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THE IREIGATION AGE. 



at Washington and the State Agricultural Departments 

 issue frequent bulletins on all sorts of farm topics and 

 all these are free for the asking. The applicant does 

 not even have to pay the postage. The Government 

 even goes so far as to describe and illustrate how to 

 build the farm ditches, gates and weirs, for the irri- 

 gating farmer. In the Twin Tails Country, Southern 

 Idaho, where so many thousands of Eastern people have 

 gone to make their homes, instructors are constantly 

 going among the people giving them free assistance and 

 advice in laying out their irrigating ditches, showing 

 them what varieties of grain, vegetables, grasses and 

 fruits to plant to get best results, and instructing them 

 in the management of their farms. 



Every lawmaker, whether in a state house or in the 

 halls of Congress, realizes that the prosperity of the 

 farmer is essential to the prosperity of the nation. 

 Every new farm economy is a help in the maintenance 

 of the nation's food supply. But the farmer himself 

 occupies independent ground. He is the coddled indi- 

 vidual. The farmer cultivates the ground and every- 

 body cultivates the farmer. He is the one man who 

 may skim the cream of life and have it for himself. He 

 may select the tenderest fowl for his table. He may 

 have the freshest eggs, fruits and vegetables for his 

 meals and he may so operate his property that his in- 

 come is as steady the year around as that of the salaried 

 man who lives in town. The irrigated farm today is a 

 factory whose engines do not break down or wear out, 

 which furnishes its own raw material and whose fin- 

 ished product is net gain to the operator. 



Problems confronting the sales agent for 

 A Word western irrigated land cannot be solved by 



About the reckless expenditure of money to gain 



Publicity publicity. Exploitation by advertising has 

 Campaigns. become a potent factor in trade and to its 

 ranks has attracted the best brains of the 

 times. Logic, accurate deduction and resourcefulness 

 are the principles upon which the publicity campaign 

 is founded, and it is only through luck that success may 

 be attained without this essential base. 



Incidents to prove these assertions are not lacking. 

 Some of the best of western lands have remained un- 

 productive and unsought, while its owners have been 

 vainly struggling to master the art of sales through ad- 

 vertising. Without recognizing the elements of .human 

 nature they have sought to attract the purchaser by 

 extravagant prospectus or spectacular prediction. Fail- 

 ing in this they have turned to other, equally absurd 

 methods, only to final discouragement and despair. 



In digging into the logic of an advertising cam- 

 paign it must not be forgotten that the resident in the 

 east or the middle west is not to be led haphazard into 

 the sale of his old home, the removal of his family to 



the west and the investment in lands that he has never 

 seen. A prospective purchaser must have accumulated 

 some means or possessions. It is but natural for him 

 to seek confirmation of advertisements and to investi- 

 gate, so far as is within his power, the integrity and 

 responsibility of the company backing the project excit- 

 ing his interest. 



If there are publications in which unbiased accounts 

 of condition may be given, the investigator usually turns 

 to its pages. Having satisfied himself in this direction, 

 his next step is to consult his local bankers or financial 

 advisors. From their perusal of the various publications 

 they are in position to give information and counsel. 

 Upon these two agencies, the class publication and the 

 financier, largely depends his decision as to investing. 



In the many years of his newspaper work the editor 

 of THE IRRIGATION AGE has endeavored to so edit the 

 columns of this journal that its reputation for veracity 

 of report and integrity of purpose could not be ques- 

 tioned. Wild-cat projects have gained no gild of re- 

 spectability through its pages; he has refused cold cash 

 in bulk and in driblets when disreputable promoters 

 sought to prostitute his paper for ulterior purposes. 



At this time, when prospect of a western exodus 

 seems imminent, THE IRRIGATION AGE includes among 

 its paid subscribers a large number of the influential 

 banking and financial houses of the east and the middle 

 west. It reaches monthly into public and private li- 

 braries throughout the country, and the character of 

 the inquiry received daily through the mail is tangible 

 evidence that its columns are read for purposes ex- 

 plained above. 



Sales agents and irrigators should weigh these facts 

 carefully in the preparation of their advertising and 

 publicity campaigns. The public is cautious and prone 

 to careful investigation. The prospective purchaser 

 must be convinced not only tha.t lands are valuable, but 

 that the company promoting them is financially respon- 

 sible and will complete its plans. 



Elsewhere in this issue will be found an 

 Geo. H. article on the Scotts Bluff irrigated sec- 



Payne, tion of the North Platte valley in western 



Nebraska. Largely to one man a man 

 with a method may be attributed the recent promi- 

 nence to which this district has attained, and its growing 

 popularity among home-seekers and investors. En- 

 thusiastic, aggressive, indomitable in his work, the 

 record of George H. Payne, President of the Payne In- 

 vestment company at Omaha, deserves especial com- 

 mendation. 



Not in fulsome flattery or too fervent favor, it may 

 be stated that to Mr. Payne's efforts in the field of pub- 

 licity and salesmanship the West owes a debt of grati- 

 tude. Backed by a superb organization consisting of 



