TUB CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



than five hundred dollars. It is thus apparent that the 

 operative produces four times as much as he receives, 

 and that three-fourths of the fruits of his labor is used 

 to feed, clothe, and educate other men's children rather 

 than his own. This result is not due to the greed or in- 

 humanity of employing capitalists, but is the natural re- 

 sult of individual enterprise under modern business con- 

 ditions. 



A system which transfers to a few the fruits of labor 

 performed by the many is a system which should not de- 

 liberately be chosen as a part of the economic struct- 

 ure we are planning for regions which remain almost 

 wholly to be settled in the future. Wise men do not 

 repeat the blunders of their fathers when the evil con- 

 sequences 'have become apparent. 



Socialism, though it may be the ultimate goal, is a 

 remedy for which the world is not yet prepared, and least 

 of all the Anglo-Saxon world. The present strength 

 of its propaganda is not among those who speak the 

 English tongue. We may admit the evils of unrestrained 

 individualism applied to large enterprises under the new 

 business conditions, without flying to a system which 

 obliterates the individual. The surpassing virility of 

 our race and people in economic and political ways is 

 doubtless largely due to the scope which their institu- 

 tions have permitted to private initiative, energy, and 

 ambition. We cannot safely take these essential quali- 

 ties out of our life. They are more necessary to the de- 

 velopment of new countries than to the established rou- 

 tine of old communities. 



What is needed is a true adjustment of the relations 

 of individual to associated man. Socialism cannot fur- 





