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the cheap land of the state has proven the only hindrance to the extension of landlordism. With the disappearance of free or cheap land, tenantry is bound to grow rapidly in the state, says the census man.
Farm Tenure—1880–1910.
The following table shows the status of farm tenure by decades since 1880
Farms operated by tenants:
| Per Cent | |||
| 1880 | . . . . . . . . . . | 12,159 or | 9.1 |
| 1890 | . . . . . . . . . . | 16,728 or | 11.4 |
| 1900 | . . . . . . . . . . | 22,996 or | 13.5 |
| 1910 | . . . . . . . . . . | 25,659 or | 13.9 |
Farms operated by owners:
| 1880 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 122,163 |
| 1890 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 129,681 |
| 1900 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 146,799 |
| 1910 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 152,473 |
In thirty years the number of tenants doubled in thew state. Tenantry increased 102.8 per cent, while the farms operated by their owners only increased 24.8 per cent. The latter increase is almost exclusively due to the reclamation of cut over land by the pioneer farmers.
The Sunny South.
From damp and cold Wisconsin let us turn towards the sunny South and see hew much sunshine we find for the Southern farmer in the census report of 1910. Complete figures for the South Central division comprising the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas are now available. The figures show—
Mortgaged farms operated by their owners:
| 1900 | . . . . . . . . . . | 138,856 or | 17 per cent |
| 1910 | . . . . . . . . . . | 246,048 or | 26 per cent |
| Farms operated by tenants: | |||
| 1900 | . . . . . . . . . . | 805,546 or | 49 per cent |
| 1910 | . . . . . . . . . . | 1,024,265 or | 52 per cent |
To be sure, land values rose 133 per cent during the same period but it remains to be proven whether or not rising land values benefit the farmer who farms the farm.
As a glaring example of the blessing (?) of rising land values we may point to the conditions in Oklahoma, In that state land values increased 333 per cent from 1900 to 1910. At the same time the number of farm tenants rose from 47,250 to 103,753.
