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SETTLEMENT AND COLONIZATION IN GREAT LAKES STATES 55 
recreational reserves not only undeveloped but little employed by 
settlers engaged in the stern task of clearing stumps and brush and 
wresting a bare subsistence from the wilderness. Community plan- 
ning is largely one of the amenities of colonization and not one of its 
vital features. It is no substiute for good land, adequate credit ar- 
rangements, and selection of suitable settlers. 
MARKETS 
Land companies frequently find it necessary to look after markets 
for the settlers’ products, especially in the early stages of settle- 
ment. The usual policy is to start farmers’ cooperative associations 
as soon as possible. Livestock associations and buying associations 
can be started comparatively early. Cheese factories can be started 
with a small number of cows, but it is not advisable to start cream- 
eries too soon. Cooperative cream shipping is safer. In all cases, 
it is a question as to whether to begin operating on a cooperative 
basis, or to wait until the settlement is better established and the 
various elements in it are harmonized. For this reason companies 
were in some cases building creameries and cheese factories and oper- 
ating them until the farmers were strong enough to buy them out. 
In other cases, the land companies were either furnishing the major 
portion of the capital and retaining a controlling interest in the 
associations or were accepting the settlers’ notes as a basis for loans 
with which to buy shares of stock in the associations. The objective 
was to put the management in the hands of the settlers, yet keep it 
under the control of the company. 
BANKS 
When land is sold to settlers with limited means, somebody must 
lend them money. Even if they are able to get outside work, they 
will need some loans. Either the land company must do it directly 
or it can put its money into a bank and create a separate institution 
for handling the settlers’ loans. This policy had been adopted in 
some cases. An argument in favor of it is that it removes the ap- 
pearance of too much paternalism. On the other hand, if a land 
company is really going to take care of its settlers, loans will have 
to be made that are beyond the limits of good banking risks. 
OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUTSIDE LABOR 
A land company has no greater responsibility than that of pro- 
viding outside labor for its settlers or making sure that it is available 
in the community. A settler either has to bring cash enough with 
him to support his family or he must have work. This is true for 
nearly all settlers for the first two or three years, and for a majority 
of them for four or five years. Therefore, for a land company to 
bring in settlers without some provision for their outside employ- 
ment is exceedingly reprehensible. More companies are to be criti- 
cised on this score than on any other. Settlers were found in nearly 
every project who had spent nearly their last dollar and did not 
ow where to get a job. The field men who called upon the set- 
tlers usually found from one-third to a half of the settlers away 
aT ca ee ee 
