THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



light for a portion of onr present problem from the his- 

 tory of the Massachusetts Bay Company. Chartered by 

 royal grant and given possession of large tracts of vir- 

 gin land, mostly covered with dense forests, this com- 

 pany planned settlements that still flourish. It laid out 

 colonies, or " plantations," obtained and organized par- 

 ties of settlers, appointed leaders, developed trade, planted 

 institutions. The economic conditions of that day dif- 

 fered so widely from those now prevailing that we can 

 learn from this experience only the abstract advantages 

 of good leadership and a willing following. But the or- 

 ganization which should do to-day for the surplus peo- 

 ple of the Atlantic coast and the surplus lands of the 

 Far West what the Massachusetts Bay Company did for 

 the surplus people of England and the surplus lands of 

 New England nearly three hundred years ago, would in 

 some respects follow closely upon the lines of its distin- 

 guished prototype. 



After this hasty but world-wide glance at the experi- 

 ence of the past, we are prepared to consider what is re- 

 quired for the successful administration of a broad work 

 of co-operative settlement in the waste-places, partic- 

 ularly of our own continent. 



The people of the United States are not yet ready to 

 have their government engage in a work pertaining so 

 closely to the lives and fortunes of a few thousand, or hun- 

 dreds of thousands, out of their many millions. There 

 would be great opposition to the use of the national means 

 or credit in founding homes, industries, or society for a 

 comparatively few. On the other hand, it is not in ac- 

 cord with our best traditions or the genius of our institu- 

 tions that it should be done by a church, or by any num- 



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