T1IE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



lord class. All the evils which grow from the condi- 

 tions of life in a large city are rife in Denver. 



These are not the natural economic tendencies of a 

 country founded upon irrigation. They are not such as 

 we have observed in localities where irrigation has been 

 so nearly the dominant influence as to shape institu- 

 tions. The explanation is found in the influence of 

 mining speculations which, diffused like the atmos- 

 phere, breed a cheerful but demoralizing contagion : 

 also in the early tendency to adopt a comparatively 

 large farm unit. These two forces have operated to 

 produce very different results from those flowing from 

 the Mormon land policy, which we saw in the Salt Lake 

 Valley; or from those which grew in consequence of irri- 

 gation in the San Bernardino Valley of California. Large 

 portions of Colorado are admirably adapted to the de- 

 velopment of the best social conditions of those condi- 

 tions which make for a permanent and growing body of 

 landed proprietors; for the multiplication of little towns 

 rather than a concentration of people in congested cen- 

 tres ; for the application of the associative principle in 

 connection with industrial and commercial affairs. It 

 is gratifying to be able to record that the latter cur- 

 rents of thought in Colorado seem to show the effects 

 which might be expected to result from its environ- 

 ment. 



More and more the State asserts its authority in the 

 control of irrigation works and practice. The farm unit 

 grows smaller, and intensive cultivation finds more fol- 

 lowers. By enormous majorities the people pronounce 

 in favor of party platforms which demand the public 

 ownership of public utilities. Equal suffrage and the 



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