Land Problems and National Welfare 



extra hundred to the income he is making from 

 the old farm on which he lives. 



The very large tenant farmer came into 

 existence, or at all events increased in numbers 

 to a great extent, during the period of agricul- 

 tural distress, at a time when only the good 

 business man with large capital at his disposal 

 could take the larger farms at all, and even he 

 would take them only at a much reduced rental. 

 The poor landowner was not master of the situ- 

 ation — he was thankful to get rid of his farms 

 at almost any price. But, although times have 

 now greatly improved, the area cultivated by 

 these very big farmers still tends to increase. 

 It is a practice harmful to the industry and 

 unjust to the agriculturist at large. It is not 

 a sound argument to say that because this class 

 of farmer makes his business pay he should 

 be allowed without let or hindrance to swallow 

 up farm after farm. It is clearly a case of a 

 very small class of men doing harm not only to 

 their industry, but to the nation. If a large 

 farmer with, say, 500 or 1,000 acres wants to 

 increase his income, let him farm his land more 

 intensively — double the yield per acre instead 

 of taking new farms. Thus he would benefit 

 the country as well as himself, and he would 

 not be preventing others from obtaining land. 



It is seriously wrong for a farmer to hold 5,000 

 acres in a district in which a hard-working and 



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