72 LAND AND LABOR. 



with the same want of fixed population and the same 

 war upon women and children ? Under the opera- 

 tions of our "beneficent competition," that we are 

 forcing upon them, they will most certainly learn and 

 act. Indeed, the work has already commenced. 



The large development of the tenant system of 

 farming is also an evil of the greatest magnitude, and 

 a direct inheritance from the feudal system of Europe, 

 utterly opposed to the whole spirit of our institutions. 

 But with us it has obtained features worse than any 

 now existing in Europe. The tenants in England 

 hold leases and occupations that often and practically 

 run for life, and have been held in families for genera- 

 tions, which gave encouragement for improvements. 

 The holdings were practically homesteads. But with 

 us the leases are uniformly for short terms, when tak- 

 en ; the holdings are generally from year to year, with 

 no encouragement for improvements, and the farms 

 are never deemed to be homes. In England the rent 

 rarely reached and never exceeded one fourth the gross 

 product. But in the United States it is commonly 

 one half. Under the English tenant system the land 

 is thoroughly cultivated and improved ; with us it is 

 simply skinned and impoverished. There is not one 

 ](! i ming feature in the whole system. 



It is evident from this statement of some of the ef- 

 fects that directly grow out of the combination of cap- 

 ital, machinery, and cheap labor in the cultivation of 

 large bodies of land by individuals, companies, and 

 corporations, that there has developed a system of ag- 

 riculture that is in " irrepressible conflict " with the 

 best interests of society, and must result in the de- 



