THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



The improvement fund is paid out regularly each week 

 or month in the form of wages. Out of these wages the 

 settler pays a regular sum each month, equivalent, at the 

 end of the year, to six per cent, interest on the amount 

 he has borrowed. After the first year he would be re- 

 quired to make an additional monthly payment into the 

 sinking fund, equal, at the end of the year, to ten per 

 cent, of his borrowed capital. But after the first year 

 the settler has something besides his wages on which to 

 depend for his payments. 



All the profits of the work above fixed charges arc 

 credited to the settlers in proportion to their wages, 

 which are supposed to fairly measure the value of their 

 work. The fixed charges are cost of labor and materials 

 and six per cent, interest on the capital employed. The 

 profits above these charges should be large and increase 

 with each year, especially as trees come in bearing. It 

 is for the settler's interest to have these profits begin as 

 soon and grow as large as possible, since they are all ap- 

 plied to the reduction of his debt. The accumulations 

 of the sinking fund are applied by trustees to good in- 

 vestments, in connection with the colony, such as cattle 

 or sheep, the erection of needed industries, or the pro- 

 vision of facilities for the sale and distribution of prod- 

 ucts. If circumstances permitted, the entire borrowed 

 capital could be paid off before the time of its maturity, 

 or the money retained for profitable use in other ways, 

 as seemed best to those charged with the care of the in- 

 vestment. 



Wages vary with different occupations, but common 

 labor would reoeive thirty to forty dollars per month, 

 out of which the family living would be paid. An ad- 



