We cannot forbear quoting a paragraph in relation to the great
question of our time, "The Organization of Labor."

"In California, no model phalanxes or national workshops
have been necessary. Labor has organized itself, in the best
possible way. The dream of attractive industry is realized;
all are laborers, and equally respectable; the idler and the
gentleman of leisure, to use a phrase of the country, 'can't
shine in these diggings.' Rich merchandise lies in the open
street; and untold wealth in gold dust is protected only
by ragged canvas walls, but thefts and robbery are seldom
heard of. The rich returns of honest labor render harmless
temptations which would prove an overmatch for the average
virtue of New England. The cut-purse and pickpocket in
California find their occupation useless, and become
chevaliers of industry, in a better sense than the term has
ever before admitted of. It will appear natural," says our
author, "that California should be the most democratic country
in the world. The practical equality of all the members of
the community, whatever might be the wealth, intelligence,
or profession of each, was never before so thoroughly
demonstrated. Dress was no gauge of respectability and no
honest occupation, however menial in its character, affected
a man's standing. Lawyers, physicians, and ex-professors,
dug cellars, drove ox-teams, sawed wood, and carried baggage,
while men who had been army privates, sailors, cooks, or day
laborers, were at the head of profitable establishments, and
not unfrequently assisted in some of the minor details of
government. A man who would consider his fellow beneath