THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



tion system became in time the property of the people, 

 and the water-rights were inseparably associated with the 

 land. The orange-growers also found it necessary to seek 

 refuge from the rapacity of the commission system in the 

 adoption of co-operation for the sale of their product. 

 Hence, in the two most vital features of their industry 

 the watering of their lands and the handling of their 

 crops Riverside is fully realizing to-day the hopes in 

 which it was originally conceived. On the side of its 

 social life it has never departed from its first ideal, and 

 it is in this aspect that it may be studied to the best ad- 

 vantage. 



The homes and avenues of this colony, which have 

 been evolved from an inferior sheep pasture in less than 

 a generation, are among the most beautiful in the world. 

 In considering their widely celebrated charms, it should 

 never be forgotten that these are the homes and sur- 

 roundings of average people, and that they earn their 

 living by tilling the soil. Making due allowance for cli- 

 matic differences, there are equally beautiful residence 

 districts in the suburbs of great eastern cities ; but these 

 belong to people who enjoy a degree of prosperity much 

 above the average to the small minority who are rich, 

 or at least unusually well-to-do. They are not farmers, 

 but business or professional men who have risen above 

 the general level of society. At Riverside, on the other 

 hand, at least ninety per cent, of the total population 

 live in homes which front on beautiful boulevards, pre- 

 senting to the passer an almost unbroken view of well- 

 kept lawns, opulent flower-beds, and delicate shrubbery. 

 Newspaper carriers canter through these streets deliver- 

 ing the local morning and evening dailies. Though this 



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