resistance. In a final analysis the food, clothing, and shel- 

 ter of merchant, manufacturer, and banker come from the 

 land. Their prosperity rests definitely on the prosperity of 

 agriculture. 



TABLE I. Average Annual Soil and Water Losses, 1931-33 

 Inclusive, Experiment Station, Bethany, Mo. 1 



[Shelby silt-loam, 8 percent slope, 33.54 inches mean precipitation] 



1 Adapted from H. H. Bennett, Dynamic Action of Rains in Relation to Erosion in the 

 Humid Region, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, Fifteenth Annual Meeting,. 

 1934, p. 4. 



Generally, the immediate responsibility for that erosion 

 which results from methods of farm management rests on 

 those in actual charge of operations. There can be no ques- 

 tion about this with respect to those who are both owners 

 and operators. But with respect to those operators who are 

 tenants and an increasing proportion of farms are tenant 

 operated the weight of responsibility rests heavily on the 

 absentee owner. The dominant interest of the more or less 

 transient operator is to secure income, and, unless restrained, 

 it is inevitable that he will manage accordingly. On the 



35 



