174 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. [Jan. 



ferior social position, and restricted in political privileges. 

 Until lately they have owned but little of the land they 

 tilled. Peasant ownership on a large scale is a comparatively 

 new thing. 



Unquestionably tlie best system of land ownership is 

 essentially that which we have here in the United States ; 

 where it confers no especial political privileges, and where 

 land may be bought and sold as other property can, with 

 only such restrictions as the nature of the property and the 

 security of title render proper. 



"Wherever such a condition exists, there we always have a 

 sub-division of land, suited to the wants and the means of 

 those who wish to win their living from it. The man of 

 moderate means can buy land on the same terms that the 

 rich man may. This tendency has been to create a large 

 number of property owners, and this is unquestionably a 

 source of national strength. We cannot conceive of a 

 strong nation or any strong sense of patriotism, where all 

 the people are poor and without hope of acquiring a home. 

 Love of country grows out of love of home, and a nation of 

 homeless men cannot be patriotic. National strength is, in 

 a sense, based upon property as well as upon men ; and no 

 other form of property is so endearing as a bit of land, 

 which is at once the home of the family and its wealth. 



Less than a generation ago, seven-eighths of the capital 

 of the civilized world was invested in agriculture, or in the 

 commerce of agricultural products. The younger generation 

 to-day cannot appreciate how rapidly the means of invest- 

 ment have changed. One of the reasons, and a powerful one, 

 too, for the decline in money value of agricultural land all 

 over Christendom, is due to the fact that many other ways 

 have rapidly come forward in which capital may be invested 

 with reasonable safety and profitable returns. 



Perhaps the most marked feature of the employment of 

 capital to-day is the tendency for its concentration in a few 

 hands. Vast sums, representing the capital of great cor- 

 porations, are controlled by a few people, and great riches 

 have accumulated in the hands of a few very rich men. Less 

 than a generation ago all the very rich men were rich in 

 lands ; it was almost the only stable property to invest in on 



