CONSUMPTION 97 



productive elements. The mere waste of land is of less consequence 

 than the diverting of other lands from their best use, and the scatter- 

 ing of the population over an immense area through which they are 

 kept from enjoying the best fruits of modern civilization. 



The interest of the public in the use of the land is already a well- 

 recognized right. We would allow no one to shut up our rivers, or 

 prevent the building of railroads, so as to keep the public out of the 

 newer states. Nor are we willing that the cattle barons of the West 

 should fence in large tracts of land for their especial advantage. 

 There is, of course, a great need of beef; but the cheaper foods are 

 of much more importance, and beef-raising must not stand in the way 

 of a better use of the land. There is even much complaint because 

 settlers are shut out of little Oklahoma, because the Indians do not 

 cultivate the land. Yet if the Indians and cowboys are not allowed 

 to exclude others who would make the land more useful to the public, 

 the habits and instincts of the cruder portion of our population should 

 not be permitted to waste a much larger portion of our country, and 

 make the rest of it much less available for public and private uses. 



The demand for land, which the diet of different persons in the 

 nation creates, is of vital importance in determining which class will 

 be displaced by the increase of population. Hunting tribes have no 

 chance of success in opposition to those who graze cattle; and the 

 latter are in turn easily expelled by the cultivators of the soil. And 

 among the more civilized races, that class which makes the best use 

 of the land has an advantage over all others. The family who need 

 twenty acres to supply their wants cannot compete with a family who 

 get their food from ten acres. The increase of population cuts down 

 the number of acres which each family can have, and necessitates the 

 use of more productive crops. The relative quantities of the rarer 

 articles are thus reduced, while a greater variety in consumption is 

 secured. 



This fact will be the determining force hi deciding the growing 

 contest between the temperance and liquor parties in this country. 

 The diet of abstainers creates a less demand for land than does that 

 of those who have a love for liquor and tobacco. The latter class 

 not only need twice the land that the same number of the former class 

 does, but they also have double the temptation to spend their earnings 

 foolishly. Abstainers will thus gradually acquire a larger share of 

 the land and capital of this country and force the drinking class into 

 the less favored occupations, where their rate of increase will be 



