The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1919-06-11
LAND HUNGER IN IOWA

Marshalltown Times Republican,:
That predicted stranger, the $500 an
acre farm, is on it's way to Iowa and
close at hand judging by farm sales
and the intense land hunger which
has developed within the past months.
The other day race from Northern
Iowa took place between purchasers
in the night, one using an auto, the
other train, to purchase large
tract. 1t was bought at a. m. by the
winner of the race for twenty-four
times the price the owner had paid
for it not generation ago. Saturday
a Marshalltown man bought farm at
q high price by telephone to Waterloo.
In an hour .afterward the seller had
been offered $1,000 more than he had
sold for and the buyer refused to take
his profit close at hand. Farm sales
at $500 an acre are not at all unccm-
mon and the land owner talks as flip
PANTY of $500 and $3.50 as he did last
year of 5000 and $3.50. 49,.
It is the corn ground that Is selling
at such prices, corn land highly i'm.
proved. The population of the world
is growing fast, but the good Lord
will never make any more corn land.
That's one reason why such land Is
selling high, and always will sell high
Men are learning to get more and
more out of the fertility of such land.
That's another reason; and still an
other reason is that the average Iowa
farmer has only corn and cattle and
hogs in mind as the best farming
lines. He buys corn ground. And
he farms it with machinery very large
lily which permits him and his imam"
to do more work and raise more crop.
Another reason for the present boom
in land prices is the price of all farm
products and the outlook and predic-
ton that a wrecked and starving world
must look to the American farm for
its food production for period OF
years. -. -.
y Are the farms worth the prices for
which they are selling? Hard headed
men are paying the price. No doubt
some men are buying without using
the best judgment, trusting to luck
and hard labor. Much land is being
purchased speculatively, of course.
The best answer to the question Is
that every era of land advances has
carried with it the prediction that land
was too high and that hell never
pay for it, and that If he was sens
ible, thrifty, businesslike and shrewd
he did pay for it and that he or his
children own it now. .-.
But it Is going to require hard work
and shrewd business management and
keen judgment to make money on q
$500 or $500 acre farm no matter how
we'll prices stand up. When that in
yestment is made farming becomes a.
business and not an avocation. Its
owner must raise more, raise better,
forecast markets and world markets
at that, sell shrewdly and save as care
fully as the packers who say they
make their profits out of the by pro.
ducts. ...iA.3. sd. . ... -
Such men will pay for land at any
price they are willingtto pay. b :.
ii Chas. Specht, Of section Is, Good
rich township. was a Denison visitor
on Monday, but found the roads i'm
passible just north of penison. Charles
has made good as a farmer and stock
raiser and is now nicely situated. and
is in a position to take Ell short Vaca-
ton now and them. He has a fine 12O
acre Af2rm for which he. could take
$3.50 ~ acre If hesWould but say the
word He has been considering for
somes time on naming the farm and
having the name recorded, and has
finally ecided on "Council Hill Stock
Farm" a very appropriate name. He
has one of the finest herds Of Poland
China hogs in the country, and this
herd is headed by "Quartermaster,"
out Of Grand Quartermaster. and as
two year old this animal weighs about
500 pounds. He is more than six feet