Grand Forks daily herald., 1915-11-29
HOW TO turn LAND[ESS MEN INTO
LAND owners GIGANTIC PROBLEM Of
RURAL farm CREDITS GATHERING
BY CHARLES W. HOLMAN.
SeCrefa6Y of the National Confaroneu

o4 OuAftlES w. HUFFMAN,
Secretary Of the National Conferences
on Marketing and Farm Credits.
What to do for our landless farmers
has become q most perplexing nation-
al problem. Everybody seems agreed
that they should be turned into home
owners. Everybody seems agreed, al
so. that absentee landlordism and its
attendant evils, should be purged from
American life. But when it comes to
the How" and when we must choose
as to what means are to be adopted,
confusion results, and q thousand
tongues are heard in the land.
Yet tho American nation must fix
upon some policy; for the time-worn
custom of considering this matter q
personal problem, for the individual
farmer has failed.
Land ownership has rapidly moved
toward concentration; absentee land
lordism has sprung up, and. restless.
floating. .landless class; is wandering
about over vast areas OF farming
country, shifting their homes from
year to year.
In the twenty-five states which pro-
duce most Of the perishable products,
the grain. and the cotton of America,
there are 100000 tenant farmers
In the last ten years in both Texas
and Oklahoma the percentage Of in
crease in tenant farmers over the in
crease in land owning farmers has
been two to one. In the states Of Ala
bama, Arkansas. Tennessee, Georgia,
Louisiana. Texas, Mississippi, South
Carolina, North Carolina, Missouri,
gan, Wisconsin. Minnesota and Cali
fornia, there has been an actual in
crease since 1880 Of 994,3361 tenants,
while home owning farmers have in.
creased but 606,765.
In the states of Illinois, Iowa, Kan
sas. New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania
tenant farmers have increased by 121,-
1877; while the number of home own
ing farmers has actually decreased by
e2,915.
A Grave Problem.
The figures are alarming, and pro-
sent grave problem when we con-
slider that out of the 2,354,676 tenant
farmers in the United States in 1910,
2.188,586 were found in the twenty
five richest states. The last federal
census shows that the percentage Of
tenant farmers had increased from
25.6 in 1880 to 81 per cent. In the
light of this information, absentee
landlordism appears as a menacing
How to make it possible for the rent
er to acquire and pay out the farms
of the country must surely become q
matter for the consideration of states
men; for 1t is q question which can
not be determined without the aid of
legislation. How immediate Is the need
Of legislation the tenant farmers know.
What complications arise are often
felt by the whole people.
The shifting tenant Is great mem
ace to the formation of successful
marketing society The cords of fate
also are stacked against his becom-
rangements for short time purchase
at high interest rates. Yet the tend
ency continues toward more COM
plete domination by absentee land
lords. i.
How to check this unwholesome
tendency, and how to start correc-
tive forces, will be discussed along
with other kindred problems by those
who take part in the third national
conference. on marketing and farm
credits to; be held at the Hotel Sher-
man, Chicago. November 20 to De-
ceHnber At the conference eco
senting every section OF the United
States will join In an effort to frame
rural credits legislation intended to
encourage renters In acquiring farms.
EurOpe's Experience . Guide.
Fortunately. the United States has
the experience Of European countries
to guide it. Indeed. at the coming
Chicago conference, the story of what
cooperation has done for ireland, Is
to be told by Sir, Horace Plunkett,
Dublin, ireland, founder and president
of the irish. agricultural Organization
society. David Lubin. American dele
/. ~. 49, Z, ( 7 . : 40