654 T H IMPENDING REVOLUTION. 



60,000,000, control $4,000,000,000 of the wealth of the 

 country. 



The total number of farms in the United States is 

 about five trillions. 1,280,000 of these farms are rented. 

 Since 1880 there has been an increase of farm renting to 

 the extent of 25 per cent. 



New England has the largest per centage occupied by 

 owners, being 91^ per cent; only 8^ per cent, of the 

 farms are rented; in Maine only 4^ are rented. Colorado, 

 California, Oregon, 17^ of the farms are leased; Iowa, 

 Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, 18 per cent, are rented; 

 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, 

 Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, 20 per cent, are rented; 

 Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West 

 Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, 

 one-third of the farms are rented; Georgia, Florida, Ala- 

 bama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, 43 per cent, of the 

 farms are leased; in South Carolina 50 per cent, of the 

 farms are leased. 



Of the total number of small leased farms 32 per 

 cent, are for money, 68 per cent, are rented on shares; 

 of the large farms, 44 per cent, are rented for money, and 

 56 per cent, on shares. 



It is evident to the most ordinary observer that the 

 lands are passing out of the hands of those who cultivate 

 them. Why is this? Is it the result of idleness and 

 incompetency on the part of the tillers of the soil ? No. 

 The farmers for the past ten or fifteen years have labored 

 as they never did before. They have produced abundant 

 crops. They have studied and practiced economy. They 

 have denied themselves and families of the comforts, and 

 in some instances the necessities of life. They have 

 endured privation and toil. They have had the use of 

 improved machinery with which they have been enabled to 

 double the product of their labor. But still the cold hard 



