THE MORMON COMMONWEALTH 



diversified farm. This is the first and one of the most 

 precious fruits of the industrialism which had been so 

 deeply rooted in the plan of general land ownership. 



Much of the misfortune which the settlers of the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley have endured during the past decade is 

 due to the fact that their industrial system was founded 

 on the speculative instinct. They acquired large farms, 

 because they hoped to get rich out of the rise in land. 

 They engaged in the production of single crops, because 

 they were gambling on the hope of great prices for these 

 staples. They mortgaged their homesteads to make 

 costly improvements, because they had the utmost faith 

 in future big prices for the land and its product. It 

 is very easy to comprehend the virtues of Utah industrial- 

 ism when we may make use of a Texas cotton plantation 

 or a Dakota wheat farm for a background. In the one 

 case we see the little unmortgaged farm, its crops in- 

 sured by irrigation, systematically producing a variety of 

 things required for the family consumption. A generous 

 living is within the control of the proprietor of such a 

 home. In the other case we see the single crop exposed 

 to the mercy of the weather and the markets, its owner 

 employing many hired hands, and going to the town to 

 buy with cash nearly all that is necessary to feed his 

 family and laborers. 



The Utah system was clearly the outgrowth of the 

 peculiar conditions with which the Mormons dealt. They 

 were so far removed from all centres of production as to 

 make self-sufficiency an imperative condition of existence. 

 Hence they were taught the gospel of industrial inde- 

 pendence in its purest and most primitive form. And 

 self-sufficiency is the most striking characteristic of their 



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