THE I R RIG A Tl ON A GR. 157 



land- holding. If the colony tract be 5,000 acres, then the number of 

 shares in the colony company would be 5,000 also, yieldingto the com- 

 mon treasury 25,000, if the shares be 5.00 each, or 50.000, if the 

 shares be 10.00 each. It will be found that there is no hardship in 

 this provision if the plan is arranged at the beginning and distinctly 

 understood, while the resulting benefits are beyond all calculation. 



THE INDIVIDUAL UNIT. 



What has been said in favor of organization, and of the creation 

 of a fund to be used for the common benefit, is not inconsistent with 

 my third suggestion as to the importance of making the individual 

 family the unit of the community. What we are aiming at is not 

 Socialism, but Co-operation, limited to the important and well-defined 

 sphere which lies without and beyond the reach of the individual. 



Each family should own' its farm independently and cultivate it 

 according to its own taste and ability. We shall see in a following 

 paper how this plan has been vindicated by human experience and 

 how the other plan of the collective ownership and cultivation of the 

 soil has generally resulted in bitter disappointment. "Each man's 

 chimney is his golden milestone," says Longfellow, and each man's 

 little irrigated farm becomes the object of such a degree of his loving 

 labors as he cannot possibly manifest if he be an indistinguishable 

 factor in a multitude. What the man may do for himself without 

 encroaching upon his neighbors' rights he should be permitted to do 

 for himself. It is only because each man cannot maintain his own 

 store, cannery, and creamery, and lay out and improve his own town- 

 site, that the colony company and the community fund are required, 

 It is just here that the line is drawn between individual and com- 

 munity effort. And world wide experience has demonstrated that 

 this is the place to draw the line. 



FORETHOUGHT IN PLANNING PRODUCTION. 



The products upon which a community is to depend both for its 

 existence and for its profits should not be left to haphazard develop- 

 ment, but carefully planned in advance. While the details of such a 

 plan must be made to conform to local conditions of scil, climate, and 

 surrounding markets, the three leading principles on which the plan 

 should be based will be similar in all localities, as follows: 



First. The variety of things which families consume and which 

 are therefore essential to a generous living. 



Second. The things which the home market will absorb, including 

 the products of various simple industries which may be created with 

 the colony capital. 



Third. \The things which bear the burden of transportation and 

 may therefore be exported to distant markets. 



The community which plans its productions along these lines is 

 sure of a good living, year in and year out- It is founded not upon 



