A Stake in the Land Part 5

1. We sell him horses and cows on liberal terms.

2. We help him buy on credit building materials and other necessaries, such as feed for his stock, small tools, etc. We O.K.

many small bills.

3. We many times indorse settlers' notes at banks in order to help them get credit, and thus get the money with which to make progress.

4. Our organization keeps in touch with parties to whom we have sold. Our men see them occasionally and give them advice. Often we are able to be of material a.s.sistance in helping them to buy the right stock at the right prices.

5. We keep hammering away at the importance of their keeping in touch with the county adviser and getting the free literature that is sent out by the state and Federal authorities.

6. We try to be of aid in everything which promotes the general social and economic welfare of the community. For example:

a. Our Mr. ---- was chairman of the Liberty Loan Committee in ---- County.

b. Any proposition for new roads, new schools, or new churches gets our hearty and immediate support.

c. In all cases where we have been asked to donate an acre or half acre for church purposes, we have done so.

d. We have been instrumental in helping a number of incipient business men to start cheese factories.

"REALTORS"

Certain phases of the real-estate business requiring concerted action, and especially the desire of the higher type of land dealers to put their trade or profession on a higher level, and thus to prevent it from falling into disrepute in the public eye, have led the better type of real-estate men to organize themselves into local real-estate boards with an a.s.sociate membership of leading local merchants, bankers, lawyers, and others particularly interested in real-estate developments. The "realtors" prefer to speak of their trade as a "profession" or "calling," not a business or trade, for they claim that an up-to-date real-estate dealer is a community builder and leader whose preparation requires a good general education and a special training, pointing out that a number of the best colleges in the country are giving courses in the real-estate business.

Nineteen local boards from thirteen states formed a national a.s.sociation in 1908. At present the a.s.sociation comprises 130 local boards in this country and Canada, with a total membership of about 8,500 persons.

The aims of the National a.s.sociation of Real Estate Boards are to promote efficiency among its members, to be a clearing house for the exchange of information and ideas, to publish an organ of the a.s.sociation, to broaden the sphere of influence of the local real-estate men, to a.s.sist in organizing local boards, to fight the land "sharks" and "curbstone brokers," and to maintain a high standard of professional ethics.

The members of the a.s.sociated local boards call themselves "realtors,"

as distinct from "real-estate men" or "land dealers"--names which, they feel, are tainted by the unscrupulous methods of the "sharks."

The a.s.sociation has published a code of ethics for its members, in which paragraph 13 is especially noteworthy. It reads:

As a duty to the public and each other, members should report to the board misrepresentations or any fraudulent, criminal, or illegal act pertaining to real estate, which may entrap and injure innocent or ignorant persons; and the board owes it to members and the community to take steps to stop such practices and to punish parties guilty thereof.

The local boards often render certain services to the community. The valuation committees are often called upon to give their expert advice in land matters even to the courts and government administrative offices.

But how far the a.s.sociation is successful in combating the underhand business methods of the unscrupulous real-estate men is very difficult to say. The fact is this, that the a.s.sociation favors public registry and regulation of the real-estate trade and at present is working toward that end, supporting bills of this nature that are introduced in the state legislatures. A number of the realtors are not in favor of the words "license" and "licensing." They prefer instead the words "certificate," "registry," and "regulation," believing that the word "license" is a.s.sociated in the popular mind with saloon-keeping and similar trades of a lower order.

The desire of these men to separate from ordinary real-estate men by calling themselves "realtors" and their business a "profession," and their advocacy of public regulation, show that the land "shark" is still very much alive and that the real-estate men themselves by their own private efforts are not able successfully to combat the "shark."

In the field of private land dealing there is appearing a subst.i.tute for the individual dealer. The modern colonization company has recently grown up, and out of this new project have grown broader policies and methods.

V

PRIVATE LAND COLONIZATION COMPANIES

The earlier so-called city and empire builders were in most cases nothing more than dealers in land. When a lot or farm was sold, there the company's interest ended. The modern colonization company goes much farther. When a man settles on land, the company of the better type usually looks out for him, backs him with credit, affords him the service of an expert agricultural adviser, cares for his health, and promotes his social interests and activities through a salaried community worker.

All this is done by the company not only for the sake of the settler himself, but mainly for the sake of the business interests of the company, since the success of the settlers on the company's land is the best advertis.e.m.e.nt of the company's business. It creates confidence in the company among the searchers for land and helps to increase the volume of business and the profits. Such companies are of rather recent origin and as yet are comparatively few in number. Their appearance means specialization in the land-development business.

In the North Middle Western states the wilderness land has been for the most part owned by the lumber companies. The lumber companies attempted to dispose of their cut-over and burnt-over land in the easiest way by selling to individuals. As a rule this retail selling was unsuccessful.

They found that it was more profitable for them to stick to their lumber business and sell their land in large tracts to the land dealers and to land-development and colonization companies.

In this connection it is interesting to note that in the wilds of our north one may still see the following stages of frontier life as they exist side by side, sometimes overlapping and crosscutting one another.

1. The earliest stage known to American civilization was that of virgin wilderness inhabited by animals and roamed over by Indians. As remnants of that time there are found some animals, now driven into the swamps and rocks, and a few Indians settled on reservations.

2. The next stage was when the white missionaries, traders, adventurers, followed by professional trappers, began penetrating the wilderness.

This white men's hunting stage is still represented by the present-day "shackers" and trappers, though they are mostly of an amateur character, and, so to speak, domesticated.

3. The following stage was when lumbermen began being heard throughout the forests. They are still there, though in considerably reduced numbers. They are hurriedly attacking the remaining woods, leaving in their wake a dreary, sorrowful-looking expanse of cut-over and burnt-over lands.

4. These cut-over lands are now invaded by the land development and colonization companies, with their armies of new settlers, attempting to transform the last remnants of wilderness into fertile gardens, fields, and meadows. This is the last decisive war of man upon the wilderness--a picturesque and difficult struggle. A settler gives this vivid description, printed in the Radisson, Wisconsin, _Courier_:

Everywhere we go we see men, women, and children cutting and piling the brush and logs that have covered the ground since the days of the logger. Everyone seems to be trying to clear more land than his neighbor, and get it ready to produce the crops that are so badly needed all over the world, and as we stop a minute to take a better view of what each one has done, we hear the boom of dynamite that is following the brush lines as they are being pushed back.

In the north the land-clearing line is called the firing line, a term which can be taken literally, for the land-clearing front is continually under fire and clouds of smoke from burning debris.

5. The st.u.r.dy new settlers, the last pioneers and frontiersmen in the country, are followed, especially along rivers where water power is at hand, by industrial workers. Here and there are appearing thriving manufacturing and commercial towns--the last stage in the opening up of a new country to civilization.

But the most important work in the wilderness at present is that of the modern land colonization companies. To give an idea of their work and methods it is necessary to describe one of these companies in detail.

A TYPICAL COMPANY

The particular company investigated with special attention is located in the wilderness of one of the North Middle Western states. In general the company is applying the same business methods to land colonization as Mr. Ford is applying to automobile production--production of new farms on a large scale so as to diminish the overhead expense, and standardization of various colonization methods. The guiding test is the success of the new settlers on the company's land. Failures among the settlers are avoided and fought against by the company as though they were a dangerous epidemic. "Each failure among our settlers is a bad advertis.e.m.e.nt for our company, a loss to us, and an evidence of defects in our business methods," stated the company's head.

To insure the success of the settlers and the settlement, the company proceeds as follows: The most careful study is made of the tract of land which the company intends to acquire for colonization purposes. Not only is the tract of land closely looked over by the company's officials, but land experts, such as soil surveyors, are engaged to examine the land from the viewpoint of its agricultural possibilities. Federal and state surveyors'

reports are also used in considering the possibilities of the land.

When the land has been acquired, a plan for a colony is worked out, with provision for necessary roads, town sites, irrigation or drainage systems, utilization of water power, social centers, experimental farms, etc. The accompanying map shows the plan of one such colony.

The tract is then surveyed and cut up into farms according to the plan adopted. A number of farm lots are selected by the company. On each of these lots there is designated a place for the farm buildings and the garden. A simple, inexpensive house and a barn are built by the company on a small clearing, usually facing the main road. At present the company has ceased to clear any land for agricultural use for the reason that if there is a piece of cleared land the new settler is apt to expend his main efforts on cultivation of this cleared land, neglecting the clearing of more land.

Our experience has shown that it is much better when a new settler begins his settlement enterprise with clearing. He at once acquires the needed experience in clearing, and develops the confidence that he is able to overcome the difficulties of clearing. As a result, his ambition grows to clear more land each year,

explained a company official. This again shows with what fineness the company has to adjust its methods to the psychological peculiarities of the settlers.

At the same time the company equips the experimental farm and puts it into operation under the supervision of a trained agriculturist. For the community work a hall is provided and a community worker engaged.

Meanwhile the company's agents and advertisers have been busy in making the land opportunities known to people who are intending to settle on land. The new settlers are of two distinct types. One type consists either of native Americans or immigrants who have previously been on land in the United States either as landowners or as tenants. The second cla.s.s consists of immigrants who have been living in the cities and who desire to settle on land. In most cases they have been engaged in agricultural work in their old countries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WISCONSIN COLONIZATION COMPANY SEES THE NEED OF COMMUNITY CENTERS]