This Farm Tenancy Question 



Here's a Cross Section of How Landlords and Tenants 



Feel About It 



By LAWRENCE POTTER 



"^ 



E'RE doing all right now 

 that prices are favorable 

 again." 



This is the general feeling among 

 tenant farmers in the eastern Illinois 

 grain belt where the percentage of tenant 

 farmers to owner-operators is high. These 

 farmers remember when prices were tiot 

 so good and a fear still lurks that prices 

 will not hold long enough to allow them 

 to get out of debt and on the road to 

 independence again. 



National farm leaders, too, know that 

 something must be done to keep good 

 tenant farmers on the road towards land 

 ownership. President Roosevelt a p - 

 pointed a committee to study the nation's 

 tenancy problem. Two weeks ago, after 

 careful consideration, this committee 

 turned in the following recommenda- 

 tions: that a Farm Security Administra- 

 tion be established under the supervision 

 of the Secretary of Agriculture; that a 

 corporation be set up to buy farms and 

 sell or lease them to deserving tenant- 

 farmers; that the farms bought by the 

 corporation be sold to selected tenants 

 chosen for their ability to farm, their 

 thrift, honesty, character and health; that 

 the farms be sold without down payment 

 on a 40 year amortized loan at 21/^ per 

 cent interest; that payments be made ac- 

 cording to the value of crops produced 

 in any one year. 



"To keep land values on a level where 

 farmers could better afford ownership" 

 the committee recommended that a tax 

 be levied to take practically all the profit 

 from the resale of land within three 

 years of its purchase. 



To find out what tenants, landowners 

 and owner-operators of farms think of 

 these recommendations, we took a 360 

 mile trip through Grundy, Livingston, 

 Ford, and Iroquois counties. Folks along 

 the way were asked to give their opinions 

 of the recommendations set forth by the 

 President's committee. 



A grain elevator manager said, "About 

 75 per cent of the tenants in this section 

 couldn't make good without a landlord 

 over them to tell them what to do." 



His opinion was upheld generally by 

 landowners along the way. Some tenants 

 felt the same way about it while others 

 claimed that landowners expect too much 

 from tenants. 



"Jim" Holderman, Farm Bureau direc- 

 tor in Grundy county and a landowner. 



placed the blame for the evils of tenancy 

 squarely on landowners when he re- 

 marked, "The extent of the evils of 

 tenancy, such as soil fertility depletion 

 and erosion, depend on the landlord. 

 ■While most of our tenants need the 

 watchful eye of the landlord to help 

 make them better farmers, too many land- 

 lords are tight, stingy and don't know 

 good farming when tiiey see it." 



The experiences of Victor Johns, Liv- 

 ingston county tenant farmer, are typical 

 of what has been taking place on the bet- 

 ter com belt land in Illinois during the 

 past few years. Johns started renting 17 

 years ago. Since 1924 he has operated 

 the same 240 acre farm on which he 

 raises about 150 acres of corn each year. 

 His landowner gets half the grain and 

 he pays cash for hayland and pasture. 



was built, electric wiring was installed, 

 the buildings were painted regularly and 

 a concrete approach to the barn was laid, 

 all without cost to the tenant. 



Johns knew the cost of these improve- 

 ments and did his best to keep them in 

 good repair. He showed his appreciation 

 by doing the best possible job of farming 

 even though he had to hire extra help to 

 do it. 



When the depression struck, plans had 

 been made to provide a new cattle shed 

 for the Johns livestock. Money was 

 scarce so the cattle have continued to be 

 housed in the old shed. When the lack 

 of funds prevented repainting and re- 

 pairing the buildings, Johns did not com- 

 plain because he had worked closely with 

 his landlord and thus knew the financial 

 situation. 



^ / 





VICTOR JOHNS, LIVINGSTON COUNTY TENANT. 

 "Farmers all should sign up for soil conservation and join the Farm Bureau 

 to keep farm prices at parity." 



Johns feeds his grain to cattle and 

 hogs. He returns the manure to the land 

 and plows under some clover or sweet 

 clover every season. This practice keeps 

 up the fertility and the crop yields have 

 always been good. He believes that it 

 is his duty to build up fertility because 

 both he and his landlord get better re- 

 turns that way. 



During the first years Johns rented the 

 farm, he and his landlord worked their 

 problems out together to the advantage 

 of both. Since they agreed on most 

 things no lease was necessary. When 

 buildings needed repair or a new fence 

 had to be built the owner had the work 

 done and Johns helped. A new crib 



By 1929 Victor Johns was ready to buy 

 a farm of his own. He had saved some 

 money with which to make a down pay- 

 ment. Prices hadn't been the best but 

 the crops had been good every year. 



"It was a good thing I didn't buy that 

 year," he recalled, "for it cost me $1,000 

 a year to farm during the next three years 

 and I'd have lost my farm anyway. " 



Like hundreds of other tenant farmers, 

 Johns is looking ahead with hope. He 

 wants to buy a farm some day but he real- 

 izes that with farm prices swinging up 

 and down as they have in the past he 

 may again be prevented from doing it. 

 By the time he saves up another down 

 (Continued on next page) 



MARCH. 1937 



