In another instance seven families bought farms at Elmira, California,
varying in size from twenty to seventy acres. The price was $117 an acre,
and they paid down $10 an acre, the balance being covered by a mortgage at
6 per cent. This land is rather poor, but the settlers have stayed on.

THE SUCCESSFUL COLONY AT GLENDALE

Aside from a few families who have succeeded in settling on land here
and there through the Western states and who are making ends meet, there
is only one group of these peasants which has succeeded in establishing
a well-to-do colony; that colony is at Glendale, Arizona, below the
Roosevelt Dam.

The first colonists arrived in Glendale seven years ago from Los Angeles,
while others came later from San Francisco and from Mexico. The development
of the colony has been steady. There are four groups of colonists located a
few miles from one another, but they communicate freely and consider
themselves one colony. There are at present about seven hundred persons in
the colony, with an average of five or six children in each family. The
settlers paid down little money at the beginning. Some families did not pay
anything; some paid $100, some $500, and a few paid $1,000. The price of
the land was originally $125 per acre, but it has now doubled. Almost all
the land is under cultivation. The men have acquired the necessary
machinery, stock, plants, and seeds; they have plenty to eat, and a large
number of families have Ford automobiles, while a few are considering the
purchase of higher-priced cars.

The success of the peasants in Glendale is to be explained by the
fertility of the new desert land, the adequate irrigation provided by
the Roosevelt Dam system, reasonable conditions of land purchase, the
capacity of the men for hard labor, and their love of the land. The main
money crop is cotton of the highest grade and of exceptionally heavy
yield. There is no difficulty in marketing farm products, for the colony
is within a few miles of Phoenix.

OTHER CALIFORNIA CASES

The report of the Commission on Land Colonization and Rural Credits of
the state of California presents some interesting cases.[6]

A tract of wheat land was bought at $7 per acre. The buyer organized a
syndicate composed of himself and his stenographer and sold the land to
the syndicate at $100 per acre. The syndicate sold the land at $200 per
acre. No settler was able to earn either the purchase price or the
interest on it out