THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



It would not be a legitimate use of the investment fund. 

 AVI iat is paid for land, labor, and resulting improvements 

 remains as a permanent part of the security and facilities 

 of production. But every dollar paid for moving people 

 and household goods is lost and can add nothing to se- 

 curity or income. Labor supplies should be drawn from 

 the nearest point where available, or if brought from a 

 distance should bear their own transportation charges. 



The first expenditure of the investment fund, after 

 paying for the land, would necessarily be for shelter ; the 

 next for implements and live stock, seed, and fruit-trees. 

 After that the entire fund would be available for labor 

 and its maintenance. This labor would be used to clear 

 and plant the land and bring it to the highest possible 

 stage of production. Settlers in the AVest build com- 

 fortable houses for two or three hundred dollars, and even 

 less. Many a prosperous colonist points to a shanty in 

 the shadow of a comfortable residence which is full of 

 interest to him as a monument to his humble start, lie 

 and his family built it with their own hands, perhaps 

 paying no more than fifty dollars for the materials. It is 

 amazing how comfortable a family can be in the poorest 

 shelter when they think they see property and financial 

 independence a few years ahead of them. It is not profit- 

 able to go into all the items of cost in detail, since con- 

 ditions vary with different localities, but it may be said 

 that one thousand dollars per family would be the mini- 

 mum and two thousand dollars per family the maximum 

 sum to bo provided where settlers drew their entire capi- 

 tal from the investment fund. Farms should not be 

 smaller than ten acres, nor larger than forty, and twenty 

 acres would be a reasonable average. 



260 



