AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



of the farms were operated by owners, while 25.56 

 per cent, were operated by tenants. This 'condi- 

 tion of affairs gave rise to much discussion con- 

 cerning the probable future of the American 

 farmer. Some writers considered tenancy a 

 transitionary stage to landownership, while others 

 contended that those who once had owned land 

 finally lost it and became tenants, that in time 

 tenancy would become general. 



In 1886, David B. King said: 1 "While there 

 are exceptions, and tenants are found who are un- 

 thrifty, or whose lot is a hard one, as a rule the 

 American tenant farmer prospers, and in very 

 many cases passes from the tenant to the land- 

 owning class. It is a decided advantage to many 

 an agricultural laborer and farmer's landless son 

 that numbers of owners of farms have become so 

 prosperous that they do not care to till the soil 

 themselves [and for this], or, for other reasons 

 rent their land. It often happens that a young 

 man, engaged in agriculture or other labor, by 

 thrift and economy, lays by enough to stock a 

 small farm which he rents 'on shares' or for a 

 fixed sum. In a few years he saves enough to 

 buy the property, paying perhaps one-half of the 

 purchase money at once, and the remainder in 

 annual payments extending through several years. 

 The former owner is secured by a mortgage on 

 the farm. By the time the man has reached mid- 



1 North American Review, Vol. 142, pp. 256-7. 

 238 



