This Farm Tenancy Question 



Here's a Cross Section of How Landlords and Tenants 



Feel About It 



now 

 le 



•V^A/I _l,Rn iloinu all ri^'lit no 

 ^^y 1/ tlut prices are favonibi 

 ff aqain.' 



This is the general feehnp amonc 

 tenant farmers in the eastern Illinois 

 ;:rain belt where the percentage of tenant 

 farmers to owner-operators is high. 1 hesc 

 farmers remember when prices were not 

 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 

 mdependence 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 nations 

 tcnanc)' 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 ant! health; that 

 the farms be sold without dow n payment 

 on a 40 year amortized loan at J'^ P'^*'' 

 cent interest; that payments be made ac- 

 cording to the value of crops produced 

 m any one year. 



"To keep land values on a level where 

 farmers could better arford ownership" 

 tlic 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 wh.it tenants. landowners 

 and owner-operators of farms think of 

 these recommendations, we took a 3'>0 

 mile trip through Grundy, Livingston, 

 lord, and Iroquois counties. I'olks along 

 the way were asked to give their opinions 

 of the recommendations set forth by the 

 President's committee. 



.■\ grain elevator man.iger said, "About 

 "■^ per cent of the tenants in this section 

 touldn 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. 



" [im " Holderman. I-arm Bureau direc- 

 tor in Cirimdy county and a landowner. 



By LAWRENCE POTTER 



placed tlie blame for the evils ot tenancy 

 scjuarely on landowners when he re 

 marked, "'Hie extent of the evils of 

 tenancy, such as soil fertility <lepletion 

 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 they see it. " 



The experiences of Victor Johns, I.iv 

 ingston county tenant farmer, are typical 

 of what has been taking pl.ice on the bet- 

 ter corn belt land in Illinois during the 

 past few years. Johns started renting 1~ 

 years ago. Since 19-* 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. 



w.is built, eleilric wiring w.is installed, 

 the buildings were painte^l regularly and 

 a concrete approach to the barn was laid, 

 all without co.st to the tenant. 



lolins knew the cost of these improve- 

 ments and did his Ixst to keep thtm in 

 gcx)d repair. He showed his apj-'ceciation 

 by doing (he best possible job ot farming 

 even though he liad to hire extra help to 

 do it. 



When the depression struck, plans had 

 Ixen made to provide a new- cattle shed 

 for the Johns livestock. .Money was 

 scarce so the cattle have continued to be 

 housed III 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 w ith 

 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." 



lohns feeds his grain to cattle and 

 liogs. He returns the manure to the land 

 and plows under some clover or sweet 

 clover every season. Ihis practice keeps 

 up the fertility and the crop yields ha\e 

 always been good. He believc-s that it 

 is his duty to build up fertility because 

 both he and his l.uivllord get better re 

 turns that way. 



During the first years |ohns rented the 

 farin. he and his landloril \vorke>.l their 

 problems out together to the advantage 

 of both. Since they agreed on most 

 things no lease was necessarv. When 

 buildings needed repair or a new fence 

 had to be built the owner had the work 

 done and [olins helped. .^ new crib 



By 19 J') Viilor loliiis w.is rc.idv to buv 

 .1 farm of his own. He h.id saved some 

 monev with wliuli to make a down p.iv 

 mcnt. Prices hadn t been the best but 

 the crops had Ixren good e\er\- year. 



It was a good thing I didn t buy that 

 year, " he recalled, tor it cost me S1.0(t(» 

 .1 ve.i' to f.irm »liiring the next three wars 

 .in,i rd ha\e lost mv farm anvw.r,. 



Like lumdreds of other tenant f'ariiicts. 

 lohns is looking ahead with hope. He 

 w.mt-- to buv a t.irm some liav but he rc.il 

 i/es th.it with farm pri,es swindling up 

 ,uid down as they have in the past he 

 mav agam be prevented from doina it. 

 By the lime he saves up another down 



MARCH, 1937 



