The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1912-04-11

Inhabitants of the land and backing
up our statements with statistics and
our splendid display of samples. The
slogan in this part of our nation is
"We are from Missouri and you have
got to show u.s." but we adopted fol
our watchward: 1--WE are from Min
nesota and we are going to show you"
and In the language of the immortal
Jerry Rusk. we ''done" it.
The climatic conditions n d r
which we labored can best be described
by saying we had weather, more
weather, and then more weather.
During our entire trip we met with
one continued round Of cold, storm,
blizzard and blockade. The roads
were in such condition that most of
the time vehicle transportation was
impossible and the only way the farm
ers could get to town was to come
on foot or ride in on horseback.
In this mans land the universal
salutation was Brother" This salu-
tation is only general in what is
known as the "border" states, that
is, the states that were on the border
between the north and south during
the civil war and it originated during
the time of the war. No one knew
just where his friend or neighbor
stood on the war question or with
which side he sympathized and it was
unsafe to accost him as a "Federal"
or "Reb" so the non-committal
"brother" was adopted and the Gus
tom has continued to this day.
The citizens of Southern Iowa and
Missouri look differently, live differ
emily, think differently, dress differ
emily and are different from the citi-
zens of Minnesota. They take things
mighty easy and lack the snap, ag-
gressiveness and ambition of the peo-
pie CT our state. They are, however,
very moral and conscientious. 1t is
seldom one hears an oath uttered and
the only intoxicated person we saw
on the trip was drunken negro.
Most of the farmers are wealthy
but most of their wealth is in land.
The average price of land in the
region through which we passed was
at least $4,000 per acre, and owning
100 acres OF $4,000 an acre land farm
ing it is like having S35, 900 hid away
in an old stocking and working for
ones board and clothes saving wood.
Counting a fair rate of interest for
the amount invested in the land, the
taxes and actual money cost of culti-
walton, there was not a farmer, ex-
cept those who owned large apple or
chards, or who were engaged in fancy
stock-breeding, who were receiving
anything except a bare living for
their labor. There is scarcely an
acre of tillable land in any portion of
Minnesota that will not yield as
large, or larger money return per
acre, as this high priced land. and by
the commonest business logic il
Iowa and northern Missouri
land is worth on a., average of $3.50
per acre, Minnesota land ought to be
worth s175.
At one point in Missouri a man who
had formerly lived there but who now
resides in minnesota, informed me
that he secured larger money re-
turn per acre from the cultivated por-
tion of his Beltrami county homestead
than he ever got per acre out of his
former Missouri farm that he sold for
5000 an acre. After visiting this part
of the country one can marvel at the
low price of land in Minnesota and
nothing is surer than that it is going
to advance by leaps and bounds.
While many good sized farms are
to be found in the parts we visited
there are also large number of small
farmers and renters. Formerly these
made good by buying cattle and hogs
early in the fall with money furnish
ed by packers and commission men;
and buying corn and forage and turn
ing them back to the parties who fur
nished the money after they we're fat
tened. During the last few years
these feeders" owing to the high
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