Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1903-06-26
THE LAND BOOM DANGER PAST.

''There is a real estate speculation
in the West which will bear watching
by persons observant of financial
signs, partly because it is liable to
absorb money at a time when money
is especially needed for crop moving
and partly On account Of the intimate
relation between real estate booms
that are overdone and panics and de-
pressions.'
1t then reverts to the unprecedented
movement in farm lands last year and
quotes various reports collected by a
New York hank early in the spring of
the present year pointing to a coutin-
uation Of the movement says the st.
Paul Pioneer Press. 1t is true that
such extensive purchases Of farm lands
cannot be made without having con-
siderable effect On the money market.
In order to get the money needed to
purchase new lands the farmers of the
older districts either have to draw on
their accounts in the local banks or
PUT q 1uO1 OSdSC OH tICll ILL
But while there has been a great
deal of speculative buying of lands
throughout the northwest, the pres
ent movement has been largely one of
bona fide settlers. Either the farm.
res in the older districts-in Iowa,
Illinois. Indiana aud Ohio-have sold
their old farms at high prices to in
vest their money in better and more
extensive lands in Minnesota, North
Dakota or Canada, or they have held
their old faruis and purchased north
western lands for their sons. Unlike
the land boom Of the early sos the
majority of settlers are experienced
farmers. many Of whom have fully
paid for their new holdings on the
crops of a single year. Nevertheless
in certain parts of North Dakota and
to some extent in Minnesota, lands
have been sold by INSCRIPTIONS specu-
lators that at the best are only fit for
grazing. The result Of course has
been heavy losses in individual cases
but it does not appear that this
practice has been enough to do any
appreclable damage. The fact is that
the movement has On the whole been
thoroughly sound and substantial and
with the help of last We ar good crop
and bright prosp cts of another the
probability Of any great number of
foreclosures or Of any strain on re-
sources is SMALL 1t has taken a great
deal of money to finance the move
ment, but not all of it has come from
accumulated resources.
80 far as the prospective effect on
the money market this fall is con-
cerned the demand is likely to be
much lighter than last year. For it
appears that the speculative craze. at
beast so far as Iowa, Minnesota and
North Dakota is concerned has sub
sided. There is still a steady and
healthy demand for lands for actual
settlement, but it is no longer a
boom. 1t appears that the demand
for money on farm mortgages in Iowa
which was intensely active last year,
has almost subsidized and there are
many other indications that only a
fraction Of the funds needed to finance
last years movement will be needed
this fall. Given another successful
crop and it is doubtful whether the
return of money to the east which
usually follows the crop moving
period will again be interrupted.
Since this quieter condition dis
courages speculative buying and
tends to encourage bona ide settle
ment it is Thoroughly wholesome and
there is therefore little cause to fear
the OVERRIDING of the farm land boom,
however, close we may have come to
it last year. The danger that the
Iron Age warns against is a danger
of the past, not of the future.