PROBLEMS OF COUNTRY LIFE 109 



Fifth. Requirement by law of minimum housing conditions 

 upon rented farms, such conditions to be maintained under a 

 system of adequate inspection. 



Sixth. The obligation not only to maintain but to increase 

 the fertility of land, this obligation to be equally binding upon 

 landlord and tenant and enforced by public license. 



Seventh. Recognition of the fact that as between the owner 

 and the operator of the land, the sympathy and support of the 

 public should be with the operator. 



Eighth. Recognition of the fact that as between the owner- 

 operator, the tenant, and the speculator, the sympathy and sup- 

 port of the public should be with the owner-operator as the 

 typical farmer. 



Ninth. The elimination from the public mind of the idea 

 that tenantry is to be regarded in America as typical land 

 occupancy or as the ideal road to ownership, theories for 

 nationalization and mutualization of land to the contrary not- 

 withstanding. 



Tenth. The appropriation of public funds for financing 

 young men in prospective ownership as soon as they shall have 

 fully established a reputation for thrift and shall have ac- 

 cumulated say ten per cent, of the purchase price of productive 

 lands. 



Eleventh. The establishment of interest rates on funds 

 loaned upon land for home-building purposes that shall be based 

 upon those of the most favorable bond issues, not upon current 

 banking rates for short term loans rates that cannot be generally 

 realized in farming and that ought not to be realized in the 

 business of producing the staple foods. 



Twelfth. Discouragement of speculation in land, by means of 

 graduated taxation and if necessary by prohibiting the ac- 

 cumulation of large numbers of farms or other acquisition of land 

 with no intention of occupancy ; in other words, the absolute dis- 

 sociation of real estate speculation from farming and from the 

 production of the food of the people. If we are to retain the 

 principle and practice of private ownership, we must not abuse 

 the privilege. 



Thirteenth. Recognition of agriculture in all its phases as 

 a matter of deep public concern, whether regarded as the ma- 



