TENANCY IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC STATES 507 



every one of the nine states of the North Atlantic division shows 

 a positive, though not great, gain in ownership, and corresponding 

 decline in tenancy. Nearly three farms in every hundred passed 

 over from the one class to the other. This amounts to a decrease 

 of 1 6 per cent in the number of farms operated by tenants, in the 

 face of an increase of 16 per cent in the number so operated for 

 the country as a whole. In 1900 the rate of tenancy in the North 

 Atlantic states was nearly 60 per cent of that for the United 

 States ; now it is less than 50 per cent. It cannot be an accident 

 that has brought about such a striking change in the tenancy aspect 

 of the Eastern states, including as a matter of fact, in addition to 

 the North Atlantic group, four more states immediately to the 

 south. Neither is this decline in tenancy a symptom of declining 

 agriculture ; for these states, notwithstanding a falling off in cer- 

 tain particulars, all things counted, make a good showing. 



The low proportion of tenancy in the North Atlantic states is 

 the result of a combination of causes. The most important of 

 these are, first, the low price of land per acre ; second, a set of 

 circumstances resulting in comparatively small farms, these two 

 facts combining to give a low value to the farm as a unit ; third, 

 the- relatively small amount of farming such as lends itself easily 

 to a system of tenancy, and in its stead a type requiring owner- 

 ship of the land in order to insure good results. That there are 

 othi-r factors involved cannot be doubted ; but these statistics seem 

 to indicate which are the decisive factors. 



PER ' ! VI >| Tl \ \V Y. 1S80-1910 



