24 ANMAi- KKi'oins ()|- nKi'Airi'.M i;.\r of a(;i;i('1'lti'rk. 



the fanner lias had no effective means of preventing the impairment 

 of his profits; his only recourse has been to mi<rrate to the city and 

 ciian<i:e his occupation, a course actually followed by many. In the 

 light of these facts and the fear of a continued decline of profits, 

 it is clear why the tendency to expand the crop area has been suddenly 

 reversed. 



LAND SETTLf:MENT AND COLONIZATION. 



AVhile present conditions do not seem to justify a policy of encour- 

 aging and stimulating the extension of the farm area, it must be 

 recognized that some new land is continually being brought into 

 cultivation in certain regions. Moved by the spirit of adventure 

 characteristic of Americans, by the desire to rise from the status of 

 tenancy to the more independent status of farm ownership, by propa- 

 ganda which portrays to city people in alluring fashion the attrac- 

 tiveness of country life, and particularly by the effective advertising 

 and skillful salesmanship of various kinds of private land settlement 

 agencies, men may be expected to try their fortunes in the develop- 

 ment of raw farm land, even in periods when conditions do not favor 

 agricultural expansion and when the net migration to cities is above 

 the normal. It is of the highest importance that these men be enabled 

 to embark in such undertakings with the greatest possible assurance 

 of success, for the failure of one is likely to result in the discourage- 

 ment of many. 



In an earlier period of our history, the development of new agri- 

 cultural areas was largely the result of the initiative of individuals. 

 At present, it is, to a considerable extent, under the guidance of 

 private agencies engaged in promoting the settlement and sale 

 of land for profit. Whether the methods employed by some of these 

 enterprises are such that private profit is not incompatible with the 

 rendering of important service in facilitating the wise selection of 

 land, in providing suitable arrangements for credit, and in creating 

 conditions favorable to the success of the settlers, can be deter- 

 mined only by comprehensive investigation. During the past year 

 the department has begun a study of the problem. On account of 

 its magnitude, final conclusions mnj not be available for some time, 

 but enough progress has been made to reveal the fact that numerous 

 agencies, whose volume of business is very great, are preying on the 

 impulse to acquire farm land, and that the results in misdirected 

 investment of capital, futile labor through years of unavailing 

 struggle against hopeless odds, and consequent discouragement and 

 despair, are too serious to be ignored. The comfortable doctrine of 

 leaving the buyer to take care of himself has been discarded in many 

 phases of our national life. Surely, in the settlement and develop- 



