t destruction of wide
areas through erosion. The patrimony of the nation must be preserved
through wise policies of reforestation and reclamation of waste lands.
But the great immediate task is that of adjusting production to demand
so that the rural population may advance in material welfare along
with other groups. In a competitive organization of industry the
farmers success is gauged by his net income rather than by the number
of bushels of corn or bales of cotton he produces.

A sinister tendency in the higher-priced general agricultural sections
is that of increase in the number of farms operated by farm tenants.
Certain writers have attempted to prove that this tendency is taken
too seriously. But the evidence of the United States Census from
decade to decade indicates that the danger is real; and that the
sooner a policy of control is adopted the better.

The handicaps to agriculture through this increase are manifold. In a
large proportion of cases, as shown by studies in typical areas, the
landowner does not live on a neighboring farm, nor is he a retired
parent or other relative of the tenant farmer. He lives in the
neighboring city. Consequently, the rental from the farm goes to help
build up the material welfare of the urban center. The contributions
of the absentee landlord to church work go to supplement the salary of
a city pastor on a scale far beyond the competing ability of the rural
church where his land is located. His contributions to benevolences
are paid for out of the income from his four-hundred-acre farm but are
credited to the city church of which he is a member instead of to the
rural church in the community where his land is located. Because of
the transient nature of his residence the tenant, who remains on the
farm on the average less than two years, has but little permanent
interest in the life of the community and lacks the stability to
become a valuable factor in building up strong rural institutions. The
landlord, as previously suggested, has been known to oppose measures
for consolidation of rural schools because such consolidation might
increase taxes, and has been known to threaten tenants with
dispossession if they should vote for consolidation. The constant
moving of the tenant has handicapped the children in getting a good
common-school education because of the breaks in their training
resulting from this constant changing of residence.

The tenant house, with all its implica