EXPLOITING THE WOULD-BE FARMER 215 



of these land-hungry people, most of whom had spent 

 a great part of their Ufe in the slow and laborious 

 accumulation of a little money with which to buy 

 a home in the country, are pathetic in the ex- 

 treme. 



One of the reports was from a colony of Russians. 

 They had accumulated $150,000 for the purchase 

 of a large tract of land. This represented the sav- 

 ings of years. A land company in California in- 

 duced them to invest their capital in a tract of land 

 which was represented to be very fertile. The first 

 year the colonists obtained but a scanty crop. But 

 they persevered. The second year the crop was 

 no better. Finally they sent to the State university 

 for an expert who, after investigating the land, re- 

 ported that it was practically worthless. It was 

 unsuited to agriculture. 



Reports of hundreds of other cases have been 

 gathered by the commission. Here is the story of 

 an Itahan. His age was forty. He had worked as 

 a farm-hand in Nevada. He saved enough money 

 to buy 30 acres of land, for which he paid from $100 

 to $110 an acre. The first year the total value of 

 his crop was $150. The second year it was $200. 

 The third year it was $165. He was unable to 

 make a living. The land was worthless. It had 

 been unloaded on him by one of the many dis- 

 honest land-speculation companies which flourish 

 in the State. Describing his experience in a report 



