THE TENANT FARMER 221 



tions home-owning farmers are almost the excep- 

 tion. As early as 1880, 25.6 per cent, of all farms 

 in the country were operated by others than own- 

 ers. In 1890 the percentage had increased to 28.4 

 per cent. By that time most of the land had been 

 taken up. And during the next ten years farm 

 tenancy jumped to 35.3 per cent. By 1910 it had 

 reached 37 per cent. In that year out of a total of 

 6,361,000 farms 2,354,676 were operated by tenants. 

 Tenancy increased 16.3 per cent, during the pre- 

 vious ten years and farm ownership only 8.1 per 

 cent. 



It is impossible to have a healthy agriculture 

 under the tenant system. Tenancy is destructive 

 of good farming. It discourages initiative. It 

 leads to shiftlessness. There is no incentive to 

 the tenant to be a good farmer. At the end of 

 the term, usually one year, all of the improvements 

 made by the tenant pass to the owner. The tenant 

 may take away the crops but nothing more. As a 

 consequence, the tenant does nothing to improve 

 or enrich the land. He refuses to make repairs. 

 He selects such crops as will give an immediate 

 return with the least possible labor. He permits 

 the buildings and improvements to go to decay. 

 He exhausts the land by failing to fertilize it. In 

 time he abandons the property because it is no 

 longer profitable. 



Tenancy leads to indifferent cultivation. There 



