Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1905-12-29
RISE IN FARM LANDS
Prices All Over South Make
Phenomenal Advance.
BEYOND FIFTY PER CENT
Winning Of the Cotton Fight places
Farmers in the Ascendancy and
n ) Enables Them to Store
Cash in Banks.

In publishing six pages of letters
from bankers and others throughout
the south including a wonderful ad
: vance in the value of farm lands, The
Manufacturers Record says:
while it is true that the indus
= trial development of the south is go.
Ang forward with amazing rapidity, it
is nevertheless true that by virtue
sof the extent of the agricultural in
sterests of the south, agriculture is yet
the foundation of the business of that
section. A change from poverty to
prosperity of the farmers, and
change from land without selling
value to land in demand at an ad-
vance of so to $50 per cent over the
nominal price of one or two years
ago, is the most far-reaching develop
Ement in southern advancement of the
last quarter of century
ut is far reaching in many ways.
4 1t means that. within the last year
or two southern farm properties have
Increased not less than s1,00O,000,O00
in value, probably at least $780, ,OO0,-
0e0. But more than that, it means
that under this improved financial
condition the southern farmer has
3gafned new courage, new backbone;
ahat he Fas learned how to market
n hot l,f
to a finish the great battle as to wheth-
.er the producer or the speculator is to
control the price of the staple.
Having won this fight, the entire
handling of cotton from the field to
the factory, whether the factory be i'll
this country or in Europe, has enter
ed upon an entirely new stage in its
history. 1t also means that land will
sbe more thoroughly cultivated, for the
successful man, whether he be a
farmer, a merchant or a manufactur
er, is always better able to work to
good advantage than the one who is
fighting a losing battle.
During the last six years the total
seed, has been $4,000, ,O00 against
81, 2,190,000.OO0 for the preceding six
years, showing a gain in the last six
years 0ver-the preceding six of over
$1,400,000.000. 1t Is not, however, due
to this great increase in cotton alone
that the southern farmer is in better
shape. More and more has the diver
siicadon of agriculture gone on;
more and more have fruit-growing
sand trucking, hog and hominy' with
the meathouse at home.
"A study of the bankers letters de-
velops many facts of very great in
terest Many of them tell of an ad-
vance in the selling value of farm
lands ranging from 80 to 100 per
cent within the last two yyS9PrrSs yye9fPrrs saws: =
correspondent e1nlJt.ii in n4c6s lands are selling
~rP three and four times as much as
they would have brought four or five
years ago.
Another correspondent in the same
state writes that in his county there
are seven banks with deposits aggre-
eating $1,00O,000, most of it belonging
to the farmers, whereas 10 years ago
there was only one bank with depos-
its of s125,OO0.
"Ins Alabama land which sold five
years ago at $3.50 to $500 an acre is
now reported as bringing $500 to
$4,000 an acre and in one part of the
state there has been, it is reported,
an increase in the past two Years of
SO to- 900 per cent.
Throughout the central south, it is
very generally stated this increase is
due mainly to the increasing pros
perity Of the farmers and very large
ly brought about by the advance in
cotton, cotton lands selling to a CON
siderable extent on the basis of the
price of cotton.