when trying to re-sell the farm, it always 

 showed up very prominently as it was in a 

 verj' prominent place and while I do not know 

 positively that it spoiled any deals, I know 

 how I felt about it when I had to take it as 

 a part of the farm and I judge that numbers 

 of the people that the land companies showed 

 tliis farm to looked at it in about the same 

 way. On the 15th of August I took possession 

 of the farm and as the corn would not do to 

 work in for two or three weeks and as it was 

 so fearfully HOT I had my folks wait until 

 tlie 1st of iSeptember before starting, so I spent 

 the time for the next two weeks "batciiing" 

 it down on the farm and looking after the 

 stock. Done this so the folks would miss as 

 much of the HOT weather yet this fall as pos- 

 sible. On the 4th of September, 1909, though 

 they landed at Knoxall, our nearest station 

 stop, and tlie first thing they learned from a 

 family that they rode up the "lane" aways 

 with was about the awful number of snakes 

 there was in this country and when I arrived 

 at the home on the farm that evening they 

 were most seared to death over what they had 

 told them. Although the next day was Sun- 

 day, we unloaded enough of our goods to have 

 something to cook and eat on and a place to 

 sleep and the next day we finished the unload- 

 ing and it was well that we did for on Tues- 

 day the folks were initiated right to a Missouri 

 rain and it was lucky for us that we were 

 under cover for when it rains in JMissouri, it 

 sure rains. Went to our farm work, as we 

 wanted to put out some wheat and began 

 plowing in a meadow and topping some corn 

 and on the ISth of September, 1909, went to 

 Sikeston to finish up the land deal and to see 

 Air. C. D. Matthews, Sr., to sign up the notes. 

 Now, we had contracted for 215.04 acres of 

 land at $75 per acre, which amounted to $16,128, 

 on which we had paid $2,000, the rest to be 

 divided into ten equal, annual payments. Here 

 is where I first realized what an enormous 

 commission the land men ^vere getting for 

 selling me this farm. The notes were made 

 out in eleven notes — one of $500, one of $912.80 

 and the other nine of $1,412.80 each. The one 

 of $500 going to the land men to complete their 

 commission of $1,075, the cash payment being 

 only for $2,000. Mr. Matthews would not allow 

 them to have all their commission in cash, so 

 you see I paid, or contracted to pay, and did 

 pay, along witli a whole lot of interest, a 

 goodly sum to be allowed to buy a farm in 

 this "Earthquake Zone." Now, as I had a 

 contract with Mr. Markley of the firm of Hale 

 & Markley, real estate agents of Bluff ton. Ind., 

 that I was to receive one-half of their com- 

 missions on all lands sold in this country, they 

 did pay to me. on my deal and the Archie 

 Cook deal, wherein he purchased 240 acres of 

 land $300. So this will give you some idea, 

 dear friend, what the real estate agent or 

 agents are to be paid for leading you down 

 here and locating you, if he does, of course. 

 There is many a slip in selling real estate and 

 us fellows that locate through these real estate 

 agencies pay many another man's sight-seeing 

 expenses. Now this is one of the things that 

 I wish to impress upon you — how you can miss 

 this enormous commission and will take this 

 matter up at greater length when the home 

 man — down here — bought a farm and comes 

 into this write-up. 



We worked on at our farm work, gathering 

 of the corn that I had purchased of the renter 

 to get possession of the land, plowed and 

 sowed wheat and as the fall days came, the 

 evening growing colder, it brought inore 

 strongly to mind the necessity of laying in 

 winter supplies of vegetables, and as our fam- 

 ily is a potato eating family, naturally when 

 one of the men on the farm offered me 14 bush- 

 els of nice looking potatoes for 75 cents per 

 bushel. I bought them and stored them away 

 for the winter. I did not know potatoes raised 

 in this country would not keep, but I found it 

 out — paid for more experience. Well, sir, I 

 sorted those potatoes over several times and I 

 know that I threw away two-thirds of them. 

 I only tell you this that should you come down 



here to locate that you need not make the 

 same mistake. Potatoes grow well in this coun- 

 try but they are not meal.v like the potatoes 

 grown in liie North. It seems there is too 

 much moisture in the ground and they are 

 more like what we called at home the "Muck" 

 potatoes, that was potatoes that were grown 

 in low, swampy places. People as a rule that 

 do raise a surplus of potatoes in this country 

 sell them at tlie stores just as soon as tliey 

 \\i\\ do to dig and then when in need of pota- 

 toes buy shipped-in potatoes. 



Kept on with our farm work, shucking corn 

 and planting wheat and finished the planting 

 of the wheat — 65 acres — some time in Novem- 

 ber. Then on the 7th of December had a new 

 experience. Mr. C. D. Matthews, Sr., the gen- 

 tleman of whom I bought this land, sent his 

 farm overseer or "rider" as they are called 

 in this counti-y, out to see me and made me 

 a proposition to sell real estate. It seemed, 

 so I was informed, that the land agencies of 

 Sikeston were not making what Mr. Matthews 

 thought the right effort to dispose of his lands. 

 You see. as I have shown you before, by the 

 commission they made off of the land that they 

 sold me these land agents were so to speak 

 "on the make," and as Mr. Matthews was a 

 large land holder and rich, he was in a posi- 

 tion to and did and does dictate the terms that 

 his lands MUST BE sold on and what the real 

 estate agent can have for his commission. Now 

 these land agents had lands that they could 

 sell and get more commission on — more than 

 the $5 per acre that they charged me and 

 they did not show his $5 per acre commission 

 lands, so I was informed, except when they 

 could not sell something else, and so Mr. C. 

 D. Matthews, Sr., was looking for someone to 

 get buyers for his lands. Now, I had only been 

 in Missouri five months and that through the 

 harvest time of a fairly good crop year — had 

 not had time to experience the losses and dis- 

 couragements that come from the loss of some 

 of your mules — hogs all dying with cholera — 

 water flooding your lands and drowning out 

 your crops — dry weather stunting your corn — 

 smut in your wheat, etc. etc., and naturally 

 I was very optomistic of the outlook to sell 

 some lands and. thus make some "easy money," 

 and so I wrote numbers of my friends in the 

 North, inviting them down to see us and to 

 move and live down here and what I thought 

 they could do by buying some of this land. 

 I did get ciuite a number of people from our 

 country down, showed them the land told them 

 what it would be bought for and of the $5 per 

 acre commission that we were allowed for sell- 

 ing it to them, we would refund them $1 per 

 acre as they were buying it direct through us 

 and there would be no home land agent to pay 

 for getting them down here. Had quite a 

 number of home folks down but did not suc- 

 ceed in selling them a piece of ground and 

 now that I have lived the near four years liere 

 and learned by experience how hard it is to 

 get loose from a piece of this land after you 

 are tied up in it, how little it advances in 

 price, even when you clear out the stumps and 

 build it up with peas, etc., as we did this farm. 

 We received $10 per acre more for our farm 

 than we paid for it. I am truly glad that I 

 was not instrumental in locating any one. for it 

 is bad enough to lose what we have to without 

 leading any one else into the same trap. Now 

 right here I am in a position to show you why 

 it is better to have lived here a while and then 

 buy, rather than to come down and purchase 

 direct through some of the land agencies. Mr. 

 Moser, a Wells County man, and who lives on 

 Pharris Ridge, near here, was interested with 

 me in trying to get buyers for lands here, and 

 he had a neighbor. Mr. Joseph Weedman, who 

 was talking of buying a farm and was over to 

 look at the farm north of mine. As we were 

 authorized to sell land by Mr. Matthews, and 

 as Mr. Moser and Mr. Weedman had often 

 talked the subject of buying a farm, Mr. Mo- 

 ser had no hesitancy in talking trade with 

 Mr. Weedman on the 207 acres adjoining me 

 at $75 per acre, and as it was not much effort 

 to us and would have been a little "easy 



