80 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [358 



of good crops, they could at once invest their profits perma- 

 nently on their farms. 



It may well seem that these statements in regard to the 

 frequent unprofitableness of farming operations are not in 

 harmony with such facts as that the market price of land is at 

 present increasing rapidly, and that there is now a more eager 

 demand for good agricultural land than has obtained for a 

 number of years; and again that land is now being eagerly 

 sought by renters who are willing to pay a larger proportion 

 of the produce for rent than ever before, and who will in 

 some cases even pay a quite high cash rent. It might be 

 said that in order to occasion such a demand for lands to 

 purchase and to rent, farming must be very profitable, or at 

 least that the chances of high profits in it must be very good, 

 and this would not agree with our preceding inferences. At- 

 tention should, however, be directed to one or two influences 

 of importance which, apart from the profitableness of the 

 investment, might create a high demand for land. 



In the first place, although the available free government 

 land has been practically exhausted, yet the tradition of cheap 

 farms easily obtainable still lingers in the minds of the 

 people, and so the home-seeker still turns his thoughts toward 

 the West, where prices of land are really low in comparison 

 with those current further east. But the conditions make it 

 necessary for him to resort to new methods of acquiring the 

 desired land. If he has some little capital he will probably 

 try to purchase as large a farm as possible with what means 

 he has at his disposal for the first cash payment; then, giving 

 a mortgage for the balance of the purchase money, he will 

 trust to Providence for the ability to meet the debt when it 

 comes due. If the newcomer has not money enough to pur- 

 chase land in any way, he will seek for a farm to rent with the 

 hope that he may before long become an owner himself. In 

 these facts we see a prominent reason why the demand for 

 land may have increased without regard to the income pro- 

 duced by it, until its selling price, and as well its rental, have 

 become much higher than the income really warrants. The 

 possibility of such influences having their effect upon the 



