FARM TENANCY 41 



Tenancy and Land Ownership in the United States in 1900 



Owners Tenants 



North Atlantic States 79.2 20.8 



South Atlantic States 55.7 44.3 



North Central States 73.1 26.9 



South Central States 51.4 48.6 



Western States 83.4 16.6 



The southern states have by far the largest amount of tenancy, 

 which is due, no doubt, in a large degree to the negro population. 

 When the slaves were freed, the large plantations were broken up and 

 instead of the system of slavery there sprang up the system of tenancy 

 which, from the standpoint of economic production, has been worse 

 than slavery, and the lands have been depleted of fertility and have 

 produced a scanty living for both the tenant and the landlord, whereas 

 under the old system they would have produced an abundance for owner 

 and slave, and their fertility would have been maintained. 



In the northern states the conditions are different — and other 

 causes have entered into the problem of land ownership. In the North 

 Atlantic states, characterized by their granite hills and sterile soils, 

 the problem of tenancy has not been as great as the problem of aban- 

 doned farms. Farms were deserted because no one could be found to 

 rent them and owners stayed on them because they could not sell 

 them. The young men have gone west, to the more fertile lands, and 

 allowed the farms to revert back to nature. Within the last few years, 

 the high prices that have prevailed for farm lands in the middle west 

 have created a demand for the abandoned farms of New England, 

 and many of them have been taken up. 



Economists claim that tenancy is a step toward ownership, and 

 that the young man who purchases a farm is first a renter and then 

 a farm owner. If such is the case, the state of tenancy is but tem- 

 porary, and an increase of tenancy would be indications of prosperity, 

 and would simply mark a step in the process of acquiring land owner- 

 ship. But, if this is the case, the per cent, of farms held by tenants 

 should not continue to increase indefinitely, but should soon begin to 

 decrease — however, this is not the case, and more American farms 

 are constantly going into the hands of tenants. 



For a closer investigation of this subject let us take the state of 

 Ohio, which is typical of the North Central states. In 1880 the per 

 cent, of tenancy in Ohio was 19.3, in 1890, 22.9, and in 1900, 27.5. 

 The state is naturally divided into four distinct agricultural divisions. 

 The northeastern part of the state is made up of more or less rolling 

 land, and a soil that is largely clay or clay loam. The soil is adapted 

 to dairying and the growing of wheat, oats, timothy and pasture, but 

 not to corn. The southeastern part of the state is made up of the non- 



