TENANCY AND LAND W N ERS H I P 



land, so that a larger proportion of the product is 

 credited to the land, and while the efficient farm- 

 ers may be able to save more money each year 

 than formerly, their savings will not increase 

 so rapidly as will the annual value of the land. 

 More time will be required, therefore, to save the 

 amount necessary to pay for a farm of a given 

 size. Hence, with the progress which brings con- 

 tinually rising land values, a smaller percentage 

 of each generation of farmers will be able to ac- 

 quire the ownership of land, and this will result in 

 a gradual decline in the percentage of landowning 

 farmers. 



A great and unexpected change in prices has a 

 marked influence upon the farmer who is paying 

 off the mortgage on his farm. A rise in prices 

 enables him to pay off the mortgage in a much 

 shorter time than if prices had remained the same 

 as when the debt was contracted. A fall in prices 

 makes it very difficult to pay a debt. The returns 

 from the land fall below the amount that was ex- 

 pected when the debt was contracted and a larger 

 share of the gross returns of the farm is required 

 to pay the interest and a smaller surplus is left, 

 which may be used in paying off the mortgage. 

 When the price of wheat went down, about thirty 

 years ago the price of land in England, and in 

 parts of the United States, went down more than 

 half. Farmers who had purchased land and given 

 mortgages often found their farms worth no 

 245 



