Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-08-30
|\XZa shington
w LETTER
BY n. - WALKER
A NATION OF TENANTS

Star Bureau,
Metropolitan National Bank Bldg
WASHINGTON, Aug. 80.

Are we to become a nation Of ten
ants?
About 10 per cent. of the jewellers
in our cities pay rent, while ~ per
cent. own all the land.
On the farms the percentage of
farmers who work their own land is
steadily decreasing, while the num-
her of tenant farmers Is constantly
increasing.
In 1880 rs per cent. of the farms In
the United States were operated by
owners. In 1910 the percentage OF
farmers who owned their land was
only SO per cent.
In 1880 only 80 per cent. of the peo-
pie In the country lived in towns and
cities. In 1910 40 per cent. of the en-
tire population was made up OF town
jewellers. In 1880 % per cent. of the
farms were mortgaged. In 1910 there
were mortgages on SO per cent. OF all
the farms In the country.
We have been reading back East
here. in the farm papers edited py
citv men and in the land prospec-
+uses for many years, of the West
orn and Southern farmer who Is buy
ing grand pianos and automobiles ana
going to Europe for the winter or
summer. until it comes as shock to
be told by Agricultural department
experts that the average earnings OF
all the farmers in the country are
only $500 a year, or $500 a year more
than the average earnings of the
mill and factory workers IN the cllles'
MOT only city rents, but farm rents
IRE increasing. There is very little
more free land on which men can
live and make a living. In the cillSs
public and private improvements auu
many millions a year to lana values,
which are pocketed by the 9V pc
ro,t who own the land, while the
faxes for paying the cost OF govern
nent are added to the rents OF the
~ ner cent. who do not own and.
on the farms the value of land mas
,ncrea sed. and the men who got Tree
mr. cheaD land are very largely living
IN town on the profit from its IN
creased value, while the tenants
yorLInr the farms are paying rents
ba sed on the higher prices. rms, OF
course means that the tenant FARMER
gets less and less of the value OF ms
crops each year, as the value Oh MS
land and its rental increases
Our great conservation policy TO
date has done nothing to matt TINS
tendency or to improve the conullIon
of the man without money. IN me
land irrigated and drained py nc
1raet reclamation service projects the
first benefit has been mainly TO the
men with capital who bought cheap
and sold at a profit to those VINO
really wanted to farm. Under the
reclamation policies of most OF the
Western States the tendency has peen
towards Capitalization of ownership
Nowhere has the government OF
state worked out or attempted POI
inv of opening the land to men WIFI
ont capital who wanted TO iarIh
rather than speculate in rising values.
And so eventually the increased Vaiue
of the land has forced upwards the
price of the crops grown on IL anu
the market cost of food.
Conservation, so far, in its develop
ment of forestry and mining mas
sought to keep up, rather thah 10
duce prices. The cutting of timber
IN the government forests Is MADE
matter wholly of revenue. and the
noIicv adopted which will bring the
government the highest prices, re-
Careless of the welfare of the lumper
,,sar In oil. coal and mineral lands
and water powers, our pollcy mas
heen TO try to divide the profits OF ex-
r,ioitation of national wealth among
a slightly larger group OF expiolte,s-
TO make a few more men rlch-ratner
than to bring these resources wltnln
easier and less costly reach OIL ane
public from whose realm they are
taken.
The monopoly of land and discour-
aeement of improvements In clties
and towns results In congested alleys
and tenements and the budding OF
tba moor into vile rookeries, as the
landlord is forced by taxes on his IN
yestment to increase the rents, ana
the poor seek lower rents. On the
farms. the effect of the increasing
values and growing tendency 10 az
sentee landlordism is not only impoV-
sr,shine the tenant farmer, but also
tho Land. The landlord gets all he
can out of the land, so does the ten
ant. Neither puts anything PACK,
with the result that our farm lands
are producing less, as the SOIL Is
robhed wear after year. Our acreage
nrodncfion of oats, corn and wheat Is
less than that of Germany and other
countries where better farming Is
made possible by better economic
conditions. Our population has IN
creased by nine million in five years,
Nh the number of cattle grown in the
countY.y has decreased by sixteen mil
lion and we have got to import meat
to eat.
Tn order to make business good. we
try TO increase our exports, not only
~ manufactures and crops, which we
can replace. but of natural resources
that we can't replace. The forest
service chucklingly reports that our
exports of lumber to Asiatic ports are
growing fast, while the price grows
faster in the home markets, ana we
are using UP our trees faster than
they grow. 49,
When phosphate rocks were discov-
cred in Florida and other Southern
states. we added to our trade bal
ance sheets by selling a lot of 1t
abroad to fertilize and enrich German
farms. while our own land produces
annually less to the acre for need of
fertilizer that the farmer can't buy
because of the high prices.
We are shipping vast quantities of
copper to Europe to make work for
foreign workmen, while men are
working for little or nothing in this
country. Some day when the copper Is
less plentiful. we may wake up to
what we have done. And while the
Germans were buying our phosphates
the laws of Germany restrict the out
nut and prices on potash exported
from that country. We exchanged
cheap phosphate for costly potash
with a country that was less philan-
thropic in its ideas. Brazil is soaking
us for coffee and getting ready to do
Al. .. ..., ma NTH ri1hhar