The mirror., 1923-10-18

to rev fundamental facts and conditions
which should be weighed carefully before
any decision is taken.
All of the Latin American countries
are under-populated and are anxious to
secure good class of immigrants, but
none of these countries want people un-
suited to the conditions of life and not
likely to make success of the venture.
A man may be successful farmer, cattle
or sheep raiser in the United States and
a failure in any of the Latin American
countries. Past experience in agriculture
or in cattle raising in the United States is
worth but little or nothing in any of the
Latin American countries. Often it is
less than nothing because it tends to lead
one astray.
Properly speaking there is no such thing
as homestead land or free grazing land
las the terms are understood in the United
States) in any Latin American country.
1t is true that in many of these there are
large tracts of government owned land,
but no country does what the United States
does-offers land to any applicant who
may apply. What all do is to examine
into the qualifications of the people in
tending to occupy the land. They want
to be assured that the thing is going to be
a success, otherwise they do not want the
immigrant. furthermore, most of the tracts
of government land are at distance from
transportation lines and are of kind suit
able only for colonization on large scale.
This of course means large capital. For
single immigrants and small groups the
only lands suitable for agriculture and
cattle raising in any of the Latin Ameri-
can counties are, generally speaking,
those that are held by private title. Con-
sequently the immigrant must buy the
land from its owner just as he would buy
it in any of the western states. There is
no standard of price, for this varies under
the same conditions as it varies here, ac-
cording to the quality of the land, acces-
sibility to the market, state of improve
ment, buildings, etc.
The question of language is very inn
portant one. If one will consider the
proposition from his own experience he
will see what the language question means.
Reverse the position. Take the case of
Latin American speaking only Spanish
who comes along to the United States,
qUith fve or ten thousand dollars capital,
expecting to be successful here in agricul-
ture or stock raising. He knows nothing
of the soil, the climate, the market condi-
tions, the proper rotation of crops, or the
proper handling and feeding of cattle.
He can not even communicate with his
neighbors or employees. He is at the mercy
of some glib land agent who can speak
Spanish. He might have been successful
farmer or stock raiser in his own country,
but this is worth very little or nothing to
him in the United States. In such case
man would have very small chance of
success. If he hand no capital of course
he would find it very difficult to secure
employment even as a laborer. 1t might
be different if there were large colony
of Spanish speaking people with capable
manager or agent speaking both languages
to look out for their interests. Now this
would be the condition of the citizen of the
United States going to almost any Latin
American country. There are only few
American colonists, in fact few English
speaking colonists, in any of these countries.
The Latin American countries offer ex-
cellent opportunities for the development
of agriculture and cattle raising, but these
opportunities are along lines suitable to
the country. The successful conduct of
these industries has very seldom been ac-
complished except with large capital. Men
of small capital-ftteen or tsoenty thou
sand dollars, for instance-in all probabil-
ity would lose all of this before they had