The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1923-07-13
BY III. Il. LANTZ,
County Agricultural Agent

d nGdlLulCI
Il today than she has ever ex-
perienced before said one Malta
merchant in discussing conditions a
few days ago. ''Of course, we had
more money when the homesteaders
rushed into this territory and spent
some of their hard earned cash
which they had brought with them.
The trouble was, most of the fellows
who filed on land were not real,
horn-fisted, Woodworking farmers,
but school teachers, bank clerks,
BARRIERS, store clerks, factory work
ers and men from every conceivable
vocation seeking a fortune.
"Many of these people brought
enough cash with them to buy their
few necessities till they could get
their final proof and sell their home
steads to the loan companies, or in
other words plaster the homestead
years of good crops on the small
acreage cultivated made the loan
companies willing patrons to stake
the homesteader for $1,000 or
$4,000 on his property, providing
they could get mortgage on the
homestead and from to 10 per cent
interest on their money. This caus
ed the farmers to become real plum
gers and use every dollar they could
get their hands on to gamble in
wheat and flax
''Slip-shod methods of farming
were practiced. Wheat was "stub-
bled in sown on new breaking, any
way to get a large acreage in wheat
everyone expecting to get bump
er crop, make their stake and spend
the rest of their days in sunny Cali
fornia. A few good wheat years set
everybody wild and tractors, auto
mobiles, farm machinery and all ne
cessities were bought on credit, |
everyone expecting the big wheat
crop to pay for it all The wheat
prices rose and everything else in !
proportion during the war
'Three years of drought during |
this period and nothing else to fall |
back on ruined many of these would
be farmers. Many left the farms and
went back to their old vocations
The men who brought lots of money
with them and plunged in wheat
were the ones to go under first.
Some Were Successful
However, there were many ex-
perienced farmers who were seeking
homes among the original home
steaders. Many of them had very
little money and found it necessary
to make living first and plunge in
to wheat growing more cautiously.
These were the farmers who bought
a few COWS, few chickens, planted
potatoes, a small truck patch, ex-
perimented with corn and found out
they could raise it and in general
managed to have something to sell
every time they went to town. ,
"These are the ones who have been !
able to stick. They are the ones who
have made money and some of it was l
made with wheat, too. Instead of
expecting to make fortune they {
planned to make a living and when Z
the wheat was sown they figured if {
they got a crop we'll and good and .
if they didn't they still had the cows
and hogs and chickens, potatoes and I
garden vegetables to fall back on to
carry them over another year.
'These farmers today" the mer- d
chant continued, "are the ones that p
are bringing the money into town, 9
and it's money produced right in this L
county which gives us a real pros y
perity." q
The first crop of farmers in Phil Il
lips county has now passed the ex- a
detrimental stage. Some have sue Il
ceeded, some starved out long ago. +
some are badly in debt trying to pay a
interest at 10 per cent by raising G.
grain, others are realizing that div
justification is the only safe method
to follow, but alasi too late-because z
Phillips county farmers are hit lust q
as badly by the slump in prices for a
agricultural products as the farmers u
in any other part of the United o
States. u
They find it very difficult to get p
out from under heavy mortgage, y
paying high rates of interest when +
the cost of production equals the U
total amount received for their pro- III
ducts. With this condition existing "
Phillips county offers very good OPP "
Dortunities for homeseekers. Land 81
values are lower than they have been
Tor years. Good dry land farms can
De bought at from $40 to $40 an
acre. Agricultural economists are a
better times for the farm te
II and when that time arrives Phil OF
ips county farm lands will double in m
Talue. CT
The Start With Corn u
In 1919, the third dry year, farm
IT'S, county officials, merchants, and, =
n fact, everybody, became desperate. r.
some farmers had played a straight III
wheat game and lost; many of them
lad no money to buy seed, so the
county bonded itself for $4,000 to |
,e used in purchasing seed. Expert
nents had been conducted with corn
through the county agents office and
rood results had been obtained in
ZACH of the dry years.
The farm bureau, county commits
ioners, and the county agents office
,o-operated in laying plans for dis
the seed loans. Many had II
ost confidence in straight wheat
q Yr,oiup and fho necessity for a de- II