FARM LAND VALUES IN IOWA. 81 
Whether the economic rent of 1918 may continue to. be main- 
tained depends, of course, on future yields and future prices. The 
former can undoubtedly be substantially increased in the Warren 
district, but it is at best doubtful whether the high average economic 
rent of the Tama district will be maintained in subsequent years. 
It is not to be assumed, of course, from the above discussion that con- 
tract rent should be as high as economic rent, for the latter has been 
calculated by allowing the tenant only the estimated value of his 
labor and superintendence, with no allowance for his enterprise and 
risk. 
PER CENT NET RETURN OF ALL CLASSES OF OPERATORS ON OPERATORS? CAPITAL. 
In order to determine how profitably the farmer’s capital is em- 
‘ployed in production it is desirable to ascertain the net return on his 
capitalization. To determine this net return it is necessary to 
deduct from the average farm income the rent paid for land not 
owned by the operator, together with the value of the labor and 
supervision of the farmer. The percentage of this remainder to the 
farmer’s capital, whether represented by land, operating capital, or 
live stock, may provide a measure of the return on capital for the 
different classes of farmers, as contrasted with the return on invest- 
ments in other lines of business, and it may also afford a test of the 
relative profitableness of farming under different tenures. The 
increased value of the land is regarded as reinvested capital in the 
case of owners operating their farms. These facts are presented in 
Table XVIII. , 
It will be noted that on his comparatively small investment the 
average per cent of return of the tenant is much higher than that 
of either owners or owners additional. In 1913 tenants in the Tama 
district earned 18.3 per cent as compared with 3.98 per cent for 
owners and 5.6 for cwners additional. In 1918 tenants in this 
district earned nearly 32 per cent as compared with 5 per cent for 
owners and 7 per cent for owners additional. In the Warren district 
tenants earned 12.4 per cent in 1915 as compared with 3.6 per cent 
by owners and 5.3 by owners additional. In 1918, however, tenants 
in this district made only 2.3 per cent on total capital, while owners 
earned 3.6 per cent on. capitalization, and owners additional 5.5 
per cent. The small relative return to tenants in this case is due 
to the large proportion of share tenants in Warren County, for all 
classes of share tenants paid the landlord about 5.8 per cent on the 
1918 average value of the farms rented. 
Although, because of their relatively small investment, the percent- 
age of return on capital earned by tenants varies to a much greater 
extent than do the returns of owners and owners additional, the 
general tendency has been for tenants to earn a higher percentage 
of return on their capital than either of the two other classes, 
