The district attorney's office of New York City has achieved noteworthy success in ferreting out land frauds and affording certain protection to land buyers. Our criminal laws need further development. In every state there should be those to whom the settler can turn with his grievance. This is required for the protection of the honest land company, as well as for the protection of the settler.
When the Wisconsin Railroad Commission was established, the idea was that one should be able to write on a post card his complaint against any railroad company, and that the commission should take up and investigate the case. As Doctor Speek says, we need Federal and state commissions. These should prosecute relentlessly cases of fraud, and at the same time encourage right practices.
We hear much about unused land which ought to be brought into use. Investigations made by Mr. O. E. Baker, of the Office of Farm Management, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and others, show that the idea that there are vast stretches of really good land which are not being utilized is fallacious. It stands to reason it should be so. If I have land that is worth a dollar an acre per annum I am not likely to allow it to be unused. I have to pay taxes on the land, and I have the interest charge, which is still more important. We do have, however, a great and crying evil in the mistaken, as well as the dishonest, attempt to bring into use land which is not susceptible of profitable use by settlers, or by any private individuals, for that matter.
Probably somewhat less than half of the land of the United States can at present be profitably cultivated, and a large proportion of it has no value for the individual. Nevertheless, a large proportion of this inferior land is privately owned, and the owner is under a constant temptation to sell it to the settler. One of the chief problems we have is to take out of the market this submarginal land, which is responsible for so many ruined and embittered lives. Dishonest sale of poor land to unsuspecting settlers is a cause of Bolshevism, which we ought to fight in every possible way.
Another point made by Doctor Speek relates to access to the land. How much utter nonsense has been talked about access to the land. As Doctor Speek points out, access to the land means a great many different things. If it is to amount to anything, it means knowledge based upon experience and it means capital. There is no magic about access to the land any more than there is about access to any other occupation than farming. A man who goes into any occupation, if he is going to be successful, must have the requisite tools, the requisite experience, and the requisite capital.
The writer would like to touch upon many other points suggested by Doctor Speek's excellent report. One only, however, will be mentioned. We have spoken about the selection of land. We must also remember that those who are settling the land are those who are going to make up our rural population. Every state in the Union, as well as the Federal government, should consider the qualifications of those who are settling the land. We are going to have the experience of every European country. That is, by no possibility can everyone who would like to own a farm have one, any more than can everyone who would like to own some other business obtain it. No better illustration could be taken than that of Ireland, when visited by the writer in 1913. There was not land enough to afford farms to all those who wanted farms. A selection had to be made. As we should have agencies to help select land, we should also make a wise selection of those who are to become our land owners and cultivators in our rural communities.
| Richard T. Ely | |
| January, 1921. | University of Wisconsin. |