146 FARMERS' UNION AND FEDERATION 



and much more rapidly than in many of our sister States. Today in 

 some of the counties comprising the eastern half of the State, practically 

 50 per cent of the farms are operated by tenants. In 1880, the per- 

 centage of Kansas farms operated by owners in proportion to the 

 whole was 83.7. In thirty years this decreased to 63.2 ; during the 

 past ten years it is apparent, so far as figures are available, that the 

 farther decrease has brought the situation almost to a point where half 

 the farms of this State are operated by tenants. . . . 



"I think it will be accepted almost without argument that no more 

 overwhelming disaster can come to any commonwealth than that which 

 is threatened in the present tendency. As we contemplate the after- 

 war conditions which now confront us, the greater danger in America, 

 it appears to me, is that peculiar tide of unrest which we call Bolshe- 

 vism, I. W. W.ism, and the other forms of social discontent. The 

 world is uneasy with this spirit just now. In Russia first, and later in 

 Austria and in Germany, the discontented classes have destroyed gov_ 

 ernment and now seek to restore the equilibrium without any very 

 definite program of order. . . . 



"In a just government there is only one real remedy against the 

 rising tide. There is only one sure process by which you may make a 

 man an optimistic, constructive influence in this country, and that is 

 by adding him to the home-owning class. . . . 



"To get rid, as far as possible, of farm tenantry, to promote the 

 tilling of the soil by the owner of the land, to increase the number of 

 homes owned by farmers and others, should be the most important 

 governmental object of the present hour in this State. Every consid- 

 eration calls for it. Not only the protection of the State against the 

 rapid increase of speculation in our farm lands demands it, but a new 

 reason impels us especially at this time." 



Now for his suggested remedies, which would make con- 

 ditions much worse through overproduction if put in force : 



"Secretary Lane has suggested a plan which will bring relief in 

 some States. This plan places at the disposal of soldiers, on easy 

 terms, public lands and lands secured through reclamation projects. 

 We have no such lands in Kansas, so that our measure of relief must be 

 in whatever provisions are possible to secure a redistribution. Any 

 effective plan in this direction depends first upon cheap money and the 

 possibility of buying on easy terms. 



"California has taken a very progressive step in this direction in 

 the creation of a fund through which she buys lands in large holdings 



