The Washington times., 1917-09-30
E:R. SEES DANGER
Of FARMERS BEING
CLASS OF TENANTS
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commensurately Improving the con-
dition OF the men who produce the
things on which we live. Even in
this country the situation has be-
come grave.
Our commercial, banking, manufac-
turing and transportation systems
have been built up with a rapidity
never before approached. We have
accumulated wealth at an unheard-
of rate. There has been grave injus-
tice in the distribution OF the wealth,
our law-givers having erred both by
unwisdom in leaving the matter alone
and at times by even greater unwis-
dom when they interfered with 1t.
But on the whole the growth and
prosperity have been enormous, and
yet we have allowed the basic indus
try of farming, the industry which
underlies all economic life, to drift
along haphazzard, we have allowed
the life of the dwellers in the open
country to become more and more
meager, and their methods Of produc-
tion and OF marketing to remain so
primitive that their soil was impov-
erished and their profits largely
usurped by others.
Number OR Tenant Farmers Grows.
In 1880 one farmer in four was
tenant, and at that time the tenant
was still generally a young man to
whom the position of tenant was
merely an intermediate step between
that of farm laborer and that of
farm owner. In 1910 over one farmer
IN three had become a tenant; and
nowadays It becomes steadily more
e. hn
the owner stage.
If the process continues unchecked.
half a century hence we shall have
deliberately permitted ourselves to
plunge into the situation which
brought chaos in Ireland, and which
In England resulted in the complete
elimination of the old yeomanry, so
that nearly nine-tenths OF the Eng
Ish farmers today are tenants, and
the consequent class division is most
ominous for the future. France and
Germany are today distinctly better
of than we are in this respect, and
in New Zealand, where there is an ex-
cellent system of land distribution,
only one-seventh of the farmers are
tenants.
If the tendencies that have pro-
duced such a condition continue to
"OIh unCnGChGus no pTOpHEAAC pOMGA
is needed to foretell disaster to the
nation. Therefore, the one hopeless
attitude, in this as in recent interna-
tional matters. is "watchful waiting"
sitting still and doing nothing to pre-
pare for or to avert disaster.
1t is far better to try experiments,
even when we are not certain how
these experiments will turn out, or
when we are certain that the pro-
posed plan contains elements of folly
as we'll as elements of wisdom. Bet
ter trial and error" than no trial at
all And the service test. the test Of
actual experiment, is the only esnclu--
sive test. II is only the attempt in ac-
tual parctice to realize the realizable
ideal that contains hope. Mere
of theory, with no attempt to secure
the service test, amount to nothing.
North Dakota Experiment. Valuable.
This applies to the tenancy prob
lem. 1t also applies to every other
farming problem AS regards each.
let US test the plans for reform, 50 far
as may be, by actual practice.
For many OF these plans the several
States offer themselves as natural
laboratories, where experiments can
be tried when conditions and public
opinion are right: and this. although
the permanent remedies must ulti-
mately, at least in major part. be ma
tional.
In North Dakota, in addition to
matters like hail insurance, 1t is pro-
posed that the State shall purchase
and operate grain elevators. mills.
and terminals, and other business in
strumentalities of vital concern to
farmers. 1 most heartily commend