The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-02-11
Tenant Farmers.

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The most striking article in this
month North -lRelfcGn RecieW is that
of Mr. Thomas T. Gill OH ':Landlordism
in America His facts are carefully
collected, and his figures are moderate.
but the paper itself is little less than
sensational. Here are some of the facts
he has brought together;
There were in 1880 in the United
States 1,024,602 farms rented by ten
ants; there are now at least 1850. 900.
In the whole of Great Britain and Ire
land there are 1,069.127. In that case,
however, we must 90 behind the face
of the returns OF the 1854, ,306 pro-
prietor5 farming their own land re-
ported by the census of 1880 a consider
able number are not farmers at all, but
ranch owners; and of the remainder
probably half are proprietors only in
name, their land being covered by mort
cages almost to the extent OF its value.
There is. then, in this country, Il dis
tinct class of landlords. who live on the
rents collected from the tenant farm-
ers. and class larger in numbers than
the same class in the United Kingdom.
There are now remaining OF the pub
lie lands OF the United States iii for
agriculture less than 5000, 900 acres.
ali of which. at the recent rate of appro-
priation. will be taken up within a
wear The public domain is almost ex-
hansted. 50 that the government can no
longer give 4 farm of l60 acres to any
settler who will till il.
Now that the available land Is nearly
all taken up, tenant farming is likely TO
increase enormously. Settlers will have
no option except TO rent farms. and The
holders will moi sell SO long as they can
obtain so much more by renting. The
present rents are enOrmnus-one-half
the crop being the general rule; while
all the improvements made upon the
lands and the Increase IN liz productive
value from year TO year accrue 10 the
benefit of the owner
The States possessing the most tenant
farmers are those OF the northern central
group, led by Illinois. which has no less
than 80, pa, besides the perhaps equal
number whose labor nearly ali goes
10 pay interest on the mortgages
with which their land is covered. Mis-
souri, comes next, and Ohio. Indiana
and Iowa are not far behind. What
has happened in these States is pretty
sure to happen in the newer States and
TerritorieS-the division of the land by
large proprietorS into small holdings, on
the rent OF which the owners will live in
a1iluence.
Startling as these facts are, the pro-
cesses by which the public domain has
become private property, mostly in the
hands of large proprietors, are still
more so. Space fails us to tell of the
evasions and perversions of the law that
have enabled men TO get and hold land
to which they were not entitled: but
the representative of the North .imerj-
can finds that a series OF systematic
frauds have been perpetratcd that are u
disgrace to the Nation.
As for the remedy. it is almost too
late to think of that, but Mr.. Gill says
that the day has arrived for an Ameri-
can Licinius who will reform the land
lord and tenant tenureS. remodel the
homestead and presumption. the timber
culture and desert laws, under which so
much fraud is perpetrated. and restrain
the encrOachments of monopoly upon
the public domain" Unless something
is done, and that speedily, he predicts
for this country the same ruin that be-
fel the Roman Republic because of its
agrarian discomfort.
We give the statements of the North
AnaertcdR contributor for what they are
worth. 1t is possible that they may be
exaggerated. and that his fears are UNI
| founded. Nevertheless. the facts he
has brought out are worthy of serious
| study, and the reform of the land laws
IS question that deserves the most
careful consideration in congress.