The morning call., 1893-03-17
THE PLAGUE OF LAND POVERTY.

THE PLAGUE OF LAND POVERTY.
There is a world of suggestion in the an
nouncement of the Public Administrators
shat the great San Diego ranch belonging
TO the Blythe estate, embracing 10000 acres.
is source of loss and not profit. Vast
tracts of land held under,one ownership, and
so extensive that the owner could not cnlti-
vate them himself. were long ago known
to be breeders of poverty rather than
riches. But each generation seems to need
to learn the lesson for itself. Twice, in the
history of Spain, did the bulk OF the real es
tate in the kingdom fall into few hands. Once
two-ihirds of all the arabic land became the
property of the church, aid proved one OF
the chief causes of lis decay and its spoiia-
ton. At another period the oblity became
possessed Of nearly as large proportion of
the productive agricultural area. What
followed? ? The peasantry became hired
workers, instead of farmers On their own
account, and aid rs little work as they
could. The yield of the land was reduced 10
minimum and such houses as that Of Me-
dina-S.donia. which had enjoyed a royal
income from the time of the Moorish con-
quest, became so impoverished that they
could not outfit regiment. What happened
in Spain will happen everywhere. Men
who play the part of Graball are certain TO
grow land-poor.
In England, where the estates of noble
men are large, the great bulk Of the acreage
is leased to tenant farmers on long leases at
low rents. The lord of the manor only
farms q few acres himself Under this
system. which is the growth of centuries.
large landed holdings can lie made to yield
about per cent on the sum they would
realize at auction. They do not make their
owners wealthy, but Deither do they ini-
poyersh them. In this country we have
never been able 10 carry out the English
plan because our tenant farmer class is too
small, and because there is a popular preiu-
dice against the establishment of this
system OF land holding. Special legislation
forbds it in Illinois. In Kansas, where
| land poverty lies at the bottom Of the present
| general distress, there is a drift toward a
! system of landlordism, but long time
! must elapse before 1t could be inaugurated.
| if it ever is. There every one, high and
! low. has more land han he can handle, and
| people are only just awakening TO tile fact
that no farmer can cultivate 4 quarter Sec
tion without hiring help. and that if he
cannot hire help the longer he farms the
/ poorer he will grow.
| California is par excellence n country OF
large estates. The area of arabic land is
| out of proportion TO tile population. and as
every acre must have an owner some
! owners must possess far more land than is
! good for them. So long as the State re-
mained in the pastoral stage the inconveni-
ence of excessive holdings was not felt. but
when it passed into the agricultural stage it
became intOleTabe. The owner of lordly
| domains could neither cultivate them him
| self nor hire others to cultivate them tor
| him. In countries less fertile than Call
| forna the possession of estates like those of
| Haggin and Hearst and Flood, and The
| estate of Glenn, the estate Of Martin
Murphy, and dozen others which might
be named, would be reckoned as multi
millionsires; here it is always nice ques-
ton whether the income of the estate will
balance the outgO, and. as land has no value
except for that which it will yield. they
actually in many cases fail to constitute an
asset.
Some day, of course, as population flows
into California from some source or other
these great estates will be subdiyided either
by system Of tenancy or by sales in small
farms; but who shall say wien that mllen
Mum is going 10 arrive? When once land
agglomerates in single hands its Tedistribu
tion is a slow process. Two thousand year:
ago the land lying between Rome and Flor
ence. Italy. fawed with milk and honey. L
was SO rich that annual raids by barbarianl
scarcely reduced the wealth Of its owners
but in the comm Otions of the middle ages
and the subsequent yicissitudes of war the
soil gradually drifted into single ownership
and now one of the principal prOprietors
an Italian Duke. who boasts that he car
ride from the Vatican to the Aruo without
going of his own land, is grateful when the
Bank Of Rome will discount his note fol
$1,000.
Some of cur great landowners have IN
drrtaken to farm their own estates. Mr.
Dalrymple OF Minnesota and Dakota has
thousands upon thousands of acres In wheat
within a wire fence. He cultgates II Will
machinery, managed by division overseers
Does he make money? He alone can tel!
Within a few years the trustees Of tie
Leland Stanford University will be con
frOnted with the problem of getting al
income out OF 5000 acres of the best lane
in California. 1t will be interesting Il
observe how they will solve it, The thln(
would be simple enough if they could cut i
up in forty-acre farms and sell OF lease
them. But if there is no one to buy or tt
lease the farms, how shall they handle
$1,000 acres? The executive ability whlcl
could make such a vast estate profitable
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