g with the other heirs at once. Or
he may pay the other heirs rent on their share of the farm. In any
case he will, if successful, gradually cancel his obligation and
become owner of the farm. That no heir is willing to assume this
responsibility is the most common reason for a farm changing from one
family to another, and the disruption of community interests.

The customary, or normal, method of acquiring land has been and still
is a combination of tenancy, inheritance and mortgage. Without some
tenant system and without the farm mortgage, it would be impossible
for the average young man to acquire a farm. That men are constantly
advancing from farm tenant to landowner is shown by statistics giving
the percentage of tenants by ages. The majority of farmers under 30
are renters. Most farmers over 45 are owners of farm land. Thus in
Illinois, in 1900, approximately 75% of the farmers under 25 years of
age rented their farms, while less than 20% of the farmers over 55
years of age were tenants.

The question for the young man to consider is not what effect the
tenant system has upon the welfare of the nation or what political
ills may be connected with farm mortgages, but how to make use of
these necessary and beneficent agencies for the acquirement of a farm.
A system of tenancy which leads to absent landlordism and a permanent
tenant class is thoroughly vicious, while a practice which enables a
man to become, within a reasonable period, a land-owning farmer is a
thoroughly approvable and, indeed, necessary method of acquiring land.

As already indicated, most young men will need in some form or other
to employ more capital than they possess when they start farming. They
must, therefore, determine what is the best form of obtaining the
necessary capital, viz.: whether to borrow the money on a farm
mortgage, or whether to use the capital someone else has invested in a
farm by paying him rent for it. The conditions of tenancy in this
country are often not the most fortunate, yet the young man of
character may well find, for a time, at least, it would be best for
him to rent a farm and invest his own capital in the necessary
machinery and live stock to conduct it properly.

Much will depend on the character of the arrangement which may be
made. Usually more favorable terms can be secured from landlords
owning large numbers of farms than from the owner of one or two farms.
The large landowner is content with a moderate