Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-06-19
REASONS FOR INCREASE IN PRICE
OF MARSHALL COUNTY
REAL ESTATE.
HIGH PRICES DUE TO
COMBINATION OF CAUSES
Unsettled Conditions in Europe, Re-
sultins In Continued Demand on
America to Feed War-torn Lands''
Easy Money for Land Buyers and
Speculation Largely Responsible.

With the price OF Marshall county
farm land shooting skyward. with ad-
vances far in excess of what the most
optimistic dreamers might have antici-
pated SO soon after the war, banking
and realty, farming and business cir
cles generally are awaiting the answer
to three questions: Where will the adj
vance stop? Can the high values ne
maintained? What is the cause of the
sudden and sensational rise in land
pricesY
Wherever men congregate the subject
of conversation is land-Iowa land
and It's sensational rise.
Whether Iowa land will commune to
advance, and there are many who con-
tend that it will, and whether the high
prices can be maintained, may be an
swered when the causes of the present
prices are determined. There are proph-
cts, backed by more or less credible
basis of argument, who maintain the
prices will not be checked until the
$500 mark is reached. Some Of the
more optimistic declare Marshall coun-
ty land will sell for $500 before fall.
Such statements. however, are specu.
lative, and are founded largely on spec
ulative hopes.
Sensational Rise in Values.
Before the close Of the war some ex-
pected that land values would not SNOW
any gain, if they did not actually de-
cline. But this belief was part OF the
general expectancy that farm produce
would be at a lower figure and labor,
perhaps, be purchased more cheaply
than during the war. To the surprise
of many the contrary was the case.
Land values began to jump with the
signing OF the arInistice, by leaps anu
bounds, until today some Marshall
county land is selling from so per cent
to double what it brought year or TWO
ago. That farm land may be sold at
$500 an acre before winter Is not an
when s430 an acre was
paid recently for land which less than
q year ago was sold for $500, and only
seven weeks ago at $3.50. Land show
ing a gain of $50 an acre in six weeks
might therefore be expected In the
present highly speculative and wild cat
market to show continued $40 ad-
vance in the next few months.
Why Prices Are Up.
The reasons for the high prices In
lie in various causes. To determine
these bankers were appealed to for an
explanation, and the opinions express
ed were that the increases were not
due to any one cause but to a combin-
alton of causes. Summarized it was
found that local bankers assigned the
advances to the following more i'm
portant reasons:
1.-The unsettled state Of Europe
which precludes normal agricultural
production and the resultant heavy de-
mands on the United States for food
stuffs.
1.-THE happy experience Of the Iowa
farmer, under the demands Of war time
to feed Europe and supply home needs,
in establishing new records of pro-
duction thru more intensified farming
and more scientific agricultural meth
DDS, resulting in (first) farms passing
into hands of residents. and, (sec-
ond) compulsion Of farm tenants to buy
homes of their own.
3.-Prospects of continued high prices
LOT farm produce.
4.-Easy terms on farm loans, thru
the sellers and the federal loaning
system.
5.-A tendency on the part Of men
Of means to convert stocks and manu-
featuring interests into farm holdings
as a safer investment with probable
better future returns.
6.-Speculation.
One Bankers View.
One banker was Of the opinion that
there were three big causes for the ad-
vances, foreign demand for foodstuffs,
easy terms on farm purchases and
speculation, but he did not venture a
guess as to which of the three was the
most important.
It has been generally agreed that un-
settled conditions in Europe. which
prevents normal farm production Tor
this year and the next and possibly
for many years to come, is one of the
big reasons for the advance in Iowa
land.
America fed the world In 1918 and
will go far toward feeding the world
in 1919. 1t is probable that America
"
to supply the greater portion Of the
foodstuffs for Europe in addition to
supplying home markets. 1t will be
years before France, Belgium and the
Balkans will be sufficiently restored to
assure normal crop production. Ger
many and Austria must be fed and
years must elapse before the former
empires are, able to produce enough for
home use. The burden of feeding Eu-
rope this year and next is largely on
the United States.
Iowa's Happy Position.
If the United States Is to feed Europe
as we'll as keep the wolf from the home
door her farm lands must be utilized
to the utmost, and the world garden
lies between the Mississippi and Mis-
souri, rivers. Iowa Is the chief center
OF production. 1t Is one of the few
spots on earth which may be consist
entity relied upon to produce corn, q
product 2e,'cr sc needed as at III. press
ent time.
The period of war taught the Iowa
husbandman the necessity Of intensi-
fled farming and utilization Of every
foot of soil. He adopted more scien.
'tific methods and the result was in
creased crops, which, at the ever ad-
vancing prices, secured by government
guarantees, made the land more and
more profitable.
This resulted In many farms being
purchased by non residents and by
many men ,of means. not hitherto In
terested in farm property, ACQUIRING
farms. The result Of this was to dis
possess many tenants Of hhoInee at the
expiration Of leases, many Of which