Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1920-03-03
GROSSLY MISREPRESENTED.
Editors Manchester Democrat go !.

GROSSLY MISREPRESENTED.
Editors Manchester Democrat
Dear Sir:
"A copy Of your estimable paper was
placed in my hands by young man
friend from good old Delaware County
with an article under the heading:
doubtful proposition
Now would consider myself as a
traitor to the fairest land that "Old
Glory, floats over were to permit
such gross Misrepresentation Of the
conditions existing her in the Lower
Rio Grande Valley to go unanswered
The author Of this article is either
grossly ignorant ofthe conditions in
the Valley, or else he wilfully and
maliciously misrepr them. His
article Is not wholly devoid Of truth
however.
He says, the land companies are well
organized and that they keep their
victims in isolated club houses and are
heyded around in automobiles during
the day, etc. This much is true, but
all this is made necessary by just such
sore heads as he. who have taken q
Joy ride down here at the C0mpany.s
expense and the thing looked SO good
to them that they bit, and when they
wake up to the fact, that their Joy ride
( had cost them two or three hundred
dollars per acre. they became sour.
and swore vengeance on the land COM
pany, while II they had taken It all
as joke, seeing that It was too late
to remdey 1t, and added little more
brains and sweat to their Investment.
although. they had paid little more
than was necessary. they could have
In few years made their Investment
worth double what It cost them.
He also says, "there are people
leaving the Valley every day" This
Il putting It entirely too strong but
there are quite few people leaving.
It's true. but the principal reason for
them that the bait looked so good to
them that they bit on more than they
could chew. or, in other words, they
nut most OF their money into the first
payment on q forty acre tract perhaps.
when they should have only bought Q
ten. or twenty. and left themselves
with plenty Of capital to work ON 30
that they could properly develop their
land. An incident Of this kind came
TO my notice this winter, whore man
from the North bought tract Of land
km one Of the Companies and put AL
money into the first payment and
Ling nothing to develop II with and
being able to meet his payments.
~ knocked ON the Valley, and went
13ack to Illinois and told the people
pefe that II was no good down here
slad let It 30 back to the Company who
put II y cabbage this winter and
they viii realize more from this win
tsr's crop than they originally sold It
Tor. Now you can't blame the land
company for selling q man all the land
no val II, even q Delaware land man
will ~ that, and % to leaving the
Valley Is concerned. you can't show
me : new country anywhere that the
first settlers all stuck, but those who
did usually got rich.
VI Another very truthful thing he said
vas: "You have advantages up
North that we can never expect to have
n here" Yes. and one Of those ad-
vantages is that Of having three or
four months Of sleighing, that ] really
never expect to see In the Valley. An
other is the privilege of feeding out
II the winter all that you have made
In the summer. These are two adj
vantages that / will have to concsde
to the gentleman. But while some
Of his statements have shadow OF
truth IN them, many Of them will not
hold water. For instance he states,
~.The banks will not loan money on
thi Stand because It Is q doubtful pro-
position Here Is another case 81
either ignorance or Misrepresentation
The fact is, the banks will not loan
money on this land because the home
stead laws Of Texas allow an exemp-
tion Of 200 acres and there is not one
person In thousand who has that
1 much land in the Valley. II this fool
/ ish law were repealed, the banks
here would loan as large percentage
on the valuation of this land as any
where. we'll remember the time
when banks and loan companies would