The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-04-19
RENTED FARMS N Blue
EARTH COUuTy,,APAPER
Some Ideas and Suggestions Of
Rev. G. [. Heermance.

nance read a paper on The Rem
ted Farm in Blue Earth County.
Ills ideas and suggestions are OF
more than ordinary interest and are
rs follows:
The problem of land-tenure should
he or interest 10 every citizen OF
Mankato We live in an agricultural
state, in n farmers town. Our pros
perity depends on the prosperity OF
The surrounding farms. Send swarms
Of locusts year after year on the
farms OF Southern Minnesota and our
schools. our retail and wholesale
houses our factories, would languish.
Mankatos problems are rural even
more than they are civic. Whatever
concerns the farmer concerns the
members OF this club.
I do not think IL is generally rea-
lied that Southern Minnesota. like
the state OF Iowa. lost in population
i'm the last census cont OF thirty
counties i'm the first three congress
sional districts, nineteen showed n
lnss:) that Blue Earth county de-
creased more than any county in the
state: that the decrease Of nearly
:!.00n was mostly in the rural
districts tonly four townships show
I'd gain: Medic fell off ll@,
Garden City 1911. and others in
pgoporii0n;) that there are actually
LET less acres farmed than ten
years ago, ana 5.243 less acres OF
improved land: and this in spite OF
the fact that the total value OF farm
property has gone up nearly 80 per
cent and The acreage value from SOB
To $50. | might say incidentally that
the average size OF farm has gone up
from l414 acres in 1900 10 i5e.6 in
1910.
Study Of Hand Tenure.
Without promising either n dag
nosis or remedy for. this situation
propose 10 take mp problem
which has some bearing on it.
wish 10 give the club somewhat
detailed study of the question of
land tenure in Blue Earth county, as
affecting agricultural prosperity and
the social well-being Of the commun-
ity. Specially we are to study the
renter and the rented farm.
The first point 10 take up is the
proportion OF renters and owners.
When the census was taken on April
10, 1910. out OF 2.3i1 farms in this
county. 794 Chat is, - per cent or
IN, nd tUn 4 nd /.
was farmed by a tenant rather than
by the actual owner These figures
do not include large number of
cases where land was rented by
farm-owners and operated in addition
10 their own land. Nineteen farms
operated by managers for wages or
a salary were also classed with the
owned farms OF the tenants, 54S,
or sixty-nine per cent farm on shares
l5S for cash rent, and eishtyfour
partly on shares and partly for cash
The distribution OF tenant farmers
throughout the county is of interest
In lie Ray township there are very
few renters. This part of the coun
" was heavily wooded, and most oil
the farms are small and owned by
the original settlers or their families
In Rapidan probably half the rented
farms have been within year, taken
out OF the rented class. through sale
and 4 number of the remaining arc
owned by the Consumers Power Co
Renters on the Increase.
Renters have been increasing in
Dlue Earth county. The proportion
of rented farms increased four pei
cent in the decade under considera
ton, 1900-l9l0. There were seventy
one more renters in 1910, though
there were actnally 2i5 fewer farms
II will be OF interest TO compare
tile situation here with that in the
rest OF the state. In Minnesota As
a whole, u per cent OF the farms
were operated by tenants in 1910, as
compared vita % per cent for Blue
Earth: in 1870. l7.3 per cent n.
compared with % per cent for Blu,
Earth: in 1890. l2.9 per cent; in 1880
81 per cent
Comparison with other parts o
Southern Minnesota is OF more value
We may take for this purpose tn,
80 counties of the first three congress
sional districts. | shall however
substitute Lincoln. Lyon and Red
wood counties for Mobiles. pipeston,
and Rock, where the proportion .
rented farms has been for some tim,
abnormal. due suppose to Ian,
speculation or other local causes TIL.
average for Southern Minnesota /
the same as Tor Blue Earth county
q per cent. Sample percentages ar
Winona "a: Goodhue GIG; Dodg
31.7; Waseca %: Nicollet 32.3
Brown 2S.7; Faribault 32.2. TIL
average for the second congressional
district, with the substitutions men
toned is 1913: for the first 257; 70
the third 21.s Ten years ago tn
average for Southern Minnesota wa
21.S, as compared with % per cen
for Blue Earth. That is, the increas
OF renters was So per cent, littI
larger than in our own county.
Extension of Tenant System.
For the county as a whole, tn
only figures so far available are thos