbang.
"Nor I, neither," said Hughes.
"Well, gentlemen," said Don Mariano, rising, "I shall leave you now; youknow my views, and you perhaps prefer to discuss them, and discuss yourown among yourselves, and not in my presence. Take your time, and whenyou come to a final decision let me know. Perhaps I can advance themoney to those of you who do not have it ready to purchase fencinglumber. I shall charge no interest, and give you plenty of time to pay."
"I will do that, Senor Alamar," Clarence said; "if the settlers agree tofence their lands, I will advance the money to them to put up theirfences."
"Yes, and if our crops fail, we will be in debt to the ears, with achain around our necks," Mathews growled.
"I thought you said that if it were not for my cattle, your crops wouldnot have failed," said Don Mariano, smiling.
"I said so, and it is so. But you see, that was before we had the '_nofence_' law," answered he, grinning.
Don Mariano shook hands with Clarence, whom he invited to call at hishouse--this invitation Clarence accepted with warm thanks--and followedby his sons and his friend Mr. Mechlin, Don Mariano took his leave,bowing to the settlers, who nodded and grinned in return.
"I suppose you, too, think the '_no fence_' law iniquitous, as youappear to favor the aristocracy," said Gasbang to Clarence.
"It is worse than that, it is stupid. Now it kills the cattle,afterwards it will kill the county," Clarence answered.
"Shall we plant no wheat, because the Spaniards want to raise cattle?"Mathews asked.
"Plant wheat, if you can do so without killing cattle. But do notdestroy the larger industry with the smaller. If, as the Don veryproperly says, this is a grazing county, no legislation can change it.So it would be wiser to make laws to suit the county, and not expectthat the county will change its character to suit absurd laws," Clarencereplied.