SETTLEMENT AND COLONIZATION IN GREAT LAKES STATES 65 
be discouraged, but agents can seldom be trusted to do it properly. 
They are likely to send most of the prospects on to the colony; and 
once the prospect has reached the colony, few are the salesman who 
will send him away without selling him land. 
- Many of the companies follow the practice of having only an 
application to purchase drawn up in the field. The company re- 
serves the right to reject the application and return the small 
amount paid down to bind the bargain. This, however, is chiefly a 
formality. Few of the applications are rejected. 
There was considerable difference of practice as to what may be 
called “herding the prospects.” A company might have its agents 
accompany the prospects on the train, and stay with them from the 
time they got off the train until they left. Others let the buyers 
make the trip alone, hunt up the local office after they arrived, look 
over as much land as they pleased, and talk with anyone in the com- 
munity. This practice, however, was decidedly the exception. Usu- 
ally the prospect was well watched after he arrived, because of the 
activity of competitors and “curbstone” operators. The land com- 
panies may have the best intentions in the world in this matter, but 
after the curbstoners rob them of three or four sales they are likely 
to change their tactics. The companies naturally feel that after they 
have gone to the expense of advertising and locating the prospect 
and bringing him into their territory, they are entitled to reap the 
benefits. | 
The 510 settlers who were asked how they were attracted to their 
particular colony or territory, gave answers as follows: 
PRIVEE SEIReMES ETNA Pht yer tera ek pee Se 274 
RET Soe TTT 1a ee ne ee 55 
Boriadvertisement sand) asents 277 a oh TE eS 15 
Relatives and: triends in: the: territorye 222 ee a 130 
Linear worked: ta. the terri tony 26 eS Ge eh a a ee ee 23 
ROTO, AUT O HICI A St ee = eres A a ee ee 4 
oS STUT Sa eg li eal i et 9 
No doubt many who were first attracted by advertisements were 
also solicited by agents before making the examination trip. Over 
30 per cent of them came without any expense to the company. 
Projects developing rather slowly, such as III, relied particularly 
upon help from their present settlers in attracting friends and 
relatives to the colony. 
POLICY IN SELLING PARTLY IMPROVED LAND 
Many of the companies dealt in partly improved farms in their 
general territory chiefly because many of their prospects, after look- 
ing over the wild land, would decide that they did not care to attempt 
to make a start in the wilderness. However, they could be sold a farm 
upon which land had been cleared and buildings had already been 
erected. The companies thought they could not afford to forego the 
profit from making a deal with this kind of prospect, so they made a 
practice of listing or of securing options on desirable partly 1m- 
proved farms in their territory. Another reason was that the bring- 
ing of settlers on to the wild land usually raised the price of partly 
improved farms in their territory, and if the colonization companies 
could secure options on these farms early in their operations they 
2024°—25——5 
