338 FARM ACCOUNTING 



"One farmer out of every 22 received a labor income of 

 over $2000 a year. One farmer out of every three paid 

 for the privilege of working his farm, that is, after deduct- 

 ing 5 per cent interest on his investment he failed to make 

 a plus labor income." 



Incomes Received by Farm Tenants. "There are few 

 regions in the United States where tenant farming has been 

 developed so extensively and where it plays -such an im- 

 portant part in agricultural production as in the corn belt. 

 The percentage of farms worked by tenants is second only 

 to those operated by owners, and the areas farmed and tin; 

 products grown compare very favorably with those of the 

 farm owners. 



"In the region covered by this survey, records were se- 

 cured from 247 tenant farmers. These men rented one 

 farm, or land owned by one person. There were 51 other 

 tenants who rented farms from two different parties. Their 

 records show the same results, which have not been included 

 in Table IV (Illustration 59). 



"Most tenants hope to become farm own ion as 



they have sufficient capital. The income they receive 

 while leasing a farm is a measure of the period they 

 will have to work before making the change. The av 

 tenant in Indiana, with an investment of $1758, received 

 $755 for his year's work. In Illinois, with an investment. 

 of $2867, he received $1139 as a labor income. In Iowa, 

 with an average capital of $2667, his labor income was 

 $716. Owing to drought in early summer, the income of 

 the tenant in Iowa was probably 20 per cent less than it 

 would have been in a normal crop year. 



"The 247 tenant farmers make an average labor income 

 of $870 from an investment of less than $2500. When it 

 is remembered that the farm owners with over 1'J times 

 this investment made less than half the labor income of 



