138 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



Here again seems to be a field for public enterprise. Though 

 much of the clearing has been done by private enterprise, and 

 much more will doubtless be done in the future, the public can 

 materially increase the tillable area, especially in those states where 

 political conditions are such as to forbid the employment of con- 

 victs in profitable labor. The argument used against convict 

 labor is that it competes with free labor and tends to reduce the 

 opportunity for its employment. Whether this argument be 

 sound or not, as a matter of fact it is not, it could not pos- 

 sibly apply as against the employment of convicts in the clearing 

 of land which would otherwise not be cleared at all. This employ- 

 ment of convicts would not compete with, free labor, for the reason 

 that no free labor is employed in work of that kind. Again, the 

 clearing of such land and preparing it for cultivation would 

 create new opportunities for the profitable employment of labor ; 

 that is, there would then be a little more land to be cultivated, 

 and this would require a little more labor. Moreover, it would 

 increase the food supply of the laboring class in general. 



Again, only the land most easily cleared of stones will ordi- 

 narily be cleared by private enterprise, because of the length of 

 time which is necessary to wait for returns. Unless the private 

 individual can get back the amount of outlay in twenty or thirty 

 years, he is reluctant to undertake it. Yet a piece of land once 

 thoroughly cleared of stones, and properly treated thereafter, will 

 continue producing crops for centuries. An organization which 

 is long-lived and capable of looking into the future more than 

 thirty or fifty years might profitably undertake a work which 

 would seem unattractive to a short-lived individual. Aside 

 from the employment of convict labor, therefore, there are rea- 

 sons why the public that is, the state might wisely under- 

 take the clearing of a certain amount of land which is too 

 unpromising to attract private enterprise, especially when land 

 begins to become scarce as a result of increasing population. 



