218 City Homes on Country Lanes 



occasion for internecine struggles over the manage- 

 ment until the pioneer period had been safely passed 

 and the enterprise become firmly established. Under 

 these conditions the people would get the benefits of 

 cooperation without its dangers and drawbacks, though 

 they would do so at the cost of accepting a certain 

 amount of autocracy. But without the assurance of 

 sufficient capital and good management, cooperative en- 

 terprises are most hazardous undertakings. 



The organization of a beautiful social life, as out- 

 lined in a previous chapter, presents few difficulties. 

 Even here, however, the founders should supply leader- 

 ship until the new institutions have taken root and 

 begun to flourish. 



Another provision of great importance in such a com- 

 munity is the demonstration place. This should take 

 the form of the ideal home-in-a-garden, brought to its 

 fullest development at the earliest possible time. In- 

 deed, it ought to be one of the very earliest steps in the 

 construction programme, if it is to have the highest use- 

 fulness. Men have a picture in their minds, which they 

 have, perhaps, reduced to paper, but they must see the 

 living thing established on the earth in order to compre- 

 hend it in its perfection and its manifold variety. The 

 making of such a demonstration place naturally requires 

 technical knowledge, experience, and devotion to the 

 ideals of the garden home. There are a number of 

 colonies in California which, if they have accomplished 

 nothing else, have been the nurseries of such skill, ex- 

 perience and spirit, and they may now be drawn upon 

 to plant the seeds of the New Earth throughout America 

 and the world. 



