FARM OWNERSHIP AND TENANCY IN TEXAS. 13 
must be disposed of within specified periods of time after posses- 
sion is secured. 11 
The antibonus law, as has been noted, was the result of agitation 
against the bonus system. 12 
This law makes it illegal to contract for or collect a rent in excess 
of the value of one-third of the grain and one-fourth of the cotton 
raised on the land where the landlord furnishes only land and im- 
provements, and a rent in excess of one-half of the crops where the 
landlord furnishes land, improvements, and equipment. A tenant 
who is charged a rent in excess of this can. collect from the landlord 
by legal proceedings double the amount of the rent, and, further- 
more, the landlord loses his right to the landlord's prior lien. 
Strict enforcement of this law would, no doubt, have far-reaching 
social effects in areas where the specified share rent yields a very low 
return on the value of the land, since it would tend to keep land 
values much lower than they would otherwise be. A legally pre- 
scribed and unvarying rent must be justified on social and not on 
economic grounds, for it does not provide for adjustment to meet 
changes in economic conditions that affect the amount of rent that 
equitably may be asked for the use of the land. 
The factors of production have been classified as land, equipment, 
and labor — the human element of labor and management. 13 In the 
black land the landlord furnishes only land, when renting his land 
on a one-third and one-fourth share basis, and the tenant furnishes 
the other two factors. The reward to land is rent, and the reward to 
the other factors is usually spoken of as interest on equipment and 
capital and labor income. 
Variations in the values of the landlord's and tenant's respective 
contributions toward the operation of the farm would of necessity 
vary the share of the rewards that should go to either party. Con- 
sequently, such variations have a vital bearing on the problems of 
the determination of an equitable rent. 
The total capital used on the average farm has varied consider- 
ably since 1860, but practically all of the increase in total farm 
value occurred during the past 20 years (see Table 8). The smallest 
average total value was reached in 1880, at the end of the decline 
11 See Complete Statutes of Texas, pp. 13-14 and 745. Aliens of countries which have 
treaties with the United States providing for the right of ownership in this country and 
aliens of countries which allow ownership rights to citizens of the United States are 
excepted from the provisions of this law. 
12 The extent to which the bonus system was practiced is not known, because the bonus 
provision of the rent contract was usually kept a secret and was very unpopular with 
renters in general (see Univ. of Tex. Bui. No. 21, 1915, Chapter VI). However, by 
1910 state-wide attention was given to the subject, which culminated in the organization 
of the Renters' Union of America in 1911. The subject of rent and land problems in 
general became the main issue for the gubernatorial campaign of 1914, and the successful 
candidate was elected mainly because of his advocacy of an antibonus law. 
13 See Chapters IX, X, and XI of Taylor's "Agricultural Economics." 
