The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1909-03-25


q, the vivid land prospectus. A
,yealthy old farmer recently appeared
bofore a district judge in a western
Tonsas county and asked for a judg-
nent against a land firm in Chicago
because they had swindled him on
Ssal IN old Mexico. The Judge ques-
toned the old man, who, by the way,
lad earned a fortune Of over $4,000
nv honest and hard work on the farm
an his own community.
J"How is It you purchased this land
ritbout seeing it?" the judge in
ouired of the farmer.
swell, the writin' sent me by this
Arm said could double my profits
IN year, and that's a whole lot bet
Ter than havin' my money in the
hank. And these fellers said the
hanks we're not safe, either. That
is why / bought the land. l bought
a before saw it, because they said 1t
might all be gone if l waited a week
longer"
Thus It goes-stung, stung, stung.
Farmers and city men, too, for that
matter, fall a prey TO the lurid writ
ing of the land prospectus builder.
This new crater, or CRATER, in the
world Of business is making hay
while the sun shines He is reaping
rich reward for his labor. Bankers
say hundreds and thousands of dol
lars are leaving their vaults to so
into the Golfers of so-called big land
firms who are selling out large tracts
Of wild land in the West, They have
the farmer and investor believing
land is a better investment than
bank account. And so it is-if the
land is all that is said for It,
Fortunes have been made in West
ern land in the last few years. There
,are farmers in many sections of the
Middle West who have gone into
Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyom-
ing and elsewhere and taken up cheap
land and sold it again for big profits.
These men talk about it, and the
ever present land booklet writer
takes their story and sends it all
over the country, magnifying and
adding color to suit his particular
section, Of course.
A satisfied customer in Western
lands is a gold mine to a good wild
cat land company. They often sell
some few responsible men in each
eomlnunity land at a low price, and
resfll It for them in a few months
at a profit in order to get their in
dorsement. They can afford to buy
the land in themselves.
Land is sold in these modern
times through advertising largely.
The old system of having hundreds
Of sub-agents scattered over the
country rounding up the purchasers
and taking them West on free rail-
road passes has been eliminated by
the railroads cutting off the passes,
and the land is now sold by advertis-
ing direct to the purchaser.
1t requires clever writers to "fiX
the dope" But there are clever
young men in the West who know
how to WELD a pen in molding fanci-
full opinion about beautiful tracts
Of land open for settlement. These
young men are not graduates of ad-
yertising schools; many of them have
never seen the inside of a college,
but they have been brought up out
West and they know how to write
about their country so it interests
others.
A tall, lean young man in Chicago,
known by his friends as "!Iop'-be-
cause lie talks like a man in a CO.
eaine dream-came from Texas. At
tender age he wrote letters to his
cousin and friends in Ohio and other
Eastern States, and his letters were
50 filled with news about the Texas
home and the splendid opportunities
10 get rich there that many went to |
Texas and bought land as a result of |
dis booming. AS he grew up his let
lers were printed in the local news
papers and hundreds of them mailed |
every week by enterprising, real es-
ate agents to Eastern folk. Hop"
saw his writings were worth money,
80 he hired out to the biggest firm in
MS h9me town, and before he was /
nrouS high school was making
slOO a month writing booklets and |
Impressions on the coast country Of
Texas.
Hop" was wise and soon engaged |
IN business for himself. He optioned |
tract Of land sust about the time he |
tame of age and sold it out by adj
'eftising. Small tracts of FIVE acres |