It is as much the duty of the man who rents a farm as it is of the man who owns one to make his farm produce to its full capacity, to protect the soil from exhaustion and the buildings and fences from destruction. But on the other hand, it is the duty of the landlord, both as a good business man and as a good citizen, to make such terms with his tenant that the latter will take an interest in the farm and will find it profitable to farm properly. There must be team work.
The landlord must be interested not only in his land but in his tenant. The tenant must be interested not only in himself but in his landlord and his land. A system that favors the tenant to the injury of the land is bad. A system that favors the land to the injury of the tenant is equally harmful. Either system will result in the poverty of both the landlord and the tenant. [Footnote: Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, quoted by Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones in "Negroes and the Census of 1910," p 16. (Reprint from THE SOUTHERN WORKMAN for August, 1912.)]
The fact remains, however, that home ownership contributes to the permanence, the stability, and the progress of a community. It is also a fact that conditions have developed in our country, both in cities and in rural communities, which make home ownership increasingly difficult. In another chapter (Chapter XIV) we shall see what some of these conditions are, and what our government has done and may do to overcome them.
THE HOME A SCHOOL OF CITIZENSHIP
One of the most important services performed for the community by the home is that of training its members for citizenship. The family has been called "a school of all the virtues" that go to make good citizenship. It is a school in which not only the children, but also the parents, not only the boys and men, but also the girls and women, receive training by practice. In the home are developed thoughtfulness for others, a spirit of self- sacrifice for the common good, loyalty to the group of which the individual is a member, respect for the opinions of others of long experience, a spirit of teamwork, obedience to rules which exist for the welfare of all. If these and other qualities of good citizenship are not cultivated in the home, it is not in a healthy condition nor performing its proper service to the community.
Moreover, the exercise of these virtues in the home is not only training for good citizenship; it IS good citizenship. If the home is as important a factor in our national life as this chapter has indicated, then one of the greatest opportunities for good citizenship, and one of the greatest duties of good citizenship, is that of making the home what it should be; and in this each member of the family has his or her share.
Make a study of farm tenancy in your locality (neighborhood, township, or county).
How many of the farms of the locality are occupied and operated by their owners? how many by tenants? What is the percentage of tenancy?
To what extent are the tenants men who were formerly farm laborers, but who by renting farms are making a start on their own account? Is this a sign of progress?
What percentage of the tenants are white? negro?