The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1923-11-24

Rv HERBERT QUICK
OST of the advise given the
INII farmers by the experts and
LII others is based on the erro-
neous assumption the people in the
deepest trouble own their own farms.
That is not the case. One of the
most serious aspects of the farm
question is the increase in tenantry.
In almost every raural section of the
country tenantry is spreading.
Rising land values operate to spread
the blight of farm tenantry. When a
man who has been a working farmer
finds he can rent his farm and move
to town, he Is naturally inclined to
do so. He has done so by the mil
lion in the United States.
This swells the population of the
villages, towns and cities, and such
regions as Florida and the Pacific
coast with retired farmers" who.
in the main, having ceased to be
farmers, are not fitted for city life.
They are idle and not fit for idle
ness. They have small incomes. and
Of all landlords, they must in the
nature of things be the most grasping
Rental System Bad
Our rental system is as bad as any
in the world. I think there are some
which are as bad, but none worse.
Our system is far, far worse than
that OF ireland in the days when we
wept for the Irish tenants. It is be-
yond comparison worse than that Of
Germany. or England, or Scotland, or
Italy
In order to find a rental system as
bad as ours. one would have to go
to the Poland or Russia Of the years
before the war. Since the war I do
not believe there is a country In
Europe which has not reformed its
tenant system so as to give the
tenant some rights I'm law az
tenant. beyond those conceded to him
by the landowner.
Rack-renting is word which
means oppression and poverty to the
farm tenant. Rack-renting Is a
system in which the landlord has the
legal right to get as much rent for
his land as he can. We have learned
to hate the idea because our literature
in English is fun of condemnation Of
rack-renting as the ultimate Of OPP
preston.
Depends on Contract
And yet the only system Of farm
terantry we have in America is
based on the severest rack renting
principles. The rent. as to amount
and manner of payment. and time Of
tenure depends on the contract made
between the landlord and the tenant
When land becomes scarce ana
high. rack-renting brushes the under
lying population Of the farming re-
gions It is destroying ours.
This leaves or tends to leave In
our best regions only the shiftless,
the crushed. the ones who accept a
mere living az the reward Of their
labor. and all the time compete with
each other 20 make this mere living
lower In scale
ComDare our tenants with those IN
Germany before the war The EN-
peror once wanted certain farm.
which he owned for his private use.
He notified the tenant to move. There
was no lease which the tenant could
cite to give him the right to stav; but
there was the law. He fought the
Emperor in the courts and won
In rack-renting America the
tenants have no rights to save what
the landlord voucheafes them.
Politics Enter Field
The land in the rural districts is
posing rapidly into the hands Of
landlords. In many States there are
more rented farms than others The
idea is abroad that the laboring peO-
pie Of the cities and towns and mines
most Of them landless. very few Of
them lapd'Ords-can unite with the
farmers and carry the elections. The
results in some States recently sort
OF indicates that they can.
Now these people represented in the
Farmer Labor party viii some time
carry the country. under some name
or other When they do It will be
when the tenant farmers begin to feel
class consciousness and vote against
the landlords.