Arizona republican., 1910-12-25
CHAPTERS PREY|NG
 0N HOME BUILDERS
Exposure of the Methods Of Certain
 Coast Land Agents"

: Attention has been called to one or more Los Angeles companies which ! it is alleged by those who are in a i position to know. are conducting q ! presumably profitable. but neverthe- i less very reprehensible line of busi- | ness, even though it may be legiti- mate in the eyes of the law. IL is a 1 form of grating on the ignorance Of
 a very worthy. though perhaps not worldly wise class of people. these agents taking. il is alleged. very snug sums of money for services that are entirely unnecessary.
 The agents advertise to place set | tiers on choice public lands in Ari- zona on which they may file and which the advertisers have already found and inspected. so all that k | necessary is for the settlers to take their word for il. send them their
 names or call and sign their appli-
 cations. and they. the agents. will at tend tO all the expense of filing for them. The settler is asked to
 pay dollar an acre for the inside information as to where to go for these choice lands. the payment GOV
 
 The lands in question are properly advertised as dry farming lands" and under the enlarged homestead laws the agents are often able dispose Of as much as 320 cares to one settler. As the expense of filing is only S22. the agent in a case of that kind gets S29S for no service ex- cept the inside information" as to where he can get a fine piece of land
 IL is said the circulars set forth that the lands in question are fine desert tracts where the native grass grows two feet high and where it is only excessively dry for a short time each year. The truth is that the lands generally placed in this way are the ordinary desert valleys Of Arizona that once in while may have two-foot crop of grass during a wet season, but tha; for mos, of thu year are so dry that dry farming is a very long chance indeed eyer though 'nc lands. with water. would be as good as could be found any where,
 SD much for the advertising. which msy not he sufficiently exaggerated d 1 aS tn be actually frauduicn5 In re- sTCCt Cf the inside infOImt'; il. it x | a fac; ttat every acre or publi. land | open to settlement in Arizona is l shown CT the maps anl plats in the 1, Phoenix land office. and no agent | or company has any more informa- 1 ton concerning it than any settler i can secure by looking the country | oVer nor half as much. for if serious | he will investigate locally as to con ! dtions the year round before under taking his experiment. Then when he has decided that he wants tO take q chance at dry farming. he can send his S22 to the land office with his application or call and look at the maps himself and make the filing just as perfectly as though he paid some one else a profit of S29S to do il for him.
 The prospective dry farmer who ever he may be, who has s32O- in his pocket. can buy a ticket to Phoenix and look at the maps. then look at the land and make his filing a good deal more intelligently than with the help of the agent and have n snug sum left in his pocket. enough per haps to buy bacon and beans the first year. Everything is open and Tree tO all citizens at the land Of ice, and the officials will do all they ,an tO inform the locator. The only lees are those demanded by the gov -rnment
 This is no knock on dry farming. II which has done much for Arizona md will do great deal more in the uture. but it is a knock on the srafter who adds an extra load to he natural hazards the prospective Try farmer has to take It may be egal and legitimate for A to take a en dollar bill from F for showing Jim the way to go to the postoffice | 'ut could hardly be called citi en of representative character.
 It is said the advertising of the | gents has been seen in the news 'apers. but more voluminOusly in cir ular letters. apparently because they eek publicity only among the class hey want to deal with. and the more , heir operations can be kept from the general public the better il suits hem. as it diminishes their chances !, f exposure