THE RENT AND VALUE OF FARM LAND 59 



13. Can you describe a condition under which all the land within 

 a given country would command a rent payment ? Under such a con- 

 dition where is the datum line from which you measure your no-rent 

 margin ? Suppose this to be an island cut off from communication 

 with all other lands, does this alter your answer? Would such a 

 condition (i.e., rent for every acre) be possible over the whole earth? 



14. Are advantages of land which are due to its situation " origi- 

 nal and indestructible'' ? Are transportation companies restricted in 

 their power of upsetting such natural conditions? (This question 

 should be related to several in the preceding chapter.) 



15. Is the actual productivity of a piece of land due to its own 

 intrinsic qualities or to the way in which some person is employing 

 it, or to both ? 



16. Does the man who operates his farm more skilfully than others 

 and therefore secures from it an extra return get the benefit of this 

 difference, or does he have to hand it over as rent ? 



17. Is there an average or ordinary degree of efficiency of farm 

 users which is discernible to those who are bargaining over rent pay- 

 ments ? 



18. Do the good farmers tend to locate on the good lands and the 

 poor farmers tend to be relegated to the inferior lands? Why and 

 how? 



19. What do you mean by "good" and "poor" farmers in the 

 preceding question? If the landlord is looking for the tenant who 

 will pay him the largest rent, is it certain that he will find this require- 

 ment met by the man who is technically most efficient ? May some- 

 one else overbid him because he is willing to live more cheaply or work 

 longer hours or do more disagreeable tasks ? Are these types of com- 

 petitive efficiency? 



20. Does the payment which is referred to in ordinary commercial 

 usage as rent differ from what we have been discussing as economic 

 rent? 



21. Define contract rent and distinguish it from economic rent. 

 Does it include payment for the use of other things than land ? Does 

 it, in the case of bare land, represent a market price for the use of land 

 which is different from theoretical amount which would cover the 

 exact economic differential ? 



22. Do contract rents tend to crystallize about certain more or 

 less customary rates? Do farms of different quality lying side by 

 side often rent for the same price ? Do farms rent for the same rate 

 in good years that they do in poor years ? Are such rates averages 

 of the productivity of a period of years ? 



23. Does cash or share rent conform more closely to actual con- 

 ditions of productivity ? Why then do we continue both systems ? 



