TENANCY IN THE WESTERN STATES 



543 



PER CENT OF TENANCY, 1880-1910 



1910 



1900 



1890 



1880 



Western States . 

 Montana . . 

 Idaho . . 

 Wyoming . . 

 Colorado . . 

 New Mexico 

 Arizona . . 

 Utah . . . 

 Nevada . . 

 Washington . 

 Oregon . . 

 California . . 



14.1 

 8.9 



10.3 

 8.2 



18.2 

 5-5 

 9-3 

 7-9 



12.4 



137 

 151 

 20.6 



16.6 



9.2 



8.7 



7.6 



22.6 



9.4 



8.4 



8.8 



11.4 



14.4 



17.8 



23.1 



12. 1 

 4.8 

 4.6 

 4.2 



11. 2 



4-5 

 7-9 

 5-2 

 7-5 

 8.5 



12-5 



17.8 



14. 



5-3 

 4-7 

 2.8 



13- 



8.1 

 13.2 



4.6 



9-7 



7.2 



14.1 



19.8 



Since 1880 tenancy in the Western States has fluctuated con- 

 siderably, as the table shows. Beginning in that year with 14 per 

 cent it fell to 12.1 per cent in 1890, rose to 16.6 per cent in 

 1900, and decreased again in 19 10 to a figure just barely above 

 that of thirty years before. Notwithstanding the decrease in ten- 

 ancy in the North Atlantic states during the past decade, there 

 has been in general an appreciable advance in the proportion of 

 tenant farms for the thirty -year period between 1880 and 19 10. 

 But the Western States show no such tendency. Of the eleven 

 states in the Western group but a single one, Wyoming, shows 

 for the whole period an uninterrupted increase in the proportion 

 of tenancy, and, as it happens, it has had throughout nearly the 

 lowest proportion of any of these states. With hardly an excep- 

 tion, the states in which the most extensive systems of farming 

 have predominated, and these are the older states in point of 

 agricultural development, are the ones in which the percentage of 

 tenant farms is highest. 



For the United States other than the South, 25.6 per cent of 

 the farms in 19 10 were operated by tenants, as compared to 25.5 

 per cent so operated in 1900. The difference seems to be virtu- 

 ally nil. To say, however, that the advance in the proportion of 

 tenancy has come to a standstill would be unwarranted. As 

 shown in the preceding articles in this series, the tendency is still 



