in 1950 and 1960. Washington, D.C., and New York City are major receivers 

 of migrants from the rural South, particularly negro migrants. In 1940, 

 the returns to croppers in Virginia were 62 percent of the median income 

 of all males classed as laborers, except those in farming and mining; this 

 percentage increased to nearly 74 in 1950, but dropped to about 67 in 1960. 

 On the other hand, the ratio of returns to croppers in North Carolina to 

 the median income of all laborers was nearly constant from 1940 through 

 1960. The ratios for 1940, 1950, and 1960 were 1.02, 1.02 and 1.05, 

 respectively. 



Tenure structure — From 1925 to 1959, the total number of farms declined 

 by 36 percent in Virginia and 26 percent in North Carolina. Cropper units 

 in this period declined by 33 percent in Virginia and 48 percent in North 

 Carolina. Also, from 1954 to 1959, flue-cured tobacco acreage was reduced 

 by the program by about one-third in both North Carolina and Virginia. 



The fact that in North Carolina the number of cropper units declined 

 more than the total number of farms suggests the possibility of a significant 

 shift from cropper to other kinds of labor because of the inflexibility of 

 tenure arrangements. The increasing difference in trends in returns to 

 croppers and in farm wage rates in North Carolina would tend to encourage 

 a substitution of hired labor for cropper labor. However, in relation to 

 the total number of farms in North Carolina from 1925 to 1954, the number 

 of cropper farms changed little. The lack of a trend in this relationship 

 is consistent with the hypothesis that tenure arrangements are flexible in 

 the long run. The multiple cropper unit system in North Carolina provided 

 landowners with more freedom in reorganizing their farms into fewer cropper 

 units following the reduction In tobacco acreage than did the single 

 cropper system in Virginia. Thus, it is largely because of the flexibility 

 of -the tenure system in North Carolina that the number of croppers decreased 

 considerably after 1954. 



Overall, it appears that in the long run (a period of nearly 40 years) 

 the rigid tenure agreements between landowners and tenants have had little, 

 if any, effect on the distribution of the benefits of flue-cured tobacco 

 programs. However, available data indicate that in both States there 

 have been many instances when these arrangements could have affected the 

 distribution of benefits for short periods of time. Since this study is 

 concerned primarily with the distribution of program benefits for a long 

 period of time, the analysis to follow will be based on the premise that 

 income to labor from 1933 through 1960 did not differ significantly from 

 what it would have been in the absence of the programs. Thus, the problem 

 now is to estimate the effects of these programs on income to land. 



EFFECTS OF FLUE-CURED TOBACCO PROGRAMS ON LAND RENT 



Some Theoretical and Procedural Considerations 



Land rent, or income, can be increased by the programs in a number of 

 ways. First, through the Federal price-support and supply control program, 



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