Jim was a big raw-boned fellow from Indiana. He was a man of wonderful energy and enthusiasm. Life was new to him every minute. It seemed his difficulty was lack of new opportunities for him to show what he could do.
He had no money after paying for his books, but by waiting on table and making himself generally useful he managed the first four or five months, and then he became associated with a fellow-student who sold views and thus made his way. Jim liked pictures of travel and felt that he could easily sell such views, so he immediately obtained an outfit and started after orders—and he got them. If anyone was a friend of his they would soon hear about the views.
The following summer he went out into the farm country in Indiana. Lots of views had been sold years before in that country but that was no obstacle to him; people, he thought, must have more. His views were lit up with his own imagination. He showed the religious people views of the holy lands. Anyone who had any religion at all would yield him an order. He came back that year having cleared more than $600.
PLAN No. 603. SMALL TOWN WEEKLY AND REAL ESTATE
He left his home in Iowa and dropped into a little western town of some 1,800 inhabitants. He had about $500 but that would not go very far. He liked newspaper work as a profession, so he started a weekly publication at which he worked hard and soon made it pay enough to provide himself and family with a living. But that did not give him a future, so he decided he would specialize in farm sales. He knew what a good farm was for he had made a study of farming. He obtained everything the government had to give on this subject, and advertised in his own paper. In that way he soon became very well known by all the farmers in his district and also had good connections with the farm banks.
He finally found a farm at a very low figure on which he obtained an option for two years to purchase, and then decided what kind of a crop should be put in. He did not have the capital himself so he went to some people with money and explained to them the deal he had and how he was to work it and told them that he needed capital and was willing to give one-half the profits for the cash advanced on the crops, or, in case of sale, one-half the amount made on the deal. His proposition was so good he had no trouble getting the cash and said he never had any trouble in financing his farm deals in that way. After obtaining the money, he boosted the farm in his paper.
He claims he makes his sale when he buys the farm. If he is to sell the farm on commission, he refuses to sell unless he is paid 5 per cent, and the land must be priced right or he will not try to sell it. But he claims the money is made when he buys. After the farm is bought he hires all the work done and pays liberal wages and expects results. He secures men who are trustworthy. The farm is cleaned up and put in order before it is offered for sale.
Last year, for example, land that was being summer-fallowed he put in peas which brought 60 cents a pound and produced 15 pounds per acre which was a low yield yet it paid the following amount per acre:
| $ .50 | to drill | ||
| 3.00 | seed | ||
| .50 | cut peas | $9.00 | |
| .05 | thrash | $4.05 | |
| $4.05 | $4.95 | net profit per acre. | |
He has two salesmen who average the year round nearly $400 a month, and they find it easy to sell where they are the owners and operating their own farms. This year they have three farms totaling 700 acres which will net them more than $20,000.