Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1912-03-02


The Investigation by congress OF
tho Florida everglades land boom
ought to be an object lesson to those
persons prone 20 Invest IN any kind
q a land deal simply because the
prices are inflated and the prospect
ive pretty
"a By remarkable thins that with
some OF the finest lands In the coun-
tfy open 20 entry and settlement as
homesteads. New Mexico sum has
quite class OF wage earnors and
even men Of means who will put
money into propositions IN Texas.
California. oregon. Canada ana even
Mexico in preference TO taking up and
developing lands here IN the state
whore the value can be determined at
first hand,
Land bo6ining based ppon mlsstate-
ment OF facts has developed into
nothing more or less than a refined
sort Of bunco gains. Any magazine you
take up is flied with several columns
81 advertisements about investing ia
tca-acrc truck farms az anywhere
from 500 20 $1,000 an acre. An In
vestigatlon in nearly every case would
disclose the fact that the aforesaid
truck patch Is either on top Of a
mountain or IN the middle OF a
swamp. IN aome Instances Il might
even produce truck ig the fermor
wsthstood anything from yellow fever
20 the Asiatic plague. In many cases
these plots Of land are at the most
worth not more than $40 an acre. IN
large tracts and ara 80 far from a rail-
road or market that were the finest
truck IN the world produced II could
not be disposed or
u nosms that some means ought 70
be taken 70 az least forbid the mails
20 these fake land boomers, but no
doubt the postoffice department be-
iievos that any man who has no more
sense than to be buneoed into a land
deal Without SO much as seeing the
land ought TO lose his money. This.
however Is not a right view Of the
mstter- There arc countless wage
oarners who want 20 get back 10 tho
iand--who want a place IN the coUE-
try. Many OF them are old men. who
reaiiae that sooner or later they win
have TO give way 10 younger gem
grafton. and they GRASP at these aliur-
inE land propositions In the be;ie.
thH they are providing for their adj
vaneed years. whereas In reality they
are losing what little savings they
have. But 10 return 20 the case in
question. which is fairly representa-
tive % the rwIadle game
A land company offering everglada
lands used among other laudatory en-
dorsements OF their hish-biown state
ments letter with Secretary Of Az
rlculture Wilson's name signed 70 IT,
He denies having written this letter or
having IN any way endorsed the land
setting schcme using the letter, There
Is reason 10 believe. however. that
prominent people. governors. mayors
ana other officials. have too readily
allowed their names to be used IN
promoting speculative land schemes.
which made representations Of a
grossly misleading character.
The literature 81 these land boom
AGENCIES is generally very artfully de-
viscd n - told how some previous
lard purchaser has realized $500.
sf0O on in some instances $1,000 per
uqro from some crop produced In the
reglon wheer the land that Is being
offered IS located. Possibly under
eonle rare combination OF clrcum-
staa.es the results told OF may have
Boeu realized The deception con-I
als,a Ia conveying the impression that
snch results are common--th every
land purchaser can DO the ssmo thing
without extraordinary effort