OWNERSHIP OF TENANT FARMS IX XORTH CEXTRAL STATES 19 
Table 15. — Percentage of rented farm -property in the North Central States owned 
by residents of the county in which the rented property was located, 1900 and 1920 
Item and year 
Rented 
farms 
Value of land 
and buildings 
Property in 12 States, 1900 i 
Property in 85 counties, 1920 ' . 
Percentage of propertv owned bv landlords living in the county 
1900 . 
1920 
Number 
576, 303 
85, 402 
Per cent 
74.0 
73.7 
Acres 
74, 202, 436 
14, 993, 865 
Dollars 
2, 695, 391, 083 
2, 891, 993, 144 
Per cent Per cent 
73.8 
70.0 ! 72.3 
1 Base on which percentages were calculated. 
Figures are given in Table 16, for the areas studied in the different 
States in 1920, showing the extent to which the rented farms, the 
acreage in rented farms, and the value of rented farm real estate were 
owned by landlords who were not absentees. In preparing the table, 
farms owned by landlords who resided neither in the county nor in 
any of the adjoining counties, were considered to be the property of 
absentee owners. 
Table 16. — Farms, area, and, value of rented farms, and percentages owned by 
persons resident in the county or in an adjoining county, in selected areas in eight 
North Central States, 1920 
Size of study 
•tate and section containing area studied 
Coun- 
Parms Area 
Value 
Percentages owned by 
residents of county cr 
an adjoining county 
Farms | Acres Value 
I 
Ohio (western) 
Illinois (northern) 
Illinois (central)..- 
Michigan (southern) 
Wisconsin (southern) 
Iowa (western) 
Iowa (central) 
North Dakota and South Dakota (eastern) 
Kansas (central) 
All areas studied 
Number 
11 
11 
10 
8 
6 
7 
11 
11 
10 
Number 
11, 100 
12, 200 
16, 300 
6,800 
5,200 
7,800 
11, 200 
6,900 
7,900 
1,000 
acres 
1,100 
L900 
2,700 
800 
700 
1,500 
1,800 
2,600 
1,900 
Million 
dollars 
173 
453 
839 
71 
100 
420 
483 
195 
158 
Per cent 
95.59 
91.51 
88.56 
93.01 
95. 53 
85.35 
90.45 
74.26 
86.00 
85 85 
15,000 2,892 89.24 85.64 
Per cent 
94 41 
90.51 
87.08 
92.67 
94.72 
83.27 
89.31 
73.01 
83.34 
Per cent 
94.68 
90.48 
88.05 
93.09 
95.19 
84.77 
89.53 
74. 57 
85.45 
7.92 
The extent to which 16,306 rented farms or parcels of rented farms 
in a compact group of 10 counties in central Illinois were owned by 
persons residing within the counties, within the area, in counties 
immediately surrounding the area, and in other counties in the country 
is shown in Figure 7. In the area, which could easily be traversed in 
good weather in a day by automobile, resided the owners of 85.7 per 
cent of the farms. The owners of 74.4 per cent of the farms lived 
in the same county as their land, and the owners of 88.6 per cent of the 
farms lived in the same county as their farm or in adjoining counties. 
In some other parts of the country, absenteeism is somewhat more 
common among farm landlords; but this central Illinois area can be 
considered representative of a considerable section of the northern 
part of the country, in which it is centrally located. 
The relative amount of absenteeism in 1900 was greater in the 
Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas than in the other North Central 
