FARM MANAGEMENT STUDY OF COTTON FARMS. 19 
He does not have to dicker with anyone about the amount of rent he 
must pay, or how long he may stay. His home is his castle, in which 
he is supreme. The average red-blooded American is ready to sacri- 
fice much for these advantages; and who shall say they are not 
worth what they cost ? 
But these personal aspects of the case are not the whole story. 
There is a broader aspect of national import. The tenant farmer, 
because he is not a permanent resident of the community, takes little 
interest in the local church, the school, or the condition of the public 
roads. He does not cheerfully contribute to their proper upkeep. He 
is not even deeply interested in good local government, because he 
feels that it is not his concern. He looks to the landowner for the 
performance of civic duties. He is, in fact, a much less valuable 
member of society than the farmer who owns the land he tills. 
Farm-management studies show unquestionably that the young 
farmer just starting out with small capital should, for purely finan- 
cial reasons, operate as a tenant on a moderate-sized farm rather than 
as owner on a mere garden patch ; but they also show that because of 
the tremendous advantages of ownership, practically all American 
farmers become owner-operators just as soon as they have acquired 
sufficient capital to enable them to do so without carrying an insuf- 
ferable burden of debt. 
An important and possibly a controlling financial reason for own- 
ership is the calculated profit in the enhanced value of the lands. As 
has been shown, this is an important consideration to the large land- 
owner who rents his land for a comparatively small return in yearly 
income and who receives a satisfactory return in the advance in 
values of farm property. In Table VI, for instance, the average farm 
income on owner farms valued at $4,709 to $13,665 is only $850, com- 
pared with the farm income of $1,157 by the tenant operating on a 
capital of $2,015 to $3,237. If we take the average of say $8,000 for 
the value of the farm in the first class and calculate the enhanced 
value on that at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, as is warranted in 
the previous exhibit of advance in value of farm property over a 
period of 30 years, the result will add $480 to the $850, or a gross 
income of $1,330 for the farm owner, compared with an income of 
$1,157 for the tenant. Undoubtedly the expectation of increased 
value in the farm, based upon the experience of preceding years, is 
an additional reason, besides those already recited, for ownership, in 
spite of apparent loss of income on the year's operation. 
In the one case he spends his income and makes no provision for 
his children or for his own old age. In the other he has laid by his 
income in a farm that insures a comfortable living when he is too old 
to work and provides a start in life for his offspring. It is decidedly 
