THE INFLUENCE OF LAND POLICIES 129 



ment of industrial independence. Even the home- 

 steader on the Western prairies found it possible to 

 work out a similar independent destiny, although the 

 factor of transportation was a serious and increasing 

 impediment to his individual freedom. But when 

 the arid lands and the mineral resources of the Far 

 West were reached, no conquest was possible by 

 the old individual pioneer methods. Here expensive 

 irrigation works must be constructed, cooperative 

 activity was demanded in utilization of the water 

 supply, capital beyond the reach of the small farmer 

 was required. In a word, the physiographic prov- 

 ince itself decreed that the destiny of this new fron- 

 tier should be social rather than individual." 8 



The time had come for cooperative effort in the 

 process of building a better and more adequate 

 civilization. It was a simple matter for these 

 pioneers to adopt the city building plans of the 

 East and organize their business enterprises on the 

 corporate principle that was rapidly taking the place 

 of copartnership organizations everywhere. Capa- 

 city for organization accelerated progress in the 

 newly settled sections. But it did far more. It 

 slowly developed a conscious solidarity. It is not 

 surprising, therefore, that soon after the Civil War 

 the farm and ranch population of the West raised 

 the voice of protest against fraudulent practices in 

 connection with land settlement and complained bit- 

 terly against the unjust freight rates that absorbed 



The Frontier in American History (1920), Chap. IX, p. 258. 



