EXPLOITING THE WOULD-BE FARMER 217 



less except for pasture. The second year I had no 

 money to put in a crop at all." 



This sort of exploitation is organized as a business. 

 Agents of steamship-lines, alleged immigrant banks 

 which have the confidence of the foreign popula- 

 tion, circularize and urge the ignorant foreigners to 

 buy land frequently far from their place of resi- 

 dence. The desire to escape from tenancy, the am- 

 bition to leave something to their children, the hope 

 of becoming a home-owner leads men to listen too 

 credulously to the dishonest advertisements and 

 statements of land agents and land corporations 

 which have acquired great stretches of land at a 

 low price which they seek to unload upon unsus- 

 pecting buyers. 



There are no laws for the protection of the would- 

 be farmer from this sort of exploitation. And there 

 are no agencies to which he can go and be guided 

 in his purchase. He buys land at a high price. 

 He is induced to pay down as large a sum as can be 

 squeezed from him. He then has insufficient capi- 

 tal to equip the farm. He is without credit or is 

 forced to pay usurious interest. His annual pay- 

 ments or interest charges use up his surplus in- 

 come. A bad season or inability to market his 

 crops leaves him a prey to money-lenders. In a 

 year or two he becomes discouraged and throws 

 up his hands when, if he had been aided in his 

 efforts, he would have possibly made a good farmer. 



