12 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



distributed for thousands of miles to cities, towns, 

 and individual factories. The desert lands of the 

 Far West have been reclaimed by the storage of 

 water, and heretofore barren wastes have been 

 made to yield three or four crops a year. The 

 bottoms of the sea have been compelled to yield up 

 their secrets, as have the inscriptions of prehistoric 

 times. Yet to-day the first industry of man, that of 

 keeping himself alive, remains the least organized 

 and certainly the least sociaHzed of any modern 

 service. 



