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Show Text of Roosevelt Farm Tenancy Message WASHINGTON. Feb. It WV The text of President Roosevelt's message to aongraaa transmitting trans-mitting a report from his special committee oa farm tenancy follows: fol-lows: I transmit herewith for the Information In-formation of the congress the report re-port of the special committee ea farm tenancy. The facts presented In this report re-port reveal a grave problem of great magnitude and complexity. The American dream of the famlly-aise farm, owned by the family which operates It has become be-come more and more remote. The agricultural ladder, on which an energetlo young man might ascend from hired man to tenant to independent owner, Is no longer serving Its purpose. Half a century ago one of every four farmers was a tsnant Today, To-day, two of every five are tenants, and on aoma ef our beat farm lands seven of every ten farmera art tenants. BiHioa Value All told, they operate land and buildings valued at 11 billion dollars. For the past tan years, the number ef new tenanta every year haa been about 40,000. Many tenanta change farms every two or three years, and apparently one out of three ehangee farms every year. The agricultural ladder, for these Americana, haa nent program on a scale commensurate commen-surate with our resources and experience, with the purpose of later expanding the program to a scsle commensurate with the magnltuds of tho problem as rapidly as our experience and resources re-sources will permit Four Types The special committee on farm tenancy emphasises the necessity for action of at least four types: First action to open the doors of ownership to tenants who now havs the requisite ability and experience, ex-perience, but who ean become owners only with the assistance of liberal credit on long terms, and technical sdvice; second, modest loans, with ths necessary guidance and education to prevent email owners from slipping Into tenancy, and to help the masses of tenants, croppers aqd farm laborers at the very bottom of the agricultural ladder Increase their standards of living, achieve greater great-er security, and begin the upward climb toward land ownership; third, ths retirement by publle agencies of land proved to be un-! un-! suited for fapnlng. and assistance to the famtliee living thereon In finding homes on good land; fourth, cooperation with stats and local agencies of government to Improve the general leasing syatem. sya-tem. The oommlttee haa very proper ty emphasised the Importance of j health and education in any longtime long-time program for correcting the evils from which thla large sec- 1 tion of our population suffers. I Speculation Peril I Attention Is also called to the , part which land speculation has , played In bringing Insecurity Into ; ths lives of rural families, and to , ths necessity for eliminating sharp fluctuations m land value due to the spsculative activity ia j farm lands. i The attack on the problem of ' farm tenancy and farm security Is a logical continuation of ths agricultural program this administration admin-istration has been developing since March 1933. Necessarily, whatever program the congress devises will have to be closely Integrated with existing activities for maintaining farm income and for conserving and improving our agricultural resources. Obviously action by the states alone and Independently cannot I cure the widespread ill. A nation- j wide program under federal lead- I ersbip and with ths assistance of states, counties, communities ; and individuals la the only solu- ' tion. Most Americans believe 1 that our form of government does not prohibit action oa behalf of those who need help. become a treadmill. At tbe asms time, owners of famlly-eiss farms have bill slipping dowa. Thousands of farmers farm-ers commonly considered owners are as Insecure as tenanta. The farm owner-operator's equity la hta property is, ea the average, 42 per cent, and la some ef eur best fanning sections Is aa little as one-fifth. When fully half tbe total farm Kpulatioa ef the United Statea no irer can feel secure, when millions mil-lions of eur people have lost their roots In the soil, acUoa to provide security ia Imperative, and will bo generally approved. A problem of such magnitude la not solved overnight, nor by any one limited approach, nor by the federal government alone. While aggravated by the depression, depres-sion, ths tenancy problem Is the accumulated result of generations ef unthinking exploitation ef eur agricultural resources, both land and people. Mast Begin at Ones We can no longer postpone action. We must begin at once with such resources of man power, pow-er, money and experience aa are available, and with such methods aa will call forth the cooperative effort ef local, state and federal agenclee ef government, and of landlords quite aa- much as tenanta. In dealing with the problem ef relief among rural people during the depression, wa have already accumulated information and experience ex-perience which will be of great value la the long-time program. It will be wise to start the penne- |
