The landlord of a farm let to a tenant, especially to a share tenant, is still to a large extent the general manager, controlling in a large measure through the renting contract and by his oversight, the operations of the farm.  Older men find that letting the farm to a share tenant is easier for them and gives better results than continuing to operate the farm with hired labor.  And it evidently gives a man a somewhat higher status to become a tenant than to continue to be a hired laborer.  In the South this movement has taken on large proportions in the breaking up of large plantations once operated by the owner with hired labor, and now let in smaller lots to operating tenants.  Yet such a change appears, statistically, as a decrease in the proportion of farms operated by owners.  Despite these somewhat reassuring facts, the problem of maintaining and increasing operating ownership of farms in America is one deserving of the most earnest thought and efforts.  The best form of farm tenure is not necessarily that giving the best immediate economic results.  Politically in a democratic nation, and sociologically in its effects upon the size of families and the raising of healthy children, the preservation of an independent American yeomanry is of fundamental importance to the nation.

The problem is as difficult as it is important, and becomes more difficult with the rise in the acreage value of lands and with the economical size of farms, both calling for a larger investment to become an owner.  Changes in the system of taxation should be made with reference to this object; the system of agricultural credit should be developed and administered to assist; special efforts in agricultural education should be made and active administrative efforts should be directed, toward this important end.

[Footnote 1:  See above, ch. 1, secs. 7 and 8.]

[Footnote 2:  See ch. 14, sec. 5.]

[Footnote 3:  See Vol.  I, p. 437.]

[Footnote 4:  It must be observed in studying these figures, that farmers’ wives and children, working at home, are not reported as gainfully occupied.  But a widow or a spinster owner, if herself acting as the enterpriser, is reported as “occupied” in agriculture.  The increasing number of such cases in the past generation in part explains the growing number and percentage of females in agriculture.

Number occupied in agriculture   Per cent of all persons occupied
Males      Females  Both sexes      Males Females Both sexes

1880... 7,068,658 594,385 7,663,043 47.9 22.5 44.1
1890... 7,787,539 678,824 8,466,363 41.4 17.3 37.2
1900... 9,272,315 977,336 10,249,651 39.0 18.4 35.3
1910...10,582,039 1,806,584 12,388,623 35.2 22.4 32.5
]

[Footnote 5:  See further, ch. 26, secs. 1 and 2 on the size of farms as an economic factor.]

[Footnote 6:  See above, sec. 2, on the distinction between rural and agricultural.  In part the change here noted results from increases in the population of towns and incorporated places from a little below 2500 to something about 2500.  For example, if there were 2499 persons in a town in 1900 they would all be classified as rural; if in 1910 there were 2500 or more they would all be classified as urban.]