Page:Quarterlyoforego10oreg 1.djvu/148

 34 LoN L. Swift facts make it evident that tenant farming is preying on the better lands and is gradually reducing their productivity. One wholesome condition in our present system of tenant farming is the lack of landlordism. A large proportion of the owners of rented farms in the United States, and especially in Oregon, rent only one farm; and most of these landowners reside in the same county in which their farms are located. They are in no sense the great landlords like England sup- ports, for they maintain a close personal contact with their tenants. In 1900, more than two-thirds of the owners of rented farms resided in the same county in which their farms were located, and 94 per cent of the owners of rented farms, rented only one farm. The figures for the United States do not show such a favorable condition, but the proportion of landlordism is small. As tenant farming is increasing rapidly in this country, and as cash tenancy, which is the system gen- erally employed by the wealthy landlord, is increasing more rapidly than share tenancy, it appears very doubtful whether the small proportion of landlordism existing at the present time will long be maintained. Short leases tend to increase the evils of tenant farming by making the renter more transitory and less interested in the welfare of the land. A very large proportion of leasing in Oregon is conducted by one year contracts, and farms are seldom rented in this State for more than two or three years under definite agreement. This short system of leasing may be due largely to the newness of the State, but it produces very unsatisfactory results. The tenant farmer in Oregon generally has the name of being a land skinner and shiftless farmer. The best results of tenant farming are said to be produced by cash tenancy rather than by share tenancy, and by long leases rather than by short leases. The object of this paper is to show the conditions and ten- dencies of land tenure in Oregon and the progress and results of farming. The practical workings of the systems of renting