fields to returning home and working their farms. Yet they do not wish to give up their properties. Under the circumstances, they rent the farms. These are only two general cases, from the owner's side. There are just as sound reasons for renting, from the tenant's viewpoint."

And farm management surveys, which disclose the incomes of all classes of farmers, amply bear out Dr. Spillman's statement concerning the advantage to the tenant of renting his farm. In fact, far from being in danger of becoming a dependent, the tenant often has the best of the bargain; and in many cases, he is doing far better than his neighbor who owns the farm he works.

Take the results of a recent farmmanagement survey made by Government experts of hundreds of farms throughout the Corn Belt, and compare the return earned by the tenant with that obtained by the owner. The following table summarizes the earnings of 273 farms, located in three great corn States, and operated by their owners:

of work. He has a right to expect as great a return from his farm. So from his total income, which is $1,187, we subtract this interest charge of $877, and have left $310. This last amount is all that the farmer has earned by all his thought and toil for the year.

In other words, most of what seemed a fair income, has been earned for the farm owner by his capital, and would have been earned, had he not done a stroke of work. Figuring on the same basis, the Illinois farm owner really earned only $622; while the Iowa man comes last, with a year's return on time and labor of only $291. The average income for the farmers studied in the three States, was $408. And this is the man who owns his farm-the man who is supposed to be the only true American. farmer.

Now let us see how the tenants in these same three States are faring. The following table gives the data gathered by the same Government survey for

Grand total or gen'l

Indiana Illinois Iowa av'ge

123 105 $17.535 $51.091 $23.193 $30.606

77 176

273

178

Average farm income.

843

1.282

850

992

Average receipts..

1.876 5,042 2.308 3.076 689 1,866 858 1.138 1,450 1.938 1,159 1,530 291 408

The last item is the one which tells the tale in the case of every farmer's business. It is far more significant than the total income; for the total income includes the money earned by the capital invested, while the labor income is the direct return to the farmer for his labor and thought during the year.

Let us see how this method of computing income works in the case of our average farm owner. The Indiana man has invested $17,535 in his farm. Now, if he had invested that same money in bonds at five per cent, he would have received $877 in interest; and he would have received this without doing a stroke

In some sections of the country this practice, known as "squatting", is unquestionably a menace to the agriculture of those sections. But there is a logical and natural reason why the farm tenant should continually move from farm to farm. He must increase his business as his capital increases, or he will never become a farm owner; and his only way of increasing his business, is by working a larger farm.

Commenting on this very point, the Government experts say: "Men who start in as tenants usually have very little capital and are limited in the size of the farm business they can select. After a few years of work they have enough teams and equipment to rent a larger farm, which will pay them increased returns for their year's labor.

"The changing of tenants from one farm to another thus frequently is at transitory move by young men who are seeking to become farm owners. If these same men were compelled to start on a small place and stay there for a long period of years, they could never hope eventually to become owners; but by selecting farms which will use their working capital to its maximum, and changing farms as their capital increases, they are able to advance rapidly."

Here then, is one great reason for tenant farming: small capital. It is quite evident that the best investment in farming for a man with small capital is to play the tenant's game. Indeed, it is often good business for a land owner to increase his holdings by renting rather than buying additional land.

"The income that a tenant receives with a capital of $4,000 to $6,000 is decidedly greater than that which he would have if he purchased a farm with that amount," say the government experts who are studying the problem. "No farm owner with less than a $20,000 invest

ment received a labor income of over $2,000, while one tenant out of every twenty-two received this income with less than $6,000 capital.

"Of course, in order to make a substantial income, the tenant must have the use of a large amount of capital, which is furnished by the landlord. The system of renting as practiced in the Corn Belt today is particularly well suited to the tenant's advancement. Not only is he free to move from a small to a larger farm as soon as he acquires sufficient working capital, but the returns that he receives from his investment are exceedingly large.

"Tenants as a rule avoid small farms. They are not large enough to pay the interest on the capital and leave anything for labor. The amount of capital that a tenant needs to operate a certain-sized farm depends quite largely on the type of farming that he wishes to follow and also on the system of rental."

This special survey has brought out the case of the tenant, with striking figures. Other surveys in other parts of the United States have shown that the tenant is not necessarily a menace to agriculture, but that through lack of capital and because of large farm holdings in the section where he lives, he turns to the only logical system of farming open to him. By progressive methods he eventually becomes a land owner, and even then if he wishes to increase his income he often finds it advisable not to buy more land but to rent it. Far from being economically wasteful and the representative of a class dependent upon rich landlords for an opportunity to live, the farm tenant gets good results, and is thoroughly democratic and American. Tenancy for him is simply the way he travels in acquiring a farm of his own; in true American fashion, he is climbing the ladder of agricultural success.

PLACE HAND BARS

OLD style hand bars wielded by cheap labor are being replaced by pneumatic machines in both railroad and building construction. After the ties of a railway line have been laid, the tamping operation is as essential as are true lines. It has been customary for small gangs of men to go up and down carrying a heavy bar which they lift and drop rhythmically, packing the sand and gravel firmly about each tie. The operation never ceases, for heavy rolling stock shakes up the roadbed and loosens the ties. The new pneumatic machine, which gives about one hundred strokes to the minute, each stroke an inch and a quarter long, dispenses with this handwork. Power of seventy and ninety pounds pressure is taken from the regular locomotive air brake line.

PITTSBURGH cows are probably un

healthy. A recent investigation at Leeds University, in England, shows that animals kept in the railroad yards or manufacturing centers are harmed by the smokeladen atmosphere, and require much more feed and care than those which live in a pure atmosphere. The effects are presumed to be caused by the animals breathing vitiated air, and eating grass which is very much poorer and less nourishing, because it has had no chance to develop under good conditions. Around Leeds, which

By cutting down labor costs in such a way, the new tamper should make it possible for railroads to improve branch and secondary lines. This prospect of having road beds throughout the country nearly as good as those of the best main lines is a most attractive feature of the possibilities afforded by the machine.

For building operations a similar machine has been put into service.

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