66 OUTLINES OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



these arguments square with the facts in your own community or is 

 tenancy an indication that the farm operator is going backward ? 



27. Does the experience of other countries give ground for fear 

 that the inevitable tendency is toward an ever-increasing percentage 

 of non-owning farmers and harder and harder conditions for these 

 tenants ? 



28. Is this equally the testimony of all the countries of Europe ? 

 If conditions in some are worse and in others better, how can you 

 account for the differences ? 



29. Are conditions in America such as to make us more susceptible 

 to such dangers or relatively to protect us from them? Give your 

 reasons. 



30. If all farmers leased their land from their respective state 

 governments or from the federal government, is it likely that we 

 should talk about a " tenancy problem " ? Why or why not? 



31. Under such a system do you think land would be better 

 utilized or not so well utilized? Why? Would there still be an 

 economic rent accruing ? If so, should a payment of this amount be 

 made to the government for the use of the land ? 



32. Under the foregoing system show how the individual farmer 

 would be worse off or better off, as the case may be, than under 

 existing conditions of private property in land. 



^. Show how society would be worse off or better off. Mention 

 probable administrative difficulties and abuses. 



34. What is meant by " private property in land" ? by ownership 

 in "fee simple" ? by an "estate" in land? May there be forms of 

 ownership which are limited in character ? Are there any which are 

 absolutely unlimited ? 



35. Explain the conditions under which the landlord- tenant rela- 

 tion in agriculture is mutually desirable. Is it conceivable that the 

 whole industry could be organized upon a basis of ownership of the 

 land by a class of inactive owners (of land and possibly of equipment) 

 and of active operators who contribute labor and management, the 

 former receiving a small but certain and regular return upon their 

 investment and the latter the fluctuating but larger gains of business 

 entrepreneurship ? 



36. Does the foregoing condition exist in other lines of business ? 

 Does the ordinary merchant consider it essential that he should own 

 the property he occupies ? Why ? Does the big manufacturing or 

 transportation company own the landed property with which it works ? 

 Supposing that on the average thj bonded debt of corporations equals 

 the value of their real estate, what bearing does this have upon the 

 preceding question ? 



