CHARACTER IN COMMUNITIES. 



211 



the intending purchaser is and what people say of 

 his character as a man and citizen, but it wants him 

 to state in writing for what purpose he desires the 

 land and just what arguments and induce- 

 ments were used in arousing his desire for 

 it. Could the settler ask or receive stronger 

 evidence of good faith on the part of the 

 company with which he is dealing ? If the 

 company merely desired to sell land it would 

 ask but one question : Can this man pay for 

 it? But the company desires more. It 

 insists that the purchaser shall obtain land 

 suited to his purpose, that it shall be fully 

 equal to the representations made to him, 

 that it shall know in advance that the man 

 and the land are suited to each other and 

 that there is a good chance for the new 

 home to be blessed with prosperity. This 

 is the matter from a standpoint of the in- 

 tending settler. Much more could be said 

 under this head, but a careful study of the 

 application blank itself will quickly disclose 

 its advantages to the settler. 



FROM THE COMPANY'S STANDPOINT. 



The use of the application blank has cre- 

 ated something of a sensation in certain 

 circles. It is not exactly in line with the 

 usual real estate methods. Land has been 

 sold in the past quite generally by any 

 means that would sell it. The climate, soil 

 and productions have been made to conform beauti- 

 fully to the hopes and wishes of the prospective 

 customer. No one has thought of asking anybody 

 to file a formal application for the privilege of buying 

 a small irrigated farm, any more than they would 

 think of asking such a thing of the purchaser of a 

 town lot in an outlying addition. But let us consider 

 this matter from a business standpoint, claiming 

 nothing for the superior honesty and integrity of the 

 method. 



The Kern County Land Company repre- 

 sents an investment of considerably more 

 than $10,000,000 in land and water. To 

 realize a reasonable return upon this great 

 outlay it must find settlers for about 350,000 

 acres, in small tracts. To develop the ut- 

 most possibilities of the property will be a 

 work not simply of years, but of decades, 

 Supposing 50,000 acres were sold during the 

 coming season by any sort of representation 

 that would arouse a great temporary de- 

 mand. Then suppose half of the people 

 who purchased it should prove to be totally 

 unfitted, by taste and experience, for the 

 work of home-making on a California farm. 

 Suppose the other half discovered that the 

 soil and climate were not well adapted to 

 the particular forms of industry in which 

 they had desired to engage. The Kern 

 County Land Company would have settled 

 50,000 acres with discontented, disappointed 

 men and deluded people. Whatever the 

 moral obligation might be, the business 

 blunder would be well nigh fatal. It would 

 be a colossal mistake in the development 

 of a great property. The application blank was de- 

 vised as a means of protection against that blunder 

 of protection equally valuable to the settler and 

 to the company, for the property of one means the 

 property of the other. 



ANTICIPATED RESULTS. 



The Application Blank of the Kern County Land 

 Company represents one of the most enlightened 



A SETTLER S HOME. 



steps ever undertaken in connection with the settle- 

 ment of western lands. It is evidence of monumental 

 good faith. It stamps as genuine every representa- 

 tion made under the authority of this company. The 

 acceptance of an application for the purchase of 

 land carries with it the company's guarantee that the 

 representations on which the land is sold are accu- 

 rate, and that the hopes of the purchaser can be real- 

 ized. It carries also the company's acknowledgment 



oSF^nai 



"A FARMER'S BOY." 



that the intending settler is entirely satisfactory to 

 those who are guiding the development of the com- 

 munities in the Kern Delta. The company can never 

 tell the settler that he misrepresented his character, 

 condition or expectations. The settler can never 



