48 BULLETIN 1295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
There are enough settlers in every area who have done this so that, 
if it wishes to be blind to the preponderance of facts, a land company 
can advance the philosophy that “ pluck is the important thing,” that 
“money is not needed—it usually does more harm than good.” Or 
at least enough cases are successful to cause a well-meaning land com- 
pany to feel at times that it is denying the prospect a chance if it 
refuses to sell to him under such conditions. . 
At least 6 of the 15 companies are supposedly operating on the 
basis of selling only to settlers of adequate means. Probably 2 of the 
6 are properly restricting their sales. Another is selling freely, 
but discouraging its purchasers from moving onto their holdings until 
they have adequate means. Asa result, a large proportion of the land 
they have sold has never been.developed, and may have been resold 
two or three times. 
There are several cases on record where local banks came to the 
rescue and saved from failure groups of settlers with inadequate 
means who were sold land by unprincipled companies or agents. 
There are two plans for providing -credit for settlers with in- 
adequate means. One is to lend them money and supervise them in 
the spending of it, the other to spend it for them. 
LENDING AND SUPERVISING 
Of the 15 companies, only 1 really followed the first plan consist- 
ently. Another company was combining it about equally with the 
second plan. Four other companies were following it to some ex- 
tent. On Project XV the advances to the settlers at the end of 
five years amounted to an average of $900 on a 40-acre tract. The 
average purchase price of 40 acres was only $600. The $900 was not 
furnished all at one time, but at any time during the five years that 
the settler needed it. In the end, the loans were converted into 
mortgages and the mortgages were sold to a local bank. Such a 
policy requires very close supervision of the settlers. 
Project XIII, a company which was following both policies, had 
made loans to its settlers of an average of over $700 by the end of 
the third year, in addition to the improvements sold with the land. 
FURNISHING IMPROVEMENTS WITH THE LAND. 
The policy of furnishing improvements with the land and adding 
the price of them to the amount of the contract is being followed by 
5 of the 15 companies as a major program, and by 4 in a minor way. 
The list of things furnished with the land by the various companies 
is long, and each item has its special problems. Buildings, livestock, 
and equipment are the most important. Table 16 gives the average 
value per farm of these items furnished by the various companies. 
Five of the 15 companies were building houses for settlers, and 3 
others had experimented with the plan somewhat. With all of the 
5, the settler was free to choose whether he wanted a house built for 
him, and likewise with the barn. On some of these projects, nearly 
all the settlers chose to have houses built for them; on other projects, 
the proportion was much less. A large proportion of settlers on all 
projects preferred not to have barns built by the company. On 
most of the projects the buildings were all built according to one 
