320 THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HI8T0KICAL REVIEW 



by which land ultimately came into the possession of farmers 

 are probably more significant. In the study of actual disposition, 

 Paul W. Gates has made notable contributions, beginning with 

 his research on the colonization work of the Illinois Central 

 Railroad, and likewise James B. Hedges on that of the Northern 

 Pacific.^^ The activities of land companies and the extent and 

 significance of land speculation as well as its connection with 

 tenancy should also be considered. The public domain was dis- 

 tributed to private individuals with no restrictions on mode of 

 use and the result has been widespread human suffering and de- 

 vastation by erosion of thousands of acres. How to reconcile 

 private exploitation of land with protection of the public interest 

 has become the crux of the problem of developing a realistic land 

 policy for present and future needs, and it is patent that his- 

 torical studies of the land policies of the past have a distinctly 

 pragmatic value. 



At the present time one hears much discussion of farm ten- 

 ancy, and when one recalls that 36.3 per cent of the farmers of 

 the Middle West are tenants, one can appreciate the concern of 

 those who are immediately confronted with the problem.^® For 

 the United States as a whole the percentage is 42.1, and 40,000 

 farmers are passing from the owning to the tenancy class each 

 year. Analyses by agricultural economists and rural sociologists 



17 Paul W. Gates, The Illinais Central Railroad and Its Colonisation Work (Cam- 

 bridge, 1934). This monograph embodies the contents of the following articles by 

 the same author: "The Promotion of Agriculture by the Illinois Central Railroad, 

 1855-1870," Agricultural History, V (1931), 57-76; id., "Large-Scale Fanning in 

 Illinois, 1850 to 1870," ibid., VI (1932), 14-25; id., "The Disposal of the Public 

 Domain in Illinois, 1848-1856," Journal of Economic and Business History (Cam- 

 bridge), III (1931), 216-240; id., "The Land Policy of the Illinois Central Railroad, 

 1851-1870," ibid., 554-573; id., "The Campaign of the Illinois Central Railroad for 

 Norwegian and Swedish Immigrants," Studies and Records of the Norwegian-Amer- 

 ican Historical Association (Northfield, Minn.), VI (1931), 66-88. See also Paul 

 W. Gates, "The Homestead Law in an Incongruous Land System," American His- 

 torical Review (New York), XLI (1936), 652-681. Cf. Fred A. Shannon, "The Home- 

 stead Act and the Labor Surplus," ibid., 637-651; James B. Hedges, "The Coloni- 

 zation Work of the Northern Pacific Railroad," Mississippi Valley Historical Re- 

 view, XIII (1926), 311-342. 



18 United States Special Committee on Farm Tenancy, Farm Tenancy; Report of 

 the President's Committee (Washington, 1937), 89. For the specific middle western 

 states, the percentages are: Illinois, 44.5; Indiana, 31.6; Iowa, 49.6; Kansas, 44.0; 

 Michigan, 19.0; Minnesota, 33.7; Missouri, 38.8; Nebraska, 49.3; North Dakota, 

 39.1; Ohio, 28.9; South Dakota, 48.6; Wisconsin, 20.7. 



