there are, however, certain industries which, because they are intimately connected with public hygiene, it seems indispensable that the municipality should take over.i refer to such industries as packing houses, butcher shops, pharmacies, and the production and distribution of milk, ice, and bread.the recklessness with which we allow ice companies to distribute ice collected from ponds into which the drainage of a large population filters and from the head waters of such rivers as the hudson, which receives all the sewage of albany, schenectady, and troy, seems incredible, were we not already familiar with the recklessness which hands over all our industries to a competitive system so fierce in its operation that adulteration is its necessary consequence.many of the bakeshops which furnish us with our bread baffle description, and on the poisons which are introduced into our milk i have already dilated.wherever the temptation to adulterate is considerable and the consequence of adulteration to public health great, the community should not accept the risk that arises from competition except within the narrowest possible limits.for this reason, it will doubtless be wise for a coöperative commonwealth to own and run packing houses, butcher shops, pharmacies, bakeries, and to produce and distribute milk and ice.as regards ice, it is amazing that the municipal authorities should not have undertaken this task beforeespecially in view of the raising of the price of ice for the poor by the ice trust.every city has to supply its citizens with water, and as they are in control of pure water, it should be as much the function of the city to furnish pure ice as pure water.they have reservoirs free from pollution from which ice could be cut; and nothing but the political influence of the ice trust on the one hand, and the stupid indifference of the consumer on the other, has permitted this business to remain in private hands.[164] the enormous profits made by the meat trust would permit not only of sanitary handling of this industry, but proper compensation to all engaged therein, and a notable reduction in the price of meat.the fact that the baking industry is not trusted will make the taking over of this industry by the state a more difficult undertaking, but not for that reason an impossible one.competition is not necessarily to be eliminated in the taking over of these industries.it is quite possible that the state might not furnish good bread, and it ought, therefore, to be permissible for any individual to enter into this business.the competition will be limited because, inasmuch as the state will charge for its bread very little above cost price, few will be induced to enter into this business out of the desire for making money.the only motive that will induce citizens to enter into the business will be that of furnishing bread to their taste.moreover, such industries would have to comply strictly with hygienic conditions, and they would be not so numerous as to make inspection as difficult, ineffectual, or expensive as today.the production and distribution of milk suggests a function of the state to which sufficient importance cannot be attached.i mean the creation of farm colonies.on this single point i am not supported by the authority of the socialist party.in other words, farm colonies have never been suggested as a part of the socialist program; but this seems to be due to an oversight, for there does not seem to be in the socialist party, as far as i can judge of it, any opposition to the idea.and the rôle of the farm colony seems to me of such importance that it is hardly possible to give too much attention to it.§ 4.farm colonies the first farm colony was established in holland.the system has since taken root all through europe, but has reached its finest development in the canton of berne, in switzerland.it proceeds upon the principle that while it is difficult to make money out of farm land, it is easy to get nourishment from it, and that the most obvious remedy for idle labor is to apply it to idle land.in switzerland it is also recognized that idle labor is divided into two distinct classesthe unemployed and the unemployableand the unemployable must be again classified into those unable to work through physical defect and those unable to work through moral defect; that is to say, those who are morally willing and physically unable and those physically able and morally unwilling.there are therefore in switzerland two different kinds of farm colonies: forced colonies which deal with the tramp, the drunkard, and the misdemeanantall those persons upon whom discipline has to be exercised; and free colonies for those physically disabled or who are out of employment through causes over which they have no control.it is in the poorest countries in europe that farm colonies have reached their highest development.switzerland has been driven to organize farm colonies by the fact that she is too poor to disregard the burden of the unemployed and unemployables.it is in the richest countries, england, france, and america, that the farm colony system has been most neglected.the farm colony plan is the cheapest as well as the best way of solving the problem of pauperism, deserving or undeserving.this question has been fully treated elsewhere[165] and it is only referred to here in sufficient detail to explain why it is believed that the farm colony system will form an essential feature of every socialistic community.for although there will be an enormous diminution in the number of those unwilling or unable to work (for the reason that under a coöperative commonwealth no one need be overworked and, therefore, no one need be reduced to the physical exhaustion which is the prime cause of pauperism), and although there will be fewer drunkards because drunkenness, also, is largely due to overwork, nevertheless, until the coöperative commonwealth has been in operation several generations, that part of the population that is unwilling or unable to work will have to be provided for.and even later there will certainly be some part of the population that will require discipline as regards work.the farm colony system, more and more indispensable in our existing civilization, will perform an important rôle in the gradual transformation of society from the competitive to the coöperative form.it probably presents today one of the most perfect pieces of constructive socialistic work in which legislators can engage.for it has the extraordinary advantage of satisfying an immediate necessity of the competitive system and at the same time realizing some fundamental principles of socialism; for example, that every man and woman is entitled to work; that the aged are entitled to support; and that the state should own enough land to assure both these things.the fact that our railroads are now awakening to the necessity of handling the tramp proves the necessity of the system, and the fact that in switzerland the forced colonies have been made to pay their own expenses indicates its economy.indeed, no proposed legislation illustrates so well the power driving us towards socialism as the history of attempts at legislation in this direction in new york state.twelve years ago a farm colony bill was drawn by a committee appointed by the charitable societies in new york; but it did not secure at albany a moments serious attention.we were told by our legislators that poverty is not a crime.when we answered that our bill did not make it a crime more than the penal code, but only purposed to substitute for the expensive and degenerating system of the misnamed workhouse, inexpensive and regenerating work on a state farm, and that the plan had operated effectually in holland and belgium for over a hundred years, we were told that the plan might do in holland, but would not do here.so in the archives of the french senate may still be read the report made by thiers, when appointed by louis philippe on a committee to investigate the first railroad ever built, which concludes as follows: railroads may serve a purpose in england, but they are not suited to france.a similar bill, improved by borrowing from late experience in switzerland, drawn by a similar committee (to which was added the commissioner of charities, mr.hebberd) was presented at albany at the session of 1909, and although not passed, was sufficiently well received to encourage the hope that it will pass at the session of 1910.it had the support of the great railroads in new york state; for the railroads have discovered that the tramp is an intolerable nuisance.[166] colonel pangborn of the baltimore & ohio has lately estimated that the damage occasioned by tramps to railroads in the united states amounts in a single year to twentyfive million dollars.[167] for the tramp in america does not tramp; he rides on railroads; he sets fire to freight cars and freight stations; he obstructs the lines, wrecks trains, and is a fruitful cause of action for damages.the measure, therefore, which was thrown out by the assembly when proposed from motives of humanity, may be passed as a measure of selfdefence, and selfdefence thus constitutes an element of the power always at work on the side of progress that neither ignorance nor interest will be able to resist.the reason for believing that the farm colony will perform an important function not only during the period which must elapse before the coöperative commonwealth, but also after the coöperative commonwealth has been attained, is that work on land seems to be the only work to which the unemployed and unemployables can be suitably put