A LIVING FROM THE LAND 



succor the incompetent. Resourcefulness was 

 called upon in meeting onslaughts of beasts or 

 human marauders. Thus there was built up a 

 tradition of seeking and utilizing resources 

 that has gone on to make our country great 

 and the wonder of the rest of the world. 



Since pioneer days we have built a great 

 industrial, commercial and financial machine. 

 American inventive genius, coupled with the 

 best brains of the civilized world, attracted by 

 resources and opportunities on every hand, has 

 invaded every field and created a great industrial 

 superstructure. 



With the genesis and development of a great 

 industrial era in the United States there started 

 a movement of population from farms to estab- 

 lished centers of population. The application 

 of the sciences to the problems of filling human 

 wants gave this movement greater impetus. 

 Mining and the refining of metal ores, the 

 exploiting of coal deposits, the building of 

 railroads, the construction of buildings for 

 business and residential purposes, as well as 

 dozens of other great enterprises, served to 

 draw from the country the best of its human 

 resources. 



Inventive genius began to concentrate on 

 the solution of engineering and construction 

 problems created by congestion of population 



4 



