Homesteading 



intense desire of the settler for rapid railroad con- 

 struction, also the willingness of the community 

 to make large sacrifices to obtain such facilities. 



Incidentally, too, it serves to show the danger 

 that these vast corporations may in the near 

 future become possessed of power quite incon- 

 sistent with the welfare of the community, and 

 by means of watered capital and other financial 

 devices demand far too large a share of the 

 earnings of the population in return for their 

 admittedly great services. However, a discus- 

 sion of this large question is beyond the scope 

 of these pages. 



Having cashed the cheque given me, which 

 seemed indeed a poor return for the seed, labour, 

 and expense spent in growing and marketing 

 the load of wheat I had brought, I hitched up 

 Joe and Nigger and slowly made my way towards | 

 home. But for the delay occasioned by the 

 billiard-playing autocrat, I might have got there I 

 the same evening ; as it was, I was compelled | 

 to put up for the night at the stopping-place 



kept by those good folks the S 's, to whom 



many a traveller has had cause to feel grateful, 

 though of course this added a moiety to the ex- 

 pense. They would put a settler with an empty 

 pocket up free, but the self-respecting homesteader 

 should not permit this unless a dire necessity. 



174 



