78 BULLETIN 1295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
gage in a selling campaign, although the experience of the company 
described in the preceding section had demonstrated that by suffi- 
ciently strong selling methods such lands could be sold so as to yield 
a good profit over the costs of selling. 
On the other hand, there were other lumber companies with land 
of very mixed quality that were carrying on active advertising cam- 
paigns and listing their holdings with local real estate men in pros-. 
pect territory. Little control can be maintained over the activities 
and statements of such agents; and, as a consequence, a great deal 
of misrepresentation results, which may nevertheless avoid legal 
penalties for specific fraud. Furthermore, some of these companies 
assumed little responsibility in guiding the settler in the selection of 
his land, their general tendency being to follow the doctrine of “ let 
the buyer beware.” Some of these concerns were also selling on old- 
fashioned five-year contracts. Im some cases little responsibility 
was assumed for the selection of settlers, except with a view to their 
financial ability to make the company reasonably safe on the con- 
tracts. Without doubt such methods of land selling, although with- 
in the law, were responsible for a great deal of hardship and nu- 
merous failures of settlers. 
Several land companies, fortunate in having land of good quality 
and favorably located, were disposing of it by mild advertising 
campaigns to settlers who were largely farmers from the Corn Belt 
or the wheat-growing regions of the Great Plains. These concerns 
were not undertaking to provide financial assistance and super- 
vision of the settlers, but they were actively interested in promot- 
ing the settlement of their lands, refusing generally to sell merely 
to speculators and assuming responsibility for the selection of set- 
tlers and for locating them properly on the land. These concerns 
were also careful not to oversell and tried to see to it that the 
settler had sufficient development capital after making his initial 
payment. Although they were not resorting to intensive methods 
of colonization, some of these concerns had been notably successful 
in accomplishing the settlement of their holdings. 
A DEALER SUCCESSFULLY PROMOTING SETTLEMENT WITHOUT USING 
COLONIZATION METHODS 
It may be thought that the dealer is not in so fortunate a position 
- as the lumber company, because he has a heavier capital investment 
in his land and must therefore employ radical methods of promot- 
ing quick sales and intensive methods of colonization to make a 
success of his business. However, several dealers were found who 
had succeeded well with a more conservative type of program. One 
was a dealer who had been successfully operating on a rather large 
scale for many years. This dealer disapproved of intensive coloni- 
zation methods and had employed very conservative methods of 
advertising, but he had always sold land of good quality and his 
methods had been characterized by the strictest integrity in deal- 
ing with those who had bought from him. He had relied upon the 
good will of his settlers and his conservative advertising to bring 
him the necessary prospects, and upon the grade of land which he 
was selling to convince the prospect of the desirability of pur- 
chase. Moreover, he had resisted the temptation to sell to settlers 
