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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 




JUNol 



L16I O-I096 



UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS STUDIES 

IN THE 

SOCIAL SCIENCES 

VOL. V SEPTEMBER, 1916 No. 3 



BOARD OF EDITORS 

ERNEST L. BOGART JOHN A. FAIRLIE 

LAURENCE M. LARSON 



PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

UNDER THK AUSPICES OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL 

URBANA, ILLINOIS 



COPYRIGHT, 1916 
BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



IX. 



Land Tenure in the United States 
With Special Reference to Illinois 

CHARLES LESLIE STEWART 



PREFACE 

This thesis is based largely upon United States census sta- 
tistics, the reliability of which is seldom questioned. 

Illinois is a suitable state in which to make a type study of 
land tenure. Its value for such a study arises from: (1) its size 
and importance in the production of grain; (2) the variety of 
conditions in its agricultural economy; (3) its location in the 
great farming region of the Mississippi valley; (4) the ease of 
access its farmers have to large local markets as well as to other 
domestic and to foreign markets; and (5) the fact that, agricul- 
turally, Illinois is neither an old nor a new state. Fortunately, 
the tenure statistics began to be collected at the time when nearly 
all of the present farm area had just been put under cultivation. 

It was planned to carry on more field investigations than 
circumstances have permitted. There is need for cost account- 
ing studies in the relative profitableness of various forms of 
tenure. The need for a thorough investigation of the relation of 
tenure to co-operative enterprise, roads, schools, churches, and 
social life is equally pressing. 

The writer has received help from many colleagues in the 
faculty of the University of Illinois, especially from members 
of the economic seminar, and particularly from Professor David 
Kinley, director of the seminar and dean of the graduate school. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PREFACE .. 



CHAPTER I. A SKETCH OF LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 9 

The trend of tenure, 1850 to 1880 The trend of tenure, 1880- 
to 1910 Mortgage encumbrance on owned land Causes and char- 
acteristic features of prevailing forms of tenure Relation of 
tenure to farm practice Tenure and the expansibility of the farm 
area. 

CHAPTER II. TENDENCIES IN THE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY OF ILLINOIS.. 30 

Physiographic influences Population and agriculture The 
value of farm property Some changes in farm practice. 

CHAPTER III. CHANGES IN LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 43 

Tenure statistics for the state as a whole Statistics of farm 
tenure by counties Statistics of land tenure by counties The 
sectional aspects of land tenure in Illinois Historical tendencies 
and tenure in Illinois. 

CHAPTER IV. A DESCRIPTION OF FARM OPERATORS IN ILLINOIS 82 

The basis of renting The acreage operated The equipment 
of the various operators Some items of income and expendi- 
ture Emphasis in farm practice Mortgage incumbrance on owned 
land Race, color, and nativity of farmers Residence and landed 
wealth of owners The age of operators in relation to tenure and 
encumbrance Summary. 

CHAPTER V. THE RELATION OF TENURE TO RURAL ECONOMIC AND SO- 
CIAL CONDITIONS IN ILLINOIS 113 

The decline in rural population Co-operative enterprise and 
rural institutions Equipment in farm buildings Concentration on 
cereal production Tenancy as a symptom and as a cause Rising 
land prices as a handicap to popular ownership and good farm- 
ing The outlook. 

APPENDIX 125 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 127 

INDEX 134 

7 



LIST OF PLATES 



PAGE 



I. The Growth of the Total Population and of the Population En- 
gaged in Agriculture, Illinois, 1820-1910 36 

II. The Number of Farms and of Acres in Farms, Total and Im- 
proved, Illinois, 1850-1910 38 

III. The Percentage of Operators Belonging to Ten- Year Age- 
Groups, Illinois, 1800-1910 ioo/ 

LIST OF SHADED COUNTY OUTLINE MAPS OF ILLINOIS 

I. The Percentage of Farms Operated by Tenants, 1880. 50 

II. The Percentage of Farms Operated by Tenants, 1890. 51 

III. The Percentage of Farms Operated by Tenants, 1900 53 

IV. The Percentage of Farms Operated by Tenants, 1910 54 

V. The Percentage of Farm Acreage Operated by Tenants, 1910.. 57 

VI. The Percentage of Farm Acreage Operated under Lease by 

Part Owners, 1910 58 

VII. The Percentage of Farm Acreage Operated under Lease by 

Tenants and Part Owners, 1910 60 

VIII. The Percentage of Farm Acreage Operated by Owners 

Proper, 1910 61 

IX. The Percentage of Land Area in Farms, 1910 63 

X. The Average Number of Acres per Farm, 1910 op- 
XL The Average Value of Land and Buildings per Acre, 1880. 76 

XII. The Average Value of Land and Buildings per Acre, 1910. 77 

XIII. The Percentage of Increase in the Value of Land and Build- 

ings per Acre, 1900-1910 79 

XIV. The Percentage of Tenant Farms Rented for Cash, 1910. 84 

XV. The Percentage of Owners (and Part Owners) Operating 

under Mortgage Encumbrance 98 

XVI. The Percentage of the Value of Mortgaged Farms Repre- 
sented by the Mortgage Debt, 1910 IOI 

XVII. The Direction and Percentage of Change in the Number of 
Inhabitants Dwelling Outside of Incorporated Places, 

1900-1910 115 

XVIII. The Average Value of Buildings per Acre 119- 



CHAPTER I 
A SKETCH OF LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 

From the earliest date of colonization the land in the 
territory of the United States has been held under a system of 
tenure distinguished for its simplicity. The feudal tenure of 
Europe never obtained much footing in the United States and 
was influential chiefly in that Americans reacted against it. 1 In 
place of a complicated system of legal fictions and customary 
relations and charges, the land system of the United States may 
be said to consist simply of two forms : ownership ; and tenancy, 
whether on a cash, share, or combined basis. The ownership is 
that which is known technically as allodial, that is, ownership in 
fee simple, free from any requirement of rent or service and 
from any other restriction except that reserved by the state in 
its right to 4;ax, to exercise police power, and to force sales by 
virtue of the power of eminent domain. 

Between the years 1782 and 1790, six of the seven con- 
federated states which had claims to lands west of the Appa- 
lachian mountains had their cessions accepted by congress. 2 
This laid upon Congress the responsibility of disposing of the 
Western lands. Congress in 1785 and 1787 passed resolutions 
which established the foundations of the national land policy. 
The principles laid down were that the land should be alienated 
by the government to settlers; that non-resident land owners 
should not be taxed higher than resident land owners; that the 
New England rectangular system should be employed; that 
the lands should be surveyed prior to settlement, and sold in 
small minimum parcels at low prices; that registry should be 
cheap, and conveyance simple ; that the property of persons dying 
intestate should be equally distributed among the children. 
These provisions, together with the abundance of the lands, have 

1 See article by Taylor, H. C, in Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, 
IV, I74-I7S- 

2 New York, 1782; Virginia, 1784; Massachusetts, 1785; Connecticut, 
1786, and North Carolina, 1790. The offer of Georgia was made and 
rejected in 1788 and a satisfactory agreement was not reached until 1802. 
See Treat, P. J., The National Land System, 1785-1820, 15. 

9 



10 LAND TENJJRE IN ILLINOIS [404 

exercised a most democratic influence upon the agricultural, 
social and political life of the nation. 8 

The public domain of the United States grew by conquest 
and purchase at a most phenomenal rate. To the quarter of a 
million acres ceded by the states prior to 1803 there was added 
to the public domain in that year over three quarters of a million 
acres. Acquisitions in Florida and in the Southwest increased 
the public domain by a half billion acres, and the Alaskan pur- 
chase brought the total land acreage owned by the United States 
government to nearly two billion. 4 

These lands were disposed of at a rate sometimes appalling. 5 
During the period, 1831 to 1840, the annual acreage sold ex- 
ceeded six million on the average. During the next forty years 
the land sold averaged two-thirds that amount annually. From 
1881 to 1888 over twelve million acres left the hands of the gov- 
ernment in an average year. 

From 1888 to 1900, the annual amount of land taken up un- 
derwent a rapid decline, however, and since 1900 very little 
of the public domain has been sold or given away. 

Under such conditions there is little wonder that during 
the earlier days the major part of the population devoted itself 
to agriculture. The census enumerations show that in 1820, 
83.0, and in 1840, 77.5 percent of the "occupied" population was 
engaged in agriculture. 6 

Not only did agriculture employ the energy of the larger 
part of the American people up to the middle of the last century, 
but the greater part of the free farm families was undoubtedly 
in full ownership of their farms and homes. The land was taken 
up, in most cases, in tracts of a size suitable for almost every one 
to own a farm, and the owners were usually in such an economic 
condition that they needed the full return from their land 
instead of the small fraction which they could receive as rental 
incomes. Furthermore, urban life had not developed to a point 
where land owners were induced on any great scale to leave their 
farms so as to reside in the cities. Under such conditions, even 
though farm rents were low, tenancy had only a small place in 
American agriculture. 

The path to land ownership needed at most to have no more 
than three stages, that of farm laborer, followed by a period of 

*Ibid., ch. II. 

4 Sato, Shosuke : History of the Land Question in the United States, 6. 
Taylor, H. C. Syllabus of Lectures on Agricultural Economics, 78. 
"Census, 1900, Occupations, xxx. 



405] 



LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 



11 



operating leased land, and ending in the ownership of one or 
more farms. The passage from a propertyless to a propertied 
condition was one almost certain in its possibility of accom- 
plishment by any able-bodied, industrious individual. In many 
cases, the laborer entered land directly without having to pass 
through the tenant status. Where tenancy was resorted to as a 
step to land ownership, it was a status from which the indi- 
vidual could usually rise in a few years. 

THE TREND OF TENURE, 1850 TO 1880 

Whether tenancy was becoming more or less prevalent dur- 
ing the generation before 1880 is a question. The estimates and 
opinions on tenancy before 1880 are hard to free from the 
prejudice prevailing when they were expressed. 

Possibly the most definite opinions offered on the trend of 
tenure in the United States before 1880 are those of Dr. L. G. 
Powers who supplied some statistics on land tenure for the per- 
iod, 1850 to 1870. 7 Dr. Powers also gave some statistical esti- 
mates for the year, 1880, which bear some relation to the tenure 
statistics of the census of that date. The estimates he gave 
are as follows: 



STATISTICAL ESTIMATES OF LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1850-1880, 
AFTER L. G. POWERS. 8 



Year 1850 

Total farm families 2458,000 

Farm owning families 1,325,000 

Families of tenants, la- 
borers and slaves I,i33,ooo 9 

Families of slaves 46i,5oo 9 

Families of tenants and 

laborers 672,500 

Families of tenants 

Families of laborers...- 



1860 

3,358,750 
1,850,000 



1870 

4,082,700 
2,220,000 



1880 

4,935,000 
3,068,000 



1,862,000 1,867,000 



595,ooo 



913,750 1,862,000 



1,867,000 

i,325,ooo 10 

542,000 

From these estimates it appears that the increase in the 
number of farm owning families was over twice as great as the 
increase in the number of families of tenants and laborers, 
(including slaves in 1850). The percentage of farm families 

7 The American Statistical Association Publications, Vol. V, 329-344. 
^American Statistical Association Publications, V, 344 
9 An error of 1000 was made in these figures. 

10 This is 300,000 in excess of the number of tenant farms as reported 
by the Tenth census. 



12 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [406 

owning their farms increased, according to the view of Dr. 
Powers, from 53.9 in 1850, to 62.2 in 1880. 

The estimate that only 53.9 per cent of the farm families 
owned their farms in 1850 is probably an under-statement of the 
extent to which ownership prevailed at that time. It is probable 
that a larger proportion of the farmers owned their places in 
1850 than in 1880. Several facts support this view. In 1850 the 
cotton lands were operated largely by the owners, of whom 
those who were too poor to own slaves were too poor to live 
without cultivating their own land, and those who had slaves 
seldom leased the land to others to operate. Outside of the 
cotton belt, land was being taken up in the North and West at 
a rapid rate, particularly during the sixties. Those who took 
up new land during this thirty-year period were to some extent 
former tenants, and by changing to owners must have tended 
to reduce the percentage of tenancy. Since the area of recently 
occupied land was being rapidly extended in the West, the 
influence of that section must have been more strongly against 
tenancy in the seventies than in the fifties. There seems, cer- 
tainly, to be no evidence that the trend of conditions between 
1850 and 1880 was enough different from the trend since 1880 
to cause a movement toward ownership before 1880 and toward 
tenancy after that date. 

Those who assume that the prevalence of large farms is 
conducive to tenant operation may argue that the decline in the 
size of farms during this period is an evidence of growth in 
popular ownership of the land. The large farms of this period, 
however, were chiefly in the newer country where land ownership 
was easy to acquire. In the older parts of the country, in spite 
of the increasing use of machinery, the farms were becoming 
smaller in all except the Southern states. The tendency to 
subdivide the older farms probably stayed somewhat the trend 
toward tenant farming, though it would be hazardous to say that 
it overcame that tendency. 

Between 1850 and 1880, it is probable that the tendency in 
the South was towards tenancy, in the West towards ownership, 
and in the North and East, towards tenancy. In the country 
as a whole the trend towards tenancy was getting under way. 

THE TREND OF TENURE, 1880 TO 1910 

Beginning with the tenth census, 1880, we have reliable 
statistics on tenancy for every county in the United States. Data 



407] LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 13 

have been taken with the farm 11 as the basis for each decennial 
enumeration since that date. At the eleventh census special 
data were gathered on farm and home ownership. In the twelfth 
and thirteenth census reports tenure statistics were" also pre- 
sented on the basis of acreage of land in farms. 

When the results of the tenth census were published con- 
siderable surprise was evinced at the extent to which the farms 
of the United States were operated by tenants. Since that time, 
however, tenancy has become more and more prevalent in the 
country. 

All of the elements of the farm population showed an in- 
crease in number in 1910 as compared with 1880." The per- 
centage of increase in the number of farms was 60; in the 
number of all persons engaged in agriculture, 40 ; in the number 
of owners, part owners, 13 and managers, 35 ; of farm employees 
persons other than owners, part owners, tenants and managers, 
20 ; 14 and of tenants, 130. 

The table on the next page summarizes the census data on 
the tenure of farms for the main geographic divisions. 

Taking the country as a whole the percentage of farms 
operated by tenants increased from 25.6 in 1880 to 37.0 in 1910. 
The decade during which the major part of the increase took 
place was the one from 1890 to 1900. Every division of the 
country outside of New England showed an increase in the 
percentage of farms operated by tenants. In the North Central 
group the percentage rose from a little over 20 in 1880 to 

11 "A 'farm' for census purposes is all the land which is directly fanned 
by one person managing and conducting agricultural operations, either by 
his own labor alone or with the assistance of members of his household 
or hired employees." "When a landowner has one or more renters, 
croppers, or managers, the land operated by each is considered a 'farm'." 

"Census, 1910, V, 122, adapted. 

13 A part owner owns some of the land he operates, ind rents additional 
land. 

"The relative decrease in prominence of the farm employees, is 
probably due to the increased efficiency of all farm workers. The total 
acreage per male in agriculture increased from 65.5 in 1880 to 71.0 in 
1910, an increase of 8.4 per cent. (Census, 1900, V. xviii, and 1910, 
V, 28.) The improved acreage per individual in agriculture was 38.7 in 
1910 as compared with 34.8 in 1880, an increase of 10.0 per cent The 
cause of this increase is to be found mainly in agricultural machinery, the 
use and labor-saving efficiency of which has undergone a considerable 
increase during the period since 1880. 



14 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



somewhat less than 30 in 1910 ; in the South Central states, from 
about 36 in 1880 to a little over 50 in 1910 ; and in the South 
Atlantic group from 36 to nearly 46 in 1910. 

The old New England districts and the new Western re- 
gions were characterized by small percentages of tenancy, the 
former chiefly because of the agricultural depression which 
drove tenant farmers to other sections, and the latter largely 
on account of the chance for farmers to become landowners there. 

A comparison of the percentages assigned to the various 
geographic divisions reveals a wider spread or range each suc- 
ceeding decade. The percentage of tenant farms has moved 
higher most markedly where it was highest previously, and has 
shown least positiveness in increasing where it was already low. 
Taken as a whole, the increase in prevalence of tenant farming 
has been persistent, although not very rapid. 

PERCENTAGE OF FARMS OPERATED UNDER VARIOUS FORMS OF TENURE, 
UNITED STATES, 




























CO 


e 


*I"I 






O 












w 


c 


C 






*4J 












El 






j3 


& 


c 


J5 


<-i 










"S 


^ 


t: - 

O ro 


o 5 


-3 


1*2 


is 


_n 








W 


4> 





2 is 


*^ 






_j5 


(j 




flj 







** C 


c 


r^ 


CO -g 


c 


c 






*-j 


> 


'^ 


4-> t) 


tn <l> 


4_> 


4_> ^ 


t/j <U 




._ 




'c 


O 


12 




4> (J 


3 

o 


rt ^ 


<u O 


o 


u 




B 


g 


^ 


td 


^ 




w 


^ 


^ 





Tenants 






















1910 


37.0 


8.0 


22.3 


27.O 


30.9 


45-9 


50.7 


52.8 


10.7 


17.2 


1900 


35-3 


94 


25-3 


26.3 


29.6 


44.2 


48.1 


49.1 


12.2 


19.7 


1890 


28.4 


9-3 


22.1 


22.8 


24.0 


38.5 


38.3 


38.6 


7-i 


14-7 


1880 


25.6 


8.5 


19.2 


20.5 


20.5 


36.1 


36.8 


35-2 


74 


16.8 


Part owners 




















1910 


9-3 


3-1 


5-5 


11.7 


16.1 


6-4 


6.9 


7-6 


8.6 


10.9 


1900 


7-9 


2.9 


44 


IO.O 


14-5 


4-9 


5-0 


5-5 


8-3 


"3 


Managers 






















1910 


0.9 


2.8 


1-9 


I.O 


0.8 


0.7 


0.3 


0.5 


1.6 


2.8 


1900 


I.O 


2.5 


1-7 


I.O 


0.8 


0.9 


0.5 


0.7 


34 


2.9 


Owners proper 




















1910 


52-7 


86.1 


70.3 


60.3 


52.3 


46.9 


42.1 


39-1 


79-1 


69.1 


1900 


55-8 


85.2 


68.5 


62.8 


55-1 


49-9 


46.3 


44-8 


76.1 


66.1 



The farms operated by part owners and managers were 
doubtless classified with those of owners proper in 1880 and 1890. 
There has been a tendency to adopt the same practice in present- 

"Census, 1910, V, 122, 123. 



409] LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 15 

ing the tenure statistics for 1900 and 1910, especially where 
comparisons with the earlier dates are being made. So far as 
the managed farms are concerned, the error involved in counting 
them in with the farms operated by owners is not great. There 
was no section in which managed farms constituted more than 
three per cent of all farms in 1910. For some purposes it is 
desirable to regard the farms of part owners as not essentially 
different from the farms of owners proper. In 1900 the farms 
of part owners contained, on the average, nearly 5 acres more 
of owned land than the average farm entirely owned by the 
operator. 16 The part owners constituted 9.3 per cent of all farm 
operators in 1910. 

The tenure statistics based on farms afford a good idea of the 
numbers of the various kinds of operators. Tenure data based 
on acreage, however, give some slightly different impressions. 
The cause of the variations is the fact that farms differ in size 
between various tenures and sections. 

The average acreage of all farms declined from 146.2 in 
1900 to 138.1 in 1910. 17 Only the farms of the North Central 
states showed a tendency to increase in size. The divisions 
where small farms prevailed in 1900 underwent a still further 
reduction in the size of operating units by 1910. 

In the North East quarter of the country and in the Moun- 
tain and Pacific divisions, on the other hand, the size of tenant 
farms was greater than that of the farms operated by the 
owners. As a rule, however, the tenants operated farms less 
than two-thirds as large as those operated by the owners. In 
the South Central states the tenant farms were between a third 
and a half as large, on the average, as the farms of owners. 

The farms of part owners were approximately twice as 
large as those of owners proper in 1900, but fell off nearly 20 
per cent by 1910, while the farms of owners proper underwent a 
slight increase during that period. The enormous farms of 
managers were in the territory west of the Mississippi river, 
where the farms of all tenures, except tenants in the West South 
Central states, were much above the general average in size. 

On the basis of farms, tenancy was most marked in the 
Southern states. The number of tenant farms and the per- 
centage of farms operated by tenants in the states of those divis- 

16 See below, p. 21. 
"Census, 1910, V, 114, 137. 



16 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[410 



ions has been so great and increasing so rapidly 18 as to give more 
or less alarm to some students of the situation. When, however, 
the statistics of tenure are placed on the basis of acreage, as in 
the next table, the percentage of tenancy in the South loses 
much of its alarming magnitude. This is due to the small size 

PERCENTAGE OF FARM ACREAGE OPERATED UNDER VARIOUS FORMS OF TENURE, 
UNITED STATES, IQOO-IQIO. 19 





en 
V 

"rt 

"0 
QJ 

s 


c 

*5> 

c 

m 
t 


o 
C 

V 

r2 


11 
* c 

4-> <U 

c3 


v O 


"c 
o 

C/) 


Id *~^ 

o 
c 


.c 
co 43 

%s 


Mountain 


o 
'5 

fS 


Tenants 






















1910 


25.8 


7.8 


25 Q 


, oo 


27.O 


30.1 


27.Q 


26 7 


10.6 


IQ.8 


IQOO 


w^tw 


/ "* 

Q.4 


28.6 


' 


*-/ ^j 


30.6 


/ -* 

27.4 


**'-'/ 
IO.O 


Q 4 


*.-y*\j 


Part owner 


s 


J*'*T 










**/ **T 


-l^.V 


y*^ 




IQIO . 


I 5.2 


4-2 


7.4 


13.9 


23.9 


6.3 


8.0 


13.8 


l6.7 


21.7 


IQOO . 


J*"* 

14.0 


4-2 


/ "T" 

5-9 


11.7 


2^.7 


4-7 


5.8 


17.7 


v*/ 

22.O 


*" / 

19.6 


Rented by 


"T-'X 

part o^ 


vners 


+j*y 




'*J'/ 












1910 


74 


1.6 


2.1 


6.2 


H-5 


2.4 


2.7 


6.4 


8.9 


I.I 


IQOO 


7-1 


1.6 


1.6 


5-2 


11.4 


1.8 


2.O 


8.2 


12.5 


I.O 


Owned by part owners 


















1910 


7.8 


2.6 


5.3 


7-7 


12.4 


3-9 


5-3 


74 


7-8 


20.6 


1900 


7-8 


2.6 


4.3 


6-5 


12.3 


2-9 


3-8 


9-5 


9-5 


18.6 


Owners proper 




















1910 


52.9 


82.5 


62.7 


54-1 


47-0 


60.4 


52.1 


47-9 


53-2 


43-1 


1900 


514 


82.5 


62.2 


59-0 


494 


61.4 


64.8 


37-1 


33-0 


42-9 


Managers 






















1910 


6.1 


5-5 


4.0 


2.0 


2.1 


3-2 


2.0 


1 1.6 


18.5 


154 


1900 


10.4 


3-9 


3.3 


2.O 


3-3 


3-3 


2.0 


26.2 


35-6 


18.0 


All lessees 






















1910 


33-2 


94 


28.0 


36.2 


38.5 


32.5 


30.6 


33-1 


19-5 


20.9 


1900 


304 


II.O 


30.2 


32.5 


35-0 


324 


294 


27.2 


21.9 


20.5 


All deed-holders 




















1910 


60.7 


85.1 


68.0 


6l.8 


594 


64.3 


67.4 


55-3 


62.0 


63.7 


1900 


59-2 


85.1 


66.5 


65.5 


61.7 


64-3 


68.6 


46.6 


42-5 


61.5 



18 In Texas the number of farm tenants increased from 174,091 in 1900 
to 219,575 in 1910. (Census, 1910, V, 213.) In Mississippi the percentage 
of farms operated by tenants increased from 62.4 in 1900 to 66.1 in 1910. 
(Census, 1910, V, 126.) 

"Census, 1900, V, 308; 1910, V. 114. 



411] LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 17 

of the tenant farms in that region. The social significance of 
tenancy in the South is not minimized, however, but rather aug- 
mented by the fact that great numbers of tenants operate small 
farms. On the basis of acreage the East North Central division 
is nearly abreast with the South Atlantic division in the per- 
centage of tenancy, while the "West North Central states stand 
between the East and West South Central groups. On the whole, 
the percentages of tenancy are much more nearly uniform in the 
various divisions when the statistics are based upon acreage 
than when based upon farms. 

Because of the large size of their farms, the proportion of 
farm land operated by part owners and by managers is much 
larger than the number of such operators would indicate. In 
1910 the part owners operated three-fifths as much farm land 
as the tenants. They hired nearly half of this land. Counting 
both the land hired by part owners and the land hired by ten- 
ants, the data indicate that in 1910 the leasing of farm land 
was most prevalent in the North Central states. 20 

The percentage of farm land leased in the United States in 
both 1900 and 1910 was smaller than indicated by the data based 
on the number of tenant farms. On the other hand, while there 
was only a slight increase in the percentage of farms operated 
by tenants between 1900 and 1910, the proportion of the farm 
land operated under lease was considerably greater in 1910 than 
in 1900. 

Managers controlled 6.1 per cent of the farm land in the 
United States in 1910. In the West South Central and Moun- 
tain divisions they operated between 10 and 20 per cent of 
the land. 

In nearly all discussions of land tenure in the United States, 
only the statistics on farms operated by tenants have been em- 
ployed, and the reader naturally supposes that the farms which 
are not operated by tenants are cultivated by their owners. The 
data on the percentage of farms operated by tenants 21 suggests 
that (1) owners operated a smaller part of the land in the 
Southern states than in any other division of the country ; that 

20 The individual states in which the percentages of farm land operated 
under lease were highest are as follows : in 1900, Delaware, 59.5 ; Illinois, 
45.2; and Maryland, 43.2 (Census, 1000, V, 142, 308) ; in 1910, Oklahoma, 
63.1; Delaware, 52.8; and Illinois, 51.0. The figures for 1910 are estimates 
in the case of Delaware, where the error can be only slight, and in the 
case of Oklahoma, where the error may be large. (Census, 1900, V, 142, 
308, and 1910, V, 124-126, 820.) 

21 See above, p. 14. 



18 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [412 

(2) the farms of the Mountain and Pacific states were almost 
exclusively in the hands of owners; and that (3) operation of 
farms by owners was declining between 1900 and 1910. Each 
of these three contentions must be modified or rejected when the 
statistics of acreage are examined. Outside of the New England 
and Middle Atlantic states, operation of land by owners was 
most prevalent in the East South Central and South Atlantic 
states. Ownership was least common in the West South Central 
and West North Central groups. In the territory east of the 
Mississippi river, ownership was less prevalent in the East 
North Central states than in any other division. 

Operation by owners, while shown to be smaller by the 
data based on acreage than might be inferred from the more 
commonly quoted data based on farms, was more prevalent in 
the country as a whole in 1930 than in 1900. It appears, there- 
fore, that while the trend in the tenure of farms was somewhat 
toward tenancy, the trend in the tenure of farm land was toward 
a relative increase of both the leased and the owned acreage 
at the expense of the acreage controlled by managers. This was 
true especially in the West South Central, Mountain and Pacific 
divisions. In the Middle Atlantic states the trend was toward 
ownership because of the decline in the percentage of farms 
run by tenants. In the North Central states, however, both east 
and west of the Mississippi river, and in the East South Central 
states, the trend was toward land leasing and away from oper- 
ation by the owners. 

MORTGAGE ENCUMBRANCE ON OWNED LAND 

Although approximately 6 out of 10 acres are operated by 
the owners in the United States, in many cases the nominal 
owners hold only an equity in the land. Statistics on farm mort- 
gages were gathered in 1890, 1900 and 1910. They related only 
to farm land operated by the owners, the part owners in most 
cases having limited their reports to the land owned by them. 22 

The percentage free from mortgage in the United States 
declined from 71.8 in 1890 to 66.4 in 1910. 23 The percentage of 

"Census, 1910, V, 157. 

23 Census, 1910, V, 160, 162. The report for 1910 "covers only farms 
which consisted wholly of land owned by the operator and for which 
the value of land and buildings and the amount of mortgage debt were 
reported;" whereas the report for 1890 "covers all owned farm homes, 
estimates being made for all farms with defective reports; the statistics 
cover only the land owned by the farmer in the case of farmers renting 
additional land." 



413] LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 10 

farms operated by owners under mortgage in 1910 was greater 
in the West North Central group of states than in any other 
division, although that division was the only one in which there 
was a decline from the percentage prevailing in 1890. The 
district having the highest percentage of farms operated by 
owners encumbered east of the Mississippi was the East North 
Central division. Mortgaging of farms operated by owners 
appears to have been least common in the Southern states, al- 
though compared with the percentages prevailing in 1890 in those 
divisions the practice appears to have been growing with re- 
markable rapidity. 

Outside of the two North Central groups, there appears to 
be no correlation between the percentage of land leased and the 
extent to which the owned land is mortgaged. In those divisions, 
however, we find both the highest percentage of the farm land 
operated under lease and the highest percentage of the remainder 
of the farm land owned under mortgage. 

In all sections of the country there was a decline in the 
ratio of debt to value of farm property between 1890 and 1900. 
The equity increased from 64.5 per cent in 1890 to 72.7 per cent 
in 1910. 23 This was in spite of the increase of 40.1 per cent in 
the amount of indebtedness on the average American farm be- 
tween the two dates. The amount of equity increased 106.0 
per cent. It seems, therefore, that the rise in the value of mort- 
gaged farms was so great that the increase in mortgage debt 
could not keep up with it. This was less true of New England 
and the Middle Atlantic states than of the remainder of the 
country. The proportion of the value of mortgaged farms cov- 
ered by mortgage was highest in those divisions in 1910. 

To summarize, in 1910 in the United States as a whole 33.2 
per cent of the farm acreage was operated under lease, 6.1 by 
salaried managers, about 20.4 by owners under mortgage, the 
mortgage indebtedness representing 27.3 per cent of the value 
of the farms. Only about 40 per cent of the farm land was 
operated by owners clear of mortgage encumbrance. 

CAUSES AND CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OP PREVAILING FORMS 

OP TENURE. 

The conditions underlying the various forms of tenure in 
American agriculture may, for the sake of convenience, be con- 
sidered from three points of view. It is important in the first 
place, to understand the position of the owners of land, and of 
the farm operators. A consideration of the question which 

23 Ibid. 



20 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [414 

form of tenure best conserves the land and improves farm pro- 
duction requires a somewhat different outlook. The relation of 
the various forms of tenure to the general economic conditions 
of the nation is a third point of vantage from which to study 
tenure. 

There are numbers of cases where the owners of land could 
not well keep from being landlords. In the case of women and 
children inexperience or immaturity as a rule unfits them for 
operating farms. Owners of land in extraordinarily large 
tracts, or in tracts widely distant, 24 frequently find that it pays 
them best to rent some and operate the rest of their soil. Owners 
sometimes rent their land so that they may devote their time to 
other interests, such as travel, politics, business, 25 health, or some 
special service. Such interests often cause the owner to dis- 
continue the operation of his farm for a number of seasons and 
sometimes to quit active farming altogether. Again, when an 
owner and his wife become advanced in age their increasing 
dependence on hired help in the field and in the home often 
makes it advisable for them to give up the operation of their 
land. 

A second class of owners consists of those who become land 
holders through inheritance or purchase. When the title to 
farm land passes to heirs, they often arrange to have the land 
operated as a unit by some renter, quite frequently one of their 
own number. The few who obtain land through the foreclosure 
of mortgages often value the land from the speculative point of 
view. Many others who purchase land are also to be regarded as 
speculative buyers. Such land owners, awaiting a favorable 
turn in the price of land, are seldom inclined to incur the ex- 
pense of installing the managerial system and naturally prefer 
short-lease tenants. When corporations, such as coal, railway, 
gas, oil, or land improvement companies, own farm land its 
cultivation is usually of incidental importance to them, even in 
cases where the land remains more or less permanently in their 
hands. A condition of this kind is conducive either to managerial 
or tenant cultivation. 

24 In the United States 11.4 percent of the owners of rented farms 
owned two farms in 1900; 5.4 percent owned three or four farms; 2.3 
percent owned five to nine farms ; and 0.9 percent owned ten or more 
farms. See Census, 1900, V, Ixxxviii. 

5 A large number of country bankers, for instance, are so-called 
"banker-farmers". Not all of these were farmers, however, before they 
were bankers. See Stewart, C. L., An Analysis of Rural Banking Condi- 
tions in Illinois, 4, 5. 



415] 



LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 



21 



Perhaps the most numerous class of landlords is made up 
of those who seek retirement from the farm. 26 Many owners 
leave the farm so that the children may start operating the home 
place, unhampered by lack of house room, and with greater 
freedom to work out their problems. It frequently happens 
that the parents move to town so that the children may be at 
home with them while launching into their school, business or 
society careers. Parental considerations, however, are often 
of no more influence than the desire to get away from the objec- 
tionable features of rural life, and to get easier access to the 
institutions and facilities of the city. When farmers retire, 
they usually rent their farms either to a relative by birth or 
marriage or to a trusted farm hand. 

Part owners are operators who hire land to cultivate in addi- 
tion to land of their own that they farm. Some statistical facts 
concerning part owners are presented in the following table. 

AVERAGE ACREAGE OWNED AND HIRED BY OWNERS, PART OWNERS AND TENANTS, 
UNITED STATES, igOO-IQIO. 27 





Average number of acres 


Percent- 










age of 


Census 


Operated 
by part 


Hired by 
Part Ten- 


Owned by 
Part owners 


partly 
owned 


year 


owners 


owners ants 


owners proper 


land 










hired 


1910 .... 


225.0 


III4 28 06.2 


H3.6 28 138.6 


49-S 28 


1900 .... 


2/6.4 


136.8 96.3 


139.6 134.7 


49-5 



20 While it is not correct to assume that the number of farmers living 
in retirement is equal to the number of rented farms whose owners do not 
live in the same county, a reference to the latter data may be useful at 
this point. In 1900, of the 95.5 percent of the rented farms for which 
reports were obtained, all but 20.3 percent reported the owners to be 
residents of the same counties as that in which the respective farms are 
located. The owners of 15.2 percent of the farms were located in other 
counties of the same state, and in the case of 5.1 percent of the farms 
were located in other states. See Census, 1900, V, Ixxxvii. 

No doubt there are instances where the landlords living in adjoining 
counties are closer to their farms than some living in the same county 
in which their places are located. The same thing doubtless applies in the 
case of owners living in other states. On the other hand, the residence 
of owners in the same county does not guarantee a close interest in 
operations carried on by their tenants. 

27 Census, 1910, V, 99 and 1900, V, 308. 

"Estimated to make the percentages identical in the last column. 



22 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [416 

Though practically half of the land in the farms of part 
owners was hired the owned acreage was so nearly comparable 
to that of operators owning their entire farms that it seems 
natural to assign the part owners an economic status even higher, 
on the average, than that of owners proper. It is gratifying to 
note, therefore, that in spite of the decline in the size of partly 
owned farms, the percentage of all land operated by part owners 
increased from 14.9 in 1900 to 15.2 in 1910. 29 The percentage 
of their land that was improved was 45.5 in 1900 and 56.9 in 
1910, as against a percentage of 50.6 at the latter date for the 
land of operators owning their entire farms. 30 

Tenancy, when practiced by part owners, seems to be usually 
a matter of choice. By renting additional land part owners 
practically double the scale of their operations without requiring 
any great increase in the amount of money they have invested. 
They are limited in the area from which they may choose land to 
rent, but in most districts there is usually enough land for 
rent near their places. Sometimes they afford almost the only 
means an owner can find to get a piece of land operated without 
equipping it with buildings. Part owners, therefore, may often 
rent good land on favorable terms. On the other hand, since 
part owners may not ordinarily be expected to build up the 
fertility of the land they hire as carefully as that of the land 
they own, it is only natural that some landlords prefer not to 
rent land to them. 

Often the farm of a part owner is the area comprised in an 
estate that has been divided among heirs. In such cases the par- 
tition of a farm at the death of the former owner destroys the 
unity of ownership without destroying the unity of operation. 

The large size of the partly owned farms affords evidence 
that some experienced farmers are in favor of expanding the 
area cultivated in place of intensifying the cultivation of small 
farms. This economy arises in part from the fact that the 
building equipment of the area owned by the part owner does 
service for the hired area as well. Where pieces of land are 
found without independent equipment in buildings part owner- 
ship is a form of tenure to which resort is commonly had. A 
tendency to reduce the size of holdings in districts of large-scale 
farming often results in an increase in the prominence of part 
ownership. 

In a number of the Southern states the place of colored 

2 *See above, p. 16. 
80 Census, 1910, V, 97. 



417] LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 23 

tenants is one of great significance. In four states, Mississippi, 
South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia, over half of the tenants 
in 1910 were colored, and their numbers aggregated 415, 947. 81 
Ten years previously the number of colored tenants in the same 
states was 324,964. The white tenants in these states were out- 
numbered by colored tenants nearly 2 to 1 in 1910. 

The tenants of the Southern states must be sharply dis- 
tinguished from those in other parts of the country. For the 
most part they operate cotton farms of twenty acres, are under 
the supervision of the owner of the farm, are in debt for most 
of the one or two hundred dollars worth of property they own, 
and are dependent upon lien holders for their subsistence from 
reason to season. In the Northwest, on the other hand, the tenant 
is practically as independent as if he owned the land, owns 
property worth thousands of dollars, and conducts his farm and 
business operations entirely as suits him ; in the East the tenant 
must engage in highly intensive farming ; and in the newer West 
he is operating land recently taken up from the public domain. 32 
Tenancy in the South should by no means be confused with 
tenancy in other parts of the United States. 

Somewhat of an indication of the economic status of tenants 
is afforded by the kind of basis on which they pay rent whether 
they pay a fixed amount of cash per acre, or a share of the pro- 
ducts. The census did not report "share-cash" 83 tenants separ- 
ately before 1910, and until that date followed the practice of 
including tenant farms whose basis of rental payment was un- 
specified with the cash tenant farms. The following table shows 
the difference between the kinds of farm properties operated by 
the two major classes of tenants which, for the sake of brevity, 
we may call share and cash. 34 

81 Census, 1910, V, 210-213. 

82 Hibbard, B. H., in Quarterly Journal of Economics, XXV, 710-711. 

S3 "Share-cash" tenants are those who pay cash for part of the land 
rented by them and pay a share of the products for part. 

84 The number of all tenants in the United States increased from 
1,024,601 in 1880 to 2,354,676 in 1910. The number of share tenants in- 
creased from 702,244 in 1880 to 1,528,389 in 1910. The corresponding 
increase in the number of cash tenants was from 322,357 to 826,287. The 
percentage of all tenants renting for cash was 31.4 in 1880, 35.2 in 1890, 
37-3 in 1900 and 35.2 in 1910. See Census, 1910, V, 102. 



24 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[418 



THE AVERAGE ACREAGE OF LAND, TOTAL AND IMPROVED, AND THE VALUE OF 

VARIOUS KINDS OF PROPERTY PER FARM OF SHARE AND CASH 

TENANTS, UNITED STATES, IQOO-IQIO. 85 















T3 
















c 








o 









rt > 


^ 






V 






M 


CO W 


o 




"rt 


> 




3 


a 


_c 


4-> (U 

g .H 


o 

</) 




o 
H 


o. 


o 
H 


3 


" w 

'3 


11 

<L> M 


V 

> 






c 

t 1 






M 


^ ra 

3. S 


J 














j= 




Share and share-cash 


1910 || 93-2 


69.1 


$5222 


$3945 


$615 


$ 131 


$ 530 


1900 II 924 


65.0 1 2647 


1853 


386 


89 


319 


Cash and unspecified 


1910 || 101.7 


61.3 


$5613 


$4139 


$ 7IO 


$ 146 


$ 620 


1900 I) 102.9 


56.7 


3003 


2IOO 


423 


92 


388 



It appears that the cash tenants have been operating larger 
and more valuable farms than the share tenants. The compara- 
tive difference in values, however, is not a great one per farm 
and a still smaller one per acre. 

On the possibility of improvement in economic status of 
farm tenants we have little statistical evidence. There can be 
no doubt, however, that there are tenants who are not in a 
financial position to own any farm land, though they would 
regard the buying of land as a desirable and natural step to take. 
On the other hand there are tenants who, though financially able 
to own farm land, do not prefer to invest their capital in land. 

Ordinarily the members of the first class can choose between 
operating land as renters, hiring themselves out as farm laborers, 
and seeking a livelihood in some pursuit other than agriculture. 
Allowing for the loss and trouble connected with changing from 
their present status, it may be assumed that such tenants remain 
in that class because of the favorableness of the terms they are 
able to make with the landlords. Some of these tenants succeed 
in saving money. Others live such a shiftless, hand-to-mouth 
existence that they show little evidence of ever being able to 
make much improvement in their condition. Perhaps the most 
striking examples of this class of tenants are to be found among- 
the poorer negro tenants of the South. Since the owners of the 
more valuable farm land prefer to rent to the more capable 

"Census, 1910, V, 100. 



419] LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 25 

tenants, 30 those who stand lowest in the scale of non-owning 
tenants will ordinarily tend to gravitate toward the less valuable 
lands. 

Those tenants who regard tenant operation as a better means 
than land ownership for accumulating money have in their 
number some who are of high economic standing. They are often 
of such a character as to attract the attention of owners desiring 
the higher class of tenants. Once well established they are likely 
to prefer and to be able to secure longer leases and fairly perman- 
ent tenure. Tenants of this class are found mainly in the dis- 
tricts where the price of land is high in comparison with the 
value of its products. 

On the whole, it seems that the transition of which tenancy 
is the middle stage has, for most farmers, been toward higher 
rather than toward lower economic conditions. 87 It is the pre- 
vailing belief, however, based upon statistics of tenant farms, 
"that the stepping-stones of tenancy are getting somewhat 
farther apart and the passage over them to ownership beyond 
becoming correspondingly more difficult of accomplishment." 88 

RELATION OP TENURE TO FARM PRACTICE. 

The tenancy practiced by part owners is renting in as true 

"Taylor, H. C. Introduction to the Study of Agricultural Economics, 

59-65- 

87 A certain amount of evidence on this problem is afforded by the 
statistics on ages of farm operators and home occupiers. The percentage 
of farmers who were renters exceeded 50 in the two age groups under 35 
in 1800, 1900, and 1910. The older age-groups showed a constantly declin- 
ing percentage of farmers who were renting, and a corresponding in- 
crease in the percentage of farmers who were owning. The indication is, 
therefore, that advance in age has been associated with advance in status 
of tenure. The percentage of ownership in the younger age-groups, 
however, was less in 1910 than in 1900 and less in 1900 than in 1890. It 
seems that the greater burden of the decline in ownership was being borne 
by the younger farmers. 

The extent to which the age of a farmer affects the amount of mort- 
gage encumbrance he carries on his farm is not so marked as the effect 
of age upon the tenure status. Owners 55 years old and over have very 
little mortgage encumbrance, more at the last census than previously. 
The age-group with the highest percentage of owners encumbered in 1800 
was that between 25 and 34, while in 1900 and 1910 the age group, 35 to 44, 
had the highest percentage, with an increasing concentration on it in 1910. 
See Census, 1900, Part II, ccxi ; 1900, Bulletin on Age of Farmers, 9, 22. 

88 Hibbard, B. H., in Annals of the American Academy, XL, 29-39. 



26 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [420 

a sense as that carried on by tenants proper. The part owners, 
however, are usually more fixed to the community and are bound 
by deed to a part of the land they operate. In the case of 
"estates" regard for the "old place" and for the other heirs 
may induce the heir in charge of the operations to treat the land 
he rents as well as that which he owns. The expectation of 
eventual ownership of the rented land is greater in the case of 
part owners than in the case of most tenants, and this exerts 
an influence in the direction of better treatment of the rented 
land. Farming by part owners, in such cases, differs little 
from that conducted by those owning all the land they operate. 

At the twelfth census farms were classified according to 
their principal sources of income, and by various forms of ten- 
ure. 39 From this investigation it appears that in 1900 managerial 
operation was relatively most prominent in the case of farms 
whose principal source of income was fruits, dairy produce, rice, 
sugar, flowers, plants, and nursery products. Tenants were rela- 
tively most prominent in the production of vegetables, tobacco 
and cotton. In the case of hay and grain farms part owners and 
share tenants operated more than their share. Livestock farm- 
ing was carried on by "owners-and-tenants", 40 by part owners 
and by owners, to a disproportionately large extent. 

It appears that hay and grain farming was given greatest 
relative emphasis by the share tenants . and part owners ; that 
livestock raising was more largely practiced by the owners-and- 
tenants, owners proper, and part owners ; and that dairying was 
carried on chiefly by the owners. The tenants, therefore, have 
been concentrating on the production of staple products, man- 
agers have preferred the lines requiring great emphasis on super- 
vision of labor force, while owners have been associated with a 
more highly diversified and capitalized form of farming industry. 
From the point of view of farm practice, tenure is an expression 
of the adaptation of the operator to the requirements of the type 
of farming. On the other hand, there has doubtless been some 
adjustment of farm practice by the operators to suit the re- 
quirements of their form of tenure. 

39 The percentage of farms listed under each principal source of in- 
come was as follows: hay and grain, 23.0; vegetables, 2.7; fruits, 1.4; 
livestock, 27.3; dairy produce, 6.2; tobacco, 1.9; cotton, 18.7; rice, 0.1 ; 
sugar, o.i ; flowers and plants, o.i ; nursery products, less than o.i ; and 
miscellaneous, 18.5. See Census, 1900, V, liii-lv. 

*"Owners-and-tenants" refers to cases where tenants and operating 
bwners combine their efforts in the operation of farms. 



421] LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 27 

Land makes demands upon farmers either for capital to own 
it or for capital and skill to operate it. High prices for the 
land do not in themselves induce tenant-farming, 41 unless the 
purposes to which such land may be put are such that tenants 
can qualify as operators. If large-scale production is at a 
premium on the high-priced land, then the standardization of 
farming method and the costliness of farm ownership may 
encourage tenant cultivation. In any case, financial and tech- 
nical qualifications of the tenants to carry on the type of farming 
to which the land is adapted are prerequisite to the prevalence 
of tenancy. 

The importance to the tenant of technical knowledge and 
of capital goods is especially to be noted when there is a change 
in the type of farming prevailing in a region. The introduction 
of cereal growing into certain parts of the South has caused a 
temporary withdrawal of tenants from operation there. 42 Cereal 
growing, where it is an established feature of the agriculture of a 
region, is ordinarily practiced to a high degree by tenants. As 
the methods of grain farming become widely known in the 
Southern districts introducing it and as investments in the 
special types of equipment become better understood, we may 
expect the same association of tenancy and cereal growing there 
as in other parts of the country. 

Lack of adequate capital to invest in the ownership of land 
tends to increase the supply of tenants when the methods of 
farming the land are standardized and well known. Persons with 
adequate knowledge of farming method seek to manage, rent or 
own in part possibly under mortgage farms for the complete 
and unencumbered ownership of which they lack sufficient 
capital. 

The importance of the influence of both these factors, the 
lack of capital for land purchase in increasing tenancy and the 
lack of operating capital and efficiency in decreasing tenancy, 
must continue to grow as heavier demands are made for capital 
and operating efficiency. The annual gain to the landlord from 
unearned increment must constitute a diminishing percentage of 

41 The price of land and the size of farms are given considerable 
emphasis in the writings of most of those treating the subject of tenancy. 
See particularly Taylor, H. C, Introduction to the Study of Agricultural 
Economics, 244-250; and Hibbard, B H., Annals of the American Academy, 
XL, 29-39, and Quarterly Journal of Economics, XXV, 712-719; XXVI, 
107-109, 364-360; XXVII, 483- 

42 Community Service Week in North Carolina, 44. 



28 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[422 



the value of the land and of the total annual increase in the 
landlord's wealth. 43 Great emphasis must, therefore, be placed 
upon operating efficiency in increasing farm incomes. The 
landlords may be expected to apply more thorough-going tests to 
ascertain the farming ability of tenants. This will not only tend 
to hold tenancy in abeyance, but will accompany a regime of 
better farming by those operating under all forms of tenures. 

TENURE AND THE EXPANSIBILITY OF THE FARM AREA 

Land tenure may, in a general way, be regarded as affording 
an expression of the relation of the population to the supply of 
cultivatable land. The accompanying table affords some data on 
this relation. From 1850 to 1880 the acreage of improved land 
in American farms increased 151.9 per cent, while population 
increased 116.3 per cent. The improved acreage per capita was 
4.9 in 1850 and 5.7 in 1880. From 1880 to 1910 the population 
increased 83.4, while the improved farm acreage increased 68.0 

PER CAPITA ACREAGE OF LAND IN FARMS, AND PERCENTAGE OF INCREASE OVER 
PRECEDING CENSUS RETURNS IN POPULATION, NUMBER OF FARMS, ACREAGE 
OF FARM LAND AND VALUE OF FARM PROPERTY, UNITED STATES, 

1 850- 1 9 io. 44 





Per capita 


Percentage of increase over preceding census 




acreage of 






Acreage of 


Value of Farm Property 










land in 










Census 


farms 





^ en 


farms 




O en 

c bo 




u 

o 


Year 


o 


T3 

& % 


"3 

Q. 

o 


5 E 

"- 

3 **"' 




o 
H 


o -3 

3 


P ** 

<u g 

5 


en 
V 


"o 


F^ 


N 


H 


CX 







H 


CL 




_1 -o 


^ 


3 


1910 


9-6 


5-2 


21. 


1O.9 


4-8 


15-4 


100.5 


109.5 


68.7 


60.1 


I9OO 


II.O 


5.5 


20.7 


25-7 


34-6 


15-9 


27.1 


25-1 


51-7 


33-2 


1890 


9-9 


5.7 


25.5 


13-9 


16.3 


26.6 


32-0 


30.2 


21.6 


454 


l88o 


10.7 


5.7 


30.1 


50.7 


31-5 


50.7 


36.2 


37-0 


50.1 


28.2 


1870 


10.6 


4-9 


22.6 


30.1 


O.I 


15-8 


12. 1 


I2.O 


IO.I 


12.9 


1860 


13-0 


5-2 


35-6 


4I.I 


38.7 


44-3 


IOI.2 


I03.I 


63.4 


IOO.2 


1850 


12.7 


4.9 








































PERCENTAGE OF INCREASE OVER THIRD PRECEDING CENSUS. 



1880-1910 
I850-l88o 



834 
II6.3 



58.7 
176.7 



63.9 
82.6 



68.0 
I5I-9 



236.5 
207.0 



241-3 

211.7 



221.2 
168.2 



212.3 
189.0 



43 See below, pp. 123, 124. 
* 4 Census, 1910, V, 51, 57. 



423] LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 29 

percent and the improved acreage per capita declined from 5.7 
to 5.2. 

But for an extraordinary expansion in the unimproved 
acreage between 1890 and 1900, the acreage of all land in farms 
per capita would probably have shown a tendency to decline after 
1880 similar to that shown by the improved acreage. The ex- 
pansion of the farm area between 1890 and 1900 was probably 
due, in a measure, to the belief on the part of some persons that 
it was best to get desirable new land before it became too late. 45 
From 1900 to 1910 the expansion of the farm area was hardly 
possible without resort to somewhat inferior types of soil. As a 
consequence increased attention was paid to improving the 
acreage already in farms. The relative increase in the ratio of 
improved land to all farm land was greater between 1900 and 
1910 than for any decade ending after 1880. That there was 
an increased demand for farm products in comparison with the 
area supplying them is indicated by the rise in price of farm 
products. This affected the profits of farming and helped 
augment the price of farm land. The relative increase in the 
value of land and buildings per acre was greater during the 
decade, 1900 to 1910, than during any other census decade of 
the sixty years. 

The effect upon land prices was probably greatest in the 
case of land producing those staple products the area of whose 
production had previously been expanding more nearly in re- 
sponse to the demand for the products. The effect was not so 
important, therefore, in the case of cotton lands, but was very 
pronounced in the case of land producing the important cereals. 

The relation of land prices to tenure during the recent 
decades can be best examined, therefore, in the case of cereal- 
growing districts. That will be done here for the state of Illinois. 

45 The percentage of the land area in farms in 1910 was 46.2, 1900, 
44.1, and 1890, 32.7. More significance is to be attached to the smallness 
of the increase between 1900 and 1910, perhaps, than to the fact that over 
half of the land had not yet been included in farms. 



CHAPTER II 

TENDENCIES IN THE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY OP ILLINOIS 

It is impossible to understand the agricultural economy of 
a state like Illinois without keeping constantly in mind the 
physical features and soil conditions that give character to the 
state. 

The surface of Illinois, for the most part, slopes gently from 
the north to the south, except in the extreme Southern part of 
the state where a spur of the Ozark hills rises rather abruptly 
from the plains to an altitude of approximately one thousand 
feet. The altitude along the rivers in the Southern part of the 
state is about three hundred feet above sea level, in the Central 
part between seven and eight hundred feet, and in the Northern 
part about one thousand feet. 

PHYSIOGRAPHIC INFLUENCES 

The state has a variety of soils, as indicated by the soil 
map. 1 Unglaciated areas are to be found in three portions of 
the state in the Southern part, where the Ozark hills appear to 
have obstructed the progress of the glaciers ; in the point of land 
between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers; and in the North- 
western corner of the state. All the rest of the state has been 
glaciated at least once, and some sections were covered a num- 
ber of times. 

The profound influence of the glaciers upon Illinois agri- 
culture was exerted through their effect upon the topography 
and to a less extent, perhaps, upon the quality of the soil. 2 The 
difference in yields per acre in the various glaciated districts 
is considerable, but the difference in land prices is much greater. 
The unglaciated regions, being more broken, are less suited to 

1 Hopkins, C. G., The Fertility in Illinois Soils, following 192. 

2 The dominant soil type in all but Southern Illinois, is a dark 
brown to black silty loam underlaid by a yellow gray, or drab stiff silty 
loam subsoil. Associated with it, and particularly in the timbered areas 
along the streams, is a yellow to yellowish-brown silty loam surface under- 
laid by a yellow silty subsoil. In Southern Illinois the deposit of loess 
over the underlying glacial materials is thin. The soil in Southern 
Illinois is principally a gray silt loam underlaid by a stiff gray silty clay. 
See Census, 1910, V, 897-898. 

30 



425] AGRICULTURAL TENDENCIES IN ILLINOIS 31 

cultivation by modern farm machinery and to hauling heavy 
loads. The glaciated regions have better water supply, and 
suffer less change in the fertility of the soil because of erosion. 8 
The extent of the timber growth in the various parts of the 
state affords a good index of the general physiographic condi- 
tions. The mere presence of natural timbers usually implies 
that the land is either broken or swampy. This fact alone would 
tend to cause the timber land to be less easily cultivated, even 
when cleared. There is the further fact that timber operated 
against the accumulation of the organic elements so important 
for the growing of crops.* This is attested by the fact that 
while the productiveness of the timber land was somewhat 
improved after it was cleared, the distinction between the old 
timber land and the old prairie land still stands out with 
appreciable sharpness. Just what part of the difference in fer- 
tility in different sections is due to the fact of former timber 
influence and what portion is to be explained by geological 
formation, is, of course, indeterminate. The sharpest line of 
demarcation between soils in Illinois, when considered from the 
point of view of productiveness, is found, however, where the 
same line divides an old timbered from an old prairie district, 
and at the same time a district of a later from that of an earlier 
glaciation. 5 This line may be roughly indicated as running from 
East St. Louis to Shelbyville, the seat of Shelby county, and 

3 Mosier, J. G., Effect of Glaciers on Illinois Agriculture, in Illinois 
Agriculturist, June, 1914, 533, 534. 

4 Upon the withdrawal of the last glacial sheet the assumption is that 
the grasses were first among the vegetable growths to cover the land of 
the state. The area covered by trees, first limited to the unglaciated dis- 
trict, came to include more and more of the glaciated soil. The previous 
occupation of the land by the grasses made it more difficult for the seeds 
of trees to get into the soil, and the fires which burnt the grass period- 
ically tended to destroy the incipient timber growth. The organic ele- 
ments which worked into the soil as a consequence of the decay of the 
grasses are said to have made the soil still less hospitable to the growth 
of timber. The hardier, scrubbier types of woodland growth could make 
their way somewhat better through this soil than the more characteristic 
types of timber. As the hardier types gained possession of the land, they 
reduced the hostile elements and made it possible for the other types to 
follow them. The expansion of the timber over the grass lands must 
have been very slow for it lacked much of being complete when the set- 
tlement of the prairie stopped it. 

B Hall and Ingall, Forest Conditions in Illinois, 195. 



32 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [426 

thence east to the northwest corner of Clark county. South of 
this line the country was once nearly all covered with timber, 
while to the north the original forest was, for the most part, 
confined to the belts following the principal waterways. 6 

Timber was not only an index and feature of the physi- 
ography of the Illinois country, but was important in its influ- 
ence upon early settlement and pioneer farm economy. The 
decided preference of the early settlers for woodland is sup- 
ported by evidence in the recorded history of nearly every Illi- 
nois county. 7 For the raising of hogs the mast of the woods 
and for the raising of cattle woodland shade and pasture were, 
during most of the year, superior to the natural or cultivated 
products which might, with satisfactory drainage, have been 
produced on the prairie. To be sure, a certain amount of hay 
and grain was necessary to tide the horses, hogs and cattle over 
the winter season, and some grain and hemp or flax was needed 
to feed and clothe the settlers themselves. The amount of arable 

Ibid. 

7 This is explained by a number of facts. The early settler had to 
have some land which was higher than the general level. This was neces- 
sary, first, to escape the ponds which covered the flat lands during th'e 
rainy seasons, producing malaria and making travel in and out difficult; 
and second, to be safe from the fires which swept the prairies in the dry 
seasons. Where high spots were found, timber was usually on them. 
The better drained land was ordinarily more broken and timbered. The 
woods afforded the source of fuel and of materials for stockades, houses, 
barns and fences, the overland transportation of which, whether as logs 
or rails, was a difficult matter, particularly in the wet seasons. The 
woods were usually to be found associated with rivers, springs and salt 
licks. The rivers were often the avenues by means of which settlers 
pushed on and by which they communicated with the markets and post 
offices. The springs afforded the source of water for the settlers and 
for the animals they kept or hunted. The salt licks provided a necessary 
article for the household and for the domestic animals, and of all places 
in the woods were probably the most strategic for killing wild game. 
Furthermore, the surrounding woods provided shelter from the extremes 
of the weather for both man and beast. 

Among settlers for whom the woodland held such a monopoly of 
the indispensable conditions of pioneer life it is little wonder that a 
prejudice arose against the open prairie. Some of this prejudice may 
have been brought with them from their former homes farther East 
The kind of economic life to which lack of facilities for drainage and 
transportation subjected them would only tend to strengthen such 
prejudice. 



427] AGRICULTURAL TENDENCIES IN ILLINOIS 33 

land sufficient to these purposes, however, was easily cleared, 
or fenced in from a natural clearing in the woods or from the 
edge of the prairie. It was the timber, nevertheless, that was 
the indispensable basis of the pioneer agricultural economy, 
while the prairie, beyond that which lay contiguous to the tim- 
ber, afforded menaces by fire and by water, in the shape of 
disease and death. There is little wonder, then, that the prairie 
was looked upon by the pioneers as a hopeless waste. 8 

In order to sketch the development of Illinois we may 
employ several lines of census data. 

POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE 

From the population statistics of the Federal census and 
from the data of the quinquennial census conducted by the state 
itself a fair notion of the rate of this development may be 
drawn. 

The population multiplied 459 times between 1810 and 
1910. 9 The periods in which the absolute growth in population 
was most marked were those extending from 1850 to 1870, and 
from 1890 to 1910. In relative increase the decades prior to 
1840 took the lead, although a remarkable increase occurred 
from 1850 to 1860. The period of least relative increase in popu- 
lation was the one between 1900 and 1910. Until 1870 the rate of 
increase in population in Illinois exceeded that of the nation as 
a whole during each decade. The same thing was true of the 
decade, 1890 to 1900. From 1870 to 1890 and from 1900 to 
1910, however, the rate of increase of population fell below 

8 It is sometimes said that the early settlers held the theory that the 
prairie was less fertile than the timber land, because the prairie grew 
vegetation that was much smaller. Owing to the conditions confronting 
the settlers, however, this theory could not have restrained them much 
until the improvements took place in transportation, in agricultural 
machinery and in drainage. When it became possible to till the land, 
to produce extensively and to market products other than those which 
could be driven on foot, cultivation of the prairies became at once possible 
and profitable. It is, of course, natural that some farmers should have 
insisted on clearing timber land, thinking that they would thus farm the 
richest land, when a vast area of richer prairie lay all ready to be tiled 
and broken up. But the view that the prairies were less fertile than the 
timber land probably did not restrain prairie cultivation to any great 
extent. 

"See Census, 1910, I, 24 and V, 436 for authority for all statements 
in this paragraph. 



34 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [428 

that of the United States. The percentage of increase in the 
population of Illinois was less during the decade, 1900 to 1910, 
than during any other decade in the history of the state. Taken 
as a whole the growth of population was very rapid, especially 
until about 1870. 

It is possible to determine the extent of the agricultural 
population of the state in only a rough way. Statistics of occu- 
pations were taken in 1820 and at each census from 1840 to 1910. 
The table on the next page has been prepared from the limited 
data at hand. 

In Illinois in 1820, and from 1870 to 1910 the percentage 
of population engaged at gainful occupations was below that of 
the entire country, rising steadily, however, from 24.7 in 1820 
to 40.7 in 1910. 

The percentage of the occupied population of Illinois engaged 
in agriculture was 90.9 in 1820, and decreased to 19.0 in 1910. 
The virtual absence of slaves in Illinois in 1850 and 1860 leaves 
a greater comparative value in the statistics of occupations for 
those dates in the case of Illinois than in the case of the country 
as a whole. The decline in the percentage of occupied persons 
who were in agriculture was less abrupt in Illinois between 1860 
and 1870. This is to be explained mostly by the fact that. the 
number of persons in Illinois agriculture underwent its greatest 
decennial increase during that period. Up to and including 
1870 a larger part of the population had been engaged in agri- 
culture in Illinois than in the rest of the country. Between 
1870 and 1880, however, the growth of other industries in the 
state was so marked, and since 1880, the number engaged in agri- 
culture has undergone so little change that from 1880 to 1910 
the percentage of population devoted to agriculture in Illinois 
was less than the corresponding percentage for the United 
States, and was decreasing much more rapidly. 

The changes in the population of Illinois from 1890 to 1910 
are analyzed in a table of the thirteenth census. 10 The data 
show that, while the urban population has been growing both 
relatively and absolutely, and while the small town population 
has been growing absolutely, the population in strictly rural 
territory has been both relatively and absolutely declining. 11 

"Census, 1910, II, 438. 

"The percentage of the total population of Illinois in urban territory 
was 44.8 in 1890, 54.3 in 1900, and 61.7 in 1910; in places having 2500 or less, 
12.7 in 1890, 12.6 in 1900 and 12.0 in 1910; and in other rural territory, 
42.5 in 1890, 33.2 in 1900, and 26.4 in 1910. 



429] 



AGRICULTURAL TENDENCIES IN ILLINOIS 



35 



THE NUMBER OF THE TOTAL POPULATION, OF THOSE ENGAGED IN GAINFUL OCCU- 
PATIONS AND OF THOSE IN AGRICULTURE, ILLINOIS ; AND THE PERCENTAGE OF 
TOTAL POPULATION OCCUPIED, AND OF OCCUPIED POPULATION IN AGRICUL- 
TURE, UNITED STATES AND ILLINOIS, l82O, I&JO-IQIO. 12 











Percentage of 












Occupied 


Cen- 


Population 


Number 


Persons 


Population 


population in 


sus 




in all 


in agri- 


occupied 


agriculture 


year 




occupations 


culture 13 


























United 


Illi- 


United 


Illi- 










States 1 * 


nois 


States 14 


nois 


1910 


5,638,591 


2,296,778" 


444,242 


41-5 


40.7 


32.4 


19-3 


1900 


4,821,550 


i,840,O40 18 


461,015 


38.3 


374 


35-3 


25.6 


1800 


3,826,352 


i,353,559 15 


430,134 


36.1 


35-4 


37-2 


31.8 


1880 


3,077,871 


999,78o 15 


436,312 


34-7 


32.5 


44-1 


43-6 


1870 


2,539,891 


742,01 5 18 


376,325 


32.4 


29.2 


474 


50.7 


1860 


i,7ii,9Si 


395.937 18 


301,893 


26.4 


234 


40.4 


5i.o 


1850 


851.470 


215,359" 


141,099 


23.2 


25-3 


44-8 


65-5 


1840 


476,183 


I24.2O4 18 


105,337 


21.8 


26.1 


77-5 


84.8 


1820 


55,i62 


I3.635 18 


12,395 


25.8 


24.7 


83.0 


oo.o 



"Statistics for each date were obtained as follows : 
1910: Census, 1910, I, 30-31, and IV, 91, 97. 

1900, 1890, 1880 and 1870; Census, 1000, Occupations, Introduction, 
1 (following xlix) ; also Census, 1900, Occupations, 124; 1890, 
II, Population, 304, 314; and 1880, Population, 777, 793. 
1870: Census, 1870, Population and Social Statistics, 704, 713. 
1860 and 1850 : Census, 1900, Occupations, Introduction, liii ; also 

1860, Population, 104-105, 680, and 1850, Ixx-lxxix, 727. 
1840 and 1820: Census, 1000, Occupations, Introduction, xxx; also 

1840, 306 and 475, and 1820, Sheet 40. 

"Exclusive of lumbermen, raftsmen, woodchoppers, apiarists, fisher- 
men, oystermen, foresters, owners and managers of log and timber camps, 
and those in other agricultural and animal husbandry pursuits, so far as 
separately reported. 

14 See a table by the author in Bogart and Thompson : Readings in the 
Economic History of the United States, 608. 
"Males and females over ten years of age. 
16 Free males and females over fifteen years of age. 
17 Free males over fifteen years of age. 
"Males and females, free and slave, all ages. 



36 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



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431] AGRICULTURAL TENDENCIES IN ILLINOIS 37 

The number of inhabitants of strictly rural territory per square 
mile of 'the total land area was 29.1 in 1890 and 24.8 in 1910. 
There were 16.2 per cent more people in the strictly rural terri- 
tory in 1890 than in 1910. 19 

Of the thirty-two million acres of land in Illinois farms 
probably not over two million were taken up by 1820. 20 During 
the next thirty years approximately ten million acres were added 
to the farm area. Most of the land taken into Illinois farms 
during the first half of the nineteenth century was in the wooded 
districts of the state. 21 

Beginning with 1850 we have United States census data 
on the total and improved farm acreage and on the number of 
farms for each census date. 

The percentage of the land area in farms increased from 
33.6 in 1850 to 91.4 in 1900, but decreased to 90.7 in 1910. 22 
The percentage of farm land that was improved increased stead- 
ily from 41.9 in 1850 to 86.2 in 1910. 

Until 1880 the growth of the area of land in farms was rapid, 
the total increase during the period, 1850 to 1880, being 163.1 
per cent. During the thirty years between 1880 and 1910 the 
area of land in farms increased only 2.7 per cent, and actually 
declined during two decades. The acreage of improved land 
increased 418.2 per cent between 1850 and 1880, and only 7.4 
per cent from 1880 to 1910. The farms were decreasing in aver- 
age size from 1850 to 1880, but have been increasing somewhat 
since 1880. 28 

The year, 1880, therefore, stands as the turning point in 
the 'direction in which the average acreage of farms was moving. 

19 See below, pp. 113-116. 

20 In American State Papers, Public Lands, Vol. Ill, 533, it appears that 
the five land agencies in Illinois, located at Shawneetown, Kaskaskia, 
Edwardsville, Palestine, and Vandalia, had reported to October i, 1821, 
as follows : 

Lands surveyed 13,799,040 acres 

Reservations private claims 529,046 acres 

Amount sold 1,458,992 acres 

Unsold 12,160,992 acres 

21 See below, p. 43. 

"Census, 1910, V, 69; VI, 412, 413. 

28 To analyze these changes in greater detail, reference may be had to 
the Census, 1910, VI, 415; 1890, Agriculture, 118; and 1880, Agriculture, 
26, 27. Such an analysis will show that from 1880 to 1910 the percentage 
of farms under 20 acres in size increased from 4.9 to 8.0; those between 



38 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



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433] 



AGRICULTURAL TENDENCIES IN ILLINOIS 



39 



It also marks the end of the large relative decennial increases 
in the total and improved farm acreages, in the number of 
farms and in the number of persons engaged in agriculture. 
Until 1880 the changes in Illinois agriculture were mainly in the 
area of farm land and the number of farms and farmers; since 
1880 the greater changes have been in productions and values. 

THE VALUE OP FARM PROPERTY 

To illustrate the tendencies in the elements which went to 
make up the values in farm properties, the following table has 
been prepared. 

AVERAGE VALUE PER ACRE OF ALL FARM PROPERTY, AND OF THE VARIOUS 
ELEMENTS OF FARM PROPERTY, ILLINOIS, 



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c c 


(U " 


1 




C 


CJ 




P-I 


* 


PLI 


>-H rt 


P-I 


. 


(i! 




1910 .... 


$120.08 


96.5 


$I08.32 


IOI.2 


$2.27 


657 


$949 


60.6 


107.9 


1900 


61.12 


26.2 


53.84 


30.0 


1.37 


21.2 


5-91 


0.2 


91.2 


1890 .... 


48.45 


30.5 


4141 


29.9 


1.13 


5-6 


5-92 


41.6 


92.3 


1880 .... 


37.12 


8.7 


31.87 


I2.O 


1.07 


o.o 


4.18 


9-7 


IO6.9 


1870" .. 


34.15 


43-2 


28.45 


454 


1.07 


30.5 


4-63 


334 


II7-3 


1860 .... 


23.85 


126.5 


19.56 


144.8 


0.82 


54-7 


347 


72.6 


IOO.O 


1850 .... 


10.53 




. 749 




0-53 




2.OI 





IOI.O 



20 and 100 acres declined from 47.9 to 36.2; those between 100 and 500 
acres increased from 45.6 to 54.9, and those over 500 acres declined from 
1.6 r to 0.8. In 1910 approximately one-third of the farms had between 
100 and 175 acres. 

"Census, 1910, VI, 413. 

2B Land and improvements, except buildings: 1910, $95.02; 1900, $46.17; 
percentage of increase, 104.3. 

Buildings alone: 1910, $13.30; 1900, $6.67; percentage of increase, 
70.6. 

26 The index numbers presented here follow the Falkner series from 
1860 to 1900. A number for 1850 is supplied from the calculations of 
G. H. Knibbs (quoted by Irving Fisher). A ratio of comparison between 
the Falkner series and that used in the investigation of the United States 
Department of Labor was derived for 1890 and 1900 and a number as of 
the Falkner series calculated for 1910. (See Fisher, Irving: Why the 
Dollar is Shrinking, 150-163; Aldrich Report on Wholesale Prices, Wages, 
and Transportation; Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Whole- 
sale Prices, 1890 to 1912). 

"Computed gold values, being 80 per cent of the currency values 
reported. 



40 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [434 

The data indicate a persistent rise in the value per acre 
of 'all the properties. The upward movement may have been 
promoted during the decades, 1860 to 1870 and 1900 to 1910, 
by the fall in the purchasing power of money, estimated at 17.3 
and 18.3 per cent respectively. The upward trend of farm value, 
however, was much more rapid than that of the general price 
level. During the period, 1870 to 1900, farm property values 
increased in spite of the fall of 22.3 per cent in the general price 
level. 

The largest decennial increments of value in the case of each 
item of property took place between 1900 and 1910, and the 
percentages of increase during that decade, even after allowance 
is made for the rise in the general price level, were greater than 
those of any other decade since 1860. In both absolute and rela- 
tive increase in the case of each item the decennium, 1870 to 
1880, stands lowest among the decades. During the period, 1870 
to 1890, the increases in value were small compared with those 
characterizing similar periods preceding and following it. Dur- 
ing the thirty-year period, 1850 to 1880, the increase in the value 
of land and buildings exceeded that which took place between 
1880 and 1910, while the increase in the value of implements 
and machinery and of live stock was greater during the latter 
period. During the entire sixty years there was an increase in 
the value of all farm property per acre amounting to 1040 per 
cent. The increase in the case of each item of property was as 
follows: land and buildings, 1256 per cent; implements and 
machinery, 328 ; and live stock, 372. 

The rate of increase in the value of farm property seems to 
have been accelerated about 1880 and again about 1900. This 
was true in the case of land more markedly than in the 
case of other kinds of farm property. 

No less significant, perhaps, is the change in the relative 
prominence of the different forms of farm property in Illinois. 
The prominence of implements and machinery and of live stock 
as measured by their share in the total value of all farm prop- 
erty was two and a half times greater in 1850 than in 1910. 2 * 
The part taken by the value of the land, however, rose from 
three-fourths in 1850. to nine-tenths in 1910. 

28 Census, 1910, V, 93. 



435] AGRICULTURAL TENDENCIES IN ILLINOIS 41 

SOME CHANGES IN FARM PRACTICE 

A general notion of the character of the farming practice 
in Illinois may be derived from the United States census reports. 
It is not possible, however, to make thorough-going comparisons 
with conditions prior to 1880 because of the absence of data on 
crop acreages before the tenth census. Production statistics of 
one kind or another are provided as early as 1840. The data 
on land in farms began with 1850 and it will be simpler, there- 
fore, to limit the comparisons in most cases to the dates, 1850 
and 1910. 

A few comparisons based on an equal area of farm land 29 
will suffice to show the main changes that have taken place with 
respect to some features of Illinois agriculture. 

The number of cattle remained almost exactly the same. The 
number of dairy cattle, however, increased about 25 per cent. 
The number of horses doubled, and the number of mules, asses 
and burros increased fourfold. The number of swine remained 
about constant, while the number of sheep declined in 1910 to 
less than half the number reported for 1850. 

The production of butter on farms increased between 1850 
and" 1880, and, though less in 1910 than in 1880, was 40 per cent 
greater in 1910 than in 1850. Cheese production on farms, 
while occupying a considerable place in 1850, had almost disap- 
peared in 1910. The same thing is true of maple sugar. The 
production of tobacco, and of wool was greater in 1880 than in 
1850, but the figures for 1910 were smaller than those employed 
for either of the other dates. The production of Irish potatoes 
increased nearly once again during the sixty year period. 

All of the cereals except barley had larger aggregate pro- 
ductions in Illinois in 1910 than in 1850. 30 The increase in the 
production of oats and rye during the sixty years was relatively 
greater than the increase in the area of all farm land, but was 
less than the increase in the area of improved land. The increase 
in the production of buckwheat was a little less than twice as 
great as that of the improved acreage. The corn and wheat pro- 

29 The basis employed here includes both improved and unimproved 
land. Were only improved farm land considered, the figures for 1850 
would be multiplied by 2.40, those for 1880 by 1.21, and those for 1910 
by 1.16. 

80 Census, 1910, VI, 446; 1900, VI, 62-93. 



42 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [436 

duction underwent a most phenomenal growth, increasing nearly 
three times as rapidly as the area of improved land. It is evi- 
dent that cereals have been occupying an increasingly prominent 
place in Illinois agriculture. 

The relative prominence of the different crops can be 
measured for the dates from 1840 to 1870 only on the basis 
of production. Beginning with 1880, however, the census 
reports show the number of acres devoted to the various crops. 

The percentage of improved land devoted to hay and forage 
decreased between 1889 and 1909, and the percentage of 
improved land devoted to other crops decreased from 11.3 in 
1899 to 9.2 in 1909. 31 The percentage of improved land occu- 
pied by cereal crops in Illinois in 1879 was exceeded by the per- 
centage in Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa; in 1889 by North 
Dakota and Minnesota; in 1899, by Nebraska and Minnesota; 
but in 1909 the percentage of improved land devoted to cereals 
in Illinois exceeded that of any other state. 

Though data based on acreage are lacking for the period 
preceding the tenth census the statistics of production already 
cited seem to confirm the impression that the concentration on 
cereal-farming in Illinois received its main impetus about 1880. 
Up to that time the cereal productions had grown at a slower 
pace than that with which the improved acreage had expanded. 
From 1880 on, however, both acreages and productions of cereal 
crops have grown faster than the corresponding increase in the 
area of improved farm land. 

A strong factor underlying the change in the direction and 
degree of agricultural tendencies in Illinois about 1880 is the 
increased cost of adding land to the farm area of the United 
States. The result was an increasing pressure and premium on 
the food-producing land of the country. The effect is seen in 
the acceleration given to the rise in farm property values and 
in the concentration on grain production on lands adapted to 
that branch of agriculture. 

81 Census, 1910, V, 554, 556. 



CHAPTER III 
CHANGES IN LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 

The early agricultural economy described in the previous 
chapter may be regarded as one in which there existed a heavy 
dependence upon timber. As late as 1850 possibly 45 per cent 
of the land in farms was "woodland". 1 By 1870 the percentage 
of farm land classed as woodland had dropped to 20, by 1880 
to less than 16, and by 1910, to 10. 2 Although timber deter- 
mined the desirability of a district for occupancy by pioneers, 
it has come to be regarded as more or less in the way, except that 
a small amount is desirable for use as shade, ornament and 
source of wood for farm purposes. 

The days when the farming of the state was based upon 
woodland must have been characterized by a very small amount 
of tenant farming. Land was then plentiful not only in other 
parts of the continent, but even within the state itself. The 
land was taken up pretty generally by heads of families seeking 
to establish farm homes. Some renting was carried on in the 

l ln 1850 58.1 per cent of the farm land of Illinois was "unimproved". 
Certainly as much as three-fourths of this unimproved land was "wood- 
land". The percentage of unimproved land classified as woodland in 
1870 was 77.7, in 1880, 89.1 and in 1910, 70.7. The absolute figures were 
as follows : 

Acreages 1910 1880 1870 

Woodland 3J47.879 4,935,575 5,061,578 

Other unimproved 1,326,735 622,916 1,491,331 

Total unimproved 4,474,614 5,558,491 6,552,909 

Census, 1910, V, 77; and 1880, Agriculture, 3, II. 
2 The original timbered area of the state is said to have comprised 
about 30 per cent of the total land area, or about 10 or n million acres. 
At least 4% or 5 million acres of timber land were in farms in 1850. In 
1910 about 3 million acres of the old timber land were still classed as 
farm land, and at least 4% million more of the old timber acreage must 
have been chiefly in the part called "improved", while the part of the old 
timber area in farms probably rose from about half in 1850 to three- 
fourths in 1910. At the latter date a large proportion of it had been 
cleared and converted into "improved" land. 

43 



44 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [438 

case of tracts owned by non-residents, but under the circum- 
stances the rents charged were usually very small. 8 

TENURE STATISTICS FOR THE STATE AS A WHOLE 

The census of 1880 showed the number of tenant farms in 
Illinois to be larger than in any other state of the Union, and 
considerable capital was made of the "eighty thousand tenants"* 
then operating Illinois farms. In 1910, Illinois had 104,379 
tenant farms, although her rank among the states in this respect 
had sunk to eighth. 5 Texas, with 219,575 tenant farms, held first 
rank. At that date Illinois was second in the number of white 
tenants, having 103,761 against 170,970 in the state of Texas. 8 
Illinois stood eleventh in the percentage of all farms operated 
by tenants both in 1880 and in 1910. 7 The percentage in Illinois 
in 1910 was 41.4, while in Mississippi, where the percentage was 
highest, it was 66.1. In the percentage of tenancy among white 
farmers, Illinois with 41.4 ranked sixth in 1910, Oklahoma with 
55.8 holding first rank. 8 In the farm acreage hired in 1910, 
Illinois stood third with 51.0 per cent. 9 The percentage in 
Delaware was 52.8 and in Oklahoma exceeded 60. 

The table on the following page summarizes for the state 
as a whole the available statistics on farm tenure. 

It will be observed that the number of farms decreased 
between 1880 and 1910, while the farm acreage increased. The 
increase in the average size of farms was from 123.8 in 1880 to 

8 See Buck, S. J. : Pioneer Letters of Gersham Flagg, 35, 40, 46 ; 
Sheftel, Yetta, The Settlement of the Military Tract, Chapters I and II 
(in manuscript) ; Gerhard, Fred., Illinois as It Is, 404. 

The rents were not low, because of the relative inferiority of the 
lands first taken up. As Walker points out, the lands first taken up, 
while now known to be chemically and otherwise inferior, were then 
economically superior. It was only when timber farm economy gave 
way to prairie farm economy that this economic superiority of the lands 
earliest occupied was lost 

Worth American Review: CXLII, 52-67, 153-158, 246-253, 387-401. 

B In 1890 the number of tenants in Illinois was the third largest among 
the states, and in 1900 it was fifth in order. 

6 The same order held also in 1900, the only other date at which white 
and colored tenants were reported separately. 

7 In 1890 the rank of Illinois was tenth, and in 1900, thirteenth. 

8 In 1900 a similar comparison shows the rank of Illinois as eleventh. 

9 In 1900 only Delaware had a larger percentage of her farm lands 
rated under lease than Illinois. See above, p. 17, note 20. 



439] 



CHANGES IN TENURE 



45 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS, 



Number of farms 10 
Total 


1910 
2^1.872 


1900 
264.1 "il 


1890 
240,681 


1880 

255 741 


Operated by 
Owners and part owners.... 
Owners proper 


145,107 
107,300 


158,503 
124,128 


f 1 


f 1 


Part owners 


37,807 


34,375 


I58.848 11 | 


1 I 75,497 11 f 


Managers 


2,386 


1,950 






Tenants ~ 


104,379 


103,698 


81,833" 


So,?^ 11 


Percentage of farms 
Operated by 
Tenants 


41.44 


39.26 


34.00 


31.38 


Owners and part owners- 
Owners proper 


57.6i 
42.60 


60.00 
46.99 


f I 


f I 


Part owners 


15.01 


13.01 


66.00 


1 68.62 f 


Managers 


0.95 


0.74 


1 


1 1 


Number of acres in farms 12 
Total 


32,522,937 


32,794,728 


30,498,277 


V, J 
31,673,645 


Operated by 
Managers LSy.. 
Tenants 
Owners and part owners 
Owners proper 18 


15,198,315 
14,177,411 
17,787,063 
12,208,930 


17,506,064 
12,668,748 
19,671,602 
14,758,439 






Part owners 


5,578,I33 14 


4,913,163 






Hired by part owners 
Owned by part owners 
Hired by tenants and 
part owners 


2,414,448" 
2.989.385 14 

16,591,859 


2,165,538 
2,747,625 

14,834,286 


.... 





Owned by owners proper 
and part owners 


558,463 


4^4.178 






Percentage of farm acres 
Operated by 
Managers _ 


1.72 


1. 10 






Tenants 


4?. t ?Q 


l86l 






Owners and part owners 
Owners proper 


54.69 
37.54 


59.98 
45.OO 







Part owners 
Hired by part owners 
Owned by part owners..... 
Hired by tenants and 
part owners 


17.15 
7-42 

9-73 

51 01 


14,98 
6.60 
8.38 

-1C 2 1 * 


.... 


_ 


Owned by owners and 
part owners 


47 27 


IT? -3g 


.... 












.... 



10 Census, 1910, VI, 413. 

"Part owners and managers were not separately classified in the 



46 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [440 

129.1 in 1910. 15 The number of tenant farms increased from 
80,244 to 104,379, while the number of farms operated by owners, 
part owners and managers, decreased from 175,479 to 147,493. 16 
The percentage of all farms operated by tenants rose from 31.38 
in 1880 to 41.44 in 1910. The percentage of the farm acreage 
operated by tenants proper was 43.59 in 1910, while that hired 
by part owners was 7.42. The percentage of farm land operated 
under lease in 1910 was, therefore, 51.01. 

The following table will show more definitely how the 
changes in farm and land tenure varied from decade to decade. 

It appears that operation by owners decreased while 
operation by tenants increased during each decennial period. 
Between 1880 and 1890 the change lay in a decline in the num- 
ber of owners rather than in an increase in the number of 
tenants. During the decade, 1890 to 1900, the reverse was the 
case. The number of farms operated by owners remained prac- 
tically the same, while the number operated by tenants under- 
went a very large increase. During the decade, 1900 to 1910, 

reports for these dates, and were included in most cases, perhaps, with 
owners rather than with tenants. 

12 Census, 1910, VI, 412, 414; 1900, V, 308. 

18 Author's calculation. 

"Unpublished data were received from the census bureau and 
modified to repair the omission of data from Carroll, Lee and Massac 
counties. The percentage of the land in the farms of part owners oper- 
ated by them under lease and under deed was assumed to be the same as 
the corresponding percentages in the other 99 counties of the state. 

15 See below, p. 87. 

16 The number of persons in agriculture in Illinois (See above, p. 35) 
exceeded the number of farms by 180,571 in 1880, 189,453 in 1890, 196,863 
in 1900 and 192,370 in 1910. For each 10,000 persons in Illinois agriculture 
there were 4139 of these persons without tenure in 1880, 4405 in 1890, 
4271 in 1900 and 4334 in 1910. In a similar number there were 1839 ten- 
ants in 1880, 1902 in 1890, 2240 in 1900 and 2350 in 1910. Likewise there 
were 4022 owners in 1880, 3693 in 1890, 3483 in 1900 and 3320 in 1910. In 
1900 there were 746 part owners and 42 managers for each 10,000 persons 
engaged in agriculture in the state. In 1910 the figures were 851 and 54, 
respectively. 

It appears, therefore, that the owners were the only persons in 
Illinois agriculture to decrease in relative numbers. Of the remaining 
classes, the ranks of the tenants received the largest relative number 
of accessions. 



441] 



CHANGES IN TENURE 



47 



the number of tenant farms remained practically the same, 
while there was a sharp decline in the number of farms operated 
by owners. 

Most of the increase of 31.8 per cent in the relative prom- 
inence of tenant operators took place during the decade, 1890 
to 1900, while the decennium, 1900 to 1910, was characterized 
by the smallest increase of any decade since 1880. 

When, however, the change in tenancy is expressed in terms 
of acreages, it is seen that the increase in the hiring of land 
between 1900 and 1910 was not so small. The number of acres 
hired increased 1,757,573, 12.7 per cent of the hired acreage 
in 1900. There was a decline of 550,176 in the the total farm 
acreage, so that the number of acres operated by their owners 
decreased 2,307,749, or 13.2 per cent. 

The statistics usually employed those based on the number 
of farms indicate that the percentage of tenancy was 39.3 in 

PERCENTAGE OF CHANGE IN THE ABSOLUTE NUMBER AND IN THE NUMBER PER 
IOO OF FARM OPERATORS, AND OF FARM ACRES OPERATED BY VARIOUS 
KINDS OF OPERATORS, ILLINOIS, 



Basis and item 


[Direction and percentage of change 


1880 
1910 


1900 
1910 


1890 
1900 


1880 
1890 


Absolute number 
Farm operators 
Owners 18 .'. 


16.0 
+30.1 


-S.5 
-fo.6 

13-2 

+12.7 

-3-6 

+5-3 

".S 

+ 12.8 


0.2 

+26.7 


9-5 

+2.0 


Tenants . . +. 


Farm acres 
Deedholders 19 


Lessees 20 




8.0 

+15-6 


-3-8 

+8.3 


Number per 1000 
Farm operators 
Owners 18 


14.7 
+3I-8 


Tenants .. . 


Farm acres 
Deedholders 19 


Lessees 20 .. 









1T Based on data, above, p. 45. 

18 Includes owners proper, part owners and managers. 
"Includes land operated under deed by part owners and by owners 
proper. 

20 Includes land operated under lease by part owners and by tenants. 



48 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [442 

1900, and 41.4 in 1910, a relative increase of 5.3 per cent. The 
statistics based on acreage indicate that the percentage of tenancy 
in 1900 was 45.2, and in 1910, 51.0. Basing the statistics on 
acreage raises the percentage of tenancy for 1900 by over one- 
fourth, that of 1910 by nearly one-fourth, and multiplies the rate 
of increase in tenancy between 1900 and 1910 by 2.4. 

The farms of tenants increased 11.2 per cent in size and 
0.6 in number between 1900 and 1910, embracing 38.63 per cent 
of the farm acreage in 1900 and 43.59 per cent in 1910. The 
farms of part owners increased in number from 34,375 in 1900 
to 37,807 in 1910, or 10 per cent. The hired acreage in the aver- 
age partly-owned farm in 1900 was 62.99 and in 1910, 63.86, an 
increase of 1.4 per cent during the decade. The part owners 
hired 6.6 per cent of the farm land of the state in 1900 and 7.4 
per cent in 1910, a relative increase of one-eighth. The percentage 
of the farm acreage owned by part owners increased from 8.4 
to 9.7 between 1900 and 1910, while the percentage owned by 
owners proper fell from 45.0 to 37.5. Although the farms of 
owners proper were below the average in size in 1900, having but 
118.9 acres on the average, they lost 5.1 acres per farm between 
1900 and 1910. 21 

The increase in tenancy during the last decade was due in 
large measure to the growth in the average size of the areas 
rented by tenants and part owners, accompanied by a falling off 
in the size of the areas operated by the owners. 

STATISTICS OF FARM TENURE BY COUNTIES 

A map showing by dots the number of farms operated by 
tenants in the United States in 1910 22 reveals the fact that the 
density of tenant farms in Illinois is greater than in any other 
area of equal size which does not include territory north of Ten- 
nessee or east of the line bisecting the states from North Dakota 
to Texas. Within the boundaries of Illinois the tenant farms 
seem to be pretty uniformly distributed, except for the territory 
between the Kaskaskia and Wabash rivers. A tendency towards 
clusters is found around East St. Louis and Chicago, while the 
density of tenants seems to be somewhat greater in the area 
between those two cities. 

Another map showing by shaded areas the percentage of 
farms operated by tenants in every county in the United States 
is published by the United States census. 23 Naturally such a 

21 See below, p. 87. 

"Census, 1910, V, second map following 98. 



443] CHANGES IN TENURE 49 

map shows much less uniformity than the map employing the 
dot system. This is due to differences in the size of farms in 
various sections. The states whose appearance is most different 
in the two maps are, perhaps, Oklahoma, Iowa, and Illinois. In 
each of these states differences in the percentage of tenant farms 
from one section to another are very striking. 

To trace the sectional differences in the percentage of tenant 
farms in Illinois a series of maps is presented herewith. 2 * 

In 1880 the percentage of Illinois farms operated by tenants 
was 31.38. Only one county, Logan, had a percentage greater 
than 50. In Edwards county the percentage was 14.5. Of the 
remaining 100 counties, 50 had percentages between 25.0 and 
35.0. These were located largely in the Northern and Western 
parts of the state. The 28 counties having percentages above 
35.0 were clustered in the Central part of the state and in the 
old "American bottom" district. 25 The counties having per- 
centages below 25 were confined to the Southern part of the 
state. 

In 1890 the percentage of tenant farms in the state was 
34.00. Ford county took the lead with a percentage of 53.7. 
Edwards county had the lowest percentage, 16.0. There were 
45 counties having more than 35.0 per cent of their farms oper- 
ated by tenants, against 28 counties in 1880. The counties with 
the highest percentages were in the East Central part of the 
state. Southern counties showed little change from the small 
percentages they had ten years before. 

In 1900 the percentage of farms operated by tenants was 
39.26. There were 68 counties having more than 35.0 per cent 
of their farms operated by tenants, and of these 26 had per- 
centages exceeding 45.0. These counties were located in the 
East Central part of the state. The "Military tract" 29 under- 
went the most phenomenal increase in tenancy of any section of 
the state during this decade of remarkable growth in tenancy. 



" 3 Ibid., following 106. 

24 See below, pp. 50-58, passim. 

25 Around East St. Louis. 

26 The strip between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. 



50 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[444 



Percentaqe 
of 

forms Oerated 



Tenants 
Illinois 

1880 



Census 
1880 

dgr.,44 



Legend 
"71 5 

15 
25 
35 
45 
55 
65 




to 
to 
to 



to 44 
to 54 

to 64 
,0 to 74 



445] 



CHANGES IN TENURE 



51 



'Percentage 
of 

Farms Operated 
by 

Tenants 
Illinois 




Census 
1830 

Qqr,i35-I3 r ? 



Legend 

5.0 to 14.9 



15.0 to 24.9 
25.0 to 34.9 
35.0 to 44.9 
45.0 to 54.9 
55.0 to 64.9 
65.0 to 74.9 



52 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [446 

In 1910 the percentage of farms under tenant cultivation 
was 41.44. There were 41 counties with percentages exceeding 
45.0. Twelve of the counties had percentages exceeding 55.0. 
By 1910 percentages of tenancy exceeding 45.0 had appeared 
in many of the counties between the Illinois and Mississippi 
rivers. Low percentages characterized the counties bordering 
the Mississippi river as far south as the old American bottoms, 
and followed the Illinois river over half the distance to its source. 
In Southern Illinois, however, the percentages in the counties 
bordering the Mississippi, Ohio and "Wabash rivers was somewhat 
larger than the percentages prevailing in the interior counties. 
The lowest percentage was that of Edwards county, 20.1, while 
the highest was that of Ford, 66.7. Ford, Logan, and Grundy 
counties were the only counties in the United States north of 
the latitude of Cairo, Illinois, whose percentage of tenant farms 
was above 60.0. 

To ascertain the relative growth of tenant farming in Illi- 
nois from 1880 to 1910 we may employ as a basis the number of 
tenants among each one thousand operators. In five counties, 
led by DeKalb with a percentage of 122.7, the increase in the 
relative number of tenant farms was over 100 per cent. There 
were five counties 27 in which there was a decline in the relative 
number of tenant farms during the period considered. The 
percentage of decline was largest in the case of Pope county. 
In Pope county, however, the percentage of decline was only 
22.5. Through the Central part of the state the increase was 
between 25 and 50 per cent. In general, it may be said that the 
relative number of tenant farms was stationary in Southern 
Illinois, increased by one-fourth to one-half in Central Illinois, 
and doubled in Northern Illinois during the generation, 1880 
to 1910. 

The following table shows the number of counties in each 
grade when classified according to the percentage of farms oper- 
ated by tenants. 



27 A11 of these counties are located in Southern Illinois. 



447] 



CHANGES IN TENURE 



53 



Percentage 
Farms Operated 

by Tenants 

Illinois 




Census . 

WOO 
l/o/ 3T 

73,75 



54 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[448- 



Percentage of \ 
Farms Operated: 
by Tenants 
Illinois 

wro 



Census 



VolYL 
436-445 

Legend 




5.0. to 14.9 
15.0 to 24.9 
23.0 to 34.9 
35.0 to 44.9 
45.0 to 54.9 
55.0 to 64.9 
65.0 to 74.9 



449] 



CHANGES IN TENURE 



55 



CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTIES ACCORDING TO THE PERCENTAGE OF FARMS OPER- 
ATED BY TENANTS, AND NET CHANGE IN THE NUMBER OF COUNTIES 
IN EACH PERCENTAGE GROUP, ILLINOIS, iSSo-IQIO. 













Net change, 


1910 compared 


Percentage 




D; 


ite 




with 


1880 




1910 


1900 


1890 


I880 


. 
Direction 


Number 


65.0 69.9 


I 








Inc. 


i 


60.0 64.9 


2 


I 


.... 


. 


Inc. 


2 


5S.OS9.9 


9 


3 


.... 




Inc. 


9 


50.054-9 


7 


9 


2 


I 


Inc. 


6 


45.049.9 


22 


13 


8 


3 


Inc. 


19 


40.044.9 


17 


25 


13 


5 


Inc. 


12 


35.039-9 


16 


17 


22 


19 


Dec. 


3 


30.034-9 


ii 


13 


20 


22 


Dec. 


ii 


25.029.9 


ii 


12 


20 


28 


Dec. 


17 


20.0 24.9 


6 


9 


II 


19 


Dec. 


13 


15.019.9 








6 


4 


Dec. 


4 


IO.O 14.0 








I 


Dec. 


I 



The table shows the positiveness with which the percentage 
of tenant farms has increased in Illinois counties. The counties 
having percentages below 40.0 have been growing fewer and 
fewer in number, while the number of counties in each grade 
above 40.0 has undergone a regular increase. 

The percentages characterizing the Illinois county with least 
tenancy at the four census dates, 1880 to 1910, were 14.5, 16.0, 
21.2 and 20.1 respectively. 28 The highest percentages similarly 
reported were 50.4, 53.7, 62.9 and 66.9, respectively. 29 The 
lowest percentage was 5.6 points higher in 1910 than in 1880, 
and the highest percentage had risen 16.5 points. 

All indications go to show, therefore, that while the rate of 
progress in the direction of farm tenancy has been slow in the 
ase of some counties of Illinois, it has been very rapid in the 
case of some other counties. The movement away from uni- 
formity in Illinois has been much greater than is indicated by 
the census map showing the distribution of tenants by number. 



28 Edwards county, in each case. 

29 Logan county in 1880, and Ford county in 1800, 1900 and 1910. 



56 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [450 

STATISTICS OP LAND TENURE BY COUNTIES 30 

The absence of county data on the acreage hired and owned 
by part owners in 1900 makes it impossible to present maps 
showing the percentage of farm land operated under the various 
forms of tenure at that date. By courtesy of the census bureau, 
however, the thirteenth census data on renting and owning by 
part owners in Illinois have been received by private communica- 
tion for 99 of the 102 counties in the state. This makes it pos- 
sible to present here the data on land tenure for 1910. 

Comparing the map showing the percentage of farm land 
operated by tenants in 1910 with the map showing the percent- 
age of farms operated by tenants, it appears that in Southern 
Illinois the tenants operated farms averaging smaller than those 
operated under other forms of tenure. In Central Illinois east 
of the Illinois river, and especially in the interior counties of 
Northern Illinois the tenant farms were larger than those of 
other tenures. In the Military tract tenant farms were about the 
same in size as other farms. As a whole, the state had 43.59 
percent of its farm land operated by tenants whereas these 
constituted 41.44 per cent of the farm operators. 

The farms operated by managers were 0.96*per cent of all 
farms in 1910, but averaged 234.04 acres. The percentage of 
land managed was 1.72. In Piatt county, managers cultivated 
7.64 per cent of the land, while in Wabash county they con- 
trolled but 0.18 per cent. Little can be said of the sectional 
variation except that the distribution of managed land is highly 
sporadic. However prevalent managing may be west of the 
Mississippi, 31 its prominence in Illinois in 1910 cannot be re- 
garded as important. 

The percentage of farm land operated by part owners in 
1910 was 17.15. The farms of part owners contained an average 
of 147.5 acres against the general average of 129.1 acres. 32 In 
two counties part owners cultivated over 35 per cent of the 
farm land, Edwards county leading with a percentage of 39.1. 
In DuPage county, in the Northern part of the state, only 3.0 
per cent of the farm land was operated by part owners. In a 

30 "Land" tenure may be conveniently used when we think in terms of 
acreage, and "farm" tenure when we think in terms of farms or of 
farmers. 

81 See above, pp. 14, 16, 17. 

32 See below, p. 87. 



451] 



57 



i 

Percentage of 

Farm* Acreage 

Hired by Tenants 

Illinois 

/9JO 



Census 
Vb/.Et 




58 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[452 



Percentage 
.Form] Acreage 
Hired by Part Owners 

Illinois 
1910 



Census 
WO 

i/o/. 




Legend 

Data lacking 
To 3.<? 

4-1*7.9 
8 To //.<? 



453] CHANGES IN TENURE 59 

general way it may be said that the control of part owners over 
Illinois farming is greatest in Southern Illinois, average in Cen- 
tral Illinois, and least in Northern Illinois. 

The percentage of the "partly owned" land that was hired 
in 1910 varied from 30.2 in the case of Hardin county to 55.2 
in Vermilion county. The counties in which over 50.0 per cent 
of the land in farms of part owners was hired were in the East 
Central part of the state. Those in which less than 40.0 per cent 
of the land in partly owned farms was rented were in the South- 
ern part of the state. The average for the state was 44.7 per cent. 

A map is presented showing the percentage of the total farm 
land in each of 99 counties that was leased by part owners in 
1910. The smallest percentage was 1.6, found in DuPage and 
Kane counties, and the largest percentage was that of Edwards 
county, 14.8. The counties in which over 9.0 per cent of the 
farm land was hired by part owners were confined almost entirely 
to the Southeastern quarter of the state. Very low percentages 
occurred in the extreme Southern and Northern ends of the 
state. The average for the state was 7.43 per cent. 

Another map shows the percentage of all land in the 99 
counties hired by tenants and by part owners in 1910. The 
county with the smallest percentage of its farm land operated 
under lease was Hardin, the percentage being 21.6. In Jo 
Daviess 33 and in Pope and Johnson counties 34 the percentages 
were less than 30.0 35 In Ford county 75.4 and in Logan county 
72.4 per cent of the farm land was hired. Nineteen counties had 
over 60.0 per cent of their farm land hired. These counties, with 
the exception of Whiteside, lay in the Central and East Central 
part of the state. 

The land to which part owners held deeds constituted 9.73 
per cent of the total farm acreage of the state. In DuPage 
county the percentage of the farm land owned by part owners 
was but 1.4, while in Jasper county it was 21.8. The percentages 
throughout Southern Illinois, except St. Glair county and the 
extreme Southern tip, were above the state average. In a rough 
way it may be said that the amount of land owned by part owners 
decreases the farther north one goes in the state. 

Owners proper operated 37.54 per cent of the land in Illinois 

3S In the Northwest corner of the state. 
34 In the Southern tip of the state. 

S5 Massac county would probably come in the same class had we the 
data for it. 







LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[454 



Percentage of 
In crease in A verctg 
Value of Land o fid 
Buildings Per Acre 

Tllinois 
tfOO-MO 




455] 



CHANGES IN TENURE 



61 




Owners Proper 
Illinois 
1310 



Census 
/9/0 

l/o /3ZT 



436 - 




62 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [456 

in 1910. The percentage in Ford county was the least, 18.4, 
while the percentage in Hardin county was the largest, 73.2. In 
13 counties the owners proper operated less than 25.0 per cent of 
the farm land, these being East Central Illinois counties. 

In 13 counties, located mainly in East Central Illinois, 
the proportion of land operated by the owners was less than 33.3 
per cent. In 5 of these counties the percentage was under 30.0 
and in one county, Ford, the percentage was 23.7. Only three 
or four counties had percentages exceeding 70.0. These were 
Hardin, 77.8; Pope, 75.9; Johnson, 74.0; and possibly Massac. 
The average for the state was 47.28 per cent. 

It is evident that the leasing of land has a very prominent 
place in Illinois agriculture, and that there are marked sectional 
variations. 

THE SECTIONAL ASPECTS OF LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 

The sectional differences in land leasing in Illinois can be 
best understood by tracing the sectional variations in other 
features of agriculture in the state. 86 

In 1880 it appears that the counties with the highest per- 
centage of land area in farms, of farm land improved, of im- 
proved land in cereals, of improved land in corn, and the 
counties with the highest average number of acres per farm, 
and the highest average value of products per acre were located 
in the Central and Northern parts of the state. The figures 
reported for the Southern Illinois counties were smaller than 
those of the other counties in the case of each subject, or basis 
of comparison mentioned. In like manner the land was lowest in 
price in Southern Illinois, but the counties having the highest 
priced lands in 1880 were located in the Northwestern part of the 
state. 

86 The typewritten copy of this thesis on file in the library of the 
University of Illinois contains county outline maps showing data by 
counties on each of the following items : 

(i) The percentage of land area in farms, 1880 and 1910. (2) The 
percentage of farm land improved, 1880 and 1910. (3) The percentage 
of improved farm acreage devoted to the production of all cereals, and of 
corn, 1880, 1890, 1900, and 1910. (4) The average number of acres per 
farm, 1880, 1890, 1900, and 1910. (5) The average value of products 
per acre, 1879, 1889, and 1899. (6) The average value of land and build- 
ings per acre, 1880, 1890, 1900, and 1910. (7) The percentage of increase 
in the average value of land and buildings per acre, 1880-1910, 1880-1900, 
and 1900-1910. 



457] 



CHANGES IN TENURE 



63 



Percentage of 
Land Area in 

Farms 
Illinois 



Census 
WO 



126-435 




Legend 
55 to 6*9 
65 TO 






64 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [458 

The data for 1890 and 1900 show the same sectional differ- 
ences, with a tendency for the sectional differences to widen 
except in the case of the percentages of land area in farms and 
of farm area improved. 

In 1910 the percentages of land area in farms and of farm 
land improved were much more nearly uniform throughout 
the state than at previous census dates. This is because of the 
fact that there has been an increasing demand for land in all 
parts of the state. That fact is attested by the higher value of 
land in 1910 as compared with previous dates. There was a 
concentration on the production of cereals in the Central coun- 
ties. This was doubtless in response to the higher prices paid 
for cereal products. The result of the changes in prices and of 
the redistribution of productions was to increase the differences 
between sections in the value of products per acre. 37 The 
sectional differences in the value of land and buildings per acre 
were greater than those in any of the other features, due in large 
part to the fact that the relative increase in the value of land 
and buildings per acre was greatest in the districts where highest 
prices had prevailed in 1900 and 1890. A similar development 
took place in the matter of average farm acreages. In the 
Southern part of the state farms changed little in size from 1880 
to 1910, while in the counties of the Central part of the state a 

37 The unreliability of these statistics and the fact that they represent 
the gross values of products make it necessary to be cautious in their use. 

Data were gathered in 1880 and 1890 for products raised, the part 
fed to livestock on the farm being given an estimated value and included. 
In 1900 the data excluded the products fed to livestock. This makes 
comparisons with previous census data of doubtful value. Even for the 
same census comparisons between counties in which livestock and dairying 
were practised and other counties must lose most of their significance. 
The census of 1910 gives up any attempt "to compute or even to esti- 
mate approximately the total value of farm products" and proceeds to 
enumerate the "numerous difficulties which stand in the way of obtaining 
a total which would be at once comprehensive, free from duplication and 
confined exclusively to the products of a definite period of time." Values 
of the different productions were reported separately in 1910, however, 
and an inspection of these returns bears out the statement in the text 
to which this footnote appends. 

The values are the so-called "farm values", rather than the values 
of the products delivered at the market. The data at each census are 
for the preceding year, so far as productions are concerned, but the 
acres of land in farms and the prices are those of the current census year. 



459] CHANGES IN TENURE 65 

considerable increase took place in the size of the average farm. 

The development during the last generation can be better 
understood, perhaps, by referring to the distribution of timber in 
1880. On some maps designed to show the density of timber in 
various parts of the state is what may be called the "ten cords" 
line. This line divides the territory in which there were more 
than ten cords of wood per acre from that in which the cordage 
per acre was less than ten. 38 The latter may be regarded roughly 
as the original prairie district of the state. 39 

In nearly every comparison between recent and earlier 
census data the later reports show developments to be concen- 
trating in the old prairie district. The most striking case is that 
of land values. The highest values in 1880 were in the territory 
north and west of the Illinois river. By 1910 the district of 
highest land prices had become centered in the East Central part 
of the state and the counties in which the value of land and 
buildings per acres exceeded 125 dollars were, almost without 
exception, those whose areas constituted the original prairie. 

When the maps illustrating tenancy are compared with 
those showing the sectional aspects in the other features of 
agriculture, the resemblance is striking. The counties with high- 
est percentages of tenancy at each date were, for the most part, 
the prairie counties. In 1910, especially, the district in which 
over 45 per cent of the farms were operated by tenants, which 
is nearly the same as that in which over 50 per cent of the land 
was leased, was defined almost exactly by the line dividing the 
original prairie and timber regions. 

The sectional association of tenancy with the values of pro- 
ducts, with values of land and buildings, and with various 
acreages of farms is exhibited in the table on the next page. The 
counties were divided into six groups of seventeen counties each, 
independently for each census. Group I included the seventeen 
counties that stood highest in the percentages of tenant farms 
at the census date in question, group II included those ranking 
from eighteenth to thirty-fourth, and so on for the other four 
groups. 

In all cases the range of difference between the highest and 
lowest county group averages was greater at each succeeding 
census date. This increase in sectional differences seems to have 
affected not only the items given here, but also items of produc- 

38 Census, 1880, Forest Trees of North America, plate 7. 
"Pooley, E. V., The Settlement of Illinois from 1830 to 1850, 308. 



66 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[460 



g i 

<C [rl 


U 




















S "* 


H 






\O vO \o *^ 


vo vo 


vo "fr \0 vo vo 1- 










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tx to 










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^f co to 


co 2* 


CO O\ O VO **}" ^ 
M <N O O\ O < 










n S 


M 


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to to 10 vo 


^^ 


^G^^'C^ 










55 s 




-c 

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Q\ co VO 
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CO 00 
Tf VO t^ O O 00 


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IT: 




8 

B < 


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2 


rt 





tO TJ- TJ- 


HH OO 


00 to O W 10 CO 


T 




h 






"** w 




A 
p 




<t * Tj- Tf 


Tt CO 


-4- 10 co Tt -<t \O 


04 










CO 


e 


> 


o?<2 *8 


o o 


& N >0 


^O 

l-x 


in 


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^ 

w " 

O o 


H 
B 


o 




tx tovo 


eg 5 


O CO HH co CO tx 

HH M M M 


o 

l>. 


co 

g 


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^ 

O ^ 


8 


M 




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^Q 


^^TQ'^'^'^ 1 




|;U 41 







3 Q 


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HH 

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W o\ 5^ 


o o 


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rx 


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ft 




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p 

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'c^'pJ 1 


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"3" O\ N 


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2 s; ^ 10 ^ N 


1O 


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d\ vo f^ 


00 ti 


N rf VO O\ 00 N 

KH HH l-l HH 


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OO ID 


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H U 
P CO 


to 




1 ! 


O co vo 
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o o 

(5 co 


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00 1-1 to \O to 1-1 


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T3 JS 

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rt <4H 


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ij t < 

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01x1^. 


co co 


S < * 2> S 


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O Q O O 

O\ O\ OO OO 


II 


OO 00 O\ O\ OO 00 


3 


ff O 

%* 

c3 a 


-3 




THE VALUE OF PRODUCTS PER ACRE, 
NUMBER OF ACRES PER FARM FO 


CENTAGE OF FARMS OPERATED E 
COUNTY GROUPS FOR EACH ITEM. 




County group 


Average value per acre (dollars). ] 
Products 41 i 

] 


Land and buildings ] 

] 


b 

y 

Q, 

co 
U 

CJ 

9 

VH 

O 

V 

ja 
H 
p 
c 

6 

bo *- 

2 CO 
M-, 
u 

< 


CO 

g 

U 
C 

o 
<u 

CO 

rt 

o 


Agriculture, 135, 137, 
41 The products a 


42 Comparable da 


to 

'2. 

c 

rt 

*< 

O 

i 



461] CHANGES IN TENURE 67 

tion, nearly everything, in fact, except the percentage of land 
area in farms, the percentage of farm area improved, and the 
percentage of farm area in woodland. The application of capital 
and labor seems to have produced greater sectional differ- 
entiation. 

The tendency toward sectional concentration in the agricul- 
ture of Illinois doubtless results from the fact that farming has 
been carried on for increasingly larger market areas, and that 
the capacities of soil and situation for the production of certain 
staples have been revealed more and more clearly with the 
advance of time. 

In the case of each of the three bases of comparison given in 
the table the sectional association with tenancy was closer at 
each succeeding census. In 1910 the parallelism was very close 
between tenancy and average values per acre of products and of 
land and buildings. The county groups III and IV (on the 
basis of tenancy) ranked fourth and third, respectively, in the 
average size of farms, but otherwise the sectional correspondence 
between tenancy and the size of farms was consistent. The same 
sectional correspondence obtained between tenancy and the 
percentage of land area in farms, and between tenancy and the 
percentage of improved land devoted to cereal and especially 
corn and oats production. 

The fundamental reason for the increasing association of 
all the factors has been the influence of an increasing market 
demand for cereals, the production of which in Illinois was being 
carried on under a perfecting machine economy. This influ- 
ence has been most felt in districts in which machinery could 
be most effectively employed and in which the natural fund of 
fertility enabled fertilizing costs to be almost entirely eliminated. 
The rich, level prairie has, therefore, responded with greater 
percentages of land area under cultivation, of farm area im- 
proved, of improved area in cereals, and with greater acreage 
per farm. 

Tenancy has been a phase accompanying this movement, 
and has been related to the other factors. 

Farm tenancy has been more or less prevalent in Illinois 
districts according as they have been producing a high or low 
value of products per acre. It would scarcely be urged that 
the association of tenancy with high acre values of products 
proves that tenancy was responsible for the higher productive- 
ness of the land. "Productiveness" is a matter of gross values, 



68 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [462 

however, and not simply one of yields per acre. For that reason 
tenancy may have increased the gross values of products per 
acre by causing a larger portion of the land area to be devoted 
to the production of products the gross values per acre of which 
are high. On the other hand, the productiveness of the soil has 
done much to determine the proportion of the land operated 
under lease. The gross value of products per acre in different 
sections must be a fair index of the relative rents paid for equal 
areas in those sections. The higher the rents received by the 
landowners, the greater is the chance that the owners may feel 
free from the necessity of operating their land. 

At this point, however, the size of farms and holdings 48 
must be considered. 

Differences in per-acre rentals do not afford alone a basis 
for explaining differences in the prevalence of tenant farming. 
The ability of many landowners to live without operating their 
farm land is contingent upon the amount of rent they receive. 
The number of acres from which they receive rent is often a 
more important consideration, therefore, than the rent per acre. 
The larger the average size of holdings the greater we may sup- 
pose the opportunity to be for landowners to rent their land 
out and live upon its rental income. 

On the other hand, the prevalence of holdings too small 
to be operated except in connection with adjacent land may 
contribute to land renting. 44 

It is probable that tenancy has, in turn, had an influence 
upon the size of farms. "When an owner leases his land to ten- 
ants, he naturally tries to get the lay-out of land best adapted 
to tenant operation. Unless the economies of cultivation favor 
small farms, the owner will seek tenants who will operate in 
larger tracts. For the owner this cuts down the difficulty and 
expense of negotiation and supervision. Where the advantages 
of large-scale farming are effective, the better class of tenants 
are naturally attracted to opportunities for operating on a large 
scale. 

In districts where the advantages of large-scale farming 
have been less pronounced there has been a smaller possibility 
for owners to amass large holdings. As a consequence -fewer 

"Holdings may be understood to refer to all the farm property 
owned by a landlord ; sometimes including several farms. 
44 See above, p. 22. 



463] 



CHANGES IN TENURE 



69 



Average Numde 
of Acres per 
Farm 

Illinois 
1110 




Census 

wo 

Mol.JL 



70 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [464 

of the farms in the districts where small holdings prevail are 
operated under lease. 

Thus far in this division renting has been considered largely 
from the point of view of owners with land to rent. On the 
other hand, there are those who want to operate land, in most 
cases, no doubt, looking forward with hope for land ownership. 
To these persons the prices they must pay for land are of 
special importance. 

It will be observed in the table above that sectional corre- 
spondence between land prices and values of products, while not 
close in 1880, came later to be more and more so. It is probable 
that, on account of its not yet having been adequately tiled, the 
open prairie land was not yet established as superior in value 
in 1880, for the highest land prices were at that time in the 
district north and west of the Illinois river. At the later dates, 
however, it is safe to say that the price of land is a fairly accur- 
ate index of its productiveness. 

The sectional correspondence of land prices with tenant 
farming was not very close in 1880. The failure in this case 
need not be taken too seriously, however, because the average 
value of land and buildings differed little from section to sec- 
tion. At each succeeding census the sections were more dis- 
tinctly differentiated from one another in this respect. As 
this change took place high percentages of tenancy and high 
prices of land, and small percentages of tenancy and low prices 
of land were more usually found in the same districts. The 
association was very close in 1910 closer, perhaps, than that of 
tenancy with any of the other phenomena with which compari- 
sons are made here. 

High land prices have been characteristic of the districts 
where the standard size of farms was especially large. As a 
consequence the investment necessary for the purchase of a farm 
of representative size in the districts of high prices has been 
much larger than in the districts of smaller farms and lower 
prices. Since the percentage of the value which can be covered 
by mortgage is smaller in the case of the higher priced land, 45 
the demand for ready cash is greater than the ratio of the price 
to cheaper land would lead one to suppose. Ready cash, however, 



* 5 Stewart, C. L., An Analysis of Rural Banking Conditions in Illinois, 
14, IS- 



465] CHANGES IN TENURE 71 

and credit on which to get money, is what the tenant ordinarily 
lacks. 

For the most part, the influence of timber has been expressed 
in our data in the reduced earning power of the land. It seems 
probable, however, that it has had an effect upon tenancy in a 
more direct manner. Timber offers attractions to many people 
because of the kind of life to which it is conducive. Hunting, 
fishing, and the more varied activities which characterize life 
where the function of woodsman and farmer are combined 
probably cause the owners of such land to have less desire to 
retire from their places. 

The result of the study of sectional differences shows that a 
single index, such as the value of land per acre or per farm, 
cannot be regarded as sufficient for an explanation of sectional 
differences in tenure. Of all single factors given statistical 
expression in the census reports gross values of products per 
acre seem to have had the most complete sectional parallelism 
with tenancy in Illinois. Probably gross values of products per 
farm would afford a still better index of tenancy. 

There remains to be made an inquiry into the historical 
changes in the features thus far considered, as it were, by decen- 
nial cross-sections of the state. 

HISTORICAL TENDENCIES AND TENURE IN ILLINOIS. 

From 1880 to 1910 the number per 1000 farms of farms 
operated by tenants increased 30.1 per cent, and of farms oper- 
ated by owners, part owners and managers decreased 16.0 per 
cent. 46 

The number of acres of improved land per 1000 acres of 
land area increased from 728 to 782, or 7.3 per cent, between 
1880 and 1910. That the improved farm acreage should have 
changed less than the number of the operators is only to be 
expected. In so far as slowness of expansion in the improved 
farm acreage in Illinois in indicative of a similar condition 
throughout the country, 47 it may imply a greater cost of in- 
creasing the improved acreage beyond the dimensions attained 
in 1880. To the extent that such is the case, the relative scarcity 
of land compared with the general population may, through the 
rise in prices of products and of land, and through increasing 
competition for rented farms, have stimulated the practice of 
tenancy at the expense of operation by owners. 

48 See above, p. 47. 
47 See above, p. 29. 



72 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [466 

Improving land has probably affected its tenure. In 1880 
there were 4,935,575 acres of woodland and forest in Illinois 
farms. By 1910 this was reduced to 3,147,879 acres. 48 Evidence 
is thus afforded of a tendency to clear the timber from the land. 49 
Large quantities of land have been reclaimed by means of 
drainage projects, especially along the river courses. By in- 
creasing the value of the land the way was paved for renting 
it more successfully in the future. It is probable, however, that 
the individual farmers who cleared and drained their farms 
were not themselves inclined to rent them out to tenants. 50 The 
fact that their farms responded to their efforts to improve them, 
though simple in its psychology, is a significant one. The suc- 
ceeding generation of owners, however, may not be so much 
attached to the land as their predecessors who improved it, and 
may find the growing of staple crops by their tenants as satis- 
factory to them as if the land had always been treeless or natur- 
ally drained. 

A basis for comparing the changes in tenancy with the 
changes in some other agricultural phenomena is afforded in 
the next table. 

48 Census, 1910, VI, 425, and 1880, Agriculture, 103. 

49 The present wooded areas represent with fair accuracy the original 
forest of the state. About thirty per cent of the total area of Illinois 
in 1857 wa s given as woodland. By 1880 it appears that all of the 
woodland in farms added to all the land area not in farms could not 
have exceeded twenty-five per cent, while it is possible that the per- 
centage of the total land area in timber did not then exceed fifteen. 
The forest area of the state in 1911 was estimated at between five and six 
per cent of the land area. 

It seems that nearly half of the timberland existing in Illinois in- 
1857 was cleared during the twenty-three years preceding 1880, while 
two-thirds of the remainder was cleared during the thirty-one years 
following. 

It is not probable that any great portion of the timber has been 
ruthlessly burned in order to use the space for agriculture. The market 
for hardwood timber, of the varieties found in both Northern and 
Southern Illinois, has been an open one, and many of the varieties native- 
to Illinois were such as sold well. The more prevalent practice in 
deforestation seems to have been to cull the more salable timber, and to 
treat the cut-over timber as the owner's policy might dictate. 

(See Hall and Ingalls, Forest Conditions in Illinois, 177, 180-242,. 
passim). 

60 Drainage has sometimes been carried on by "outside" capitalists, 
in whose case the element of personal attachment to the land would not 
ordinarily be strong. See histories of most river counties. 



467] 



CHANGES IN TENURE 



73 



THE ABSOLUTE NUMBER OF, THE PERCENTAGE OF INCREASE OR DECREASE OVER 
THE PRECEDING CENSUS, AND THE PERCENTAGE OF THE INCREASE BETWEEN 
l88o AND IpIO OCCURRING DURING EACH DECADE IN TENANTS PER THOUS- 
AND OPERATORS, ACRES PER FARM, AND DOLLARS WORTH OF PRODUCTS AND 
OF LAND AND BUILDINGS PER ACRE, ILLINOIS, 





1910 


I9OO 


I800 


1880 


Number of 
Tenants per 1000 operators 


414 


1Q1 


14O 


114 


Acres per farm 


I2Q.I 


124.2 


126.7 


123.8 


Average value per acre (in dollars) 
Products of preceding year 52 


17.02 


0.4O 


7.02 


6.43 


Land and buildings 


108.32 


cr84 


41 41 


11.87 


Percentage of increase during the 
decade ending 
Tenants per 1000 operators 


5.1 


1 5.6 


8.3 




Acres per farm 


1.Q 


2O 53 


2.1 




Average value per acre 
Products of preceding year 


80.9 


11.Q 


9.2 




Land and buildings 


IOI.2 


10.0 


3O.O 




Percentage of increase, 1880-1910, 
occurring during the decade end'g 
Tenants per 1000 operators 


21 .0 


C7.O 


26.O 




Average value per acre 
Products of preceding year 


72.O 


21.7 


54 




Land and buildines.... 


71.3 


16.1 


12.5 





The table shows a trend toward larger figures in all the 
phenomena, much greater in the case of the values of products 
and of land and buildings than in the case of tenancy or the 
size of farms. The relative number of tenant farms increased 
most between 1890 and 1900, the decade during which the farms 
grew smaller on the average. This affords no contradiction, 
however, to the conclusion previously arrived at, that smaller 
farms are usually operated by the owners. A reduction in the 
size of farms may, moreover, be related to an increase in tenancy, 
because of a movement on the part of larger owners to cut down 

"Census, 1910, VI, 426, 436, 446; 1000, V, 72, 148, 149, 273; 1890, 
Agriculture, 119, 204; and 1880, Agriculture, 28, 29, in. 

52 With 1880 as loo.o index numbers for the succeeding census dates 
were calculated on the basis of the two American systems, with the fol- 
lowing result: 1890, 86.3; 1900, 85.3; 1910, 100.9. The values before 
being placed on the tabular basis were 1890, $6.06; 1900, $8.02; and 
1910, $17.98. See above, p. 40, note 26. 

"Minus sign ( ) indicates decrease. 



74 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [468 

the size of the farming units for the sake of greater efficiency in 
production. 

The rise in the value of products per acre is, of course, by 
no means an accurate measure of the average profits per acre, 
and, therefore, we should expect to find the value of land and 
buildings subject to a different variation than that in the value 
of products. The difference, however, is not great, the value of 
products per acre increasing 171 per cent, and the value of 
land and buildings 241 per cent between 1880 and 1910. It is 
only fair to estimate that the money profits of farming an acre 
increased somewhere near 200 per cent. 

The increase of tenancy was much slower than the rise in 
the value of products, the value of land and buildings, or, possi- 
bly, of the profits per acre. The decade of the most phenomenal 
increase in the value of products, land and buildings, and, pre- 
sumably, profits, was the one of least relative increase in tenancy, 
and followed the decade of greatest relative increase in tenancy. 
It might seem, therefore, that the increase of tenancy may have- 
influenced the other factors, as well as that the other factors 
influenced tenancy. 

If we consider divisions within the state, the disagreement 
between the rate of advance in land prices and the rate of 
increase in tenancy is still more obvious. The increase in the 
price of an average acre in the East Central counties during the 
thirty-year period, 1880 to 1910, was from four to six fold. 
This was about twice as great as the increase that took place 
in the price of a similar area in Northern and Western Illinois 
and about three or four times as great as the corresponding 
increase in Southern Illinois. 54 The percentage of tenancy 
doubled in Northern Illinois, increased by half in Central Illi- 
nois, and remained practically stationary in Southern Illinois. 

It appears, then, that in Illinois the price of land has been 
highest and has increased most where and when the percentage 
of tenancy was the highest, but that the percentage of tenancy 
has not increased most either when or where land prices were 
the highest, or when land prices were increasing most rapidly. 
In other words, land prices have been more consistent with and 
responsive to differences and changes in tenancy than tenancy 
has been to differences and changes in land prices. 

To some extent rising land prices are an indication of 
enlarged incomes of farmers and their relation to land tenure 

"See below, p. 73, note 57. 



469] CHANGES IN TENURE 75 

is a complicated one for that reason. "With rising profits from 
farming many operating owners who might otherwise have left 
and possibly sold their farms, are attracted by these greater 
profits to stay. 55 Thus the immediate effect of conditions caus- 
ing higher land prices may be to prevent increase in tenancy. 
Likewise, the immediate effect of falling profits in farming may 
be to discourage owners from operating and possibly owning 
land. If these owners quit operating without selling their land, 
tenancy is increased. If the land is sold to tenants who proceed to 
operate, tenancy is decreased. So it is difficult to say whether 
the immediate effects of falling profits and low prices is to 
change the tenure of the land, although the ultimate effects are 
surely to decrease tenancy. The immediate accompaniment of 
rising land prices is likely to be an increase in tenancy, although 
the situation tends ultimately to become favorable to tenancy. 
The decade marked by the greatest increase in tenancy was that 
between 1900 and 1910. Agricultural profits were disappoint- 
ing during the early part of the decade, but were picking up 
later. It is possible that many owners whose desire to quit 
farming was strengthened by the depression, found the effective- 
ness of their desire increased by the general improvemnt of 
agricultural conditions. Since 1900 the continued increase in 
the profits of farming has strengthened the attractiveness of the 
farm as a place for owners to make money by operating, but 
the economic freedom to leave the farm has also grown. 

The influence of tenancy upon land prices arises in several 
ways. In the first place, the greater the number of available 
tenants for the renting of a piece of land, the greater is the 
value of an investment in such land to those who want to hold 
it without operating it. An investor can afford to bid higher 
for such land. In the second place, competition among tenants 
causes the rents paid to approach more nearly to the maximum. 
This naturally increases the value of the farm to the owner. 
In the third place, the higher the percentage of tenancy in the 
case of land devoted to the production of staple crops, and the 
more limited the aggregate acreage on which such crops can be 
profitably produced, the greater must be the "restraint of pro- 
duction" through the inefficiency of tenants, and the greater 
must be the effect of this restraint of production upon prices 
of products, profits of farming, and land values. Within its 

"See Taylor, H. C, Introduction to the Study of Agricultural Eco- 
nomics, 244-246. 



76 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[470 



Average Value 
of Land and 
Buildmqs per Acre 

Illinois 

1880 



fc '^25.00- &. 




Legend 

I | Under IO.OO 



471] 



CHANGES IN TENURE 



77 



Value 

of Lewd and 
ui/d/ngs Per Acre 
Illinois 
1110 



^ 






Undero. 
10 to 

25 r* 39. 99 
40 to St, 3 9 
55 to 69.99 
70 to 
85 to 

/00A0 //f.99 
115 to 



759.9? 
I '60 <fo / T-9.99 



78 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [472 

limits, inefficient production of crops, the area of production of 
which is naturally or economically restricted, must exert an 
influence similar to a crop shortage, which often results in a 
greater relative rise in prices per unit than the relative decline 
in aggregate production. 88 In so far as inefficient farming is 
promoted by tenants the effect may be somewhat to stimulate 
land prices through this "shortage" influence on production. 
As the areas of land suited to the production of staples become 
more definitely fixed, and as a greater demand is made by popu- 
lation for the products of those areas, the influence of inefficient 
production must become greater in this respect. 

Still it is probably true that the rise of land prices has 
exerted a greater influence upon tenancy than tenancy has 
exerted upon the rise of land prices. Lands increasing in value 
so as to give a high annual rate of return on previous valuations 
tend to be capitalized at a more conservative rate of interest on 
the earning power than lands increasing in value more slowly. 
The tenant is not in a position to pay prices based on such a 
conservative interest rate. The rise in land prices has doubtless 
exerted this kind of influence most pronouncedly in the cereal- 
growing counties. In five counties in Central Illinois the average 
prices of land and buildings per acre increased over five-fold 
between 1880 and 1910, 57 as against an increase of about half as 
great for the state as a whole. Between 1900 and 1910 the rela- 
tive increase in the value of land and buildings per acre was 
about twice as great in the East Central counties as in the 
Southern counties. The greater multiplying power of capital 
invested in the old prairie district has had much to do in 
increasing the size of holdings among land owners and of de- 
creasing the chances for tenants to become owners in those 
districts. 

The historical study shows that tenancy became more pre- 
valent during the time when the state underwent an increase in 
(1) the percentage of land area improved, (2) the average 
number of acres per farm, and (3) the average value per acre of 



"Thompson, J. G., in Publications of the American Economic Asso- 
ciation, IX, 68-70. 

"The percentage of increase in the value of land and buildings per 
acre in the five counties was as follows: Champaign, 551; Douglas, 514; 
Ford, 545; Moultrie, 596; and Piatt, 518. See Census, 1910, VI, 426-435; 
a,nd 1880, Agriculture, in, 112. 



473] 



CHANGES IN TENURE 



79 



Percentage of 
Farm Acreage 
Operated* Under 
Lease by Tenants 

and Part 
Owners 



Legend 





Data lacking 
5.0 to 14.9 
15.0 to 24.9 
25.0 to 34.9 
35.0 to 44.9 
45.0 to 54.9 
55.0 to 64.9 
65.0 to 74.9 
75.0 to 84.9 



80 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [474 

products and of farm property. To a large extent tenancy has 
been increased and operation by owners diminished by the 
changes in these accompanying conditions. The rate of increase 
in tenancy has been augmented, no doubt, by the declining rate 
of increase in the farm area. The rate of increase in tenancy 
has been less than the increase in the value per acre of pro- 
ducts and of land, and greater than the increase in the average 
size of farms. 

Considering both sectional and historical aspects of tenancy 
growth in Illinois it seems to the writer that the extent, distri- 
bution and growth of land leasing is best explained in terms of 
the purchasing power of the rental income of the farms. The 
ability of an owner to retire from the operation of a farm is 
not to be measured solely in all cases by his income from that 
farm. He may have other income-bearing property, although, 
so far as farm property is concerned it is fair to say that the 
representative holding is one farm. 58 Again he may have income 
from some supplementary occupation, although this condition 
does not seem to characterize any great number of retired farm- 
ers. Landlords whose ownership of land is incidental to their 
careers in non-agricultural lines are somewhat numerous in 
some parts of the state. After allowing for these exceptions, 
it is probable that the purchasing power of the rental income of a 
farm is the main factor in determining whether the owner rents 
his place to a tenant or farms it himself. 

The rental income of a farm is, of course, only the land- 
lord's share of the economic rent of the place. 

The tenant's portion of this annual surplus of returns from 
cultivation over costs is probably subject to less variation in 
absolute value than the landlord's portion. This means that the 
tenant's share in the surplus is probably smaller, relatively, 
when the surplus is large, and smaller, absolutely, when the 
surplus is small. The possibility a tenant has of saving is prob- 
ably greater where the kind of farming operations he engages in 
is such as to place a premium upon diversified knowledge, oper- 
ating capital and managerial ability. 59 Such a condition pre- 
vails more especially in Northern Illinois. In Central Illinois 
the farming method does not require such diversification of 



88 See below, p. 76. 

B9 See Stewart, C. L., An Analysis of Rural Banking Conditions in 
Illinois, 19, 20. 



475] CHANGES IN TENURE 81 

technical knowledge, and competition for farms to rent is espe- 
cially severe. 80 In Southern Illinois the surplus of operations 
and the acreage per farm are both small. In Southern Illinois 
tenancy has undergone very little change; in Central Illinois 
it has been highest and increasing somewhat; while in Northern 
Illinois it has been increasing at a rapid rate. In Northern 
Illinois the prosperity of tenants appears to have been responsi- 
ble for their tendency to multiply in numbers, while in Southern 
Illinois the opportunity for tenants to rent seems to have been 
restricted. In the prairie district of the state tenancy has prob- 
ably been stimulated by the higher rental income per owner, 
which has not only freed owners from the necessity of oper- 
ation, but has caused the land to be capitalized at such a low 
rate that the tenants are not able profitably to own farms. 

To summarize, it appears that the forms of tenure have been 
phases accompanying, limited by and modifying the conditions 
and changes in the agricultural economy of the state. The pre- 
valence, sectional character and growth of farming by tenant 
operators is chiefly governed by the real value of the shares of 
the owners and tenants in the surplus of operation. Tenancy 
forms a sort of cumulative index of the effectiveness of the desire 
of the owners to escape the operation of their land, and of the 
ineffectiveness of the desire of tenants to become owners. 

60 For several years nearly all news items in Chicago papers relating 
to cases where from 25 to 50 bids were made for farms offered for rent 
came from towns in Central Illinois. 



CHAPTER IV 

A DESCRIPTION OF FARM OPERATORS IN ILLINOIS 

The farm operators of Illinois are, with few exceptions, 
heads of families residing on the farms. In 1890 the number of 
farm operators was 240,681, of whom 158,848, or 66.0 per cent, 
operated as owners. 1 At that date 252,953 farm families were 
reported, of whom 160,065, or 63.3 per cent, resided on farms 
owned by them. 2 In 1900 the number of farm operators was 
264,151, of whom 158,503, or 60.0 per cent, were owners, 103,698 
tenants, and 2,413 "owners and tenants". The number of farm 
families was 262,388, 8 of whom 158,496, or 60.4 per cent, owned 
farms and 101,817 hired. The almost exact correspondence in 
these data affords sufficient evidence that in 1890 and 1900 the 
normal Illinois farm was a "family farm". There is no reason 
for believing that statistics taken later would show any change 
in this condition. 

THE BASIS OF RENTING 

The tenants of Illinois may be described more conveniently 
after dividing them into classes according to the basis on which 
they rent. The following table summarizes the census data on 
this point. 

The period, 1880 to 1890, during which the total number of 
tenants underwent only a slight increase, was the decade of 
greatest readjustment of terms between the tenants and land- 
lords. The number of share tenants declined 6,973, or 11.7 per 
cent, while the number of cash tenants increased 8,562, or 41.5 
per cent. The percentage of all tenants renting on shares fell 
from 74.3 in 1880 to 64.3 in 1890. The tendency continued, 
though much abated, until 1900, when 63.2 per cent of the tenant 
farms were rented on shares. In 1910 there were 23,665 farms 
rented on a basis combining the share and cash principles. All 
these are here counted as share tenant farms, though it is probable 

1 Census, 1900, V, bcix. 

^he number of families residing on hired farms exceeded the num- 
ber of farms operated by tenants by 11,055. It is possible that this was 
due to the reporting of some laborers hiring homes, or of some man- 
agers and owners occupying homes on land belonging to a tenant farm. 

Unknown, 2,075. 

82 



477] 



DESCRIPTION OF OPERATORS 



83 



THE NUMBER OF ALL TENANTS, SHARE AND SHARE-CASH TENANTS, AND OP 
CASH AND UNSPECIFIED TENANTS, THE PERCENTAGE OF ALL TENANTS IN 
EACH GROUP, AND THE PERCENTAGE OF INCREASE OR DECREASE IN THtf 
NUMBER IN EACH GROUP OVER THE PRECEDING CENSUS, ILLINOIS, l88o- 

igio. 4 



Census 
date 


Total 


Cash and 
unspecified 


Share and 
share-cash 


Percentage 


Cash, 
etc. 


Share, 
etc. 


Number 


Inc. 


Number | Inc. 


Number 


Inc. 


1910 
1900 
1890 
1880 


104,379 
103,608 
81,833 

8O.244 


0.7 
26.7 

2.O 


37,i63 

38,173 
29,182 
20.620 


2.6 

30.8 
4i-5 


67,21 6 8 
65,525 
52,651 

W.624 


2.6 

24-5 
--11.7 


35-6 
36.8 
35-7 

2^.7 


64.4 
63.2 
64-3 

74.3 



that a part of the farms rented in 1900 on the combined share 
and cash basis were then counted as cash tenant farms. To the 
extent that share-cash tenants were classified as cash tenants in 
1900, less significance is to be attached to the decrease from 36.8 
to 35.6 between 1900 and 1910 in the percentage of farms rented 
for cash. 7 , 

In 1880 there were only 6 counties in the state in which the 
percentage of tenants renting for cash exceeded 50. All of them 
were in the Northern division of the state. In 1890 there were 21 
such counties, 13 in the Northern division and 8 in the Central 
division. In 1900 the number of counties in which cash renting 
predominated was 24, 19 being in the Northern and 5 in the 
Central part. In 1910 the number of such counties fell to 15, 
all of them being in Northern Illinois. In 1880 there were 48 
counties in which the percentage of farms rented for cash was 
under 20, 27 were in Southern Illinois, 20 in Central and 1 in 
Northern Illinois. In 1890 the number of such counties was 33, 
in 1900, 35, and in 1910, 45. At the last date 36 of the counties 

4 Census, 1910, V, 124, and VI, 438. 

8 Minus sign ( ) denotes decrease. 

23,665, or 35.5 per cent, were share-cash. 

7 Moreover, the districts of the state in which the greatest decline took 
place from 1900 to 1910 in the percentage of farms rented for cash were 
the districts in which the percentage of other than cash tenants renting on 
the share-cash basis was the highest in 1910. Suggestion, at least, is thus 
given that the apparent decline in the relative prominence of cash tenancy 
is due to the classification of some tenants as share-cash tenants in 1910 
who in 1900 would have been counted as cash tenants. 



84 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[478 



Percentage of N^ 
Tenant Farm 5 
Rented for Cash 
Xllinois 
WO 




479] DESCRIPTION OP OPERATORS 85 

were in Southern Illinois, and the remainder in Central Illinois. 

Cash tenancy was relatively most prominent, therefore, in 
Northern Illinois, and least prominent in Southern Illinois. 
Since 1900 cash renting appears to have declined in relative 
prominence in each division of the state. Share-cash tenancy 
was most prominent, compared with all tenancy other than cash, 
in the counties of Central Illinois and the old prairie district. 8 

The reasons for this sectional difference will appear as the 
farms and farm practice of the various kinds of operators are 
described. 

THE ACREAGE OPERATED 

The method used by the census in presenting data on the 
size of farms of various tenures has undergone a change. For 
1880 and 1890 the data are given for owners, cash tenants, and 
share tenants by acreage-groups. In 1900 the acreage-groups 
are continued and the farms formerly considered as those of 
owners are itemized into four classes. In 1910 the acreage-group 
data were not classified by various tenures. In both 1900 
and 1910 the total acreages are given, so that averages can be 
calculated for farms of the several forms of tenure. 

The first table shows for the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth 
census enumerations the percentage of farms belonging to the 
various size-groups that was operated under each of the several 
forms of tenure. 

The farms of owners constituted a smaller percentage of all 
farms at the later census dates, and the farms of tenants made up 
a correspondingly increasing percentage. The farms under 50 
acres were operated by owners to a larger extent in 1890 than 
in 1880, and those between 50 and 100 underwent only a slight 
increase in percentage of tenancy. The farms having between 
100 and 500 acres and those having between 500 and 1000 acres 
were rented to a much larger degree in 1900 than at previous 
dates. The same movement toward tenant operation prevailed in 
the case of the farms over 1000 acres in size, though at a less rapid 
rate than in the case of the farms having between 500 and 1000 
acres. 

The percentage of farms operated by tenants in 1900 was 
highest in the farms between 100 and 175 acres in size, with 
those 10 to 20 acres next, and those 100 to 499 acres third. Own- 
ership was most prevalent in the farms exceeding 500 acres, 

8 Census, 1910, VI, 438, 447. 



86 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[480 



PERCENTAGE OF FARMS OF SPECIFIED SIZES OPERATED UNDER SPECIFIED FORMS 
OF TENURE, ILLINOIS, l88o-IOOO. 9 





Farms 
of 
all 
sizes 


Less 
than 

10 

acres 11 


10 

to 

19 

acres 


20 
to 
49 
acres 


So 
to 

99 
acres 


100 

to 

499 
acres 12 


500 

to 

999 

acres 


IOOO 

acres 
and 
over 


Own- 


















ers 10 


















I000 13 


60.7 


64-5 


58.4 


62.5 


61.6 


59-5 


75-3 


81.9 


1800 


66.0 


69.2 


64.0 


67.0 


64-3 


66.3 


81.9 


84.6 


1880 


68.6 


65.1 


54-5 


58.8 


65.1 


74-8 


87-7 


89.8 


All 


















tenants 


















1900 


39-3 


35-6 


4i-5 


37-5 


38.4 


40.5 


24.6 


18.1 


1890 


34-0 


30.8 


36.0 


33-0 


35-7 


33-7 


18.1 


154 


1880 


314 


34-9 


45-5 


41.2 


34-9 


24.6 


12.3 


IO.I 


Cash 


















tenants 


















1900 


14-5 


24.0 


16.2 


IO.I 


13-2 


iS-7 


7-5 


6.4 


1890 


12.1 


18.6 


15-4 


8.9 


12.4 


12.7 


5-9 


7.0 


1880 


8.1 


16.5 


I3-I 


8.4 


8.4 


7-i 


4-7 


2.9 


Share 


















tenants 


















1900 


24.8 


n.6 


25-3 


27.4 


25.2 


24.8 


17.1 


11.7 


1890 


21.9 


12.2 


2O.6 


24.1 


23.3 


2I.O 


12.2 


8.4 


1880 


23-3 


18.4 


32.4 


32.9 


26.5 


17-5 


7-6 


7.2 



followed by those under 3 acres. 

It is evident that the farms of medium size were most cul- 
tivated by tenants, while the farms extraordinarily large and 
small were most characterized by operation by owners. It is a 
favorable comment on the ability of tenants to carry on large 
scale farming that such a large number of the farms over 500 
acres are tenant farms, and that renting of the large farms was 

9 Census, 1910, V, 124; 1900, V, 48; 1890, Agriculture, 118, 119; and 
1880, Agriculture, 26-29. 

"Including owners proper, part owners, owners and tenants, and 
managers. 

"Data is given for two subsidiary groups, less than 3 acres, and. 3 to 9 
acres in 1900 and 1880. 

"Data is given for three subsidiary groups, 100 to 174 acres, 175 to 
259 acres, and 260 to 399 acres in 1900. 

18 Data is given separately for owners proper, part owners, owners 
and tenants, and managers in 1900. 



481] 



DESCRIPTION OF OPERATORS 



87 



increasing relatively faster than renting of either medium or 
small farms. On the other hand, this implies that the owners 
of large farms, though still commonly operating their farms in 
1900, were giving up personal operation relatively faster than 
owners of smaller farms. The large farms are most inaccessible 
to tenants with the objective of ownership, and, except as divis- 
ion through inheritance takes place, their owners ought to be 
well able to prevent their disintegration. 

The percentage of all farms operated by cash tenants nearly 
doubled between 1880 and 1890, while that of share tenants re- 
mained the same. Among the farms having under 100 acres the 
percentage of farms operated by share tenants was decreasing 
and the percentage operated by cash tenants was increasing 
between 1880 and 1900, and in the case of the farms between 
100 and 500 acres and those over 1000 acres, cash tenancy was 
increasing more rapidly than share tenancy. The trend in 
tenancy among the farms between 500 and 1000 acres was toward 
the share basis. As pointed out previously, 1 * exclusively cash 
tenancy was not so prevalent in 1910, as was so-called "cash" 
tenancy in 1900. 

A notion of the amount of land operated by operators of 
various classes can be obtained from the following table. 

THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF ACRES PER FARM OF VARIOUS KINDS OF OPERATORS, 
AND THE ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE INCREASE IN THE SAME, ILLINOIS, 
IOOO-I9IO. 15 



Tenure 
designation 


Censu 
1910 


s date 

IOOO 


Increase in 
acreage 
1900-1910 


Percentage 
of 
increase 


All operators 


129.1 


124.2 


4.9 


4.0 


Tenants 


135.8 


122.2 


13.6 


II.2 


Cash 




124.2 






Share . 




I2I.O 






Managers 
Owners and part 
owners 


234.0 

122.6 


233.0 

124.1 


i.i 
1 .5 


0-5 

1.2 


Owners proper 
Part owners 
Owned . .. . 


133-8 

147-5 
83.7 


118.9 
142.9 

70.9 


5-1 

4.6 

3-7 


4-3 
3-2 
4.7 


Leased 


6ro 


63.0 


0.9 


1.4 


Owners and tenants 




I59-I 







"See above, p. 83. 

"Census, 1900, V, 8; and table, above, p. 45. 



88 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [482 

The lack of acreage-group data in 1910 makes it impossible 
to pursue this phase of the study with accuracy after 1900. 

In 1900 the average size of all farms was 124.2 acres. Cash 
tenant farms and those of owners, including part owners, were 
almost exactly the same in average acreage as those of all tenures. 
Share tenants and owners proper operated smaller farms on the 
average. The largest farms were those of managers, which aver- 
aged nearly twice as large as the farms operated by owners 
proper. Part owners owned 84 acres and hired 64 on the aver- 
age. Owners and tenants co-operating operated farms of 159 
acres. 

In 1910 data are lacking for cash and share tenants and 
for owners and tenants co-operating. The average acreage for 
all farms increased 4.0, and an increase in average acreage took 
place in both the owned and leased portions of the farms of part 
owners, in the farms of managers, and tenants. In the case of 
managed farms the increase was slight while in the case of 
tenants it was most pronounced, being 13.6 acres. The farms 
of owners proper lost 5 acres, on the average. 

Ownership has been declining and tenancy increasing in 
the districts of larger farms. This accounts in the main for the 
apparent increase in the size of tenant farms. There seems to 
be little tendency for the average tenant farm to increase in 
size in any large part of the state. 

THE EQUIPMENT OP THE VARIOUS OPERATORS 

The data on farm equipment are not complete, but such 
as are available are presented in the next few pages. 

The percentage of farm land improved in all Illinois farms 
was 86.2 in 1910 and 84.5 in 1900. The tenants operated farms 
consisting most largely of improved land, 16 and the farms of man- 
agers had the smallest percentage of improved land. 17 

The next table shows the value of various items of farm 
property in the case of farms operated under different forms of 
tenure. 



"The percentage of tenant farm land improved in 1910 was 88.8 
and in 1900, 87.8, as against corresponding percentages of 84.5 and 82.6 
for the land owners. See Census, 1910, V, 130. 

"The percentage was 76.7 in 1910 and 74.4 in 1900. See Census, 

, V, 130. 



483] 



DESCRIPTION OP OPERATORS 



89/ 



Land and buildings constituted 88.3 per cent of the value 
of all farm property in 1900 and 90.2 per cent in 1910. All 
items of farm property underwent a rise in value between 1900 
and 1910. In the case of buildings this was probably due in 
some measure to better improvement of the farms, but to a greater 
degree, perhaps, to the rise in the value of building materials, 
and to a general tendency to value buildings higher because a 
higher value was being placed on other items of farm property. 
Implements and machinery and livestock also had higher value 
per farm and per acre in 1910 than in 1900. In the case of 
implements and machinery the rise in value is probably due to the 
utilization of more expensive types. The value of live stock has 

AVERAGE VALUE IN DOLLARS OF ALL FARM PROPERTY AND OF THE SEVERAL 
CLASSES, CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THE MAJOR TENURE GROUPS, 18 ILLINOIS, 
I9IO AND IQOO. 19 





All tenures 


Owners 


Managers 


Tenants 


1910 


1900 


1910 


1900 


1910 


1900 


1910 | 1900 


All farm 


















property 


















Per farm 


15,505 


7,588 


13,667 


7,203 


30,269 


17,005 


17,719 


7,999 


Per acre 


120.04 


61.12 


111.51 


58.03 


129.28 


72.99 


120.45 


65-48 


Land and 


















buildings 


















Per farm 


13,986 i 6,684 


12,1/0 


6,258 


27,246 


14,833 


16,205 


7,182 


Per acre 


108.32 


53.84 


99.29 


50.42 


116.41 


63-65 


"9-33 


58.78 


Land 


















Per farm 


12,269 


5,732 


10,363 


5,220 


23,682 


13,004 


14,655 


6,377 


Per acre 


95.01 


46.17 


84.55 


42.06 


101.18 


55.82 


107.91 


52.20 


Buildings 


















Per farm 


1,716 


952 


1,806 


1,038 


3,563 


1,829 


1,550 


804 


Per acre 


13-30 


7.67 


1473 


8.36 


15.22 


7.85 


11.41 


6.58 


Imple- 


















ments and 


















machinery 


















Per farm 


293 


I/O 


285 


170 


533 


246 


298 


177 


Per acre 


2.27 


1-37 


2.32 


1.38 


2.28 


1.06 


2.2O 


1-37 


Livestock 


















Per farm 


1,226 


734 


1,213 


773 


2,488 


1,928 


1,214 


650 


Per acre 


9.49 


5-91 


990 


6.23 


10.63 


9.27 


8.94 


5-32 



"Data for the minor tenure groups are given for 1900. See Census, 
1900, V, 149. 

"Census, 1910, V, 130, 134; VI, 413; and 1900, V, 149, 252. 



90 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [484 

risen not so much because of increase in the number of animals 
as in the value per head. 

It will be observed that the value of the property in man- 
aged farms averaged highest in value at both census dates, and 
the value per acre of the farm property of managers was greater 
than that of either owners or tenants in 1900. In 1910, however, 
the highest average value per acre of farm property was attached 
to the farms operated by tenants. In the value of buildings, 
managed farms had the highest average per farm in 1900 and 
per acre as well as per farm in 1910. The value of buildings on 
rented farms was lower than on other farms both per acre and 
per farm in 1900 and 1910. The value of implements and ma- 
chinery per acre was greatest on the farms of owners at both 
dates and in 1910 least on those of tenants. The farms on which 
live stock reached the largest average value per acre and per 
farm were the farms of managers. On the farms of tenants the 
value of live stock was less than on the farms of any other kind 
of farm operator. 

The statistics for 1900 show the value of property to be 
much different when farms are rented for cash than when rented 
on shares. The value of all farm property per acre in 1900 was 
greater in the case of cash tenants than in the case of farmers 
of any other tenure. In value of buildings per acre cash tenant 
farms were somewhat above the average, while the average value 
of buildings per acre in this case of share tenant farms was less 
than in the case of farms of any other form of tenure, being 40 
per cent less than on cash rented farms. The value of imple- 
ments and machinery per acre was greater in the case of cash 
tenant farms than in that of farms of any other tenure. The 
value of live stock per acre was above the average on the farms 
of cash tenants and least in the case of the share tenant farms. 

The various classes of operators differ somewhat in the 
extent to which they keep different kinds of animals on their 
farms. 

Over 90 per cent of Illinois farms in 1910 were reported 
to have domestic animals, poultry, cattle, dairy cows, and horses. 20 
Domestic animals, poultry, bees, dairy cows, horses, and swine 
were reported for a smaller percentage of managed farms and a 
larger percentage of owned farms than of tenant farms. Mules 
were reported by a larger percentage of managers than of oper- 
ators of other tenure. Only in the case of horses and mules 

20 Census, 1910, V, 130, 142, 146. 



485] DESCRIPTION OF OPERATORS 91 

did the percentage of owners reporting them fail to exceed the 
corresponding percentage in the case of other operators. 

Domestic animals were distributed among the various classes 
of operators in very much the same proportion as the number 
of farms and acres of farm land. 21 Between 1900 and 1910 the 
value of domestic animals on the farms of tenants increased at 
a much more rapid rate than on the farms of owners. Poultry 
and bees averaged higher in value on the farms of owners than 
on the farms of other classes of operators. 

The value of other than dairy cattle was largest on the farms 
of owners, 22 while the values of dairy cows were distributed 
among the operators of different tenures more nearly according 
to the distribution of farms and acreages. Judging from the 
values reported horses were distributed in almost exactly the 
same proportions as the improved acreage. Mules were evidently 
employed to an extraordinarily large extent by managers. Asses 
and burros, sheep and swine were kept by the operating owners 
to a disproportionately high degree. In swine, however, the ten- 
ants had values approaching their share. 

It appears that in the case of all animals but sheep the most 
valuable stock was on the managed farms. 23 Operating owners 
possessed the most valuable sheep, but in the case of all other 
animals the value of their stock per head was even less than 
that of tenants. 

SOME ITEMS OF INCOME AND EXPENDITURE 

Data were gathered at the twelfth census showing for the 
various classes of operators the value of the products of 1899 
and the average expenditures for labor and fertilizers. 24 The 
value of products per farm was highest in the case of managed 
farms and lowest in the case of farms of share tenants. On 
the basis of values per acre, however, cash tenants held first rank, 
and co-operating owners and tenants made the least showing. 
Managers fed to live stock a larger value of products per farm 
and per acre than other operators. Share tenants fed the least 
on either basis of comparison. 

Co-operating owners and tenants by furnishing their own 
labor were enabled to cut down the labor expenditures to $.50 



21 Census, 1910, V, 142, 150, and VI, 414. 
"Census, 1910, V, 150, 153. 
"Census, 1910, V, 153. 
24 Census, 1900, V, 149, 232. 



92 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [486 

per acre, the least of any class of operators. Managers expended 
the most per acre, $1.46. The expenditure for fertilizers was so 
small that comparisons are of little value. It seems, however, 
that in 1899 the expenditure for fertilizers was least in the 
case of farms operated by share tenants. 

Statistics are presented in the Census to show the tenden- 
cies prevalent among operators of different tenures in raising 
products for the market in 1899. 25 

Owners operated less than their proportion of the farms 
whose values of products not fed to live stock were under $100 
and over $1,000. Owners and tenants, and part owners operated 
less than their share of the farms with values of unfed products 
under $250, and more than their share of the farms in the other 
value-groups. The managed farms were heavily concentrated 
in the groups having no unfed products and in all value-groups 
under $1000. Cash tenants showed a somewhat similar tendency. 
Share tenants, however, operated more than their proportion of 
the farms with unfed products valued at more than $1000, as well 
as of the farms with values of unfed products less than $250. 

These data must be interpreted with due allowance for a 
number of other factors. The size of farms has much to do with 
the valuableness of the products raised. Small farms and very 
large farms are operated by owners to a greater degree than are 
farms of medium size. The figures employed here, moreover, are 
not based on values of all products raised, but only of those pro- 
ducts not fed to livestock on the farms raising them. Farms 
raising products which are fed to livestock are certainly not, for 
that reason, less productive of value. Finally, it would be use- 
less and unfair to make deductions from such data as to the 
relative efficiency of the various classes of operators. 

EMPHASIS IN FAEM PRACTICE 

Statistical evidence on the relation of farm tenure to var- 
ious types of farming practice relates only to 1899. The census 
of 1900 classified farms according to the principal source of 
income as shown by the productions of the preceding year. 
Changes have doubtless occurred since 1899 both in the number 
of farms having the specified productions as their principal 
source of income and in the percentage of farms in each pro- 
duction group operated by the various classes of operators. The 
following table summarizes the data gathered in 1900 so far 
as related to Illinois. 

"Census, 1900, V, 35. 



487] 



DESCRIPTION OF OPERATORS 



CLASSIFICATION BY TENURE OF FARMS WITH SPECIFIED PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF 
INCOME, ILLINOIS, 



Principal 
source of 
income 


Number 
of 
farms 


Percentage of farms operated by 


Own- 
ers 


Part 
owners 


Owners 
and ten- 
ants 


Man- 
agers 


Cash 
tenants 


Share 
ten- 
ants 


All farms 


264,151 
107,020 
6,656 
2,411 

"3,674 
15,602 
138 
60 

499 
126 

1 7.06=; 


46.1 
33-3 
38.4 
67.3 
56.7 
50.3 
39-9 
40.0 
74-7 
84.9 

V>.2 


13-0 
12.3 
10.9 
IO.I 

14.5 

7-9 
22.5 
16.7 
5-8 
7-9 
ir6 


0.9 
0.7 
0-5 
0.7 

1.2 
0-5 

0.8 

1.2 


0-7 

.0.7 
o.5 

1-7 
0.8 
0.9 
0.7 
1-7 
3-8 
2.4 
0.6 


14-5 
18.1 

35-9 
8.4 
9-1 
24.5 
12.3 
13-3 
14.6 
4-0 

10.7 


24.8 
34-9 
13-7 
11.7 
17.8 
iS-9 
24.6 
28.3 

0.2 

0.8 

21.8 


Hay and grain 


Vegetables 


Fruits 


Livestock 


Dairy produce 
Tobacco 


Sugar 


Flowers and plants 
Nursery products- 
Miscellaneous .. 



Hay and grain farming was carried on with greatest 
emphasis by the tenants, particularly the share tenants, while 
owners operated much less than their proportionate number of 
such farms. Owners operated less than their share of the farms 
producing vegetables as their main crop. Tenants operated 
nearly half of the vegetable farms, and over two-thirds of those 
rented were on the cash basis. Fruit farms were operated chiefly 
by owners and managers, the tenants being in charge of only 
about half their proportionate share. Farmers specializing in 
livestock were usually owners of their places. All classes of oper- 
ators except tenants showed a leaning toward live stock farming. 
The latter were in charge of only two-thirds of their pro- 
portionate share of these farms. The renting of live stock farms 
inclined toward the share basis. The owners proper, managers 
and tenants operated dairy farms with somewhat greater empha- 
sis than their relative numbers would indicate. As in the case 
of vegetable farms cash tenancy was much more prevalent than 
share tenancy. The tobacco and sugar farms were largely oper- 
ated by part owners. Farms raising flowers, plants and nursery 
products were operated mainly by owners and managers. So far 
as such farms were rented it was almost exclusively on the cash 
basis. The farms whose principal source of income was miscel- 
laneous need not be regarded as farms on which productions were 
diversified. They are simply those whose principal source of 

26 Census, 1900, V, 9. 



94 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [488 

income was some production other than those listed. The tenure 
of such farms has no peculiarities worth discussing. 

The part played by owners in the operation of farms special- 
izing in the different crops is much the same in Illinois as in the 
country as a whole. 27 One exception is that of vegetable farms, 
60.4 per cent of which are owned by the operators in the United 
States, as against a percentage of 38.4 in Illinois. Operation 
by owners is somewhat more prevalent among farms raising 
nursery products in Illinois than in the whole country. The 
place occupied by part owners is more prominent in the cultiva- 
tion of tobacco farms in Illinois than in the country as a whole, 
although in the case of farms raising nursery products the oppo- 
site holds true. The prominence of managers in the operation 
of sugar farms which is characteristic of the United States as a 
whole does not stand out as a feature of the few sugar farms 
of Illinois. The tenants of Illinois follow very much the same 
types of farming as those in the rest of the country, except that 
farms raising dairy produce are rented to a greater extent on 
the cash basis in Illinois. 

The twelfth census also supplied data for ten important 
crops showing the number of farms reporting, the number of 
acres raised and the number of bushels harvested in 1899. 28 
The results of a study of these data are summarized in the fol- 
lowing paragraphs. 

Corn was raised by almost every farmer in the state in 1899. 
Irish potatoes and hay and forage were cultivated by two 
farmers in three, and oats by three in five. The share tenants, 
owners and tenants, and part owners raised corn to an extent 
greater than the average. Oats was more widely raised by the 
cash tenants and part owners ; wheat, buckwheat, Irish potatoes, 
sweet potatoes, hay and forage by part owners and by owners 
and tenants. Of the tenants those renting on shares contributed 
more prominently to the production of corn, wheat and sweet 
potatoes. 

The corn acreage per corn farm was greater .than the corre- 
sponding acreage per farm of any other crop. Oats came second 
and wheat third. Sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes were raised 
in patches of very small size. The corn acreage was largest 
on the managed farms reporting corn. If the farms reporting 
corn were of the same size as the average farm of each form 

"See above, p. 26. 

"Census, 1900, VI, 96-107, 220, 221, 342-345, 530 and 531. 



489] 



DESCRIPTION OP OPERATORS 



95 



of tenure, the percentage of the managed acreage in corn was 
less than the corresponding percentage of the acreage in farms 
of other tenures. It seems probable that the percentage of the 
land devated to corn production was greater in the farms of 
cash and share tenants than of other operators. 

Considering the percentage of all the land in the state 
devoted to the production of certain crops it appears that culti- 
vation by owners was especially prominent in the case of sweet 
potatoes, hay and forage, but was relatively little associated 
with the production of oats and corn. Part owners and owners 
and tenants devoted their land to the raising of tobacco, buck- 
wheat and wheat relatively more than to other crops. Man- 
agers were especially concerned with raising rye, hay and forage. 
Cash tenants emphasized the raising of Irish potatoes and barley, 
and neglected the production of tobacco, wheat and sweet pota- 
toes. Share tenants placed their emphasis on wheat, corn and 
oats. 

The data on yields per acre for each kind of tenure are 
presented below. 

AVERAGE YIELD PER ACRE OF SELECTED CROPS ON ACREAGES CLASSIFIED . 
ACCORDING TO TENURE, ILLINOIS, l8oO. 29 



Production 


4-> 
5 


All tenures 


Owners 


Part owners 


Owners and 
tenants 


Managers 




si 

rt JS 
U I 


2 

S 
a) 5 


Barley 
Buckwheat 


Bus. 


32.1 
10.5 


33-0 

IO.O 


317 
9-9 


26.8 
10.4 


31-8 
8.0 


31.8 
II.4 


30.3 
10.5 


Corn 


<< 


38.8 


38.3 


37.6 


35-8 


41.6 


41.3 


38.4 


Oats 


11 


39-5 


39-5 


38.0 


36.5 


40.8 


40.9 


39.2 


Rye 





14.0 


13.8 


13.9 


12.9 


16.3 


15.5 


13.4 


Wheat 





10.8 


10.8 


IO.3 


9-8 


II.O 


I3.I 


II. I 


Potatoes 


H 


04.0 


06.3 


95.2 


89.1 


97-7 


95.0 


91.1 


Sweet potatoes 


It 


67.0 


66.6 


74-3 


83.4 


IO2.6 


68.2 


65.4 


Hay and Forage 
Tobacco .. 


Tons 
Lbs. 


1.2 

64';.'; 


1.2 

660.6 


1.2 

618.8 


1.2 

sir... 1 ; 


1.2 
643.3 


1.2 

8II.4 


1.2 
622.8 



Precaution should be taken at the outset against explaining 
all differences in yields in terms of the relative producing 
efficiency of the farmers operating under different tenures. In 
the first place, the farmers of different tenures are not uniformly 
distributed over the different grades of soil. In the second place, 

"Census, 1900, VI, 96-107, 220-221, 342-345, 530, and 531. 



96 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [490 

climatic conditions, insects, and the like do not ordinarily affect 
all grades of soil and all kinds of operators in the same way, 
and certainly not during any one year. Making allowance for 
these facts it is still worth while to study the foregoing table. 

Owners obtained highest yields only in the production of 
barley. Part owners, owners and tenants, and share tenants 
showed no unusually large yields in any crops. Cash tenants 
had the largest yields in buckwheat and tobacco. Cash tenants 
and managers obtained the highest yields in the production of 
corn, oats, rye and wheat. Managers stood highest in the yields 
of hay and forage, and sweet potatoes. 

It is an interesting fact that, although the share tenants 
were cultivating their full portion of the fertile land, they 
exceeded the average yield only in the production of wheat. 
Cash tenants, on the other hand, had a yield above the average 
in the case of every production except barley. The cash tenants 
are to be found largely in the Northern part of the state where 
farming practice is more diversified and where live stock plays 
a more important part in the farming. Perhaps part of the 
superiority in yields characteristic of the farms of cash tenants 
was due to larger use of animal matter as fertilizer and to a less 
degree of specialization in cereal production. The higher yields 
on the managed farms may likewise be due in considerable 
measure to superiority of farming method. 

MORTGAGE ENCUMBRANCE ON OWNED LAND 

As indicated in Chapter I 30 mortgage statistics relate only 
to land operated by the owners, the part owners in most cases 
having limited their reports to the land owned by them. 

The next table summarizes the data on encumbrance of 
farm property operated by owners in Illinois. 

Between 1890 and 1910 the number of all "owned" places 
declined 9 per cent, the number of mortgaged places decreased 5 
per cent, while the number of farms free from mortgage declined 
14 per cent. Mortgaging was relatively most 'prominent in 1900 
and appears to have undergone little change since that date. In 
1910, 38,662 of the 55,792 farms reported as mortgaged were 
wholly owned by the operators. 31 The number of farms of part 
owners thus reported mortgaged, 17,130, constituted 45.5 per cent 
of all farms of part owners. The percentage of owners proper 

80 See above, p. 18. 
"Census, 1910, VI, 414. 



491] 



DESCRIPTION OP OPERATORS 



97 



operating under mortgage was 38.3. The fact that the part own- 
ers were under mortgage on their owned land in so many cases is 
not proof either that they have been rising from a lower or de- 
scending from a higher economic status. The fact that a part 
owner operates rented land in addition to a good-sized place of 
his own is merely evidence that he is influenced to exert extra- 
ordinary efforts to clear his land of encumbrance. 

THE NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF OWNED FARMS AND FARM HOMES MORTGAGED 
AND UNENCUMBERED, ILLINOIS, iSoO-IQIO. 32 







Owned farm 


Owned farm 




Owned farms 33 


homes 


homes 34 




1910 


1900 


1890 






Per 




Per 


1 Per 




Number 


cent 35 


Number 


cent | Number I cent 


Total 


145,107 




158,394 




160,065 




Free from mortgage 


86,713 


60.8 


92,702 


60.7 


101,305 


63.3 


Mortgaged 


55,792 


39.2 


60.063 


39.3 


58,760 


36.7 


Unknown .. 


2.602 




<;.62Q 









The accompanying map shows the difference between coun- 
ties in the percentage of owned farms under mortgage in 1900. 
In three counties the percentages exceeded 50. 86 Twelve coun- 
ties had percentages between 45 and 50." Most of the counties 
with high percentages of owners operating under mortgage are 
river counties in which the farm area has been growing. It 
seems probable, therefore, that mortgages were laid for the 
acquisition of newly developed land to a considerable extent 
in those counties. The East Central counties where land prices 
have been increasing most rapidly constitute another district of 
considerable mortgaging. The explanation probably lies in the 
fact that owners are trying to enlarge their holdings and have 
employed mortgages to assist them, and that owners and part 



82 Census, 1910, VI, 414. 

83 Includes all farms owned in whole or in part by the operator. 

84 The 1,813 "owned farm homes" for which no reports were secured 
were distributed between "free from mortgage" and "mortgaged" in 1890. 

8B Per cent of combined total of "free from mortgage" and "mort- 
gaged". 

86 Brown, 50.7; Jo Daviess, 51.1; and Schuyler, 57.1. 

87 Whiteside 49.7, Iroquois 47.8, Carroll 47.4, Henderson 47.2, Massac 
47.1, Wayne 47.1, Ford 46.8, Champaign 46.2, Pulaski 45.3, McHenry 43.2, 
Boone 45.1, and White 45.1. 



98 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[492 



Operating Under 




50 to 

55 to 59.9 



493] 



DESCRIPTION OF OPERATORS 



99 



owners who have risen from tenancy have been all the more under 
the necessity of mortgaging in these districts. 

Data regarding the amount of mortgage debt were gathered 
in 1910 and 1890, but not in 1900. Only the farms consisting 
wholly of owned land were included in 1910. In 1890 part 
ownership had not yet been recognized by the census. Of the 
38,662 mortgaged farms owned by owners proper in 1910, 1,724 
gave no usable reports on debt and value. Taking the statistics 
at hand, however, the following table is presented. 

i 

THE NUMBER OF OWNED FARMS AND FARM HOMES MORTGAGED, THEIR VALUE, 
THE AMOUNT OF MORTGAGE DEBT AGAINST THEM, THE PERCENTAGE Olf 
VALUE COVERED BY MORTGAGE, AND THE AVERAGE VALUE, DEBT AND EQUITY 
PER FARM, ILLINOIS, IpIO AND l8oO. 88 





Owned farms or farm 
homes mortgaged 
1910" | 1890* 


Incr 
Amount 


ease 
Per cent 


Number . . . 


36,938 

$454,857,222 
$115,799,646 

25-5 
$12,314 

$3,135 
$9,179 


78,760 
$285,706,170 
$98,940,935 
34-6 
$4,862 
$1,684 
$3,178 






Value land and buildings.... 
Amount of mortgage debt 
Per cent of debt to value 
Average value per farm 
Average debt per farm 














$7,452 
$i,45i 
$6,001 


153-3 
86.2 
188.8 


Average equity per farm 



The average mortgage debt per farm in Illinois in 1910, 
$3,135, was exceeded by that prevailing in three other states. 
These wore Nevada, $4,738 ; Iowa, $4,048 ; and Nebraska, $3,154. 41 
The average equity per farm in Illinois in 1910, $9,179, was ex- 
ceeded in three other states: Nebraska, $11,322; South Dakota, 
$10,782 ; and Iowa, $10,526. It will be observed that all of these 
states are located west of the Mississippi river. In ratio of debt 
to value in 1890 and in 1910 the percentage in Illinois was 
exceeded in 26 states. Most states in which the percentage of 
value covered by mortgage exceeded that in Illinois were located 
east of the Mississippi. It appears, therefore, that Illinois has 
shared with the Western states the tendency for land values to 

88 Census, 1910, VI, 415. 

"Includes only farms consisting wholly of owned land and reporting 
value of farm and amount of debt. 

40 Includes all owned farm homes, estimates being made of value of 
farms and amount of debt for all defective reports. 

"Census, 1910, V, 167. 



100 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [494 

increase more rapidly than mortgage indebtedness, rapid as the 
increase in indebtedness has been. 

A map is also presented illustrating by counties the per- 
centage of value of owned farms covered by mortgage in 1910. 
For the most part it appears that the counties with the highest 
percentages were located in Northern Illinois. The lowest per- 
centage was that of Calhoun county, 3.1. 42 Low percentages 
characterize the counties in East Central Illinois and in the 
eastern half of Southern Illinois. In the case of the East Central 
Illinois counties, the low percentages are probably explained by 
the rapid rise in land values characteristic of the ten or twelve 
years preceding 1910. In Southern Illinois, though land values 
have not run away from mortgage indebtedness so rapidly, there 
has not been the stimulus toward mortgaging such as that afforded 
by the rate of advance in land prices in other parts of the state. 
In Northern Illinois the practice of mortgaging the value of the 
land heavily seems to be most prevalent. That this is due to 
lack of prosperity seems hardly likely, for the existing evidence, 
meager though it is, points to a greater prosperity, especially 
among tenants, in that part of the state. 43 Such being the case, 
the suggestion arises that probably the chances for land acqui- 
sition are stronger in Northern Illinois. Since the farming 
practice is such as naturally to conserve the soil and since land 
prices have not been so much affected by increment, the propor- 
tion of the acre value for which mortgages can be negotiated 
is larger. 44 

On the whole it appears that the "calamity" element has 
not been a significant cause of mortgaging in Illinois, though no 
specific investigations of that feature have been made in the last 
twenty-five years. 45 Since the data are limited to operating 
owners the mortgaging of leased land has been left out of con- 
sideration. This is commonly supposed to be a small factor, yet 

42 This is so much less than the percentages in adjacent counties as 
to lead one to suspect the accuracy of the reports. 

43 Stewart, C. L., Analysis of Rural Banking Conditions in Illinois, 
19 and 20. 

**Ibid., 14 and 15. 

45 The only investigations from which any light can be obtained on 
this question in Illinois were those of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of 
Illinois covering the dates 1870, 1880, and 1887, reported by Secretary 
John S. Lord in the Fifth Biennial Report of the Bureau, 1888, and that 
of the United States census of 1890, reported in the volume on Farms and 
Homes : Proprietorship and Indebtedness. 



495] 



DESCRIPTION OF OPERATORS 



101 



Mortgaged Farm? 
Covered by 
Mortgages 

Illinois 

wo 




102 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[496 



an investigation of the question under a regime of rising land 
prices might reveal some important facts. 

RACE, COLOR AND NATIVITY OF FARMERS 

Statistics on race, color and nativity of farmers were gath- 
ered in 1890, 1900 and 1910. At the census of 1890 the basis 
of investigation was the occupier of the farm, in 1890 the occu- 
pier of the farm home, and in 1910 the operator of the farm. The 
following table summarizes the data for Illinois by major na- 
tivity groups. 

THE COLOR AND NATIVITY OF FARMERS CLASSIFIED BY TENURE, ILLINOIS, 



>, 















Percentage 


"** 




in 


rt 
<U 








of group 


15 




<U 


C 


CO 





C 


classified as 


2 c/> 

ex 


.22 


g 


a, 

<L> 3 


c 

V 


9 


bo 




*o 3 

c 


"S 

Q 


rt 


ta 


C 


c 


C 

n 


01 


in 


en 

u 


rt bo 







e 





H 




V 


"c 


(U 

bo 


^o 

Q 




< 


u 










C 


rt 


- 
C 


U 






Ol 











H 


S 


Total 






















1910 


251,872 


IOO.O 


145,107 


104,379 


2,386 


57-6 


41.4 


0.9 




1000 


262,180 


IOO.O 


158,394 


101,728 




60.4 


39-6 







1890 


252,953 


IOO.O 


160,065 


92,888 





63-3 


36.7 





Native white 






















1910 


217,053 


86.2 


123,907 


91,014 


2,132 


57-1 


41.9 


I.O 




1900 


208,884 


79-7 


124,498 


82,662 




59-7 


40-3 







1890 


190,234 


75-2 


117,223 


73,on 





63.7 


36.3 





Foreign -born white 






















1910 


33,394 


13-3 


20,411 


12,747 


236 


61.1 


38.2 


0.7 




1900 


51,722 


19.7 


33,059 


18,345 





64.1 


35-9 







1890 


61,044 


24.1 


42,080 


18,964 





69.2 


30.8 





Negro and other 




















non-white 47 


1 




















1910 


1,425 


0.6 


789 


618 


18 


55-4 434 


1.3 




1900 


1,574 


o.6| 


837 


721 




1 53.2|46.8 







1890 


1,675 


o.7|| 762 


9i3| ||4S-7|S4-3 






"Census, 1910, VI, 416; 1900, II, 715, 744; and 1890, Farms and 
Homes, 567, 591. 

4T The number of non-whites other than negroes was made up as 
follows: Chinese and Japanese, 1910, I, 1900, 5, and 1890, 2; Indians, 
1910, 2, 1900, o, and 1890, 3. 



497] DESCRIPTION OP OPERATORS 103 

It appears that the percentage of Illinois farmers who were 
native-born whites increased from 75.2 in 1890 to 86.2 in 1910. 
The percentage of native-born white farmers owning their 
farms was at each date less than the corresponding percentage 
among foreign-born white farmers. The farm managers were 
foreign-born in relatively few instances. The negro and other 
non-white farmers declined in number during each decade, and 
at each date constituted less than 0.7 per cent of all farmers in 
the state. The percentage of negro and other non-white farmers 
owning their farms was at each date smaller than the corre- 
sponding percentage for either group of white farmers, but in- 
creased at a rapid rate during the twenty years. The growth 
of ownership among non-white farmers in Illinois contrasts with 
the decline in ownership among the white farmers of the state. 

The number of non-white farmers other than negroes was 5 
in 1890 and 1900 and 3 in 1910. Separate data for the negroes 
were not reported in 1910. In 1890 and 1900 the percentage 
of their farms and homes owned by them was 43.2 and 53.7, 
respectively. 48 In 1900 the percentage of negro farmers in each 
tenure group was as follows: owners, 36.5; part owners, 11.5; 
owners and tenants, 0.8 ; managers, 0.3 ; cash tenants, 14.6 ; and 
share tenants, 36.3. 49 The discrepancy between the figures is 
possibly due to home ownership in some cases unaccompanied by 
farm ownership. Tenancy, especially share tenancy, was more 
common among the negro farmers than among the white 
farmers. 60 

Data on the country of nativity of occupiers of farms and 

"Census, 1900, II, 714; and, 1890, Farms and Homes, 567. 

49 Census, 1900, V, 50, 52. The corresponding percentages for farms 
operated by whites in 1900 were: owners, 46.1; part owners, 13.0; owners 
and tenants, 0.8 ; managers, 0.7 ; cash tenants, 14.5 ; and share tenants, 24.8. 

50 The negro farmers in Illinois in 1899 were specializing in vegetable, 
fruit, tobacco, sugar and miscellaneous lines of farming to a greater 
extent than were white farmers. The farms of negroes were much 
smaller than those of white farmers, the percentage of farms under 50 acres 
in size being 66.5 in the case of colored farmers as against 22.8 in the 
case of white farmers. (Census, 1900, V, 51, 53.) The negro farmers of 
Illinois are located chiefly in the Southern counties. The counties in 
which the percentage of farms run by negroes in 1900 was i.o or 
over are as follows: Pulaski, 31.3; Alexander, 13.6; Massac, 8.2; Pope, 3.2; 
Saline, 3.0; Jackson, 2.2; St. Clair, 1.8; Madison, 1.6; Clinton, 1.5; Law- 
rence, 1.3; White, 1.2; Sangamon, i.i; Randolph, i.o; and Hardin, i.o. 
(Census, 1900, V, 73-75)- 



104 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [498 

farm homes in Illinois are available for 1890 and 1900, 51 and, in 
a form scarcely comparable with the data of preceding dates, 
in 1910. 52 

The number of occupiers of farm homes in Illinois in 1900 
who were not born in foreign countries is given as 156,688 in 
this series, while in the last table the number of farmers who 
were native-born whites in 1900 was 208,864. The discrepancy 
casts discredit upon the statistics. It appears, nevertheless, that 
the Germanic was the strongest single element among the farmers 
in the state, and that those born in the British isles were next 
in relative numbers. 

The percentage of ownership in 1890 was above the average 
among the Austro-Hungarians, the French (both Canadian and 
European), the Germans, Irish, Scotch, Italians, and those com- 
ing from Russia and Poland. In 1900 the percentage of owner- 
ship was above the average among the Austro-Hungarians, the 
British, particularly the Irish, the Italians and the Polish. Own- 
ership free from encumbrance in 1890 was especially character- 
istic of the Austro-Hungarians, the French, the Germans, the 
Scotch, and the Italians, and in 1900 was found especially among 
the Austro-Hungarians, the Germans, the Italians and those from 
"other countries". The percentage of ownership was least 
among the Scandinavians. Those born in Russia and Poland 
were characterized by ownership in a high degree, but were 
largely under mortgage. 

RESIDENCE AND LANDED WEALTH OP OWNERS 

The twelfth census was the only one at which da.ta were 
gathered on the residence and landed wealth of the owners of 
rented farms. Nearly nineteen out of each twenty rented farms 
were owned by residents of the state. 53 Of the remaining 5.5 
per cent of the farms, three-fifths were owned by residents of the 
North Central states. The owners residing in the North Central 
states owned the largest number of rented farms each. The 27 
owners residing in foreign countries held 28 rented farms. 

Of the 98,730 rented farms with residence of owners known, 

"Census, 1900, II, 744; and 1890, Farms and Homes, 591. 

"Census, 1910, VI, 416. 

"Census, 1900, V, 309. 

The number of rented farms with owners reported is less than the 
total number of tenant farms reported in other tabulations. The incom- 
pleteness of the data, however, need not be regarded as greatly injuring 
their usefulness. 



499] 



DESCRIPTION OF OPERATORS 



105 



76.8 per cent were held by owners residing in the same county ; 

17.9 per cent were held by owners residing in other Illinois coun- 
ties ; and 5.3 per cent by owners residing in other states. 55 The 
average acreage and the average value per farm were least in 
the case of the rented farms of owners residing in the same 
county, and most in the case of those of owners residing in other 
counties of the state. The average value per acre, however, 

The tendencies in ownership among the different population 
elements in Illinois is shown in the next table. 

PERCENTAGE OF FARMS AND HOMES OWNED AND RENTED BY OCCUPIERS BORN 
IN VARIOUS COUNTIES, ILLINOIS, l8QX> AND 





Percentage of places 


Percentage 






of 




Owned 


Rented 


\J L 

Owners 


Nativity 










of 


Farm 




Farm 








occupiers 


homes 


Farms 


homes 


Farms 


Ft 


ee 


Encun 


ibered 




1900 


1890 


IOOO 


1800 


1900 


1890 


1900 


1890 


All occupiers 


60.9 


63.3 


39-1 


36.7 


60.7 


63.3 


39-3 


36.7 


Austria-Hungary 


65.9 


66.6 


34-1 


33-3 


63.2 


66.3 


36.8 


337 


Canada (English) 


56.4 


59-8 


43-6 


30.2 


55-9 


56.2 


44.1 


43.8 


Canada (French) 


57-7 


71.8 


42.3 


28.3 


46.6 


52.3 


53-4 


47-7 


France 




74-7 





25-3 





68.8 





31-2 


Germany 


597 


68.2 


40.3 


32.8 


61.8 


66.1 


38.2 


33-9 


Great Britain 


66.4 


60.6 


33-6 


39-4 


55-2 


62.6 


44-8 


38.4 


Ireland 


68.5 


78.8 


31.5 


21.2 


59-2 


62.7 


40.8 


37.3 


Scotland 


"*** J 


79-8 




2O.2 




69.0 




31-0 


Italy 


66.0 


79.1 


34.0 


2O.9 


61.0 


68.8 


39-O 


31.2 


Russia and 




/ y * 














Poland 


81.3 


81.3 


18.7 


18.7 


46.6 


50.5 


53-4 


49-5 


Poland 


84.6 




15-4 




44.6 




55-4 




Russia 


46.6 




53-4 





64.2 





35-8 





Scandinavia 


44-8 


52.4 


55-2 


47.6 


44.6 


47-9 


55-4 


52.1 


Mixed foreign 


















parentage .... 


S6.8 




43-2 





56.2 





43-8 





United States 




" | 












(or unknown) 


61.4 


614 


38.6 


38.6 


62.3 


63-7 


37-7 


36.3 


Other countries- 


55-4 


60. i 


44.6 


39-9 || 62.9 


654 


37-1 


34-6 



"Census, 1900, II, 744; and 1890, Farms and Homes, 591. 
"Census, 1900, V, 310, 311. 



106 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [500 

was greatest in the case of the farms of those owners residing 
in the county in which the farms were located and least in the 
case of those dwelling in other counties of the state. The per- 
centage of tenant farms rented for cash increased with the dis- 
tance of the owners from their farms, although 65 per cent of the 
rented farms owned by residents of other states were leased on 
the share basis. 

The table on the next page throws light on the concentration 
of ownership of rented farms as shown by the census of 1900. 
It is to be regretted that similar data are not available for 1910. 

The first column shows data based on the number of owners 
of rented farms. Of these owners 85.0 per cent owned a single 
farm each, 95.3 per cent owned fewer than three farms, and 
98.8 per cent owned fewer than five farms. Fewer than 200 
acres each were owned by 74.6 per cent of the owners. One 
owner of rented farms in 1000 owned over 2500 acres. The value 
of the farms was under $5000 in the case of 48.2 per cent of the 
owners, and exceeded $25,000 in the case of 5.3 per cent. 

The second, third and fourth columns are based, not on 
owners, but on rented farms possessed by owners of various 
classes. Of the rented farms 68.0 per cent were owned by owners 
holding deeds to one farm each, and 7.8 per cent by owners pos- 
sessing over five farms each. The farms belonging to owners of 
one farm each were slightly below the average in size and still 
more so in value. Those belonging to owners of two and under 
five farms were somewhat above the average in size and value. 
Those possessed by owners of ten and under twenty farms were 
above the average in both size and value, especially in value. One 
per cent of the rented farms were held by owners of twenty farms 
and over, and these farms were above the average in size, but 
below the average in value. 

The farms possessed by owners owning under 200 acres were 
below the average in acreage and value, while the farms of all 
owners holding more than 200 acres of rented land were above the 
average in those respects. It is more natural to expect this 
to be true regarding the acreage than the value. The rented 
farms belonging to owners of 2500 acres or more were farther 
below the average in value than those in any other group. Con- 
sidering value alone, however, there was considerable concentra- 
tion of ownership in the hands of farm owners owning 500 or 
more acres. 

The classification of rented farms according to the value 



501] 



DESCRIPTION OF OPERATORS 



107 



THE PERCENTAGE OF OWNERS OF RENTED FARMS WHO POSSESSED SPECIFIED 
AMOUNTS OF FARM PROPERTY; THE PERCENTAGE OF RENTED FARMS POS- 
SESSED BY EACH CLASS OF OWNERS OF RENTED FARMS; AND THE PER- 
CENTAGE OF ACREAGE AND OF THE VALUE OF ALL RENTED FARMS COM- 
PRISED IN THE FARMS OF THE VARIOUS CLASSES OF OWNERS, ILLINOIS, 
IOOO. 56 







Percen 


tage of 




Basis of 
classifying owners 
of rented farms 


Owners of 
rented 
farms who 
possess 


Rented 
farms 
held by 
owners 
who 
possess 


Acreage 
of all 
rented 
farms of 
owners 
who 
possess 


Value of 
all rented 
farms in 
farms of 
owners 
who 
possess 


Number of farms 
One 


85.0"? 


67.00 


65.88 


64.82 


Two . 


IO.?O 


l6.2^ 


16.50 


16.62 


Three and under five 


3-49 


8.99 


9.83 


9.83 


Five and under ten 


0.95 


5.03 


4.99 


5.10 


Ten and under twenty 
Twenty and over. . . . 


0.17 

O.O4 


1.69 
i. 06 


1.74 

1. 14 


2.68 
0.06 












Acres 
Under 100 


4O.O7 


33.05 


12.96 


13.48 


100 and under 200 
200 and under 500 


34-57 
21.93 


30.40 
25.84 


28.84 
38.38 


30.60 
38.06 


500 and under 1000 


2.73 


6.58 


10.89 


10.51 


loco and under 2500. 


0.60 


2.98 


5.18 


4.87 


2500 and over 


O.IO 


1. 15 


3.73 


2.48 












Value 
Under $1000 


10.75 


8.83 


2.18 


0.62 


$1000 and under $2000 
$2000 and under $5000 


10.18 
27.28 


8.63 
23.52 


4.18 
16.46 


1.56 
11.60 


$5000 and under $10,000 
$10,000 and under $25,000 
$25.000 and over 


25.35 

21.12 

5.32 


19-59 
26.58 
12.85 


19.04 

3M4 
20.00 


17.06 
41.40 
27.76 



of rented farms owned by their owners shows that those owned 
by owners holding a value of less than $10,000 were considerably 
below the average in size and value per acre. Rented farms 
owned by owners whose holdings in such farms had a value ex- 

B6 Census, 1900, V, 312-317. 



108 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [502 

ceeding $10,000 were above the average both in size and in value. 
On the whole it appears that the owners of larger and more 
valuable areas of land have their land operated on a scale above 
the average. The concentration of holdings in the hands of the 
wealthier land owners, while not great, was considerable. 

AGE OP OPERATORS IN RELATION TO TENURE AND ENCUMBRANCE 

Statistics were gathered on the ages of operators in 1890, 
1900 and 1910. 

The percentage of all farmers who were under 25 years of 
age was greater in 1910 than at the earlier dates. 57 This was 
due chiefly to the relative increase in the prominence of younger 
tenants. Farmers between 25 and 34 years of age declined in 
relative numerical importance among both owners 58 and tenants 
from 1890 to 1910. Those between 35 and 54 years old increased 
in relative numbers among both owners and tenants between 
1890 and 1910. Those 55 years old and over declined in relative 
prominence among both classes of operators. This decline was 
especially marked in the case of those 65 years old and over as 
shown by the data for 1900 and 1910. 

The graph illustrates the distribution of the owners and of 
the tenants among the age-periods for 1890, 1900 and 1910. 59 
The age period, 35 to 44, is one which included a slightly higher 
percentage of the tenants than of the farmers. 60 The ages under 
35 included a greater portion of the tenants than of the owners, 
while the ages over 44 included a much greater portion of the 
owners than of tenants. The percentage of owners comprised 
within the age-groups increased with each succeeding age-period. 

"Census, 1910, bulletin, Agriculture : United States, Age of Farmers, 
25; 1900, V, 727; and 1890, Farms and Homes, 618. 

58 Including part owners in this series of statistics. 

59 See also Taylor, H. C, The Place of Economics in Agricultural 
Education and Research, 108-110. 

60 The census of 1910, the only one giving such statistics, affords evi- 
dence that the age of the operator seems also to have something to do 
with the basis on which he rents land. While 35.8 percent of the operators 
in all age-groups rented on a cash basis, the percentage varied as follows : 
under 25 years, 26.2; 25 and under 35 years, 34.4; 35 and under 45 years, 
38.0; 45 and under 55 years, 38.2; 55 and under 65 years, 37.8; and 65 
years and over, 42.8. (Census, 1910, bulletin, Agriculture, United States, 
Age of Farmers, 25). 

This evidence points to an improvement in the economic and tech- 
nical status of tenants as their years advance. 



503] 



DESCRIPTION OF OPERATORS 



109 



In the case of tenants the percentage comprised within the age- 
group, 25 to 34, was greatest, and declined steadily with the suc- 
ceeding age-periods. It is evident, therefore, that youth is much 



D;AGUU 



AMftK 



-?^f 
AHT< 



DIS; 

II: 



IUIHIZOI (.f 



IAIN 



JHO 



s, 



4S 



K-54 



Co 



14 



-t* 



S 



*ti#9 



*4 



ea 



/ 







47 



-KJ 



44ft 



N k 



fc-^^ 



fcm^ 



.;j 



>r 



I* 



110 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[504 



more characteristic of the tenants than of the owners, and that 
age seems to increase the chances for ownership. 

The percentage of farm operators under 25 years of age 
who owned their land was 27 in 1890, 23 in 1900 and 17 in 1910. 
The percentage of operators 55 years old and over who rented 
their places was 14 in 1890, 15 in 1900 and 17 in 1910. It 
seems that ownership among younger farmers has been declining 
and that tenancy has been increasing among older operators. 
Apparently, the period of tenancy through which many farmers 
must pass on their way to ownership has been growing longer. 
This is especially true since 1900. 

The age of owners free from mortgage encumbrance and of 
those having mortgages on their places is likewise shown by data 
for the last three census dates. Although the basis of the data 
is somewhat different on the various occasions, the difference is 
so slight as to be practically negligible in this sort of a com- 
parison. 

THE PERCENTAGE OF OWNERS IN EACH AGE-GROUP OWNING THEIR PLACES FREE 
AND ENCUMBERED, ILLINOIS, 



Age-period 


Percentage 


of owners 


Free 


Encumbered 


1910 


IQOO 


1890 


1910 


1900 


I800 


Under 25 years 


24.2 
28.0 

36.3 
46.4 
65.1 
58.6 
74-7 

47.2 


56-7 
48.6 
50.6 
58.1 
69.3 
65-3 

74-5 
&6 


634 
51-0 
56.0 
61.4 

72.5 

6^.2 


65.8 
72.0 
637 
53-6 
34-9 
41.4 
25.3 

^2.8 


43-3 
51.4 
49-4 
41.9 
30.7 
34-7 
25-5 

41.4 


36.6 
47.0 

43-1 
38.6 

27-5 

^6.8 


25 and under 35 years 


35 and under 45 years 


45 and under 55 years 


55 years and over 


55 and under 65 years 


65 years and over ... 


Total.... 



It appears that, in general, freedom from mortgage encum- 
biance increased with advancing age. Those under 25 years old 
were exceptions to the general trend, because, doubtless, in many 
eases they were heirs who had received their land clear of 
indebtedness. The age-period, 25 to 34, however, was one during 
which the percentage of mortgage encumbrance was very heavy. 
At each census the succeeding age-period showed declining 

ai Census, 1910, bulletin, Agriculture : United States, Age of Farmers, 
25; 1900, V, 727; and 1890, Farms and Homes, 618. 



505] DESCRIPTION OP OPERATORS 111 

percentages of owners encumbered, indicating in most cases suc- 
cessful escape from indebtedness. The decline in freedom from 
encumbrance was more rapid between 1900 and 1910 than be- 
tween 1890 and 1900. 

The owners in the age-groups under 45 years were rela- 
tively less free from mortgage encumbrance at the later census 
dates than those in the age-groups 45 years and over. 
The decade, 1890 to 1900, was one of relatively little change, 
while that following 1900 was one of decided decline in the case 
of all ages under 55 years. It appears, therefore, that the period 
required for removing mortgage incumbrance from farms has 
been lengthened in Illinois. 62 

SUMMARY 

By way of summary the following are the outstanding facts 
relative to farm operators in Illinois. The farmers operate 
chiefly as heads of families. Share tenants has been more preval- 
ent than cash tenancy, though cash tenancy predominates in the 
Northern part of the state and has been more characteristic 
of tenants who were advanced in years and who were operating 
farms whose owners were resident at a considerable distance from 
their farms. The farms of medium size were chiefly cultivated 
by tenants, while the largest and smallest farms were most char- 
acterized by operation by owners. There was a tendency toward 
the cash basis in the case of farms under 500 acres, and toward 
the share basis in the case of those over 500 acres. During the 
ten years, 1900 to 1910, the farms of owners proper declined in 
size, and those of tenants underwent a decided increase due, 
probably, to the decline in ownership in the districts of larger 
farms. The tenants were in charge of more than their pro- 
portion of the improved acreage. 

The farms of no single form of tenure can be held to be 
superior in all ways. Managed farms had the highest value 
in buildings and live stock per acre, and farms of owners were 
characterized by the highest value of implements and machinery 
per acre. In values of domestic animals the farms of tenants 
were below the average, when either the total value or the value 

62 A certain amount of evidence on this point is afforded by the fact 
that there is growing discontent among bankers with the practice of 
renewing mortgages, and an agitation for lengthening the period of 
mortgages in Illinois. See Stewart, C. L., An Analysis of Rural Bank- 
ing Conditions in Illinois, 13, 14, 20, 21. 



112 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [506 

per head is considered. The farms of tenants were largely de- 
voted to the production of the money crops. This was particu- 
larly true of share tenant farms. Yields were superior in the 
case of farms operated by managers and by cash tenants. 

Operating owners have shown little tendency to increase the 
mortgages on their farms since 1900, and the rate of increase of 
the equity has greatly exceeded that of the indebtedness. 

The farms were mostly in the hands of white farmers, 
with a decreasing percentage of foreign-born. This decrease may 
be due to the ability of the foreign-born to pass the ownership of 
their land to children born in this country. 

The owners of rented farms in 1900 were resident in the 
state in about nineteen cases in twenty, and in three cases out 
of four were resident in the same county in which the farms 
were located. 

Concentration in the ownership of rented farms is seen in 
the fact that in 1900, 1.16 per cent of the owners of rented farms 
were in possession of 7.78 per cent of the rented farms, compris- 
ing 7.87 per cent of the acreage and 8.74 per cent of the value 
of rented farms. 

It was shown by the age statistics that young opertors were 
more generally characterized by tenancy, especially on the share 
basis, and that young owners were most heavily encumbered. 
Advancing years tended to replace share with cash tenancy, 
tenancy with ownership, and encumbrance with freedom from 
mortgage debt. The latest census data, however, indicate that 
an influence is at work restraining this movement. 



CHAPTER V 

THE RELATION OP TENURE TO RURAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
CONDITIONS IN ILLINOIS 

The tenure of land in Illinois is closely related to a number 
of prevailing tendencies having a political and social significance. 
Not least important of these tendencies is the change in the num- 
ber of people living on the farms of the state. 

THE DECLINE IN RURAL POPULATION 

The existing data make it difficult to get accurately at the 
decline in rural population in Illinois counties. Data are af- 
forded for the incorporated places in the entire state and for the 
total population of each county. " Unincorporated population," 
of course, is not to be identified with "farm" population. Some 
farm operators and laborers live in incorporated places. Some 
of those dwelling outside of incorporated places follow a line 
of occupation in cities, some others are engaged in exploiting 
mineral wealth, such as coal, oil, and gas, and a few conduct 
country shops and stores. Whether the absolute figures for the 
unincorporated population approach closely the actual farm 
population is hard to say. It is probable, however, that the 
change in the unincorporated population is not greatly different 
from the change in the actual farm population. The incorpora- 
tion of places has been more completely accomplished at the later 
dates, but an inspection of the statistics shows this source of 
declining unincorporated population to be of slight importance. 
Moreover, the place held in the unincorporated population by 
miners and others occupied in non-agricultural pursuits has 
probably been an increasing one. All things considered, there- 
fore, the change in the number of people dwelling outside of 
incorporated places may be regarded as a fair index of the 
change in farm population. 

During the twenty years, 1890 to 1910, there was a decline 
in the unincorporated population of 87 counties and an increase 
in 15 counties. The decline in the state as a whole was 7.2 per 
cent. The following table shows this change somewhat more in 
detail. 

113 



114 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



[508 



THE NUMBER OF COUNTIES IN WHICH THE UNINCORPORATED POPULATION 
INCREASED AND DECREASED, BY GEOGRAPHIC DIVISIONS, ILLINOIS, 



Period 


The 

state 


Divisions 


Northern 


Central 


Southern 


Inc. 


Dec. 


Inc. 


Dec. 


Inc. 


Dec. 


Inc. 


Dec. 


1890-1910 
1900-1910 


15 
14 
is 


87 
88 

67 


7 
7 
ii 


17 
17 
n 


i 



* 


36 

37 

12 


7 
7 
10 


34 

34 

22 


1800-1000 .. 



It is apparent that during each of the two decades the unin- 
corporated population was declining in most of the counties. In 
the state as a whole, the decline was 1.6 per cent between 1890 
and 1900 and 5.7 per cent between 1900 and 1910. The unin- 
corporated population of the counties of Central Illinois showed 
the least tendency to increase during either decade of the period. 
The proportion of counties in which an increase took place 
between 1890 and 1900 was largest in Southern Illinois, and 
between 1900 and 1910 was largest in Northern Illinois. In 9 of 
the 14 counties in which an increase took place in the unincor- 
porated population between 1900 and 1910 an increase had 
occurred during the preceding decade. Of these 9 counties 5 
were within a radius of 50 miles of a large city, 3 were marked 
by the development of mineral resources, and 3 were river coun- 
ties in which the farm area was being expanded during the 
period following 1890. Of the 5 other counties in which the 
unincorporated population increased between 1900 and 1910, 3 
were adjacent to large cities. 

The increase in unincorporated population appears, there- 
fore, to have been due in large measure to exceptional conditions, 
such as proximity to large urban centers, the inclusion of new 
larm land, and the exploitation of mineral wealth by people 
who were enumerated as resident outside of incorporated places. 
Urban centers exert their influence not only by giving a more 
intensive tone to the agriculture, but also by filling the sur- 
rounding country with residents who belong rather to the city 
than to farm population. 

It is important to observe, first, the relation of the popula- 
tion actually engaged in agriculture to the total unincorporated 
population. The population actually engaged in agriculture 
increased from 430,134 in 1890 to 444,242 in 1910. In 1900 it 
stood at 461,014. Though the decline in the number engaged in 



509] 



TENURE AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 



115 



Decline in 
Rural Population 

Illinois 
/900-A9/0 




116 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [510 

agriculture may have helped to account for the decline in unin- 
corporated population after 1900 it could not account for the 
decline between 1890 and 1900. 

The number of people dwelling outside of incorporated 
places in excess of those actually engaged at farming was 1,206,- 
081 in 1890, 1,149,540 in 1900, and 1,074,022 in 1910, a decrease 
of 132,059 in the twenty years. While the number actually 
occupied at farming increased 3.3 per cent during the two 
decades, the rest of the unincorporated population declined 11.0 
per cent. The percentage of the unincorporated population 
actually engaged in agriculture was 26.4 in 1890, 28.8 in 1900 and 
29.4 in 1910. It is suggested, therefore, that a part of the rural 
decline is due to such causes as reduction in the size of families, 
removal or disappearance of persons not occupied at any line, 1 
and the reduction in the relative number occupied at other than 
agricultural pursuits while resident in the country. 

The number actually engaged in farming would be still 
larger in Illinois but for the fact that improvements in 
machinery make it possible for an individual to cultivate a large 
area. The acreage of all farm land per individual actually 
engaged in farming in Illinois was 71.2 in 1890, 71.4 in 1900 
and 73.5 in 1910; or, considering improved acreage only, 60.0 
in 1890, 60.3 in 1900, and 63.4 in 1910. There can be no doubt 
that the land is being farmed with less human labor. 

The change in rural population thus appears to be more a 
symptom and consequence of general economic changes than a 
causal factor. It is probable, however, that the readjustments 
in rural population have at least offered occasion for, and often 
have been causes affecting the prevalence of particular 
forms of tenure. The movement of owners to the city has doubt- 
less led to a larger portion of the land owned by them being 
rented, both before and after the title changes to their heirs. 
The movement of farm families has doubtless been accompanied 
by the enlargement of areas of operation, if not by the growth 
of holdings. 

The changes in tenure have contributed not so much to 
reduce the number of unincorporated inhabitants as to change 
the composition of the rural population. 



a The percentages of the total population occupied in Illinois in 1890 
was 35.4; in 1900, 37.4; and in 1910, 40.7. See above, p. 35. 



511] TENURE AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 117 

CO-OPERATIVE ENTERPRISE AND RURAL INSTITUTIONS 

The relation of tenure to co-operation in Illinois is a sub- 
ject on which there is as yet very little data. The most impor- 
tant forms of farm mutual or co-operative business organizations 
now existing in the state are the co-operative creameries, grain 
elevators, mutual insurance and telephone companies, and county 
agricultural improvement associations. The elevators are found, 
for the most part, in the districts where tenants are most num- 
erous. In the case of creameries and county associations, which 
are located chiefly in the Northern counties, the tenants in the 
surrounding districts are not so numerous as in the Central 
part of the state, but their numbers have been increasing with 
great rapidity. Neither instance, however, establishes a depend- 
ence of co-operation on tenancy. The territorial association 
between the prevalence of tenancy and the number of co-opera- 
tors is a negative one in the case of mutual insurance companies, 
and this is probably true also in the case of mutual telephone 
companies. 

The territorial association or dissociation of tenant farm- 
ing with the existence of co-operative organizations can, how- 
ever, be little more than suggestive. In nearly all parts of the 
state there are enough owners within proper radius to form the 
nucleus of any kind of co-operative organization thus far 
developed in the state. On the other hand, it cannot be said with- 
out claiming too much that co-operation has brought such pros- 
perity as to have enabled tenants, in any large degree, to become 
owners of land formerly rented in the vicinity. 

That tenants, changing from farm to farm at more or less 
short intervals, should generally be more active and successful 
than owners in building up co-operative organizations is hardly 
in the line of reason. It is a somewhat striking fact, however, 
that one of the most successful advocates of farmers' elevators 
in the state has been and still is a tenant farmer. The fact 
remains, nevertheless, that the shifting of tenants injures their 
ability to promote co-operative organizations and thereby 
deprives them of their share of the advantages which might 
otherwise accrue to them. This is probably less true where 
the co-operative organizations, such as farmers' elevators, have 
forced prices in the direction favoring the farmers, for all 
farmers, regardless of their term of operation in a particular 
vicinity, get the advantage of the more favorable prices so 



118 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [512 

long as within range of markets dominated by the quotations of 
the co-operative organizations. 

If, in the future, co-operation assumes forms requiring 
greater permanency of membership in the societies, greater 
intimacy of acquaintance among the members, or greater invest- 
ment per member, the tenants will doubtless find themselves 
handicapped in their relation thereto. 

Other features and institutions of rural life probably suffer 
as much or more than co-operative societies from the replace- 
ment of owners by tenants. On the whole, the tenants cannot 
do as much toward stimulating business as the owners might. 
A part of the negligence of the rural schools can be traced to the 
absenteeism of landowners. The shifting of tenant families 
gives rise to problems for the county church, taking members 
of various sects and denominations into communities where their 
religious views are not represented in an organized communion, 
and cutting off the chance for the development of deep friend- 
ships and associations which give vitality to church life. Church 
and school finances must naturally suffer from the displacement 
of better-to-do landowners by tenants struggling to get an eco- 
nomic foothold. The relation of tenancy to the education and 
social life of the rural population and to the vitality of religions 
organizations deserves much more thoroughgoing investigation 
than has yet been given it. 2 

EQUIPMENT IN FAEM BUILDINGS 

A map is presented showing the average value of buildings 
per acre of improved land in Illinois in 1910. It is apparent 
that the sections where values were relatively highest were the 
sections where land was only slightly above the average in value. 
Where land was highest the value of buildings per acre was near 
the state average. In Southern Illinois the value of land and of 
buildings per acre were less than in the rest of the state. In 
the vicinity of cities the value of buildings seems to be higher, 
due in part to the greater number of farms in a given area, 
in part to the greater need of buildings on farms producing 
for a local market, and in part, perhaps, to the radiation from 
the cities of ideals in the architecture of residences. In the dis- 

2 See [Adams, C. S] A Rural Survey in Illinois, 1911, and Rankin, 
F. H., Report on "General Conditions in Rural Communities," in the 
Report of the Commission on Rural Problems? and the Relation of the 
Young Men's Christian Association to their Solution, 1912. 



513] 



TENURE AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 



119 



Average Value 

Acre 
Illinois 
WO 



17.50-20.W. 

\.00-2W! 

Z4.50-27.39 




120 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [514 

tricts where tenant farming was most prevalent the value per 
acre of buildings was small, and from 1900 to 1910 increased at 
no more than the average rate. This may be traceable in part 
to the abandonment of buildings on some patches of ground 
rented to part owners and to a tendency for tenant farms to 
suffer from lack of concern on the part of the landlord for the 
buildings with which his tenant has to do. 

CONCENTRATION ON CEREAL PRODUCTION 

In 1879 the greatest concentration on cereals in any part 
of the state was in the Southern and Southwestern counties. In 
1889 the percentages in Central Illinois were tending in general 
to surpass those in Southern Illinois. In 1899 and in 1909 
these tendencies had gone still farther. In Northern Illinois 
there was greater concentration on the cereals in 1899 than in 
1889 or 1879. In 1909, however, the percentages as a whole 
showed a tendency to diminish. 

It seems, therefore, that the movement toward concentra- 
tion on cereal production has been most persistent and has gone 
to the greatest extremes in the districts where a large portion of 
the land is leased; that in the districts where ownership has 
been most persistent there has been a movement away from spe- 
cialization in the cereal crops ; and that even in Northern Illinois, 
where the percentage of tenancy has not been much above the 
state average, there was a decided trend toward cereal produc- 
tion during the period when tenants were multiplying most 
rapidly in that part of the state. It is apparent that there has 
been a strong emphasis on the production of corn in the original 
prairie districts of the state. It would be hard to say to what 
extent tenant farming is responsible for this. The fact that 
with the increase in tenant farming the emphasis does not seem 
to have been materially increased leads one to think that the 
land may be rented fully as much because it is corned as that 
it is corned because of being rented. It is probable, however, 
that with so much land operated under lease operators would 
be slow to make any material reduction in the acreage devoted 
to raising a crop the returns from which are so sure and so 
immediate. 

TENANCY AS A SYMPTOM AND AS A CAUSE 

In the agricultural economy of Illinois fundamental physio- 
graphic conditions are very important. The importance of their 



515] TENURE AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 121 

influence on settlement and on early conditions of land tenure 
is generally admitted. That the influence of physiographic 
conditions has not diminished, but that it has perhaps increased 
with the advent of machinery and market economy is one con- 
clusion reached in this thesis. In the dynamic changes that 
have taken place, the districts have gained much or little, or lost 
little or much, according as they compared favorably or other- 
wise with other districts at the start. The differences between 
sections of Illinois have been widening on nearly all bases of 
comparison, and these differences may usually be found to have 
a physiographic basis. 

The importance of renting as a causal factor is emphasized 
in this investigation. Its significance as a symptom or accom- 
panying phase has been pointed out by nearly every economist 
who has written upon tenancy. The belief is urged here that 
renting may promote a restraint in agricultural production, and 
may supply a sort of pension to encourage an uneconomic atti- 
tude toward their investment on the part of some owners of farm 
land. In the case of land that produces crops the area of pos- 
sible or profitable production of which is not subject to expan- 
sion as rapidly as demand for those crops increases, farming 
may assume some of the characteristics of monopoly. The con- 
certed action necessary for the realization of monopoly advant- 
age is brought about, not by conscious compact, but uncon- 
sciously through ignorance of, inability or indisposition to 
employ sound methods of agriculture. To the extent that tenants 
are inefficient it may be said that renting reduces the supply of 
agricultural produce, raises prices of produce, increases the 
profits from raising it, and enhances land values. The state- 
ment of Adam Smith that "rent enters into the composition of 
the prices of commodities in a different way from wages and 
interest" 3 may not, under present-day conditions, be quite as 
unfounded as the critics maintain, for rents determine the 
amount of renting, and, so far as they are exorbitant, doubtless 
incite the tenants toward more exhaustive methods. 

The changes in the economic conditions of Illinois agricul- 
ture appear to have taken place with a sort of periodicity. A 
decade of great change was followed by one of little change, 

3 Smith, Adam, Wealth of Nations, (Buchanan edition), Vol. I, 243. 
See also, Walker, Francis, Land and Its Rent, 27 ; and the debate between 
Carlton, F. T., and Haney, L. H., in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, 
XXIV, XXV and XXVI. 



122 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [516 

and that by one of greater change in the case of a number of 
the phenomena of agriculture to which reference has been made 
in this thesis. It appears, moreover, that to a certain extent the 
practice of renting has been stimulated by both phases of the 
periodic movement. 

RISING LAND PRICES AS A HANDICAP TO POPULAR OWNERSHIP AND 

GOOD FARMING 

In the advances that have occurred the landless farmers 
have not shared equally with thb landed farmers. The specu- 
lative element in land values has been a decided handicap to 
those without land. Owners hold the land at a value capitalized 
at a rate below that at which money may be borrowed for the 
purchase of land. The greater the discrepancy between the two 
rates the smaller is the portion of the market value for which a 
mortgage loan can be negotiated on the purchased land. As a 
consequence of these conditions the opportunity for tenants to 
acquire land has been greatly reduced. 

Whether reduced loan rates would enlarge the expectancy 
of ownership for those entering agriculture without land is a 
question. Within certain limits the reduction of loan rates 
would probably reduce the rate at which the value of land 
would be capitalized, and thus stimulate the transfer of land. 
The consequence would be a rise in land prices, not only because 
of the greater demand for land but also because of the expecta- 
tion of future increment in value. Since, however, the rate at 
which land is capitalized depends not only on rates of return 
in agriculture, but also on rates of return in business in general, 
it is probable that farm loan rates could be reduced so as to be 
brought nearer to the rate at which land prices are capitalized. 
To the extent that this is possible, a reduction in loan rates 
would probably assist the landless in acquiring land, especially 
in the districts where land is highest in price. The cheaper 
loans should be available to those who give evidence of becoming 
or remaining actual farm operators. 

The prominence of land values in discussions of tenant 
farming leads logically to a discussion of proposals to control 
land prices. For the most part the upward movement in the 
prices of farm lands in Illinois was not a rapid one between 
1860 and 1900. Increment could not have played a prominent 
part in the calculations of land owners. Land was owned chiefly 
by those who contributed much to the developments which pro- 
duced the rise in land prices. From about 1900 on, however, 



517] TENURE AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 123 

a somewhat different condition has been prevailing. During the 
recent period the rise in land prices came without regard to the 
contribution made by the owners to the agriculture of the 
country. The districts where land prices have moved forward 
most have been those in which small expenditures need be made 
by owners for fertilizers and improvements. It would seem, 
therefore, that some method of making the rise in land prices 
reward the public would have been preferable during the period 
of phenomenal price increments. A tax of 25 per cent of the 
increment in the case of land bought in 1900 at $80 an acre and 
sold in 1910 at $200 would have yielded $30. If one-eighth of 
such land had been transferred and taxed, the proceeds would 
have been $2400 a section, or nearly $10,000 a school district. 
The expenditure of half this amount, $500 a year, within the 
school district, for roads, schools, and other public purposes 
would have been a considerable factor in rural improvement. 
The other half, if devoted to general tax purposes in the county, 
state and nation would have been of great fiscal usefulness. Not 
least of all advantages that might have come from such a scheme, 
however, is that of repressing speculation in land. The tendency 
for longer association of owners with their land, on which a 
premium would thus have been placed, would have done some- 
thing to combat the practice of short leases and of temporary 
association with the land on the part of tenants. 

Whether a tax on the increment is desirable now is another 
question. It is pretty certain that agitation for such a tax can- 
not be expected to be strong among land owners so long as the 
increment is accruing strongly in their sections. For that 
reason it seems probable that increment taxation may not be 
expected at the time when it might be most effective as a check 
on land speculation. 

THE OUTLOOK 

With land prices at the present stage it seems likely that 
the increment element must become less important and the 
rental element more important in the calculations of land owners. 
When the annual increment is $10 on land valued at $100, based 
on a net rental return of $6 capitalized at 6 per cent, the incre- 
ment is the source of five-eighths of the addition to the land- 
lord's income and wealth during the year. If, however, the 
annual increment is the same amount, $10, on land valued at 
$200, based on a net rental return of $10 capitalized at 5 per cent, 



124 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [518 

the increment is the source of one-half of the addition to the 
landlord's income. The tendency for the interest rate to fall 
is responsible for the failure of the increment to decline even 
more rapidly in importance in the calculations of the land 
owner. That the interest rate will fall as rapidly on account of 
the expectancy of future rise in land prices is less likely the 
higher the stage of land prices. An annual increment of $10 
in the case of $100 land is 10 per cent on the investment and in 
the case of $200 land is 5 per cent. "We may expect, therefore, 
that anticipation of future rise in value will exert a smaller 
influence both on the rate at which land is capitalized by owners 
and on the annual income or addition to the wealth of the land 
owner. 

Because greater emphasis must fall on the rental as a source 
of return on the high priced lands, we may probably expect a 
pressure by land owners for higher rents. This pressure has 
already been exerted in some cases. An intensified selective 
process is thus made operative. The demand for efficiency falls 
upon farmers of all tenures. 

Farming efficiency in the future, however, will probably 
consist to a greater extent in the ability to increase net profits 
through co-operative dealing with the market. The efficiency 
test must, therefore, rule more strongly against operators of the 
tenures whose characteristics are opposed to successful co-opera- 
tive effort on their part. 

It is not necessary, however, that the farmers of other ten- 
ures operate as efficiently as the owners themselves would oper- 
ate. If owners prefer to have their land operated by others than 
themselves, and if their holdings are sufficiently large, they may 
content themselves with the financial disadvantage resulting 
from their refusal to operate their own land. 

The coming of the automobile and improved roads and the 
extension of rural delivery routes and of telephones may remove 
the main disadvantages of rural residence. Improved oppor- 
tunities of applying business methods in agriculture with a favor- 
able reaction on profits will doubtless attract people of better 
training and experience into the operation of farm land. 

The test of productive efficiency may be somewhat slow in 
acting and costly but it bids fair in the long run to penalize 
unsound farming regardless of the tenure of the operators, and 
to guarantee, therefore, the survival of the best forms of tenure 
and of the best individual operators. 



APPENDIX 

The United States census bureau supplied unpublished data 
by means of which the author calculated the percentages that 
follow. 

I. The percentage of the farm acreage operated by part owners under 
lease, and under deed, by counties, Illinois, 1910: Adams, 7.5, u.o; Alex- 
ander, 1.9, 4.0; Bond, 8.4, 15.4; Boone, 3.5, 3.5; Brown, 7.7, 11.6; Bureau, 
6-5, 74; Calhoun, 6.1, 10.2; Carroll, data incomplete; Cass, 6.7, 8.9; Cham- 
paign, 9.0, 8.9; Christian, 8.3, 8.9; Clark, 10.3, 13.7; Clay, 9.6, 14.9; Clinton, 
7-5, I4-3J Coles, 7.7, 8.2; Cook, 5.3, 4.2; Crawford, 104, 13.3; Cumberland, 
14.6, 17.7; De Kalb, 3.9, 4.9; De Witt, 8.7, 7.5; Douglas, 8.9, 8.8; Du Page, 
J.6, 14; Edgar, 11.7, 9.7; Edwards, 14.8, 24.3; Effingham, 9.3, 17.7; Fayette, 

12.2, 17.8; Ford, 5.6, 5.3; Franklin, 94, 13.9; Fulton, 5.5, 6.9; Gallatin, 10.6, 
13.9; Greene, 9.6, 114; Grundy, 64, 7.7; Hamilton, 8.8, 15.6; Hancock, 
9.1, 11.5; Hardin, 1.9, 4.6; Henderson, 8.3, 9.1; Henry, 5.2, 6.2; Iroquois, 
74, 7.2; Jackson, 8.1, n.8; Jasper, 13.5, 21.8; Jefferson, 8.0, 15.0; Jersey, 
9.6, 12.2; Jo Daviess, 3.0, 5.0; Johnson, 4.6, 9.6; Kane, 1.6, 2.2; Kankakee, 
8.0, 8.6; Kendall, 4.0, 4.5; Knox, 7.4, 8.2; Lake, 5.0, 6.3; La Salle, 6.5, 6.8; 
Lawrence, 10.2, 10.8; Lee, data incomplete; Livingston, 7.4, 7.8; Logan, 

5.8, 5.6; McDonough, 8.1, 8.5; McHenry, 1.7, 2.3; McLean, 7.8, 7.3; Macon, 
8.0, 7.6; Macoupin, 8.5, 11.5; Madison, 6.7, 10.3; Marion, 10.4, 17.6; Mar- 
shall, 7.7, 9.2; Mason, 8.0, 7.9; Massac, data incomplete; Menard, 9.8, 8.8; 
Mercer, 5.7, 6.3; Monroe, 10.1, 17.9; Montgomery, 8.4, 11.7; Morgan, 104, 
10.5; Moultrie, 10.2, 9.7; Ogle, 5.3, 6.0; Peoria, 8.1, 9.0; Perry, 8.1, 12.5; 
Piatt, 7.5, 6.9; Pike, 84, 8.6; Pope, 4.0, 74; Pulaski, 7.5, 9.2; Putnam, 

8.9, 8.7; Randolph, 8.1, n.6; Richland, 10.2, 16.0; Rock Island, 5.0, 6.1; 
Saline, 7.2, 13.5; Sangamon, 10.2, 9.7; Schuyler, 7.9, 12.3; Scott, 9.8, 12.6; 
Shelby, 10.0, 11.6; St. Clair, 6.7, 9.1; Stark, 6.6, 8.9; Stephenson, 4.9, 6.6; 
Tazewell, 7.3, 8.2; Union, 5.9, 10.0; Vermilion, 94, 7.7; Wabash, 9.6, 10.2; 
Warren, 9.3, 9.5; Washington, 7.3, 13.8; Wayne, 9.0, 16.6; White, 9.6, 11.5; 
Whiteside, 3.8, 4.3; Will, 6.8, 7.5; Williamson, 6.9, 10.3; Winnebago, 4.1, 
44; and Woodford, 8.6, 6.3. 

II. The percentage of the farm acreage operated under lease by 
tenants and part owners, and under deed by owners proper and part 
owners, by counties, Illinois, 1910: Adams, 39.9, 58.9; Alexander, 41.1, 
56.2; Bond, 44.0, 554; Boone, 56.4, 43.0; Brown, 36.9, 62.9; Bureau, 55.7, 
41.2; Calhoun, 37.6, 59.5; Carroll, data incomplete; Cass, 48.0, 51.2; Cham- 
paign, 66.2, 32.7; Christian, 66.2, 32.3; Clark, 38.6, 60.9; Clay, 34.1, 634; 
Clinton, 54.4, 44.8; Coles, 56.0, 42.0; Cook, 50.5, 46.5; Crawford, 40.1, 58.7; 
Cumberland, 40.6, 58.1; De Kalb, 58.0, 40.3; De Witt, 68.6, 29.6; Douglas, 
61.1, 36.3; Du Page, 53.2, 44.6; Edgar, 58.3, 40.1; Edwards, 31.3, 68.2; 
Effingham, 304, 69.1; Fayette, 43.0, 56.2; Ford, 75.3, 23.7; Franklin, 34.1, 
64.5 ; Fulton, 47.9, 50.3 ; Gallatin, 50.8, 484 ; Greene, 47.0, 48.2 ; Grundy, 

67.3, 314; Hamilton, 32.0, 56.0; Hancock, 46.4, 51.9; Hardin, 21.6, 77.8; 
Henderson, 48.5, 50.0; Henry, 56.6, 41.6; Iroquois, 66.5, 304; Jackson, 
424, 45-3J Jasper, 36.1, 63.1; Jefferson, 31.8, 674; Jersey, 47-3, 5M ', Jo 

125 



126 



LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS 



20 



Daviess, 29.5, 694; Johnson, 22.2, 74.0; Kane, 54.2, 42.2; Kankakee, 53.0, 
44.3; Kendall, 56.3, 42.3; Knox, 54.7, 42.0; Lake, 41.8, 50.8; La Salle, 
58.2, 41.2; Lawrence, 36.7, 51.7; Lee, data incomplete; Livingston, 68.2, 
31.0; Logan, 72.4, 26.9; McDonough, 53.5, 449; McHenry, 50.3, 47.1; Mc- 
Lean, 65.0, 32.4; Macon, 68.5, 29.4; Macoupin, 51.5, 47.1; Madison, 51.0, 
48.3; Marion, 32.9, 65.4; Marshall, 68.3, 31.4; Mason, 66.8, 32.8; Massac, 
data incomplete; Menard, 56.4, 43.2; Mercer, 47.8, 50.1; Monroe, 50.1, 49.4; 
Montgomery, 51.6, 47.2; Morgan, 51.8, 47.0; Moultrie, 60.2, 38.7; Ogle, 
57.8, 40.2; Peoria, 50.3, 48.1; Perry, 35.8, 62.3; Piatt, 62.8, 29.7; Pike, 

45.7, 52.2; Pope, 234, 75.9; Pulaski, 37.8, 61.7; Putnam, 59.4, 39.6; Ran- 
dolph, 41.8, 58.0; Richland, 32.2, 66.0; Rock Island, 44.6, 53.2; Saline, 

34.8, 62.9; Sangamon, 60.8, 374; Schuyler, 43.5, 54.3; Scott, 49.1, 49.0; 
Shelby, 51.7, 46.7; St. Clair, 544, 45.3; Stark, 54.0, 44.6; Stephenson, 43.3, 
55.9; Tazewell, 594, 38.5; Union, 38.5, 59.1; Vermilion, 63.2, 34.8; Wa- 
bash, 44.9, 54.9; Warren, 56.5, 38.3; Washington, 43.7, 55.6; Wayne, 31.0, 
67.5; White, 46.6, 53.0; Whiteside, 60.5, 37.8; Will, 49.2, 49.9; Williamson, 
35.2, 64.1 ; Winnebago, 49.7, 49.1 ; and Woodford, 61.1, 37.9. 




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127 



6 

128 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [f> 22 

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132 LAND TENURE IN ILLINOIS [jB26 

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INDEX 

Acreage in farms, relation of, to tenure, 29, 64, 71-81 ; statistics of, 63. 
Age of operators, relation of, to tenure and mortgage encumbrance, 108- 

iii. 

Agricultural population. See Population. 
Allodial tenure, 9. 
Buildings, farm. See Equipment. 
Cash tenants, prevalence of, 23, 82-.S5; size of farms of, 85-88; equipment 

of, 89-91; income and expenditure statistics of, 91, 92; emphasis in 

farm practice shown by, 92-96; age of, 108, note 60. 
Cereal productions. See Farm practice. 
Church, rural, relation of, to tenure, 118. 
Color of operators. See Negroes, Race, etc. 
Co-operative enterprise, relation of, to tenure, 117, 118. 
Equipment of operators, 89-91, 118-120. 
Expenditures of operators. See Income, etc. 
Families per farm, 82. 
Farm practice, emphasis of operators in, 25-27, 9*2-96, 120. 
Glaciers, influence of, on soils, 30. 

Income and expenditure of operators, some items of, 91, 92. 
Institutions, rural, relation, to tenure, 117, 118. 

Landlords, classification of, 20; residence and landed wealth of, 104-108. 
Managers, statistics of, 15, 45, 56; size of farms of, 17, 87, 88; equipment 

of, 89-91 ; income and expenditure statistics of, 91, 92 ; emphasis in 

farm practice shown by, 92-96. 
Mortgage encumbrance, statistics of, 18, 96-101; relation of, to leasing, 19; 

ratio of, to value of property mortgaged, 19, 99. 
Nativity of operators. See Race, etc. 

Negroes, as slave laborers in agriculture, n; as farm operators, 102-104. 
Operators, farm. See Cash Tenants, Managers, Owning Operators, Part 

Owners, Share-cash tenants, Share tenants, etc. 
Operating owners. See Owning operators. 
Owners-and-tenants, income and expenditure statistics of, 91/92; emphasis 

in farm practice shown by, 92-96. 
Owning operators, early prevalence of, 10; increasing prominence after 

1900, 18; statistics of, 45, 59-62; size of farms of, 85-88; equipment 

of farms of, 89-91; income and expenditure statistics of, 91, 92; 

emphasis in farm practice shown by, 92-96. 

See also Tenancy, Part Owners, Owners and tenants. 
Part owners, size of farms of, 15, 87, 88; the economic status of, 21; 

statistics of, 56-60; income and expenditure statistics of, 91, 92; em- 
. phasis in farm practice shown by, 92-96. 
Physiographic characteristics, 30, 31. 

Population, preeminence of agricultural, in the United States, 10; total, 

134 



629] INDEX 135 

33; agricultural, 34-37; rural, 113-116; relation of, to tenure, 116, 117.. 

Prairie. See Timber and prairie. 

Price of land (including buildings), relation of, to tenure, 27, 67-81; 
historical tendency in, 39, 40; variations in, 65-77, passim. 

Productions, farm, description of, 41, 42. 

Productiveness of, land variations in, 30, 64-66; relation of, to tenure, 
67-74. 

Property, farm, value of, 39, 40. 

Public domain, cessions by the states to, 9; rate of disposal of, 10. 

Rural church, rural institutions, rural school, rural population. See church, 
institutions, school, population. 

Race, color and nativity of operators, 102-104. 

School, rural, relation of, to tenure, 118. 

Share-cash tenants, prevalence of, 23, 82-85; size of farms of, 85-88; 
income and expenditure statistics of, 91, 92; emphasis in farm prac- 
tice shown by, 92-96. 

Share tenants, prevalence of, 23, 82-85; size of farms of, 85-88; equipment 
of, 89-91 ; income and expenditure statistics of, 91, 92 ; emphasis in 
farm practice shown by, 92-96. 

Size o.f farms, before 1880, 12; since 1900, 15; relation of, to tenure, 15, 
68-88 passim; variations in, 65-69. 

Tenancy, as a causal factor, 120-122; predictions regarding, 123, 124. See 
Tenants. ' 

Tenants, statistics of, 13-17, 44-62; negroes as, 23; basis of renting, em- 
ployed by, 23, 83-85; owning some land, 21-25; on farms with special- 
ized products, 26; relation of, to the price of land, 27, 29, 65-81; 
relation of, to the area of land in farms, 28; relation of, to timber, 
43 ; relation of, to value of products, 65-81 ; relation of, to size of 
farms, 65-81 ; equipment of farms of, 89-91 ; income and expenditure 
statistics of, 91, 92; emphasis in farm practice shown by, 92-96; re- 
lation of, to decline in rural population, 116; relation of, to coopera- 
tive enterprise, 117, 118; relation of, to business, church and school, 
118; relation of, to equipment in farm buildings, 118-120; relation of, 
to cereal production, 120; relation of, to rising land prices, 122-124. 

Tenure, trend of, in the United States, 1850 to 1880, u, 12; trend of, in 
the United States, 1880 to 1910, 13-18. 

See also Cash tenants, Managers, Owners-and-tenants, Owning oper- 
ators, Part owners, Share-cash tenants, Share tenants. 

Timber and prairie, influence of, on soil, 31 ; relation of, to pioneer farm- 
ing, 32, 33 ; relation of, to tenure, 43, 65, 71, 72. 

Topography, influence of, on farming, 30. 

Yields. See Productiveness.