to the company's main office to find out whether the advertisement is
honest or put out by schemers and crooks. According to the testimony of the
land companies the editors of the foreign-language newspapers, in the vast
majority of cases, are honest men who refuse to be bribed. Only in a very
few cases have the editors agreed to accept commissions.

Finally comes the usual method of all land companies, that of sending out
agents among the immigrants, sending them folders, etc. As a rule the
advertisements and folders exaggerate the good points of the land and gloss
over the bad points. Quite often the exaggerations know no bounds; the land
is described as the most fertile on the surface of the earth--photographs
show corn, for instance, growing like a forest; a record of the yield is
given, showing it to bring hundreds and even thousands of dollars a year
per acre. Such exaggerations may be illustrated by the literature sent out
by the New South Farm and Home Company, advertising ten-acre farms in
Florida. The representations were that the farms were not swampy, were near
direct water connections with New York; that every month in the year was a
growing month; that the farms were surrounded by orange and citrous-fruit
farms; that there were fine roads, wells, homes, schools, hotels, etc.;
that the titles were perfect; that neighboring farms were doubling,
trebling, and quadrupling in price; that the settlements were rapidly
growing; that there was every convenience and comfort, such as Pullman
cars, long-distance telephone, etc., etc.

It is needless to say that many of these advantages were nonexistent. The
decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in regard to this case
was that when a proposed seller goes beyond mere exaggeration of the
qualities of an article and assigns to it qualities which it does not
possess, "does not simply magnify in opinion the advantages which it has,
but invents advantages and falsely asserts their existence, he transcends
the limit of 'puffing' and engages in false representations and pretenses."
By this decision it was established that to invent advantages and falsely
assert their existence in a transaction of sale is a fraud.

FEDERAL AND STATE IMMIGRATION OFFICES

The information given to immigrants by the Federal and state immigration
offices is of value, because it presents certain facts needed by settlers,
as, for instance, information on climatic conditions, general s