CALIFORNIA
174
CALIFORNIA
seventy-five per cent of the total population in 1900
was native-born.
So rapid was the growth of population after the discovery of gold, that in 1S49 a constitution was adopted by the convention at Monterey, and Cali- fornia was admitted into the Union of States by Act of Congress on 9 September, 1850. That day has ever since been a legal holiday, and is generally cele- brated and referred to as Admission Day. Peter H. Burnett was elected first governor of the new State and served during 1851 and 1852. All sorts of men found their way to the new El Dorado, as it was called. Most of them were hardy, industrious, and honest — these were the true pioneers. But there was a considerable admixture of the reckless and dare- devil element, criminals and desperadoes, who sought fortune and adventure in the new gold diggings. In 1 85 I there was a veritable carnival of crime in San Francisco which the lawfully constituted authorities were unable to suppress. The citizens of the city organized themselves into a Vigilance Committee and punished crimes and criminals in summary fashion. The members of the committee were known as " Vigi- lantes", and were for the most part honest and repu- table men, who resorted to these measures only from motives of necessity and duty, in the disturbed con- dition of the government. A similar condition arose again in 1856 and was met by tin- same remedy. It must be said that the trials of the Vigilance Commit- tee, while informal, were in the main fair, and the punishments inflicted richly deserved.
Large numbers of Chinese coolies had emigrated to California ever since 1850; the influx was greatest dur- ing the building of the Central Pacific Railroad which was completed in 1869. A strong anti-Chinese senti- ment developed, due chiefly to three principal objec- tions made against them: they worked for wages much lower than white men; they spent little of their earnings; they rarely established homes, but lived together in large numbers and in unclean surround- ings. The agitation grew to tremendous proportions, provoked serious riots, and finally resulted in the so- called Chinese exclusion acts which have been enacted periodically by Congress since 18S2. There were at one time over 100.000 Chinese in California. In 1900 the number had decreased to 45,753; and it is now (1907) much smaller. In 1891 the Australian Ballot was introduced at State elections. Among other im- portant political events of the hist twenty-five years was the prohibition of hydraulic mining, which had destroyed immense areas for agriculture and hail choked up river beds with the accumulation of de- tritus; also the passage of numerous beneficial laws for the promotion of irrigation, for the fumigation of fruit trees, and for the importation of predatory in- sects for the purpose of destroying insect pests. The present constitution of California was adopted in 1879. During the Spanish-American War and the subsequent American occupation of the Philippines, San Francisco has been the chief depot for the trans- portation of troops and supplies. < >n IS April, 1906, one of the greatest earthquakes recorded in history visited the coast of California; it was most .severe in San Francisco. Fire started simultaneously in a dozen quarters and burned incessantly for three days. All but the western and southern parts of tin' city were consumed. The city, as a city, was destroyed.
The loss of life is estimated at 500/ and of property at J500,000,000. More than 300,000 people left 'the city after the lire. Over 200,000 of these have re- turned, and incredible strides have been made in re- habilitating the city. Nearly $200,000,000 have been expended (December, 1907) on improvements
in I he 197 city blocks that were destroyed.
Religion.— Dioceses. The territory of the Stale
of California is divided, ecclesiastically, into the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Diocese oi Mon-
terey and Los Angeles, and the Diocese of Sacra-
mento. The first includes the city of San Francisco
and the central and more westerly counties of the
State. The second includes all of Southern Cali-
fornia. The third embraces the entire northern part
of the State, as well as nearly half of the State of
Nevada. With the exception of the Diocese of Sacra-
mento, their boundaries are conterminous with those
of the State. The Diocese of Salt Lake, in Utah, and
the Dioceses of Sacramento and of Monterey and Los
Angeles are suffragan to the Archdiocese of San Fran-
cisco. The Catholic population of California is esti-
mated at 344,000 (1906), made up as follows: Arch-
diocese of San Francisco, 227,000; Diocese of Sacra-
mento, 42,000; Diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles,
75,000. By far the greater portion of these are
white, the total of blacks, Indians, and Chinese being
less than five per cent.
Catholic Immigration, — From 1769, the year which saw the foundation of San Diego, until the second ex- pedition of Fremont (1846), the settlers and immi- grants were chiefly Catholic, being natives of Spain and Mexico. The discovery of gold in 1848 was im- mediately followed by an inrush of thousands of immigrants. These gold-seekers were mostly Ameri- cans, but there was also a large proportion of foreign- ers. From that time until the present, the immigra- tion has been steadily on the increase, the Catholic part of it being chiefly Irish, Irish-American, Italian, French, and German.
Catholics Distinguished in Public Life. — The first Governor of California, Peter H. Burnett (q. v.), was a convert to the Catholic Faith. Stephen M. White, who represented California in the Senate of the United States, was one of the first graduates of the Jesuit college at Santa Clara. He was an astute lawyer, a brilliant orator, and a tireless worker. E. W. McKins- try, like Judge Burnett, was a convert to the Faith; and like him, also, was a member of the Supreme Bench. Judge McKinstry was a man of deep erudi- tion, a fine constitutional lawyer, and an exemplary Catholic. W T . G. Lorigan, a Catholic, was also chosen to the Supreme Bench. Joseph McKenna. another California Catholic, became a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1898), and James F. Smith, General in the United States Army, Member of the Philippine Commission, and Governor-General of the Philippine Islands, is another alumnus of Santa Clara College. Garret W. McEnerney, one of the leaders of the California Bar, who won international fame by his masterful presentation of the claims of the Catholic Church in California to the Pious Fund (q. v.) before the Tribunal of Arbitration at The Hague in 1902, graduated at St. Mary's College.
Principal Religious Denominations.— The following statistics of the Catholic Church in California are taken from the Catholic Directory for 1907: arch- bishop, 1; bishops, 2; total priests, 488; secular, 321; religious, 167; total churches, 366; churches with resident priests, 209; missions with churches. 157; stations, 119; seminary, 1; seminaries of religious orders, 5; colleges and academies for boys, 11; acad- emies for young ladies, 47; parishes with parochial schools, 73; orphan asylums, 12; total young people under Catholic care, ~31,S14; Catholic population, 314,000. There are houses or monasteries of Jesuits, I lominicans, Franciscans. Paulists, Marists, Salesians, Christian Brothers, and Brothers of Mary. The Catholic sisterhoods are almost all represented.
The following statistics of the religious denomina- tions of California given below were presented by the t nited States Census of 1S90, published in 1S94.
IIh- total number of churches was 1505; total value of church property, $11,961,914; total number
oi communicants, 280,619. Of course, these figures
have been greatly increased since that time. Cath- olics do not recognize any such enumeration as "coin-
