TENANCY IN THE NORTH CENTRAL STATES 52 1 



the dear one. The great desideratum has been a system which 

 required the minimum amount of labor, and since land has been 

 the plentiful agent, it has been exploited as though it would con- 

 tinue to yield crops gratuitously for all time. With the growth of 

 population and the consequent demands for more foodstuff the 

 value of land has followed the rise in the prices of its product. But 

 the land which responds best to immediate demands rises most. 

 As a result the fertile land capable of producing good crops with- 

 out the use of high-priced fertilizers, or great outlay for drainage, 

 rises first and highest. And while this movement is in progress 

 there is a process of natural selection by which the less efficient 

 farmers are shifted to the cheaper land of the outlying districts ; 

 or if they remain, they, or more likely their sons, are within their 

 own neighborhoods relegated to the class of tenants. Speculation 

 is still prevalent in the sections of high-priced land, and is a great 

 factor in keeping the price so high that ordinary commercial 

 returns cannot be made on the investment except by men and 

 methods above the average. This is in itself one of the primary 

 causes of tenancy. Such a sifting and shifting does not take place 

 in the sections where land is less well adapted to exploitation 

 and less attractive to speculators ; hence the less efficient may 

 retain ownership. At the same time the type of farming adapted 

 to these sections favors the efficient. 



These conclusions are borne out by the fact that within the 

 districts of high-priced land the farmers practising the intensive 

 methods or the rational method of diversification are those who in 

 great measure own the land they till. In the parts of Iowa, for 

 example, where dairying is most prevalent, even though the price 

 of land is high, tenancy is relatively low. The same is true of the 

 intensive farming, such as truck and fruit growing. It can be done, 

 and is done, on high-priced land without the aid of a separate 

 landlord class. Hence the conclusion seems inevitable that the 

 system of farming is a factor equally important, if not more impor- 

 tant, than the price of land in turning the scale in favor of owner- 

 ship or in favor of tenancy. Those who engage in what is called 

 the mining type of farming are losing their hold on the soil. Those 

 engaged in a more profitable type are retaining it to a much greater 



