TENANCY IN THE UNITED STATES 



489 



$20 annually to the principal, in the course of about twenty-one 

 irs the sum of the principal and the interest would be sufficient 

 pay the debt of $667. This illustration is given to show that 

 home-owning is not the difficult achievement that some may sup- 

 if the site of the home is immaterial. If a man can save 

 >333 an d is able to take $20 out of his annual earnings and in- 

 the amount at interest, it is possible for him to fulfill the con- 

 itions of the example. But, of course, a cheap home cannot be 

 ul everywhere ; and lot values are high enough in cities to limit 

 choice of the poor, and even of the well-to-do. On the other 

 id, suburban rapid transit and cheap railroad fares have enlarged 

 the field of choice to suburban regions where lot values are low 

 enough to be within the reach of all but the very poor. 



If account is taken of the sales of real estate, its market will 

 active to one who thinks that real estate is not easily pur- 

 ible for want of purchasing power on the part of the people. 

 ie activity of the real-estate market, as shown by conveyances 

 sachusetts, has been ascertained for the ten years, 1880 to 

 [889. The conveyances were mostly by warranty deeds of titles 

 fee-simple, but some of them were by quitclaim deeds, usually 

 iven to remove clouds upon the title to land already in the pos- 

 >ion of the grantee. In 1880 there were 37 persons of the 

 Hire- population, on the average, to each deed made. The 

 lighest number of persons was reached in 1885, namely, 39, 

 the lowest in 1889, 33 persons. Average for the ten years, 

 persons ; or one deed annually to about seven families on the 

 ige, and one deed during the decade to about seven-tenths of 

 family. This is for a state that has a denser population per 

 mile than any other state in the Union except Rhode 

 ul. and denser than any nation in the world except Belgium 

 the Netherlands. The figures, however, do not indicate 

 this activity in purchasing real estate is great among a 

 small fraction of the population or is pretty well distributed 

 ig the masses of the people. 



foregoing arc the conditions under which 52.20 per cent 

 the families of the United States are the tenants of their farms 

 homes. The farm tenants arc 34.08 per cent of the cut in- 



