OWNERSHIP OF TEXAXT FAEMS IX XOETH CENTRAL STATES 21 
States. Of the rented farms of South Dakota 41 per cent were 
owned by landlords resident out of county and 24.1 per cent by 
landlords resident out of State. In Wisconsin, by contrast, only 20.6 
per cent of the rented farms were owned by landlords resident out of 
county and 4.5 per cent by landlords resident out of State (fig. 8). 
Tabulations for the 85 counties indexed for ownership in 1920 re- 
vealed a range between counties in respect to the percentage of rented 
farms owned by landlords resident in the county or in an adjoining 
county of 62 for Kiowa, a Kansas county, to 98, for Montgomery, an 
Ohio county (fig. 9). 
EXTENT TO WHICH OWNER* RESIDE WITHIN 3 MILES OF THEIR RENTED PROPERTY 
Of the tenants reported in the questionnaire replies of landlords 
who owned rented farms in the North Central States, 42 per cent were 
farming on places which were within 3 miles of the residence of the 
Percentage of Rented Farms Owned by Absentees 
North Centra! States, 1900 
Persons not resident in the County 
Persons not resident in the State 
E?xl Under s 
I H s to io 
PER CENT 
10 to IS j§H§ 20 to 25 
IS to 20 mi 25 to 30 
30 to 35 
35 and over 
Fig. 8.— Measured by the percentage of rented farms owned by persons who did not reside in the 
same county absenteeism was most important in South Dakota. In Nebraska, Kansas, North 
Dakota, and Minnesota not far from a third of the rented farms were owned by landlords resident 
out of the county. Only 3.3 per cent of the Ohio rented farms were owned by persons resident out 
of the State as compared with 24.1 per cent for South Dakota 
landlord. For the tenants of landlords who reported 1 tenant only 
the percentage was somewhat higher, 48. For tenants of landlords 
with 2 tenants it was 45 per cent; for tenants of landlords with 3 or 
4 tenants it was 41 per cent; and for tenants of landlords with 5 
farms or more it was 29 per cent. 
Comparing different sections, it appears that only 29 per cent of 
the rented Dakota farms are within 3 miles of the owner's residence, 
whereas 60 per cent of the Ohio and 58 per cent of the Michigan 
farms are that close (Table 17). In the Illinois counties 42 and in 
the Iowa counties 37 per cent of the rented farms are within 3 miles 
of the owner's residence. 
