INCREASE IN PERCENTAGE OF TENANCY IN COTTON STATES-1880-1925 In cotton growing areas in ten southern states, accord ing to 1920 census figures, there were 1,030,321 farm owners and managers to 1,345,805 tenants, a ratio of 45 owners to 55 tenants. Of these renters 284,180 were classified as cash tenants, 487,770 as croppers, and 550,879 as share tenants or third and fourth renters. Thus out of a hundred cotton renters approximately 21 are cash renters, 37 are croppers and 42 are share ten ants. They are distributed by states as follows : These figures have varying interpretations. The great increase of tenancy in Texas and Oklahoma is accom panied by the introduction of cotton culture but lacks altogether the historical explanation of the plantation. On the other hand, it is due to the peculiar development of the states from another capitalistic form of land utili zation. Not the break-up of plantations but the decadence of cattle ranches accounts for the increasing tenancy in this new area. Speculative methods of acquiring land made it possible for settlers to secure large tracts. On
the change from a ranching economy the owners let par cels of these farms to immigrants for the cultivation of cotton. As a result, Oklahoma within the comparatively short time of thirty-five years has increased her tenancy rate from 0.7 to 58 per cent.
On the other hand, in plantation states an increase in the percentage of tenancy is likely to be an indication that Negro wage hands are rising into cropping and share renting. The decrease in percentage of tenancy in Georgia from 1920-1925 is not to be taken as represent ing the rise of any group into land ownership. On the contrary, it is due to the migration of tenants from the plantation areas. While it has played a part, it is im possible at our present state of knowledge to know to what extent increasing tenancy in the South represents investment buying of land, adding of field to field in the creation of new plantations.