The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1912-03-21

Dakota. Pennsylvania and Oklahoma.
This year the department. OF natural
resources, which is under my adsnin-
istration. is Offering to the American
settlers not only lands in Alberta, but
the great, rich wheat lands of Sas-
katchewan and the mixed farming
lands of Manitoba, which probably ac-
counts for the greater interest which
they are finding among their custom
ers and their prospective customers"
Farms by freight, delta acreage by
cariots, that is the latest in agricul-
ture in Chicago where a truck farmer
solved a problem by buying the sort
Of soil he wanted and having Il ship
bed to him. Buying farm land at SO
y ton is an innovation i'm Illinois but
Richard s. Kirchberger a truck gar
dener in n suburb, determined 10y ex-
periments what kind OF soil he need
ed for growing vegetables and when
he discovered that kind of soil in
Louisiana, soil wealth that the Mis-
sssippi had carried downstream dur
ing countless generations. he bought II.
Next he arranged with the railroads
TO move that soil north again. TO prox-
unity to the appetites OF n great city
which he proposed to appease with
green stuff grown on the delta soil
This idea OF buying soil is not novel
in Europe and II seems likely to be
more generally adopted i'm this coun-
try as the hand now overlowed is re-
claimed and It's surprising riches
made available. Edmund r. Perkins.
not oeif f1at 90 1s tn
age congress, said Mr. Kirchberger's
accomplishment showed what a vast
mine OF fertility lies submerged when
80, 900, 900 acres are now swamp which
ought TO be reclaimed and put to use.
The river has washed down unesti-
mated Quantities Of rich earth and de-
caying vegetable matter he said which
covers an area OF 100000 acres and
goes TO a depth Of 1900 feet over a
large portion OF the district. "This
liumus, as It is called, Is of great value
as fertilizer although the Chicago man
Is the first to use &c TO any large eX-
tent" said Mr.. Perkins. "The only
way in which this waist area Of in
calculably rich soil can be cultivated
is by carrying out the drainage pro-
jects which are being advocated. con-
struct levees and pump and drain the
water Off"
Giant loan sharks" whose loans
are made 10 corporations and in sums
as large as millions, have been dis
closed by the investigations in Chi
cago made of loan shark methods.
The rule OF extortlonate rates seems
to hold good regarding these 'pluto-
cratic money grabbers" and curious
| ~ enough the net result of deal with
them has proved to include in many
instances a transfer of ownership In
the business to which the loan was
| made. The experience of one land
| company in Florida which secured a
loan of over 100000 at a rate of Is
rer cent. bonus and 6 per cent. In
terest was reported thus: 'yThe Sc
| cdrity required was absolute title to
all the land holdings and contracts Of
jhe company's finances. then another
man in charge of the land sales Soon
afterward the employees of the COM
rany were dropped. one by one. un-
III only the officer who was featured
| in advertisements remained. From
! that time on the land company was a
mere fiction by which the lender
| HNolutl IrNDpnSNpiiiAS W tdlih DhNti
| although all the cash paid In monthly
by the thousands who had bought on
| the installment plan was seized upon
| and accounted for by the loan COM
rnny's agents 'accorling to- the meth
ods approved by the loan company
In another case the borrowers, for an
irrigated tract finally found the loan
| shark neatly had acquired their prop
erty for a bagatelle and that they
cwed the loan shark money beside.
These giants in the lending field are
| found to have mysterious relations
to certain bankers and banks which
lave unemployed funds which were
unavailable" for the loan I'm ques-
| ton Whether the warfare against the
loan shark will be extended to the big
ones is a problem that federal agents
are said to he looking into.