THE INFLUENCE OF LAND POLICIES 127 



which, to be sure, could be climbed ; but which called 

 for climbing. This economic limitation which came 

 with the end of free land and the irritation of spirit 

 arising out of it was felt not only in the West. It 

 was felt even more in the East, where, for genera- 

 tions, the course of ambitious youth had been to 'go 

 West' and 'take up' a quarter-section of land." 



This psychological transformation is interestingly 

 described by Sullivan as follows: 



"The free land had been for a hundred years the 

 outlet for restlessness, the field for ambition. When 

 that came to an end, restlessness turned in upon it- 

 self and fermented into something a little bitter. 

 Ambition, compelled to do its pioneering in more 

 complex fields, frequently failed to find satisfaction. 

 Adventure and initiative, instead of finding free 

 scope on a hundred and sixty acres of virgin land, 

 had to turn to fields where men's elbows bumped 

 each other, fields crowded and highly competitive, hi 

 which adventure was frequently thwarted, and 

 initiative deprived of its chance not merely of its 

 chance to come to fruit, but even, sometimes, of its 

 chance to get a start. 



"So long as there was free land, every man had 

 the opportunity to create new wealth for himself by 

 the simplest and oldest means known to mankind. 

 With the end of free land, American men for the first 

 time had occasion to look with envy upon the wealth 

 of others, or with jealous scrutiny upon how they 

 had acquired it. The end of free land was the begin- 



