American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1916-07-27

~ "a
cred. AT n time applications 4
purchase more than 100000 acre
we're on file. People are not encourage
o make applications because thos'
hat come unsolicited are far beyon,
rhat the state is permitted to offer.
Some may say that there Is not
q demand for 100000 acres q year,
or that half the land is worthless.
II this should prove to be true 1t
does not detract from the merits
Of the plan, nor alter the fact that
q sum of money loaned at six per
cent compounded annually, will
double in twelve years. II only
hall as much is realized as / have
estimated, 1t will only take twelve
years to bring the total up to my
estimate. No criticism that can
be made will justify keeping these
resources Inactive.
That we have only sold 24l,l7S
acres IN the twenty-f0ur years pre-
ceding December l, 1914, Is no evil
dence that we cannot sell 100000
acres new. Conditions then and
conditions now are not to be COM
pared. For many years we made
no sales at all and the sales we
made rarely ever brought more
than $1,000 per acre, due entirely
to the lack of a demand for lands.
Now We have a demand and for
the past ten years have been I'M
able to place upon the market the
land applied for. This is plainly
illustrated by conditions In my
home county of Power. Here for
centuries hundreds of thousands
of acres Of good land remained
idle without any takers, but In
seven years this land was all filed
on and is now in a high state Of
cultivation. In my own county we
can sell at n sale more than the
state is now permitted to sell for
several years to come. The only
sale held In Power county was
during January, 1915, when 1890
acres were offered for sale and
every acre sold for an average Of
over $33 an acre.
1t has been claimed that it woul
be impossible to loan $4,000, 900 a yea
sven If the sales would reach that fe
Ire. Those making this claim forge
hat only 10 per cent of the amour
Of sale is paid in cash, and. nine
.enths Is loaned when the sale 1
made. Instead of having to find a
for four and a half million froI
The sale Of 900, 900 acres, there woul
be only 900 to loan the first yea
and gradually increasing amount
as shown in the table
above.
The present method of handling
these funds is to invest the prin.
cipal, using all the earnings there.
from rs fast as earned. The con.
tinuance Of this policy has some
ardent advocates. To make a
comparison Of this system with
the n l am advocating, let us
sell one acre of land at $40. The
interest on $40 at 6 per cent Is so
: cents a year. In SO years the in
terest earnings would be $3.50
which would be expended as fast
az earned, and all we would have
left would be the original $40.
Now take $40, place 1t at 6 per
cent interest, add the interest to
the principal annually and relOan,
and at the end of the n~inety-six
year period one has $3.50. The
interest on this at Q per cent Is
&153.60 per year, or nearly three
times as much as the total earn.
ings of the other plan for 90 years.
If we follow the present system
we will never have a capital Of
more than fifty to m hundred
million dollars, with a maximum
earning capacity of from s 5000, 900
to $6,OO0,O0 By adopting the
policy j have suggested, we can
build up a fund large enough with
In a reasonable time to make the
earnings from our resources pay
all the costs of government.
No part of the principal can be
used for any purpose except re-
investment Under the plan SUBJ
mitted we are adding surplus
earnings to the principal, i~ncreas-
Ing our earning power, and con-
tinually reducing the amount that
must be raised by direct taxation.
This plan Is not new. IL Is only
its application to the handling Of
our states resources that Is new.
Private business interests, rail-
roads, insurance companies, and
big corporations Of all kinds have
adopted II with surprising success.
They have grown big by reason OF
having r~einvested earnings. Bust.
ness concerns Of q own state
have in the mast and are now max