38 BULLETIN 1295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
In spite of their limitations the percentages in Table 16 bring out 
some significant contrasts in the policies followed by the several 
projects. At one extreme is Project XIII, where settlers were placed 
on the land when on an average they had paid down only about 
one-twentieth of the purchase price and farm capital. This is the 
firm described above using the “option lease.” This firm had © 
taken on an average only $74 in initial payments and had placed © 
settlers on the land whose average initial net worth was only four 
times this amount. At the opposite extreme are Projects VI and 
XII which had been selling land to farmers with considerable 
capital. The large number of settlers paying in full or paying 
enough to secure a mortgage also increases these proportions for 
several of the companies. The table shows this effect by comparing 
the ratios for purchases on contracts and options with the ratios 
for all conveyances. The area of land purchased also is a factor. 
A high percentage of initial payment to purchase price usually 
means taking a larger than average proportion of the settler’s initial 
net worth. On Project VI, however, the settler still had over $1,600 
left to be employed for purposes of development, as compared with 
only about $218 for Project XIII, on which only 25.4 per cent of 
the settler’s net worth was taken for the initial payment. Project 
XII also appears to have been financed on a conservative basis, if 
judgment is based solely upon the relation of initial payment to 
value of purchase and initial farm capital; but the fact is that a 
large part of these values constituted an extravagant expenditure for 
buildings. Furthermore, three-fourths of the settler’s entire net 
worth was taken as initial payment. 
The financial status of the settlers surveyed is also indicated from 
another point of view by Table 17, which shows the relation of in- 
debtedness to total farm capital at the time of survey. The average 
indebtedness is shown to be only 40 per cent of the average farm 
capital, with a range from about 24 per cent to a little over 55 per 
cent, according to period of settlement. As will appear later, the 
decrease in the percentage in accordance with length of time since 
settlement was wholly due to increase in land values after purchase, 
partly because of land clearing and partly because of an increase 
in the general level of land valuation that took place during the 
period just preceding these surveys. The average amount of debt 
actually increased with length of period of settlement, the apparent 
decrease shown in Table 17 being due to the fact that the initial in- 
debtedness contracted by the settlers longest on their projects was 
smaller than that of settlers who had purchased more recently. 
TABLE 17.—Average farm capital, average farm debt, and relation of debt to 
capital for 451 Wisconsin settlers, classified by years since settlement 
Number | Average Ace behets Relation 
Years since settlement f farm | “5 eee of debt to 
settlers | capital capital 
Dollars | Dollars | Per cent 
esvithan ley 6ars sth. ete Soe Pea a he Les he ee 144 3,31 1, 827 sat 
Liyear and tinder.2;yearsa“nccast. 26224. edsegh ee ce eb ess 117 3, 634 1, 661 45.7 
2 -Vears and,UNnders Yeats: 22.2 on ee ene de eee 54 4, 016 1, 686 42.0 
3-years anditinder’4 years00tl 5 hw ea ee eae 34 4, 545 1, 539 33. 9 
4 vearsiaid 1der.9 years. 4. 2 te ete oo ie Ee ee 57 5, 974 1, 428 23.9 
O' years aid Overs bls te Et SSSR EE Oe ee ee 45 5, 172 1, 482 28.6 
All years oats ee soe papaya) ite fein: aire saad s = Sy Sa 451 4, 097 1, 661 40. 5 
