190 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



position" to our fair. We want all these new enterprises to make exhi- 

 bits at the fair, and in this way we can have all the people interested in 

 this great educational institution. 



Some people may wonder why with these great institutions of the state 

 growing, new manufactures starting up, the people most prosperous, stand- 

 ing at the top on education, yet the state is decreasing in population. We 

 have all read in the papers a great many explanations of Iowa's decrease 

 in population during the last decade. We all know it is not because the 

 resources of our state are becoming less; we know the fertility of the soil 

 has not become exhausted. The possibilities of this great state are in its 

 infancy; we have not commenced to reap the results that are in store for 

 us when we get to that point in intensive farming. In my opinion, one 

 of the factors in the decrease of population in the state during the past 

 ten years is the fact that the prosperous farmer is crying for more land 

 and each year adding to his already large holdings. It is the productive- 

 ness of this land that allows him to keep buying land, land, land, until 

 they have advanced the price of this fertile soil. The young man start- 

 ing out in life does not feel like going in debt to the amount of from six- 

 teen to twenty thousand dollars for a quarter section of Iowa land, when 

 father bought land a few years ago for from six to eight thousand dol- 

 lars for a quarter section. Hence the young man is looking for cheaper 

 land, and to the north, south or west he goes for cheaper homes. It is 

 these young men, who are raising families that naturally should increase 

 the population of our state, who are leaving. With the improvements in 

 all kinds of farm machinery, father at home has been able to carry on the 

 increased acreage that he has accumulated, instead of dividing it up with 

 the boys and keeping them at home. I think we have about reached the 

 turning point. These men who have accumulated these large farms are 

 getting old and passing away, and the farms will have to be divided into 

 smaller tracts. And even the men who have large holdings and have 

 been renting these lands, at the price this land is valued today the owner 

 is not receiving to exceed three per cent upon his investment. It is on 

 the increase in the price of his land that he is looking for his profit. 

 This land — the same as we say in regard to water — is bound to find its 

 level. So when that time comes the investor must look to the land to 

 bring him a reasonable profit on his investment; and in that case we 

 must divide up our large tracts into smaller farms and intensive farming 

 will solve the problem. 



I am heartily in favor of the present agitation to advertise Iowa. We 

 have done none of this for years. When the railroads had their granted 

 lands, and the speculator had land, then Iowa was boomed. 



From an advertising standpoint Iowa has lain dormant for years, but 

 the recent census returns have awakened us from our Rip Van Winkle 

 dreams of the last ten years. We have allowed the emigrants to pass 

 through our state to take up their residence in the western states, without 

 raising our voice in behalf of the greatest state in the union. You see 

 the result — Iowa's decrease in population. But things have changed; this 

 is the age of boosting, and from now on we are boosting for Iowa and in 



