ate hands. Land is one of the necessities of life; land
dealing, consequently, is one of the most important features in social
and economic relations. Yet it has been left unregulated, with the
result that land dealing is now the most chaotic sort of business, one
which has not worked out its own definite methods, rules, and
traditions, as banking and other branches of commerce and business have
done. It may even be said that people who deal in land have fallen, in
the eyes of the public, into the ranks of those open to suspicion.

In the field investigation for this study, land dealing was considered
to be an important phase of the problem of Americanization in rural
districts. Based upon the experiences and facts collected, the picture
may be drawn as follows:

According to their methods, private land dealers may be classified as
follows:

(1) Land "sharks," divided between those acting outside the law and
those acting within the law; (2) the ordinary real-estate
dealer--of two types--the lower, selfish, narrow-minded, the
higher, public-spirited; (3) "realtors"; (4) land-colonizing
companies.

LAND SHARKS

Land sharks are of two distinct varieties. One type is composed of men
of a criminal character. The words "lawful" and "unlawful" have no
meaning for them. They often sell land as their own which they do not
own, or sell land other than they have promised or even shown to the
buyer. Their only aim is to cheat the latter out of his money and to
escape the penalty of the law.

These pirates injure both land seekers and legitimate real-estate men.
They hang about the trains, railroad stations, and all points where
there is a chance of attracting the land seekers. They are sometimes
able to entice those who are being brought in by reputable land men.
Often the pirates are of the same nationality as the immigrants and by
clever emphasis on this common bond and by skillful manipulation of
truth and lies they steal the men away to look at land which they call
their own. The land pirates do not advertise, but live on the
advertising that the reputable land men do. As a result the latter
curtail their advertising and do a comparatively small amount of it,
since they are prevented from realizing the full profits due on the
investment. This is a situation that forces the land men to realize the
need of a licensed real-estate profession.

The president of a land company in Wisconsin gives th