186 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



develop in country life, or from the country life development 

 standpoint, is not the large farmer or the large farm, but we 

 want the eighty-acres; we want the one hundred and twenty 

 acres, and the one hundred and sixty acres. We want a com- 

 munity like that (indicating plat), dotted all about by homes 

 and home-loving, home-owning people — people interested in the 

 community, people who can see that, they can correlate their 

 interests and work definitely for the betterment of the com- 

 munity. On the other hand, I want to say that one of the most 

 sorrowful things that can come into a community is for that 

 community to become largely owned by the absentee landlord, 

 because absentee landlordism has as its result personal gain by 

 exploiting the community. I am not taking somebody else's 

 doctrine. I am giving that which I have observed from my own 

 experience, and it is this: They take from the community and 

 do not put anything back. They are constantly living on the 

 co-operation of this home-owning people and on the losses of 

 the tenant. They do worse than that. When by the co- 

 operation of the home people of the community, because of their 

 work in community building, the lands increase in value, the 

 absentee landlord draws his share without participating what- 

 ever in the community upbuilding, without any energy ex- 

 pended. He does that, and worse. As land values advance, 

 this absentee landlord raises his rentals on his lands and draws 

 another very large increase in that way on his investment. 

 Thus he partakes of the benefits of society without participating 

 in the improvement. This is wrong, both ethically and eco- 

 nomically — not to say that is discouraging to the community 

 builder. 



But fortunately all absentee landlords are not like that. 

 We have in our community two classes or grades of absentee 

 landlords. One is the business man who lives in town and 

 operates farms because of the recreation or pleasure he derives 

 from them as well as for the income he receives. These have 

 proved that they stand well abreast with the community in the 

 development idea. They keep up homes, good homes. Here 

 is one of them (indicating picture). This man is constantly 

 spending money in the development of his farm. He takes 

 pleasure in it, and he tells me he is getting profit from it as well. 

 Here is another illustration of the same fact. We believe in 

 everything good in community development — even the Mis- 



