222 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



is no stimulus to efficiency. The tenant is careless. 

 He has to pay what the landlord demands or 

 what some other applicant will pay for the hold- 

 ing. If the tenant increases the fertility of the 

 land it is made an excuse for an increase in rent. 

 If he is thrifty and industrious, if he makes the 

 farm more productive, if he drains and irrigates, 

 the advantage all accrues to the owner or to some 

 other tenant who will pay an increased rent for 

 the property because of his exertions. 



In this country the tenant has no security what- 

 ever. He may be evicted at the end of the year. 

 Competitive tenancy such as everywhere exists in 

 America is destructive of farming. It leads to rapid 

 deterioration of the farm. 



The Commission on Industrial Relations found 

 that tenancy in the Southwestern States is already 

 the prevailing method of cultivation and that it 

 is increasing at a very rapid rate. In Texas the 

 number of tenant farmers in 1910 was 219,571. 

 They operated 53 per cent, of the farms in the State. 

 In Oklahoma and other Southern States the condi- 

 tions are much the same. 



Speaking of the effect of tenancy on the tenant 

 and the low standard of life which prevails among 

 the tenant farmers, the commission states:* 



"Under this (the tenant) system tenants as a 

 class earn only a bare living through the work of 



* Report of Commission on Industrial Relations, vol. 1. 



