Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-10-31
MEN WHO soUoHT FARMS ON
CREDIT succEEplNo BEYOND
EXPECTATIONS.
INCREASE IN LAND VALUES
PUTS THEM ON EASY STREET
Roads in owasa Township Smooth ~
Pavsrsnts - Unfavorabls Season
Damages Corn Stalks For Feeding
Purposss-c. e. wilson's Rural Oh.
sorvations.
Special to rimes-Republican.

Special to Times- Republican.
Iowa Falls, Oct 31.-If there il any
one class Of farmers who have made
good" to a more pronounced degree
than others In recent years 1t Is that
one which includes the men who res
olutely risked the savings Of earlier
years as renters or hired men in
small payment on farm, often assum-
ing debt so large that interest on 1t
together with taxes and repairs more
than equalled any rental that could
have been obtained from the farm. The
more conservative said of them, They
will go along all right SO long as crops
are good and prices high, but just walt
till things tighten up bit or crop
failure occurs and they. will lose all
they have in the world For several
years this prediction has been heard.
but few have lost their farms and
thousands Of young men in Iowa arc
paying out on the land they bought
and can sell at any time for nearly
double what they agreed to pay when
the purchase was made. One OF these
bought farm, two or three years ago,
east of Iowa Falls few miles. Part OF
the land needed thing and the I'M
provements were not the best He paid
or agreed to pay $76 per acre. He put
up a good double crib, hog house and
enclosed his farm with q woven wire
fence, planted an evergreen windbreak.
put out some fruit trees, tiled field
or two and already has a $125 PEI
acre farm. It will require something
more than a temporary depression In
prices or even a crop failure to cause
that man to lose his farm. There are
numerous instances of this kind all
over the country and it is safe pre-
diction that in ten years time we will
be looking with envy. not on the old
gray-haired farmer who bought his
land at IS per acre when the country
was an unbroken prairie, but on the
middle aged, well-to-do land owner
who saved up few hundreds when he
was young and paid them down on 800
acres, leaving times" seasons and
prices to take care of themselves.
Roads made smooth as pavement by
fifteen systematic draggings since the
twenty third day of last February;
forty three cement culverts, fourteen
of which have been built within the
past twelve months leaving only four
teen wooden structures In the town
ship; neat cement markers at the ends
Of ali culverts to prevent accidentally
running off the ends with vehicles;
guide boards at frequent intervals to
direct the traveller unacquainted with
the country; increased and increasing
trade for Owasa, the thriving little
town within the township. These are
some of the things apparent to the OBJ
server when he visits jackson town
ship in Hardin county and drives over
the roads that have been brought to their
present state thru the efforts of Prem
tiss Ransom and his associates in tho
work. that is, every man in Jackson
township.
II have been travelling around some
days and visited short time at Max
we'll Stopped at several places cn my
way back here. Am starting soon to
visit with relatives at Minneapolis; ex-
pect to go from there to points in South
Dakota, back to Sioux City, then to a
town in Nebraska, where expect to
spend the winter. No, don't trouble
anyone to go along with me. I always
travel alone. But what I wanted to
tell you is that everywhere notice the
unusually blackened condition of the
cornstalks, whether standing or shock
ed as fodder. I think the stuff will
have much less feeding value than
usual. The season has been all wrong
for this kind of feed" Thus said Levi
Sheppard, "a years Of age. and one OF
the five oldest men In Hardin county,
at a dinner table the other day. Farm
ers to whom the subject has been mem
toned agree that Mr.. Shephard's OBJ
servation is entirely correct.
Here is something for the reader who
can not understand why a young man
will refuse a good job on q farm where
he can save large proportion Of his
earnings and accept one in some town
and fail to finish a year in any better
condition financially than he began It.
A middle-aged Danish farmer living on
Franklin county mail route was disk
ing in a back field 100 rods or SO from
his house. Was on his own land. a
really fine farm, had good outfit of
horses and machinery, the day was
pleasant, everything favorable to enjoy
farming. A man having business called
at the house and finding II closed made
for the field. After talking with the
farmer few minutes the visitor start
ed of with the remark: well, I won't
interfere with your work any longer to-
day" "You needn't be in any hurry.
said the man, and then added: my
horses are the better for rest and be-
sides have seen . stranger this af-
ternoon, can't do that every day"
And the stranger" went on his way
fully convinced that there IL really
something to the phrase Isolation of
farm life" that can never be fully over
come and that 1t accounts very largely
for the difficulty in these modern days
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