The Lure of the Land: Farming after Fifty

III

The Boomers and the Boomees

     The city man of small means who has acquired a passion for the country is picked out as an easy mark by the boomers who have attractive (on paper) orchards, gardens and farms to sell. The "boom" perhaps may take the form of a poultry campaign, and some of the older readers may remember the epidemic of "hen fever" that spread over the country forty or fifty years ago.

     There is the same principle underlying all exploitations of this kind; first, the skilful and insidious play upon the human desire, and the attractive and deceptive form in which that desire may be gratified. The typical promoter is by no means devoid of intellect; in point of fact, he is shrewd, keen, intelligent and conscienceless. He is, above everything else, a profound student of psychology. He knows to the uttermost limit the moods and passions of man. He plays upon them skilfully, as the virtuoso touches the keys of the piano.

     A story is told of an event which took place at a meeting of the makers of automobiles. At this meeting the various proprietors or manufacturers of the different motor cars had the opportunity of freely advertising their own special brands. One of the largest of the makers, while on the floor, described the wonderful scope of his business. He said, "You scarcely realize the magnitude of the business which I represent, and per-

The Boomers and the Boomees     19

haps a simple illustration will suffice. We make and sell a complete car every two minutes." The manufacturer who followed him did not fail to take advantage of the opening. He remarked, "The business of the gentleman who preceded me is undoubtedly of great magnitude, and well illustrated by what he said. The business of the gentleman is, however, not nearly so great as it ought to be. He should be ashamed of not having improved all of his opportunities. He told us that he made and sold a motor car every two minutes--he should remember that a sucker is born every minute."

     Unfortunately all of these suckers are not buying motor cars. Hundreds and thousands of them are investing in orchards, in gardens and in lands. In the past few years there has been a remarkable revival of land speculation, and many thousands of the citizens of our country have bought and paid for impossible or inaccessible fields and gardens. Especially was this illustrated in the fever which spread over the country for purchasing the Florida everglades. These lands were presented in such an attractive manner that it was impossible to believe that any person investing in them could fail to make a fortune, and that speedily. Visions of orange trees and luscious grape fruits and the less hardy lemon were dangled before the eyes of the hypnotized investor, who could even scent the odor of the flowers and see the glory of the wild orchids in the nearby forests. In so far as the alligator and the rattlesnake were concerned they almost ceased to exist; but enough of them were left for the attractive pocketbook and traveling bag. The salubrity of the climate was painted in such colors as to make it no wonder that Ponce de Leon sought for the waters of eternal youth in this floral paradise.

20     The Lure of the Land

     In point of fact, however, this beautiful country, so artfully and ingeniously portrayed, was principally under water, leading one of the members of Congress, in referring to the matter in a speech upon the floor of the house, to remark that it was "a shame to sell those lands by the acre, they should be sold by the gallon."

     Even the officials of the Department of Agriculture were drawn into the controversy in a way not at all to the credit of some of them. Publications telling the truth about these lands were suppressed, and other publications, coloring gorgeously the attractiveness of the everglades, were permitted to be distributed. The engineer who had stuck to the truth and told it, was discharged on a trumped up allegation of having misappropriated public funds. He was even prosecuted before the grand jury and indicted for this offense, only to have the indictment quashed and to be restored to his position when all the facts of the case were known.

     Old soldiers were especially invited to spend their last days in a land where frost did not corrupt, nor mosquitoes break through and squeal. Impecunious clerks in the departments were induced to invest their hard earned dollars, which they so much needed for the necessities of life, in these visionary dreams of agricultural wealth.

     My own name was used very extensively by the promoters of these schemes, without my consent and against my positive requests to the contrary, and it was necessary even to threaten the users with legal proceedings before my name was withdrawn.

     No less deceptive and insistent were the advertisements of the wonderful profits to be made from orchards, especially in the States of Washington, Orgeon, Colo-

The Boomers and the Boomees     21

rado, Idaho and Montana. Even the nearby Virginias were exploited. Wonderful offers were made to intending investors: their orchards would be planted and cared for for five years at a charge included in the purchase price, and then all they would have to do would be to live forever on the wonderful income which would be secured. Stories of the realization of five hundred or one thousand dollars per acre, or even more, were scattered abroad to inflame the desire and obscure the judgment of persons with small means.

     The number of well intentioned persons who, having accumulated a few thousand dollars, were led to sacrifice it all and to be brought to the door of starvation in their old age, would be phenomenally large if all the names of the victims could be collected. Unfortunately those who have lost everything in ventures of this kind are prone to keep the matter quiet, while an investor who has made money announces it with trumpets from the housetops.

     The irrigable lands also are largely in the same category. Every possible town site in the desert was preempted by promoters who relied upon sales of the desert lands to secure the funds for development. The remarkable work which is being done in the reclamation service, winning thousands of acres of land from the desert to the garden, becomes the basis of a campaign to induce intending investors to buy these irrigated lands long before a drop of water is in sight. Even where water was available, the conditions which prevailed were so distorted as to lead to the investment of the little all of the new farmer in a manner whereby absolute failure was inevitable. It would be interesting if the personal stories of these deceptions could be widely distributed, but, as a rule, those who have suf-

22     The Lure of the Land

fered and become the innocent victims of these propagandas of promotion, are unwilling to have their names appear in print.

     It is the old story of the gold mine over and over again. Perhaps as long as humanity remains as it is, the art of the deceiver will flourish. The same principle which permits huge fortunes to accumulate by the sale of quack remedies and worthless nostrums, is the one employed to separate the hard-earned money of the people and pour it into the coffers of the wicked promoter. It is one of the astounding facts of humanity--to realize the truth of the fundamental principle of Barnum's career,--namely, that the people love to be humbugged. It is not quite so bad when this humbuggery extends simply to going to a show. And after all Barnum was not so great a humbug as he
claimed to be, because he gave a really interesting and instructive performance.

     From the financial point of view, also, the victim of the quack remedy is not so much to be pitied, because it is only occasionally that he invests all he has in a worthless remedy. Usually the promoter is wise enough not to reduce him to penury, because that would take him out of the ranks of his patrons. The wilder the theory, it appears to me, the more devoted the convert. Vagaries in politics, and especially in religion, are quite as pronounced as those in medicine, and in gold mines, and in submerged farms and non-existent orchards.

     This Satanic cult even goes to the extent of defrauding the people in the matter of the foods they use. Simple cereals, the cost of which is perhaps not to exceed one and one-half cents a pound, are put up in attractive packages under fine sounding names and sold

The Boomers and Boomees     23

to the consumer at profits of from 300 to 3,000 per cent. All along the line of battle are found the camp followers who exploit human credulity and weakness and hypnotize and rob. We are hardly happy without our daily deception in some form or other. Those who have the love of agriculture, however, should be particularly on their guard against all such seductive allurements. I can assure you all that there is no quick road to wealth along the agricultural line. What little you may be able to earn will come from much labor and much sweating, not to count the worry and the disappointment.

     A man would hardly expect to gain a large living by investing two or three thousand dollars. The average income of an investment in this country is probably not over five per cent. of the invested capital. One thousand dollars, therefore, cannot be expected to earn more than fifty dollars. If, however, you add to the investment your own personal labor, the return should be larger. The man who works in the field every workday for a year has close to two hundred and seventy-five days of labor. That ought to be worth to him at least two hundred and seventy-five dollars, and if he has one thousand dollars invested in his farm he ought to earn five per cent. on the investment and pay himself almost three hundred dollars for his labor. In sober consideration of the problem that is all that any one may hope to have by investing one thousand dollars in ordinary farm land. This income, too, means hard work and careful attention.

An Orchard Experience in Colorado.

     I am giving an experience in a Colorado orchard mostly in the language of the college professor who left

24     The Lure of the Land

his position, attracted by the allurements of the orchard business, to cast his fortunes two thousand miles away from his former home in the new land of Eldorado. He says:

     If I should give my experiences year by year I might seem to be a "knocker." No one likes to appear in that light. Many have done better than I, and, also, some have fared worse.
     It was very difficult for me to decide to buy because of high prices of land. I held off for some two months and looked the country over tolerably thoroughly and talked to all I met. I believe that if we had had as few disastrous years as old timers all declared had visited here within the twenty years before our coming, we should have made good, even at prices then prevailing. We bought twenty acres, paying approximately $800 an acre for the portion, 7 1/2 acres, in bearing apple trees, and $400 an acre for the 12 1/2 acres which was partly set with young
trees and in alfalfa and partly in prune trees.
     We got the crop on the trees the summer we bought, that is, the summer of 1905. It was a good crop and brought a fair price. Since then we have had only two years as good. There have been frosts and freezes in the spring, or wind and hail in summer, or snow and hail and freezing weather in the fall before we got the crop harvested.
     In 1910 we sold the bearing apple orchard, 7 1/2 acres, for $6500, and paid off our notes and had the 12 1/2 acres clear. In 1909 we had a good peach year. Our orchard netted us about $150 an acre that season. In the other years it has not paid expenses. In the fall of 1912 I pulled up one acre of peach trees and sowed the ground with alfalfa. I expect to pull out one acre more this fall. That will leave me two acres of peach trees.
     The most disastrous year this valley ever saw was 1912. We had bumper crops of both peaches and apples. But the summer was cool and showery and the peaches were late. I had just begun picking when there came a snow storm. The snow lay on the peaches for a day. The trees were already breaking with fruit. The additional weight broke many limbs, and some trees were ruined. The snow was followed by frosts,

[Illustration: Inconveniences of Life. In old-fashioned farm-houses these reached their limit.]

The Boomers and the Boomees     25

which spoiled at night the peaches which had ripened during the day. To cap the climax, the market was full and our stuff brought no price. Most of the peaches were allowed to fall to the ground. We had about 4000 boxes go on to the ground, and marketed only some 600 boxes.
     I had spent money in the summer thinning peaches, buying ladders and box stock and wrapping paper. All in the neighborhood did the same. Many built packing sheds. The apple crop did not help much, for the country was stuffed with apples and our stuff brought very low prices. The money for fruit did not get to the grower until the following summer.
     The winter of 1912-1913 was the severest since any government record has been kept, and many peach trees were killed. Some whole orchards were lost. Since that year many mortgages have been foreclosed. In the fall of 1912 I had to borrow $1000 on account of the freeze and low prices, and had to mortgage the place. The cold winter of 1912-1913 froze the peach trees, and so we had no peaches last season. I had some 300 boxes of fine apples on the young trees in the fall of 1913, but the very day I had set to pick them there came the worst hail storm I ever saw. In five minutes the crop was punk.
     This spring looks good so far, but I have learned not to be puffed up. I am not counting the money for the crop, nor thinking of ways to spend it. When I get the money I'll have it, and that's all there is to it. But in spite of all this we have not suffered from hunger, though we fare mighty plainly. I live on bread and milk most all the time. Luxuries we have none, excepting the scenery. That can scarcely be excelled.
     I never saw the apple orchards look finer than they have this year, but "What shall the harvest be?" The year we came here a banker in town told me he did not know of a case of foreclosure of mortgage in this valley. Since 1912 there have been dozens of foreclosures, and there are more to follow soon. Those who came here in early times--twenty years ago--and got the land cheap and have their homes clear and own good bearing apple orchards, are safe. They can stand any number of bumps. We have some such neighbors.
     The people here are unusually well educated and well read for farmers. There are many ex-school teachers, school superintendents, college graduates, hard-headed Germans and Quak-

26     The Lure of the Land

ers, and others from Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and from all parts. After the readjustment the country will recover. It is a good country but over-boomed. People are now turning attention somwhat to poultry, pigs, sheep, alfalfa, beets, et cetera. We were tree crazy for a time, but are getting more sane.
     Now is a good time to invest here. I know several bargains. Never till last year did I advise any one to buy. Mr. W. H. and wife visited us last summer. They live in Indianapolis. I advised them to buy our place and they came near doing so. If I had $5000 or $25,000, I would invest it here now. One neighbor who has some 30 acres of nice orchard says it is still worth $1000 an acre. They do not wish to sell.
     Apple raising is not such a "gamble" as peach raising. By building a store-house and putting the apples there as they are picked, one can take time to pack and sell them. One can learn something of market conditions. If the prices do not warrant shipping them hold them for better prices, or let them rot at home and save paying expenses of packing and shipping.
     I invested all I had and borrowed more. I am in debt. I do not expect ever to get out. The children will not get to college, unless I should find a chance to sell and go East and buy a small place near a college town. We are cramped. Sometimes I feel like running away and letting the place go, but that would hardly do. I'd like more room. Could have done better on a general farm. I understood that business; this I had to learn. Prunes were of no account. I pulled out the prunes and set apples. Poor lot of trees. Did no good, not true to name. Had to graft and bud and reset and reset and reset every spring.
     I fear I cannot give you a true notion of things in a letter. I might in a pamphlet! It would take a week to tell you what is needed to understand all. But it is surely true that the booming has been overdone. Real estate agents are most to blame, I think. They are good fellows to shun when buying property out here.

     It is true that occasionally a man invests in a gold mine and makes a fortune. There is such a lucky thing

The Boomers and the Boomees     27

as investing in land and making a fortune. This fortune, however, does not usually come the agricultural way. You may acquire a piece of land where the future city will stand; you may get land at a cheap rate and the development of the country round about you will rapidly increase its value; coal oil or gas may be found underneath, but these chances are much less common now than formerly. Towns are pretty well located in this country, railroad building is not very vigorously pushed, new towns that amount to anything are rare; and the man who places his hope of a fortune, when he invests in land, in the development of a new town, is hanging his future on a very fragile thread.

     My advice to intending investors is to keep carefully away from investing in any boom advertised scheme. I would not say that they are all bad, but I never yet have seen an advertisement of a land scheme that wasn't grossly exaggerated. All the things that make for difficulty and labor are concealed, while the possibilities of income are enormously distorted to gigantic proportions. The best place to invest is a place that you know. Don't go so far from your base as to lose your line of supplies. Better get a poor piece of land nearby where you know the market and the people, than to take the risk of a very fertile piece of the same size three thousand miles off. If I am to make my living on sand, I would rather get a field on Long Island than to have a section of sand in Florida. Oranges and apples come with tribulation and much labor.

     All is not gold that is yellow, and this is particularly true of the citrus fruits. All is not silver that has a sheen and this is particularly true of the gorgeously colored apple. The stories of profit in agriculture should be subjected to the corrections of rigid criticism.

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