68 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



resembled that of New England rather than that of Virginia and 

 the South. But under the Dutch a different system, known as 

 the patroon system, had been developed along the valley of the 

 Hudson. Under this system large tracts of land, ranging from 

 50,000 to 100,000 acres in extent, were granted to private indi- 

 viduals known as patroons, who formed a semifeudal nobility. 

 These patroons were supposed to exert themselves to secure 

 immigrants to settle on their estates, and then to rule as heredi- 

 tary magistrates over them, receiving their support in the form 

 of rents rather than taxes. They were supposed, in turn, to 

 support schools, churches, and other public institutions out of 

 the income received from rents. 



In Pennsylvania and Maryland, and to a certain extent in 

 New Jersey and Delaware, the proprietary system of govern- 

 ment was based upon the land system. The land was granted 

 by the British crown to large proprietors. These, in turn, made 

 grants to actual settlers, bestirring themselves to attract colonists 

 to their lands. In general, these grants were by sale in small 

 farms to actual farmers who tilled the soil with their own labor, 

 though some large grants were made, especially in Maryland. 

 On these large grants something resembling the manorial 

 system of rural economy developed. 



The labor supply. Quite as important as the question of the 

 relation of the people to the land is the question of the character 

 of the labor supply. In a country where land is abundant and 

 practically free, it is impossible that there should be any consid- 

 erable body of hired laborers. If any laborer can become a land- 

 owner, he will not work for wages unless the wages are high 

 enough to give him an income approximately as large as he could 

 make as an independent landowning farmer. Where this is the 

 case it will only occasionally, and under special circumstances, be 

 profitable for a farmer to hire a laborer at such wages. There- 

 fore the hired laborer is necessarily the exception rather than 



