The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-05-05
CUT OVER LAND VALUES.

| arguments for lower priced lands are
based on the idea that such a policy
is absolutely necessary for the bene'
fit Of the vested interests of this
city and surrounding country and that
we must find something to take the
place of the rapidly disappearing pine
timber and that unless we do, the
handsome buildings of this city, will
gradually grow tenantless and the res
idence property depreciate in value UNI
| til our assets have declined to point
where all values are practically wiped
out.
If this view is correct there is no
one in Hattiesburg who is not direct
" or indirectly interested, and mas
much as we know we have resources
to take the place of those which are
disappearing it ought to be a matter
of common concern, to bring about
movement which will enable us to
realize on these resources as soon as
possible. In other words how is the
best way to bring immigrants to South
Mississippi and to bring as many as
possible in a short time. Certainly
one of the first things we must have
is plenty of land to sell and it must
be sold at price that will induce
the energetic and Industrious to come
tboro lands and
gage in the work of improving the
country generally. Not only must he
clear up the land and put it in cult
walton but he must have fences and
house; if he is the right kind of
farmer he will want fruit trees; and
then there must be better roads and
better school facilities and church
in the neighborhood, all of which cost
money and must be paid by the set
tier. This being true what inducement
is there for a man to come to this
country unless he can find cheap land?
try and friends in the older states
where they have had modern conven-
fences for years to emigrate to new
country unless it offers them chance
| to make something and unless our
South Mississippi lands are sold cheap
at the start, we will never get an i'm
migration movement started going that
will amount to much
Fortunately for the good of the
whole country there are some men who
are willing to sell a part of their
lands at a reasonable price, say from
two to five dollars per acre but there
are some who want anywhere from fiji
teen to forty dollars per acre. Such
high prices will mean failure to any
one who pays such price because
lands can be bought in older states as
cheap when the cost of putting the
lands in shape for farming is counted.
Let us get at the approximate cost of
opening up a farm in this section.
then to that add the purchase price
of the lands and we will get an idea
of the proposition as it will look to
the homeseeker. 1t will cost him SO
per acre for clearing; at least $500
fir a house; on the basis of a forty
| acre farm or that much put in Guilt
walton, it will cost him 5000 to fence
it and at least 5000 more for a well,
stable, outhouses and incidental eX-
penses. On the basis of five dollars
an acre his forty acre farm will have
cost him $4,000 per acre and he is
without any kind of roads, possibly
without a school house or church any
where near him and long distance
from market, for anything except
staple crops.
But suppose now that man has ten
thousand acres of land which he
thinks ought to bring him $500 per
acre. and it has been the general idea
that the lands We're not worth more
than two or three dollars per acre, up'
less they were near a good town; lei
him put his lands on the market at
81 uer acre retaining each alternate
quarter section, which he can keep
until the other lands lave been settled
and the general condition of the coun-
try improved by some kind of roads
and good school and church facilities
have been provided. When that time
arrives his land will he worth posi-
bly, $500 per acre and he will have
added to its value solely by inducing
farmers to take the raw laud around
that which he has retained and devel-
oping something out of nothing, for
that is precisely the condition of these
lands today and they will be that way
for the next twenty years unless there
is some intelligent, concerted action
on the part of the people of South
Mississippi to secure cheap lands to
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