enerally understood. It is not proper here to take
time to discuss the reasons why the man in the "steenth" story of some
magnificent office building, with telephones, electric lights,
elevators, and all modern conveniences, longs for the time when he can
roam again amidst the green fields in the sunshine and fresh air, but
suffice it to say that in my judgment a majority of the professional
men, and men in other walks of life, would, if they could, abandon their
various employments and turn again to the soil. The boy on the farm
dreams of the days when he can be the president of a bank, have a home
in the city, own an automobile, smoke good cigars and go to the show
every night. The bank president dreams of the day when he can turn again
to the farm and walk in the green fields, where he can shun the various
artificial activities of life, drink buttermilk and retire with the
chickens.

It may be asked what connection these statements have with the subject,
and the answer is this--that in the minds of many thousands of people
there is this supreme desire to some day own a portion of God's
footstool to which they can retire from artificial and vainglorious
environments to those under which they can be their real selves and
follow pursuits to their liking. It is this that makes it possible for
the promoter of various horticultural enterprises to succeed in
interesting in his schemes the clerk, the merchant, the doctor, the
lawyer, the school teacher, the preacher, and all others whose
occupations confine them within the limits of the great cities.

In the beginning, let us distinguish between the fraudulent promoter and
the uninformed promoter. The fraudulent promoter is he who recognizes
this great and worthy ambition of many people to buy a spot to which
they can some day retire and work and rest and dream and enjoy the
coming and going of the seasons, and the sunshine and the shadows, and
who capitalizes this ambition, with that industry as his stock in trade
which, at the particular moment, happens to offer the most attractive
inducements. Those familiar with the industry he is exploiting, can tell
him by his actions, by his words, by his nods and winks. It is hard for
the crook to disguise himself to the informed.

Distinguished from the fraudulent promoter is the uninformed promoter,
but, so far as results are concerned, there is not much difference
between them for the innocent investor. They both lead him to fai