The Wolf Point herald., 1924-05-29

I
shape.
my sticking plaster" one Mon
tana farmer calls his cattle.
The Montana program calls for
big, cheap tracts of land for wheat
and livestock farmers, one-family
farms mostly, with maximum pro-
duction from minimum labor ex-
pense.
In the case of wheat, twelve-horse
teams, $40 acres harvested each
year, $40 acres summer fallowed
Thoughtful Montanans, unbiased by
inflated land investments, would like
to see this land held down to about
a twelve dollar valuation, with twen-
ty-five dollars as a maximum for the
choicest areas.
In the case of grazing land they
hope much of the land can be valued
at about three dollars an acre. Most
of it, of course, is held at consid-
erably more than that. The state
owns a lot of land which by law must
sell for at least ten dollars an acre.
/ But the fat is in the fire now and it
is new deal Montana, fortunate
ly, missed most of the wartime land
initiation. So for the present defla-
tion is all in the buyers interest.
This is also true of the irrigated
regions, including the mountain val
leys of Western Montana. Della
ton has touched them all, though
less than the plains areas.
Down in the Gallatin valley an ex-
ample of this obtruded.
This is a beautiful egg-shaped val
ley, a veritable gem, ringed by
mountains, green with abundance of
irrigation water. Near the town of
Bozeman, and within sight of the
state agriculture college, was we'll
improved 16O-acre irrigated farm on
paved road, for sale for 500 an
acre. A sign at the gate announced
the price. This was obviously cheap,
but the present owner is in hur-
ry to leave and buyers are scarce
in Montana at this time.
The biggest need of the state, of
course, is more farmers. 1t hopes to
attract the kind who will come with
sufficient capital to put themselves
on fairly safe basis.
But one finds thoughtful state
leaders, hoping also that capital may
see an opportunity to come in and
buy great tracts of cheap land, cut
it up into economic units, and sell
it to farmers on longtime easy
payment plan. Most of these farm
ers, they feel, will be found in Mon
tana ,on their backs because of the
recent unprecedented cataclysm, but
liking the state, understanding Its
vagaries and willing to bet on its
future.
It is hard to make prophecies of a
state, and foolish to do so, but
weighing everything, the agricultur-
al future of Montana seems bright.
Money at Eight Per Cent
It is the Treasure State" remem-
Der, and until recently has thought
in terms of minerals more than in
terms of cattle, sheep and wheat.
But now it is thinking of all of
these, thinking of them very much
indeed, and of corn and hogs, and of
turkeys which flourish like the cele-
brated bay tree and harvest the hop
pers and cutworms as a labor of
love.
At Buffalo, Montana, in the ia
nous Judith Basin wheat area, wo
man added COW to car load of
cattle going to Chicago. The COW
netted her $1750. About the same
time she expressed three turkeys to
which netted her $22.50. On
a lot of Montana farms last year
turkeys brought in the principal in
come.
Money, if you can get it, in cheap
er in Montana today than it has ever
been. Eight per cent instead of
ten is the style in interest now.
There are various reasons for this,
out some bankers will tell you frank
" that they are trying to set rate
If interest which the borrower can
)ay.
Some of the closed banks won't
.ome back.
There were lots of banks when
Ieflation started. and some of them
anked in previous experience with
he deep-sea divers who took up
Some banks probably clos
d to avoid runs by depositors and
yill later reopen on a sound basis. !
A banker who has been promin-
mt in refinancing work declares
hat no other state could have
TODD what Montana has gone
trough. It had no war industries
D help it, he points out. During
he war period everything went out
men and money. Unusual wealth