9 o ECONOMICS OF LAND TENURE IN GEORGIA [ qo . 



per cent of the farms of white farmers were worked by 

 cash tenants. 1 This seems to be a rather creditable 

 showing for the negroes, but, in order to give a balanced 

 view of the last-mentioned percentages, it should be re- 

 membered that the white farms far outnumber the negro 

 farms and fifty per cent of the former are returned as 

 being operated by owners. 2 



In order to make the survey complete a word should 

 be said concerning the farms operated by owners. The 

 census figures 3 on this subject are as follows : 



1880 1890 1900 



Total number of farms 138,626 171,071 224,466 



Number of farms operated by owners 76,451 79,477 90,131 

 Percentage of farms operated by 



owners 55.1 46.4 40.1 



It appears that the ownership operation of farms, 

 although showing an absolute increase of eighteen per 

 cent, has suffered a relative decrease. In 1880, fifty-five 

 per cent of the farms were operated by owners, while in 

 1900, forty per cent were so operated — a relative decrease 

 of twenty-seven per cent. Upon its surface this seems 

 to be an unfortunate tendency. A little analysis, how- 

 ever, will place the matter in a less unfavorable view. 



To say that forty per cent of the farms are operated by 

 owners is not the same as saying that only forty per cent 

 of the owners operate their farms. As was pointed out 

 in another connection the number of landowners posses- 

 sing up to a few hundred acres of land has been on the 

 increase ever since the civil war. It is safe to say that in 

 so far as these holdings are concerned there has been a 

 considerable increase in the number worked by owners. 



1 Twelfth Census, vol. v, p. 69. i Ibid., p. 68. 



 Abstract Twelfth Census, pp. 294, 295. 



