Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-06-30
Big Farm Owners
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

indigenous yeomanry. The years since
the beginning Of the great depression
have revealed that the United States Is
not escaping this universal experience
but with difference. In the days Of
ancient Greece, in the days of ancient
Rome, when the agrarian problem was
rife and created internal strife, the con-
Of farm land was the cause.
The beginnings of the French Revolu-
ton were rooted in the same problem,
and England was not immune. There
the inclosing of commons led to all
manner of strife between the common
atty and the yeomanry on the one hand,
and the gentry, the nobility and the
church on the other. In Mexico the
same situation created a series Of rev.
olutlonS, ali based on the agrarian Ques-
ton. Finally came the greatest revolu-
ton of all, the 10 days that shook the
world, the Red revolution of Russia and
all because land ownership was being
concentrated in the hands Of few.
In the United States the difference is
impressive. Whereas, in these other
cases, the concentration was in the
hands of individual powerful landlords,
here the concentration is in the hands
of corporations. There was to be said
for many Of the great landlords Of all
the countries named that they felt a
keen sense of responsibility for their
tenants, the men who worked the land
while not owning it. The central idea
of feudal system is responsibility; the
feudatory must take care of his people
in a paternalistic manner. Grave abuses
and neglect of this responsibility brought
on the various revolutions. But 1t Is a
favorite saying of the American people
that a corporation has no soul. Where
fore, 1t might seem that no sense OF
paternalistic responsibility could conf
IDENTIFY be expected from a corporate
landlord.
One can still hear of how Ireland was
ruined by the institution of absentee
landlordism, but, after all, even the
absentee landlords, many of them Eng
lish, did visit their Irish estates If for
no other reason than to hunt the red
fox. But one cannot well imagine the
board of directors Of some large Ameri-
can corporation showing even that much
personal interest in their farms.
To be sure, American farm lands have
gravitated into the hands of corporate
tenants, not because the corporations
wanted to become great land owners but
as direct result of the depression. AS
a matter of fact. the corporations do
not want to be landlords. That is the
last thing they desire, short Of out
right loss.
More Mortgages Foreclosed.
1t must be remembered that the de-
preston in the farming regions set in
long before the industrial depression.
Indeed, the farmers never fully recov-
cred from the effects of the depression
Of l920-2l. They have had few spottily
good years since then, as to certain
crops, but the general trend of farm
prosperity has been downward. The
inevitable result of this has been the
foreclosure of more and more mortgages.
These mortgages were held to the extent
OF billions by corporations, including
banking corporations. finance compa-
MES. insurance companies. farm imple-
ment corporations who had taken farm
mortgages as security, and various others.
These corporations were in the bust
ness Of lending money, or of providing
credit to farmers. and desired to con-
tinue in pursuit of that business. But
when the farmers could not pay their
interest. much less curtail principal
sums. there was no recourse on the part
of the lenders but to take over the
security, which was the land itself.
The Bureau of Agricultural Economics,
through its Division of Agricultural
Finance, of which David l.. Wickens Is
chief, has gathered some data and made
some calculations Of the first importance
on the situation. 1t is shown that in
1880 the total value of the farm land
owned by corporations was s294,000.000.
BY 1882 the amount had risen to SSH
900 900. In 1888, the low year of the
depression, it had mounted to S770,000.-
600. These figures. however. have been
affected by the declining value Of farm
land Through the depression period
the pressure of hard times caused prices
of farms to go progressively downward.
The figures have been computed with
these declining values in mind. but, even
so, the value of holdings of corporations
in 1888 was 263 per cent of what it was
in 1880. Now had the straight per acre
method of calculation been used with
no offset for the declining market value
of land, it would be found that the cor
porate holdings in 1888 had climbed to
4l2 per cent of what they were in 1890.
Not even in the countries referred to
above. save in case of outright military
conquest and subjugation, has the con-
centration of farm land in the hands Of
absentee landlords proceeded so rapidly.
To Guadruple holdings in only three
years Is a record.
Nor do these figures include land in
process of foreclosure. In many cases
foreclosure proceedings require con-
siderable period for conSummation, espe-
cially in hostile jurisdictions. 1t does
not require very long memory to recall
when Middle Western farmers were
driving corporate agents away from
premises they approached with shotguns
and several lynchings were narrowly
averted. In one case a judge was
dragged from his bench in foreclosure
case. These circumstances suggest that
the tale is far from complete. and that
the gravitation of American farms into
corporate hands is proceeding space.
Corporate Ownership Increases.
For the entire country Mr. wickens'
studies do not 60 beyond 1888, but the
Iowa State College has made study OF
the situation in that Jurisdiction. bring
ing the facts up to date. In 1888. as far
as Mr.. Wickens' figure go. corporations
owned 70 per cent Of the land. In 1885
corporate holdings had risen to 10.1 per
cent in Iowa.
The action of the Supreme Court Of
the United States in declaring invalid
the Frazier Lemke farm mortgage mora
forum law is expected to result in q