Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-12-27

OTHER STATES USE FUNDS
Public Monies Utilized to Attract
Farmers and Investors in Lands -
Decrease in Rural Popu s;ion Un-
necessary and Can Be Prevented it
is Believed.
Special to Times-Republican.

Special to mes-Republican.
Des Moines, Dec. 27--The state board
of agriculture is wrestling with the
problem Of how to advertise the agri-
cultural resources of Iowa so as to
keep the farmers that are here and
attract others. AT first blush the an
sver is that the agricultural resources
of Iowa do not need any advertising
On second thought when 1t Is realized
that practically every southern state
and all the new states such as Okla
homa, the Dakotas and other western
states are using state funds to adver-
tise in order to attract new corners 1t
is recognized that the idea has some
merit.
Advertisements are flooding Iowa
from score of states holding out the
idea that fortunes and opulence are to
be made in agriculture in these states.
of money to advertise the cheap lands
in Texas, the Dakotas, oklahoma, Ari-
Zona, Wyoming, Montana and Colorado
as we'll SIS the southern states which
are heralded as having an agricultural
awakening. At the same time these
states are thru one department or an
other spending a great deal of money
in the same line of advertising. The
agricultural departments writing their
year books and reports with a view to
using them for sending to inquirers
and possible immigrants from other
states But in Iowa not even the rail-
roads are doing any advertising.
The last census reports show that
the r.ral communities in Iowa ar,
growing more thinly populated. 50
th:nly populated that many public
SCHOOLS have teen closed for lack Of
children. The same reports show that
most OF the cities and towns of Iowa
have gained in population but rhe TO-
tai for the state by the last state cen
sus shows a small! decrease.
At the, time the last state census was
announced in 1895 there were many ex-
plantations made by leading citizens for
the decrease in population. There is
only one explanation that is worth
considering and that can be expressed
in very few words. The rich farmers
Of Iowa have bought up the land ad-
joining them and the farms have be-
come bigger and the farmers fewer.
This reason, of course, includes the
fact that when these rich farmers
bought the land adjoining them the
farmers they bought out answered
some of the glowing advertisements Of
other states and went elsewhere to
farm on cheaper land and grow up
again with a new country.
Secretary Simpson of the board of
agriculture believes that the day Of
more intensive farming is near at hand.
He believes that the rich farmers who
own half section and section farms are
moving to town to live off the interest
and rents. They have taken their chill
dran with them and the children will
remain in town and are for the most
part lost to the farm. In the course Of
a few years possibly 25 or so of these
farms will all be sold and the heirs will
reinvest the money in city enterprises.
All Of this is believed by Secretary
NolT1l poNIl elo pCAlS llC1CIv
to the time when the farms of Iowa will
consist of a much less number of acres.
The average is now about 100. The
day will come when it will be nearer 40.
The change must be gradual of neces-
sity but should the state of Iowa sit idly
by and watch some of it's best citizens
emigrate to other states? Couldn't the
progress toward small farms and more
intensive farming be considerably has
tened by a little judicious advertising
put in the right place? And if the ad-
vertislng is done, how should it be
done? These are the phases of the
problem that are bothering the board of
agriculture.
The advertising literature of most
of the southern states and Oklahoma
as well as the northwest is replete
with attractive suggestions. The SOU
thern states are advertising that for
tunes, are to be made out of truck
gardening. The climate which gives
a much longer growing year is in their
favor and government reports are pub
lished to show that the country is
healthful and the climate salubrious.
in the extreme southern
part of Texas on the gulf coast the
country is being advertised as second
southern California, soon to become
the winter garden of the world Where
garden truck and fruit grow all the
year round and where profits of 5000
and $400 an acre will soon make the
land worth $1,000 to s1.5O0 an acre as
it is today in southern California.
OF course in all this advertising
there is somewhat of an exaggeration
and even if it is all true there is only
the bright and beautiful side of it held
out to the prospective immigrant. But
the burden of the argument in all
these advertisements is that there is
an opportunity to make big profits on
cheap land, while in Iowa and the bet
ter agricultural states it is small prof
its on high priced land. The idea of