"Because it is my crop. The crop for Chico Mesa. Get water on the land and it will raise six-seven crops of ideal cattle food. There are nourishing grasses after the rains but they do not last."
With a word or two from her he was off on his hobby, conscious of a listener at once sympathetic and comprehending.
"Chico Mesa," he said, "is an ideal site for a real Commonwealth. Clear out your Hollisters, gather the real ranchers, breed beef-cattle for the million. Stimulate production of first-class stuff. In the old days the farmer was self sufficient. On the Missouri River farms he raised everything to eat and wear. He scheduled his own cost of living.
"Nowadays we overspecialize. A man will spend his whole life turning out some part of a machine that he would not recognize if he saw it, much less know how to run or repair. A strike of the nail industry would paralyze building. In the old days every village blacksmith made nails for the man who built his own house. Bring that down to farming, to beef and dairy industries. One man raises the stock, another grows the grain and feed. One milks, another gathers the milk and runs the creamery. Range cattle are fed up in the stockyards. The result is not the best and there are too many middlemen to split the profits.
"Produce better beef, at fairer prices. It helps you and the world at the same time. Get together and use all means at hand to become independent of the middlemen. The railroads must come to you for freight and the rates will be right if the railroad
