432
UNITED STATES : — CALIFORNIA
Governor for terms of sixteen years ; the State Board of Prison Directors, ajipoiuted by the Governor for terms of ten years, and having entire control of the penitentiaries ; the State Board of Equalisation, elected at general elections, and dealing vith the assessment of property for revenue purposes ; the Eailroad Commis«;ion, elected and vested with authority to regulate railroad charges ; the Bank Commission, the State Board of Health, tlie Insurance Commission, the State Engineering Department (formed in 1907), the State Board of Charities and Corrections, Board of Agriculture, the Commission of Horticulture, the State Department of Forestry, the Commission in Lunacy. The last-named, which is an ex-officio commission made up of State officers, controls the hospitals for the insane. There are many boards and commissions, &c. (for schools, horticulture, architecture, mining, fisheries, &c.), unpaid, appointed by the Governor.
California is divided into fifty-eight counties, one of which — San Francisco — has a combined county and city government. In each county government the legislative authority is vested in a board of five members elected from districts. The seat of the State Government is at Sacramento.
Area and Population. — Area 158,360 square miles (2,188 square miles being water).
The population at the date of each of the Federal censuses was as follows :
Years.
White.i
Coloured.
Total.
Per Sq. Mile.
1870 1890 1900 1910
555,975 1,196,808 1,474,008 2,355,904
4,272 11,322 11,045 21,645
560,247 ], 208,130 1,485,053 2,377,549
3-6
7-8
9-5
15-3
1 Includinii- Indians and Asiatics.
In 1900 the population by sex and race was
Wl)ite.
Negro.
Asiatic.
Indian.
Tot&l.
Male Female
755,147 647,580
5,766 5,279
51,895 4,009
7,723 -
7,654
820,531 664,522
Total
1,402,727
11,045
55,904
15,377
1,485,053
There are about 25 Indian reservations in the State, their total area being about 641 square miles.
Three-fourths of the population of California are of American birth, but considerably more than half the total i^opulation is of foreign parentage. Of the 367,240 persons of foreign birth in 1900, 72,449 were German, 44,476 Irish, 35,746 English, 9,467 Scotch, 27,408 Canadian, 12,256 French, 22,777 Italian, and 14,549 Swedish, with a sprinkling of Portuguese, Swiss, Russians, and Armenians.
In 1910 the population of the State was 2,377,549, and of the larger cities : San Francisco, 416,912 ; Los Angeles, 319,198 ; Oakland, 150,174; Sacramento, 44,696; San Jose, 28,946; Alameda, 23,383. In 1906 the death-rate in cities Avas 22 '0 and in rural districts 13"7 per 1,000 of the population.
