AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



Again, it should be borne in mind that the mortgage debt in 

 force, January i, 1890, was distributed within each state largely 

 according to industrial strength. In such states as Iowa, Kansas, 

 and Nebraska, where agriculture is the principal industry, the 

 greater part of the mortgage debt rests upon farm lands ; in 

 states having great manufacturing interests and large urban de- 

 velopment, such as New York and Massachusetts, the debt upon 

 homes is greatly in excess of that upon farms. Owned and 

 encumbered farms, however, were less heavily mortgaged than 

 owned and encumbered homes, the former being mortgaged for 

 - per cent of their value and the latter for 39.77 per cent. 



The increase of farm tenants. The last United States census 

 showed a marked increase, not only absolutely but relatively, in 

 the number of farm tenants. In 1880, 30.93 per cent of the 

 farm families hired their farms; in 1890, 34.17 per cent. I Hir- 

 ing that decennial period there was in Ohio, Indiana, and 

 Illinois a loss of 22,300 owning farmers and a gain of 18,887 

 tenant farmers. In 47 states and territories the number of 

 owning farmers increased 274,300, and the number of tenant 

 farmers 349,100. 



In order to explain the presence and increase of faun tenancy, 

 and to ascertain whether landlord and tenant cl. e in proc- 



: evolution in the United States, it is necessary to analyze 

 :al features of tenancy. 



i. One factor of much influence in making the percentage of 

 farm tenants in the I'nited States so large is the industrial con- 

 dition of the South. In the South Atlantic states 45 per cent, 

 and in the South Central states 48 per cent, of the total number 

 of farm families are tenants; while the percentage in the N 

 Atlantic group in the Rocky Mountain and I'arifi. . 



and in the North < 26. The e of such a large 



of tenant farmers in the Southern st.ites cannot, however, in the 

 li,L, r ht of industrial history be held to be- an unfavorable symptom. 

 ncy in these states simph :rm an industrial 



m based upon slavery to one of freed 



rially significant in connection with the 

 1880 to 1890 in the percentage of farm t. t 



