Evening star., 1936-12-13

the quality to become owners. It Is
all very well to say that too much
farm tenancy Is bad for the coun-
try, that farm owner is better
member Of society than a farm tenant,
that a man and his family are better
OF when he is an owner than when
he is a tenant. All these things are
true-but still there exists the awk-
ward fact that not all farm tenants
have the character and personality
requisite to become farm owners. II
nature did not make a man to be a
farm owner the Government will have
difficulty in making him one.
Tenant Must Be Saver.
Among other things, to become q
farm owner tenant must be a saver.
Even the very generous plan laid
down by the Resettlement Admins
tration requires a down payment Of
is per cent Of the purchase price. To
accumulate that much money the
tenant must save. Evidently Prof.
Tugwell and his organization feel that
not all tenants have it in them to
become owners, hence the trial period
OF five years. This judgment of the
Resettlement Administration is borne
out by the experience of private farm
owners who have tried to find persons
able and willing to take their farms
of their hands. One such person
writes me: THE question naturally
arises why tenants do not make the
q 10 Hr,xr f1o Fo
vate: the reason is simply that they
are not willing to make the sacrifice
that this would entail they prefer to
spend everything they make"
However, there are plenty Of farm
tenants. probably great majority of
them, who have it in them to become
farm owners if the process is made
reasonably feasible, as undoubtedly will
be done by the legislation Congress
will pass the coming Winter. Assum-
ing this legislation is soundly planned
and wisely carried out, it ought to be
an extremely useful thing for the
country, quite possibly the most useful
Of all the innovations of the New Deal.
Every once in so often somebody
thinks he knows what America needs,
and, gives the country the benefit Of
his self-generated information. Some
years ago Vice President Thomas r.
Marshall said that what this coun-
try needs Is good scent cigar"
Zone wonders why that particular re.
mark should have made a country.
wide hit; why it should have be-
come the occasion of thousands Of
editorials; why it should have become
embedded in serious books of history.
I saw it in one that I happened to
read the other day. Why was this
particular remark more impressive
and longer remembered than many
other judgments. humorous or seri-
Gus. expressed by hundreds Of public
men?)
Urges Farm Aristocracy."
Doubtless the country today needs
good many more things than it
needed in TON" Marshall's time.
One thing venture to put forward
as a need is farm aristocracy. BY
a farm aristocracy" I mean families
that have owned their farms for two
or three or more generations and that
still own them.
Such families have character. Their
affectionate tenacity to their home
acres, their qualities of permanence.
Of roots sunk deep into local soil,
make them the best sort Of citizens.
A million or two such families would
| be enough anchorage to hold America
to the best principles and traditions
Of society and Government.
1t is safe to say that q family
which has held on to farm for two
or more generations has never mort
gagged 1t. It is borrowing money on
mortgage that ruins many farmers,
causes them later to lose the farm,
causes them TO become tenants, or to
drift of to the cities. It is not safe
to make generalizations based on
merely casual observations, but 1t Is
my impression that farmers who did
not have mortgages on their land
were able to come through the de-
preston without serious difficulty.
The principal enemies of the farmer
are the mortgage holder and the tax
collector-though many farm leaders
tell the farmers, demagogically, that
their enemies are something else.
Both these enemies the farmer has 1t
in his own power to resist. He can
avoid becoming a borrower, and he
can, by his vote. intelligently directed
and organized, keep down the taxes
on his farm.
How many American farms have
been in the hands Of the same FAM
lily 200 years? 100 years? Why don't
local newspapers, local historical as
sociations, and such organizations as
the National Grange, seek out, iden-
tify and make an honor roll Of such
farm families? I received recently Q
letter telling Of farm in the town
Of Medfield, Mass, which has been
in the hands of the Allen family,
passing from father to son, ever since
1649, a period of 2S7 years. I know
no further details, but I should imag-
inc this must be the longest record
Of continuous farm ownership in
America.
Western Farm Ownership.
Some months ago, writing on this
subject, I expressed doubt whether
there was any farm west Of Ohio that
had been In the same family for as
, much as q hundred years, since that
territory was settled much later than
| the East. I have since been told that
in La Porte County. Ind. there are
several farms which have been in the
hands of the same families since 1881
OF. thereabouts.
Even so far West as Oregon there
are farms which, In q few years. II
they continue in the same owner
ship, will pass into the century"
class. Lewis A. Macarthur owns land
In Polk County, Oreg., which has
been continuously in the hands Of his
family for approximately 80 years:
it was first settled by his sreat-grand-
father about 1846. The father Of