Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/353



trade, and  generally  had  much  of  it  on  their  hands. Some foreign  coins  began  to  circulate  at  the  value  put upon them  by  the  United  States  government. At last, to  obviate  difficulties,  the  legislature  passed  a  law making it  a  criminal  offence,  punishable  by  fine  and imprisonment, for  coiners  to  neglect  stamping  upon their coin  its  true  value,  or  failing  to  redeem  it  from the holders  thereof  on  demand.

In October  1852    news  came  that  the  federal  gov- ernment had ordered  that  the  fifty-dollar  slugs  or  in-

p'ots should  not  be  received  for  duties  at  the  custom ^ .  ..

house. This was  a  serious  blow,  at  a  time  when  com

was very  scarce. Legal coins  at  once  advanced  two per cent. Though that  order  was  coupled  with  a promise  to  establish  immediately  a  mint,  the  people were not  satisfied.

The bank  failures  of  1854  and  the  political  corrup- tion of 1855,  hastened  a  commercial  crisis  which  had been brewing  for  a  year  or  two  previous. The mone- tary cataclysm of  1848-52,  was  followed  by  a  reaction resulting from  various  causes  combined,  to-wit:  in- crease of a  non-productive  population,  greater  labor  to extract  gold  from  the  earth,  high-pressure  life  and reckless extravagance,  a  succession  of  disastrous  floods and fires,  and  over-trading. Hundreds of  merchants failed and  involved  hundreds  of  others  in  their  fall. Many failed  as  many  as  three  times  and  started  anew, others took  subordinate  positions  or  drank  themselves to death. Not one  in  ten  of  the  San  Francisco  mer- chants of 1849,  was  doing  business  in  1855. Fifteen hundred healthy  men,  of  every  intellectual  calibre, found themselves  without  occupation  or  means  of  live- lihood. California's credit  was  now  at  a  low  ebb abroad. The population  did  not  then  increase  at  all. Real estate  was  so  low  that  there  was  scarcely  any sold. Since the  fire  of  1851,  San  Francisco  saw  no 'gloomier  day  than  that  following  the  suspension  of Page,  Bacon,  and  Company,  announced  on  the  2 2d  of February,  1855.