The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1915-04-29
c. 1. SeagIaves, General Col
onization Agent Of the San
ia Fe Declares Time Has
Come for New Deal In De-
velopment.
LAND PRICES MUST BE
PUT ON RATIONAL BASIS
Old Game of Getting All the
Money the Settler Has, and
Then Dumping Him In Dis
card Has Been Played Out.


That New Mesices together with
tho whole west. southwest. northwest
and every other region reaching out
for colonization and development.
must revise its ideas and methods
and get down TO a more rational
basis OF dealing with the settier be-
fore much further progress can be
hoped for n .hc comprehensive state
ment omphatically made by 4. T..
Scagraves. general colonization agent
1T the Santa ne railway. who visited
ia Albuquerque yesterday for a short
time. Mr.. sengrnvcs han been in cal
ifornin for several weeks In cOnnec-
ton With several important COLOMBIA
ton matters and II returning to Chi
eago' The Santa re. he snys. Ia going
10 make "a tremendous drive for coll
onization along rs lines during 1915,
and the business Of development
along the system is averaging up
fairly well. The sections which
should be growing most rapidly, how
ever. MIR. seagraves says, are not
making the progress that they
should. and this failure he lays at
the door chiefly OF the land mon, the
private colonization enterprises aud
those communities which AVE over
estimated their opportunities and
~overvalucd their lands.
The time has come for very plain
talk about the development and col
oni2ation methods Of the vest said
Mr.. ~Scagrnves Ia a reporter for tho
Herald. Far be II from me 10 dis
courage anyacummunity or any dovel-
opmcnt interest. hut when we stop to
consider that this nation now has "a
hundred niliion people. untold thou
sands OF whom are crowded into our
cities and ago for opportunities 10.
better their conditions. the rate of
development and colonization In the
unsettled ana partly. settled west is
not what IL should be-.
The great transcontinental rail-
roads which reach the undevcloped
west are making greater effort for
colonization and development now
than ever In their history and the re-
suits they are getting are not In pro-
portion Ia the effort. Naturally we
have been striving 10 find reasons for
this lnck OF results and ! think l
speak the sentiment OF every student
Of the big problem when 1 say that
uyercstimated land valuation has
more To do with Il than any other
one thing. We are a nation OF boost
ers aud IN the west particularly; and
! refer not to- New Mexico especially
but fo the whole big west, we are
likely 10 magnify our advantages and
boost our values Ia a point where the
average settler and small Investor
either cannot sec H. or IL he IN in
duced 10 see IT, finds that he has
put his all into the original invest
ment and that he Is headed straight
for inevitable bankruptcy. The whole
west has suffered and Is now suffer-
ing and will continue 20 suffer until
he whole method Is changed and
freed from two kinds OF bad in
%fiuences. one OF these Is the over
boosted community; ana The other
the land man and promoter who sells
land at inflicted values and unloads
upOn the settler holdings upon which
he cannot pay the interest. To
greater or less extent the whole west
has suffered from both these influ-
ences. The northwest probably has
been hit harder by them than any
other section. The southwest has
suffered some and will suffer more,
unless we modify n ideas and re-
adjust our prices very quickly.
THE time has passed when a new
crop OF settlers may be had by the
simple process OF putting a few adj