The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1916-08-31
why LAND VALUES
RISE SO SLOWLY
Interesting Letter From Judge
Carroll On Land Values and
Farm Topics

nOlS ldnuS are SO nlRn anQ our ldnu SO
low. | wonder if your readers know
that Iowa land sold for less than ours
when that state was the same age as
our state. Well. it did. Mr.. Frank
Myers, of our city, can tell you a
story about selling 400 acres of
Grundy County, Iowa. land for $500,
when Iowa had been a state about as
long as South Dakota has. A few
years ago he inquired about the land
from a man who resided near it and
he was Informed that it had recently
sold for over 5000 per acre. When |
lett Hamilton Co, Iowa. in 1882,
good land could be bought there for
Sc to So per acre. and Iowa then was
ten years older than our state is now.
This does not answer your question.
but it does go to prove that it is the
rule that land is always slow to rise
in value in a new country and that
our state is no exception to that rule.
The late Senator Delivers father
was a preacher in Iowa and he claim
ed, so the Senator told me. that it
was Providence that held the price of
land down in a new country to enable
poor people to get homes. | give
this for what 1t is worth. think the
explanation is ingenious. to say the
least, and that the old nan dropped
a great hint. whatever we may think
about Providence. The ground
squirrel and the jack rabbit realize
the value of a home. Does man
know less?
People have always been inclined
to underestimate the things that
come easy IN this world and things
that they are familiar with, like the
proverb about 1.-The prophet that is
not without honor except in his own
country" Sunshine and fresh air
are underestimated because they are
cheap, but you let Rockefeller get a
corner on these benefactions of ma
ture, and then listen.
We all know that the main thing
that has made Iowa land valuable is
corn. With this beautiful crop in
sight, and with the present price of
hogs and other things that eat the
farmers corn, it would seem that all
we have to do to reach high priced
land is to initiate the Iowa farmers
and have patience. Corn ard hogs
have made their land valuable 1t
will work the same way here.
A young man one mile from Miller
bought a SOW in March last year for
$12 so, nj particular breed. She
narrowed eight pigs in April follow
ing, seven more in October. In
November the man sold the Is pigs
for $73.04, and had the SOW left, all
inside of ten months. These hogs
ran on grass, had the Stops from the
house and less than ten bushels of
corn. 1t was not because of the care
of these hogs that they did so well,
but in spite of the fact that they did
not have care. Here is a poor sow
without a mind, without hope of re-
ward of any sort, the most despised
of the lower animals, multiplying
herself over and over for her owner
and giving him $73 o. in ten months
time. The eason | am telling this
story is for a chance to ask if this
object lesson is to be lost and wasted
on the desert air, or will some bright
boy take a hint from this and make
a start in raising hogs, one of the
most profitable businesses in the
world.
AS long as the hog is nearly worth
ten cents a pound he is a fit subject
for discussion in polite society. 1t
would not hurt the preacher to give
him a boost that is if he likes break
fast bacon. A year ago the presl-
dent of Huron College preached in
Miller and In the curse of his SER
mon he told a story about going back
to Iowa a short time before to visit
a farmer that he had lived with when
he was q boy. The farmer told Mr..
Gage that he had lost $500 on hogs
the year before Mr.. Gage sympath-
lied with this farmer, thinking the
loss was due to cholera, but worse
than that! The farmer said he lost
that $500 on hogs because he did not
have the hogs.
G. H. CARROLL.