84 LAND AND LABOR. 



slavery which cost us four years of war and half a mil- 

 lion lives to wipe out. Will it be necessary to repeat 

 that operation ? If it should prove to be so, upon 

 whom will the bolts of destruction surely fall ? 



These tenant farms are fast developing throughout 

 the whole extent of our country, east, west, north, and 

 south ; from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the 

 British possessions to the Mexican line. They, as 

 also the great bonanza farms, are mainly the growth 

 of the last twenty years, and are multiplying with 

 marvellous rapidity. 



The great source of accretion to the number of ten- 

 ant farms, in the older States, and to a large extent 

 in the newer, also, is found in the fact that, under 

 present conditions of competition and low prices, the 

 small farm can not be made to support the family in 

 anything like comfort, and the head of the household 

 is compelled to resort to credit to obtain the necessa- 

 ries of life, waiving all the comforts. This method 

 once adopted is the sure beginning of the end. An 

 interest account is established ; more credit is required 

 and obtained ; a mortgage is given ; the interest ac- 

 count is increased ; the burdens and struggles for ex- 

 istence are multiplied, whilst the difficulties growing 

 out of competition, cheapness, and bad harvests are 

 constantly increasing, until the time is reached when 

 the interest can no longer be paid. Then follows fore- 

 closure, execution, and sale. Another farm is added 

 to the tenant roll, and another household to the list 

 of tenant occupants, or to the armies of town or city 

 sufferers. These operations are going on all over the 

 country. 



