The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-09-25
A SERIOUS QUESTION.
THE LAND is PASSING AWAY
FROM THE PEOPLE.
A Silent RevOlutiOn-Its Nature and
Consequences-AN Nation of
Tenant Farmers.
A NATION OF TENANT FARMERS.


six New England states, the owning
farmers diminished 24,117, and the ten
ant farmers increased 7,24S. The num-
ber of tenant farmers in Massachusetts
1880, and the percentage of farmers in
Vermont and Connecticut at this time
was over II. and Is per cent of the IL rm-
ers of Rhode Island were then tenants,
not landowners. This change, if con-
fined to New England, would be startling,
but in the South in 1890 there was an in
crease of IS ,915 owning farmers and 275,-
7S5 tenant farmers. In Missouri, Ar
kansas and Texas there was a gain be-
tween 1880 and 1890 of 1882 owning
farmers and 1850 tenant farmers. A
large proportion of these are persons who
were formerly slaves, and now are ten
ants. In the Middle states, during this
interval, the owners have decreased "a
304 and the tenants have increased 24,
the number of owning farmers was 129,
$50, and the number of tenant farmers
10S,507 In Iowa the number of tenant
farmers increased 1858, in Kansas 3d.
463. In forty-seven states and territories
the number of owning farmers had in
1890 become 1851, and the number of
tenant farmers had grown to 599, 1897.
These figures. which might be greatly eX-
tended show that all over the country
the number of the farmers who own
their land is decreasing, while the num-
Der of those who are tenants at will is
rapidly increasing. The land, also, in
many parts of the country is advancing
in value In Nebraska it has risen dur
ing the last twenty years from 81 an
acre for rough land to S25 an acre with
improvements. At the same time the
profits of the farmer have been decreas-
ing. Most of these tenant farmers pay
heavy rental for the use of the land,
and large proportion of those who own
their farms are paying heavy rate Of
interest on their mortgages. 1t is only
a question of time when they must give
up and become tenant farmers.
This brief statement of the general
situation shows that all over the country
of landlords, who rent it out to tenants On
such terms that whenever bad season
comes, or the crops cannot be sold at a
high figure, it means disaster to the farm
er. He cannot pay his debts, and is at
the mercy of the owner of the land. More
and more, these owners are nOn-resi-
dents, living in the East or in foreign
country. For long time the average
size of the farms had been decreasing
but in 1890 the census showed an advance
over all the northern states. The in
crease was most notable in farms of
from 500 to 1000 acres, which showed the
presence of the landlord and of hired
hands. The evidence obtained from ev
cry quarter goes to show that the crea
ton of landlord and tenant classes is go
ing on everywhere at a rapid rate. In
New England the cheaper farms have
been given up to the Irish and the
French-Canadians, who can make a liv
ing where a native American would
starve, but it means the subordination
Of intelligence and education TO toll, and
the bringing forward of class of peo-
ples who are illiterate, and in no sense
the successors of the sturdy yeomanry
who founded New England and the far
West. Everything goes to show that the
same process is taking place in this coun-
try which has gradually become fixed in
Great Britain. The small landholders
are slowly giving up their properties be-
cause they are too deeply in debt to hold
them, and the increase of the tenant class
means lower public spirit, inferior liv-
ing, and falling short in whatever goes
to make strength of character. The facts
are we'll brought out in the last census,
,1o c,t,v f,,11x
be profoundly impressed that our farms
are passing into the hands of tenants and
of farm loborers.
What this means it is not difficult to
discover. 1t is forcing the agricultural
lists of the country gradually into posi-
ton of dependence, placing them largely
under the control of wealthy landlords
who have no interest in them except to
collect their rents, and causing them to
struggle so hard for bare existence that
they have no time for anything else. The
soil is more and more cultivated by those
who are deprived of an opportunity to
educate their children, and the scanty re-
turns which the tenant-farmers can OBJ
tain for their work are insufficient to en-
able them ever to rise above their condi-
ton. The soil of the United States is
passing into the hands of landlords who
care nothing for the people except to
keep them in a dependent position, and
we are beginning to repeat the situation
as it exists today in Great Britain. The
tenants are becoming a peasant class
and they are SO limited in their oppor-
tunity that they must always remain
such. There is. no escape from this, as
things go. At the South the negro ten
ant-farmer, who lives on small holding
for which he has to pay an eXtravagant
rent, is SO placed that only by the best of
luck can he meet the demands laid upon
him, and every advantage is in favor of
the landlord, who has the right to put
him out for non-payment of his debts
whenever he chooses. The situation is
becoming more and more difficult for
men who have been educated to believe
in liberty, and unless the native Ameri-
can can rise above the primary condi-
tions of labor and to some extent can
control circumstances in his favor he is
in position OF increasing difficulty. He
pays rate of interest which is ruinous
III itself, and with the variation of his
crops, he is almost sure to be thrown out
Of his holding because he cannot pay his
debts. With the increase of this tenant
class there must be an increase of the
drawbacks which go with it, and institu-