16 BULLETIN 1295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
therefore are not pursuing an aggressive selling policy. They 
acquired their lands mainly for lumbering from which in many 
instances they have received earnings amounting to many times the 
original cost of acquiring the land. Consequently they are not under 
the same pressure to dispose of their land as are the dealers who 
have recently purchased at high prices, in some cases on credit. | 
The rising burden of taxes, however, is forcing more and more 
owners to undertake active selling, and some of them are using 
colonization methods as a means of speeding up the process. 
TABLE 8.—Classes of land settlement agencies studied 
Agents | Dealers | * 
State only only 3 ene Owners Total 
Nor LnerimiVEinnesotae =. see ae ye oe ees 9 8 46 9 72 
Northern WiScCOnSIN: <2. =. sy. ss. eee ed et op 1 15 6 27 49 
INSEGHeErMUIVICHIgan = 23 226 > Seo Se eee 2 + if 25 32 
1 Includes colonizing companies which buy the land they colonize. 
Table 8 shows that relatively few are agents only; that most of 
them combine buying and selling with listing (classified as agents 
‘and dealers). The 27 classified as dealers only are mostly coloniza- 
tion and other land companies which buy the land they colonize. 
Some owners list a small amount of property for others, but it is 
mostly land abandoned by former settlers on their holdings. 
LOCATION OF AGENCIES 
All but 3 of the 153 firms included in Table 8 operated in one State 
only. Only 45 had headquarters in large cities exclusively, and only 
10 of these 45 had headquarters in large cities in other States (9 in 
Chicago). Four more had headquarters outside of the State, but 
also local offices in the State where they were operating. Of the 
remainder, 108 had head offices in the same State, either in large cities 
or close to the holdings, or at both; but only 10 firms had head- 
quarters in both locations. The agents and agent-dealers of the 
kind common in Minnesota usually have their headquarters in the 
midst of their operations. In general, the colonizing companies 
have offices in a large city and also on or near the land being col- 
onized. The nonresident agent and dealer is more likely to be care- 
less of his sales. If he makes a victim of a settler, he does not need 
to live with him and his neighbors; and he can shift the field of his 
operations if necessary. 
LAND CONTROLLED 
Table 9 shows that the owners controlled more land than all the 
other classes combined. In Michigan 26 owners held a total of 
836,700 acres, or an average of 32,000 acres each; in Wisconsin 25 
owners held an average of 57,100 acres; and in Minnesota 11 owners 
held an average of 54,000 acres. 
The dealers and agent-dealers combined had “in stock” about a 
fourth of the total area, and controlled about 9 per cent more as 
