single apple of all those apples. One day, in a banter,
I asked him what he'd sell his hundred and thirty acres for. He answered
seriously. He told me what it had netted him, year by year, and struck
an average. He told me to calculate the principal from that at six per
cent. I did. It came to over three thousand dollars an acre."

"What are all the Chinks doin' in the Valley?" Billy asked. "Growin'
apples, too?"

Benson shook his head.

"But that's another point where we Americans lose out. There isn't
anything wasted in this valley, not a core nor a paring; and it isn't
the Americans who do the saving. There are fifty-seven apple-evaporating
furnaces, to say nothing of the apple canneries and cider and vinegar
factories. And Mr. John Chinaman owns them. They ship fifteen thousand
barrels of cider and vinegar each year."

"It was our folks that made this country," Billy reflected. "Fought for
it, opened it up, did everything--"

"But develop it," Benson caught him up. "We did our best to destroy it,
as we destroyed the soil of New England." He waved his hand, indicating
some place beyond the hills. "Salinas lies over that way. If you went
through there you'd think you were in Japan. And more than one fat
little fruit valley in California has been taken over by the Japanese.
Their method is somewhat different from the Dalmatians'. First they
drift in fruit picking at day's wages. They give better satisfaction
than the American fruit-pickers, too, and the Yankee grower is glad to
get them. Next, as they get stronger, they form in Japanese unions
and proceed to run the American labor out. Still the fruit-growers are
satisfied. The next step is when the Japs won't pick. The American labor
is gone. The fruit-grower is helpless. The crop perishes. Then in step
the Jap labor bosses. They're the masters already. They contract for
the crop. The fruit-growers are at their mercy, you see. Pretty soon
the Japs are running the valley. The fruit-growers have become absentee
landlords and are busy learning higher standards of living in the cities
or making trips to Europe. Remains only one more step. The Japs buy
them out. They've got to sell, for the Japs control the labor market and
could bankrupt them at will."

"But if this goes on, what is left for us?" asked Saxon.

"What is happening. Those of us who haven't anything rot in the cities.
Those of us who have land, sell it and go to the cities. Some become
larger capital