Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-10-01

ISnOulQ appropriate $Z,oUU,UVO 10 De-
gin with, on this plan: the tenant to
pay down 20 per cent Of the purchase
price and the state to advance 80 per
cent, the purchaser to repay the states
80 per cent by paying per cent a
year for 75 years.
Condemn Big Estates for Subdivision.
Such a programme, however, is not
likely to meet the approval Of the Lib
erals, now the dominant party In
Great Britain. There is already the
small Holdings Act which provides
that the county council-something
like our board Of county commission
ers at home-may purchase land In
lots Of fifty acres or less and sell to
tenants on these terms: one-fifth cash
and the rest of the payment to be made
in half-yearly installments running
through a period Of not over fifty
years. At the same time the. county
councils have been authorized to pur-
chase land and rent to tenants at
Reasonable terms, and an officer Of the
board Of agriculture told me the 9TH
er day that 81 or SO per cent of the
applicants for land prefer to rent
from the state authorities rather than
to buy. The farmer who rents from
the state is almost his own master as
II he were landlord; he knows that IL
he treats the land well he can rent IL
as long as he likes; that when he
leaves, If he should do so at all, he
will get credit for any permanent i'm
provements he has made, while, most
important Of all, he keeps and uses as
working capital the money he would
otherwise have had to pay for land;
being thereby enabled to get better
work stock, tools, machinery, etc., and
increase his efficiency all round.
In view of these facts 1t now seems
likely that the Liberal party at the
tension Of the plan Of government
purchase and renting of. land. The
county councils already have authority
to acquire lands compulsorily; that is
to say, they may practically condemn
big estate. paying the owner its cash
value, and cut 1t up into small hold
ings. It happens, however. that in
most cases the members of these
county councils have been under the
influence Of the landlords, for which
reason but little has been done to-
ward compulsory purchases. In or
der to make the plan really effective
therefore the Liberals now propose to
transfer this power to some central
government authority, removed from
local influences. They will then
doubtless proceed actively with the
work Of breaking up the big one
thousand to twenty thousand acre es-
tates whose existence prevents the de-
velopment Of sturdy agricultural
population because II prevents the de-
velopment of an agricultural democ-
racy.
Land Courts and a Revised System Of
Taxation.
Land courts will doubtless be es-
tablished for the settlement Of diff
lculties between land owners and ten
Iants-these land courts, as IN ireland,
to determine what is a fair rent; to
settle whether or not the landlord has
allowed the tenant enough for any
permanent improvements he has
made, and fix the tenants compen-
sation for any unwarranted distur-
bance In case he Is dispossessed on
short notice, etc.
The revised system Of land taxation
with a view to putting heavier bur-
dens on the holders of the big estates
will also be part Of the Liberal pro-
gramme. Mr.. Robert Donald. editor
Of the London Daily Chronicle, was
speaking to me a few days ago of the
Australian plan. There the tax rate
was doubled on estates exceeding $751;
900 in value, trebled on estates exceed
ing $4,000. quadrupled -on estates
exceeding $225,000 in value; increased
fivefold on estates worth 100000.
These increases apply where the land
is held by residents. In the case Of
absentee owners, the tax is heavier
still. In nine months after the law
became effective $50. 100000 worth Of
big tracts were sub-divided.
Two other things the English real
ise: thatthere must be co-opera-
tive agricultural banks probably state
aided, for those new owners Of the
land, and that cooperative enterpris-
es must be encouraged. ireland has
taught US all a lesson" said Mr.. Dom
aid to me.
Lessons for America.
In America, Of course, there Is no
occasion for using the extreme meth
DDS England proposes to adopt but we
shall do well to learn in time what
England's experience teaches. Big
plantations in the south cultivated by
ignorant negro tenants are a menace
the. state whose farm values are ad-
vancing but whose farm people are
not advancing! Pity the state, indeed,
where wealth accumulates and men
decay" because farming has become
a place for breeding profits and not
place for developing manhood! A place
where few landlord capitalists who
look upon the land only as a place to
keep their hirelings, breed dividends
for themselves-not place where men
are reared erect, with the conscious
ness Of self mastery and pride in the
ownership of the homes they make, as
members of society and citizens Of the
state! The rural population is the