CHAPTER IV 

 COLONY PLANS AND INSTITUTIONS 



IF surplus labor and capital are to be directed to the 

 systematic development of surplus lands, they must work 

 upon well-considered industrial and social plans and 

 create institutions adapted to the times and the sur- 

 roundings. 



"VVe have seen how the famous colonies of Colorado, 

 Utah, and southern California were thoughtfully planned 

 by their founders, how well they succeeded, and how 

 their success exerted a wide and beneficent influence 

 upon the regions in which they were planted. In our 

 brief references to Holland we have observed the effect 

 of natural environment upon the habits and institutions 

 of the people, not only in their industry, but also in 

 their society, and perhaps in their politics. In our study 

 of irrigation as an economic force we have seen how im- 

 periously it compels the small-farm unit, with its correl- 

 ative off ect of near neighbors and social advantages ; how 

 it commands the organization and association of labor in 

 large ways, yet favors individual proprietorship of the 

 many small units of land which make up the aggregate 

 of a successful community. These are our land marks in 

 planning the wise use of land and labor and capital in 

 the fertile valleys of the Far West. 



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