RURAL ECONOMICS. 489 



Improved Systems of Tenancy, and Suggestions for a Good Rent Contract, by 

 C. Gardner ; Overhaul the Homestead Law, by R. Baker ; The Torrens System 

 of Land Registration, by V. Lanfear; State Aid to Land Purchase, by C. Leh- 

 man ; Conservation of the Mineral and Lumber Resources of Texas, by J. AV, 

 Scott ; Conservation of Water Resources in Texas, by E. C. Nelson ; The Public 

 Lands — A Problem in Administration, by H. H. Baker ; The Taxation of Min- 

 eral Lands, by A. M. Steiner ; Taxation of Rural Lands in Texas, by A. Wight ; 

 and Urban Land Tax Reform Schemes, and the So-called " Houston Plan," by 

 J. Runge. 



The agrarian problem [of Mexico], R. Escobar (El Paso, Tex.: M. Ayala e 

 Hijos, 1915, pp. 216). — The author has outlined what he considers the principal 

 agricultural problems of Mexico and suggests methods of solving them. Sug- 

 gested legislation necessary to accomplish his purpose is included. 



Land tenure and conveyances in Missouri, M. O. Hudson {Univ. Missouri 

 Bid. 16 (1915), No. 16, pp. 3-23). — These pages are devoted to the methods of 

 holding and transferring land under the existing laws of Missouri. The sub- 

 ject is treated from the legal point of view. 



The Torrens System, A. G. Cameron (Boston and Netv York: Houghton 

 Mifflin Co., 1915, pp. XI +122). — This book contains a brief historical description 

 of the spread of the Torrens system of land registration in various countries 

 and gives reasons for its wider adoption in the United States. 



Agricultural (jredit legislation and the tenancy problem, G. E. Putnam 

 (Amer. Econ. Rev., 5 (1915), No. 4, pp. 805-815) .—The author states that 

 although there are considerable differences in the proposed machinery for the 

 administration and supervision of agi'icultural credit, all contain plans looking 

 toward a longer term of loans, repayable by amortization, and the issuance of 

 bonds on the collective security of farm mortgages. The chief differences* are 

 to be found in the effect which these measures are expected to have on the 

 farmer's rate of interest. One type seeks merely to reduce a portion of the 

 waste in the present land credit system by improving the method of making 

 loans and by giving greater mobility to funds seeking safe investment; the 

 other contemplates, in addition, a material reduction in the farmer's rate of 

 interest either through the organization of a strong central bank or through a 

 program of minimum state aid. 



Among the reasons cited for the general activity of state legislatures is that 

 with the practical exhaustion of the supply of free land the farmer who aspires 

 to land ownership is now obliged to depend upon his borrowing power with the 

 various financial institutions rather than upon the generosity of the Federal 

 Government. At present, about the longest term of loan allowed by commer- 

 cial banks on farm mortgage security is five years, which is deemed far too 

 short a period for the payment of a loan out of the product of land. The 

 method of repayment is also haphazard, the possibility and conditions of re- 

 newal uncertain, and expenses much higher than farm mortgage security under 

 a .specialized and mobile system of land credit would warrant. 



It is claimed that a reform in the land credit system which reduced the rate 

 of interest on long-time loans would effectively curtail the growth of farm 

 tenancy in this country by making it possible for a young man of small means 

 eventually to become a landowner. The author therefore believed that if a 

 reform in the land credit system is to be the initial step in reducing the per- 

 centage of farm tenancy, some measures should be taken to prevent the general 

 rise in land values that would normally follow. One of the functions of laws 

 enacted by the legislatures should be the formation of companies so super- 



