THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



new seed was associative enterprise, and we shall pres- 

 ently see what flower it bore in Utah and other States of 

 the arid region. But it is interesting to first observe 

 that we have encountered in these underlying conditions 

 of the western half-continent principles that are as old 

 as history and as wide as humanity. 



The founders of the wonderful civilization of the 

 Netherlands were compelled to deal with conditions 

 which brought into action the same forces as those 

 which are working out interesting results in the arid 

 region of the United States. The Dutch combined and 

 organized their efforts in order to keep the water off 

 their lands., as the Westerners combine and organize to 

 bring the water on. Writing of this aspect of his sub- 

 ject in that enlightening book, The Puritan in Holland, 

 England, and America, Mr. Douglass Campbell says : 



" The constant struggle for existence, as in all cases 

 when the rewards are great enough to raise men above 

 biting, sordid penury, strengthens the whole race, men- 

 tally, morally, and physically. Labor here lias never been 

 selfish and individual. To le effective, it requires organ- 

 ization and direction. Men learn to work in a body and 

 under leaders. A single man laboring on a dike would 

 accomplish nothing ; the whole population must turn 

 out and act together." 



Even more interesting and significant is Mr. Campbell's 

 statement of the far-reaching influence, upon the whole 

 economic fabric of the nation, of the co-operative meth- 

 ods taught the founders of Holland by the necessities of 

 their situation and transmitted to their descendants. He 

 says : 

 / "The habits thus engendered extend in all directions. 



