CO-OPERATIVE CAPITAL 



less waste by doing things on a large scale instead of a 

 small one. 



The advantages which settlers obtain by the crude 

 method of "swapping work "among themselves would 

 be vastly greater in the case of co-operative colonists 

 working with sufficient capital under trained leadership. 

 In clearing, planting, and reaping they would be able to 

 rise machinery too expensive for one small farm, but very 

 cheap indeed when the expense is divided among many 

 small farms. The quality of their work and the esprit 

 do corps would be much higher. It would represent the 

 difference between a regiment and a mob. Eaw recruits 

 would soon become as effective as the best-trained farm- 

 ers under this teaching and discipline. But the chief 

 advantage would be the financial one. This would result 

 from the prevention of waste of money, time, and ener- 

 gies which characterizes individual settlement, especially 

 where the conditions of industry are so new to most of 

 our race and nationality as they are in the land of irriga- 

 tion. It would result also from the fact that those who 

 had furnished capital for the work would be able, through 

 th,eir representatives, to keep their hands on the purse- 

 strings, and so control and direct the expenditure of 

 their money to the accomplishment of their ends the 

 making of productive homes which will enable the bor- 

 rowers to pay interest regularly and principal at maturity. 



If the labor is to be handled as a unit and the settlers 

 to work under guidance, by what method is the improve- 

 ment fund to be made available for them, and how are 

 the investors to be assured of the proper collection of 

 their share of the proceeds arising from the joint use of 

 the land, labor, and capital ? 



269 



