40 BULLETIN 874, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



including large numbers of farmers who had prospered during the 

 Avar, who had been intending to purchase farm land, but who for one 

 reason or another had postponed action. Fearing that their desires 

 might not be realized before values rose too high, these j>eople 

 hastened to buy. On the other hand, there were shrewd landowners 

 who had long held land for an increase of value who believed it a good 

 time to take their speculative profits by selling. There were many 

 farmers who found themselves able to retire on a comfortable com- 

 petence by selling their lands at the increased level of values. 



The professional land dealers did their part to increase the activity 

 and intensify the excitement. They rode from farm to farm per- 

 suading farmers to sell and encouraging others to buy, sometimes 

 stimulating the movement by fictitious sales. As already noted, a 

 large proportion of high-grade farms were sold in the early months 

 of the year, and the high prices received were widely advertised. 

 Inveterate optimists and professional "boosters" found their opti- 

 mism confirmed by the fact that Iowa farm land had "never gone 

 back." Stories of sales at unheard-of prices and of large profits 

 made over night were prevailing topics of conversation and occupied 

 much space in local newspapers. The press made much of the high 

 prices of farm products and helped to create the widespread impres- 

 sion that high prices of products would continue for a long time. 



Thus there sprang into being among many people a supreme con- 

 fidence that prices of farm products would remain at the present 

 high levels and that land would continue to increase until $500 and 

 $600 per acre would be prevailing values of Iowa farms. Conse- 

 quently the great activity in buying and selling land reacted on land 

 values, pushing them up more rapidly than they would have increased 

 otherwise, while the rising values stimulated increased activity in 

 buying and selling. 



IMMEDIATE CONSEQUENCES. 



One of the most important immediate consequences demonstrated 

 by this study is that the increased activity in buying and selling farm 

 land resulted in increasing the proportion of farm owners operating 

 their farms while correspondingly reducing the number of farms 

 owned by urban dwellers and operated by tenants. While a con- 

 siderable number of farm operators seized the opportunity to sell 

 out and retire, this reduction in the number of farms operated by 

 owners was more than compensated by the number of farms pur- 

 chased by tenants or by owner operators who increased their holdings. 

 It is probable, however, that this tendency will not affect to a marked 

 extent the percentage of tenant farmers, because probably not more 

 than 10 per cent of the farms of the State changed ownership during 

 the "boom." On the other hand, this small percentage of change in 



