Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-03-25
Tenant Farmers.

The most striking article in this
month North american RerieU is that
OF Mr.. Thomas p Gill on ''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 l,024,602 farms rented by ten
ants; there are now ut least 1,250, 900.
the whole of Great Britain and Ire
land there are 1,069,127 In that case,
however. we must go behind the '.face
OF the returns" Of the 1884. SOC pro-
prletors farming their own land re-
| ported by the census of 1880 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, n dis
tinct class of landlords, who live OH 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 fit for
agriculture less than 100000 acres,
| all of which, at the recent rate of appro-
priation, will be taken up within
year. The public domain is almost ex-
hausted, so that the government can no
| longer give a farm OF 100 acres to any
settler who will till it.
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 not sell so long rs they can
obtain so much more by renting. The
present rents are enormous one-half
the crop being the general rule; while
all the improvements made upon the
lands and the increase in its productive
value from year to year accrue to 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 8O.244. besides tie perhaps equal
number whose labor nearly all goes
to 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
afiiuence.
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 pervers;ons of the law that
have enabled men TO get and hold land
to which they were not entitled: but
the representative of the North .4meri-
can finds that series of systematic
frauds have been perpetrated that are
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
Anerscan contributor for what they are
worth. 1t is possible that they may be
exaggerated. and that his fears are I'M
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-