In this competition for her commerce, California, by her position
on the western shore of the United States, has unusual advantages, a
fact which was soon proved by the amount of money invested in increasing
her facilities for production and manufacturing. Unfortunately little
has yet been done in the matter of shipbuilding, and few vessels which
enter her harbors have been built in the state.
Some Recent Events
"I'll put a girdle around the earth in forty minutes," prophesied Puck
in "Midsummer Night's Dream." The boastful fairy did not succeed in
accomplishing this wonder until midnight on the Fourth of July, 1903. On
that day the Pacific cable from the United States to Hawaii, to Midway
Island, to Guam, and to Manila, began operations. The men worked hard
that last day of the cable laying, and by 11 P.M. the President of the
United States sent a message to Governor Taft at Manila. Soon after was
the old prophecy fulfilled, when President Roosevelt, no doubt with Puck
at his elbow, sent a message round the world in twenty minutes, thus
bettering Puck's idea by half.
The saddest year in California's records is that of 1906.
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