ancy regulations, which were later on expanded by a number of amendments passed between 1932 and 1934. According to the Reutenbank Act of 1891 loans could be made to settlers up to 75 percent of the value of the holding. This limit was later extended to 90 percent for farms not employing outside workers. Before the interest rate on long-term loans varied between 3 and 4 percent. After the war it amounted from 3 to 5 percent. The rate of amortization was one-half percent. These long-term loans have to be repaid within about 70 years. From 1886 to 1919 more than 45,500 holdings were established within Prussia. Outside of Prussia, from 1900 to 1918, 3,600 workers' establishments and 1,230 small full-time farms were created, 62,200 new holdings have been established since the close of the World War. In addition, 104,600 farms have been enlarged. Also, Hungary has been concerned with the fostering of small holdings, both before and after the World War, as shown by its legislation of 1894, 1911, 1920, and later years. Russia passed a law in 1882 to assist its peasants through loans in the purchase of additional land. In connection with its agrarian reform of 1905 it launched a big program for the subdivision of large holdings, change in tenure, and the shifting of people from congested areas to thinly populated parts of the country. Other countries in inter-Europe such as Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have likewise enacted various measures to subdivide large holdings, to enlarge existing small farms, and to change tenure. Through legislation passed in 1914, 1919, 1921, and 1928 Austria made great efforts to return to its peasantry land, which was lost previously on account of consolidation and other circumstances. It is estimated that following the war up to 1928 in the 12 inter-European countries, comprising Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Bulgaria, and Greece, more than 2,000,000 new holdings have been created. These new farms comprise an area of more than 9,000,000 hectares, or about 23,000,000 acres. It is further estimated that during the same period approximately 854,000 farms were enlarged and that about 1,570,000 tenant farms were transformed into owner-occupied farms in that area. Spain may be used as further illustrations apart from attempting to improve the existing conditions of tenancy the Spanish legislature has endeavored to bring about a better distribution of the land through the breaking up of large estates and the establishment of large holdings. Among the main acts adopted were those of 1907 and 1932. Various other countries could be added. There is hardly any European country which in the past 5 or 6 decades has not passed important legislation concerning the establishment of small farms or the protection of its tenants or both. TABLE 1.-Summary of Irish land purchase acts through Mar. 31, 1933 guaranteed land stock). 10, 853, 501 214, 435 11, 067, 936 1,311, 673 41, 562 234 114 ** Irish Land Act, 1903 (advances made in cash or in guaranteed 234 percent stock or partly in cash and stock.. 68, 883, 783 974, 590 69, 858, 373 6, 927, 882 194, 285 3141 234 TABLE 1.-Summary of Irish land purchase acts through Mar. 31, 1933-Contd. TABLE 2.-Agricultural settlement in Germany, new buildings and enlargements, TABLE 3.-Settlement activities under post-war agricultural reforms in interEurope up to 1928 Senator POPE. Mr. Jackson, will you come around? Will you please state to the committee your name and position? STATEMENT OF J. F. JACKSON, GENERAL AGRICULTURAL AGENT, CENTRAL OF GEORGIA RAILWAY, SAVANNAH, GA. Mr. JACKSON. My name is J. F. Jackson and I am general agricultural agent for the Central of Georgia Railway, Savannah, Ga. I also represent here the Association of Southern Agricultural Workers as chairman of the committee that has been considering this particular problem for which the Bankhead bill (S. 1800) appears to be the solution. To qualify myself as a witness and explain my interest in the Farm Tenant Homes Act of 1935, I must tell something of my work for the Central of Georgia Railway the past 25 years, in trying to encourage farmers in the territory we serve to adopt farming methods and practices that would increase the net returns from their operations; and by increasing farm prosperity, add to the general prosperity of the territory served by the railroad, and the transpor tation requirements of the territory. For many years I had as many as five field men, equipped with automobiles, working directly with farmers to encourage the adop tion of more profitable farming practices in the 80 counties of Georgia and Alabama which we serve. All of our work was in close cooperation with the county agents and extension forces, supplementing their efforts to persuade farmers to follow their recommendation for the use of better farming practices. In some cases, when convinced of the particular value of certain recommendations of the State and Government agricultural forces, we could concentrate on things that seemed particularly worth while, and by working in ways that the limitations of the extension forces would not permit, succeeded in attracting attention to good ideas and selling them to the farmers so successfully that the Central of Georgia Railway Agricultural Department achieved a reputation as leader in promoting the adoption of some valuable farm prac tices. I do not want to appear to your committee as bragging, but the extension forces in our States of Georgia and Alabama do not hesitate to give us credit for valuable leadership in certain directions; and some of the experts of the Agricultural Department here in Washington will do the same. For example, feeling the need of better permanent pastures in our territory, we paid half the cost of establishing test pastures in the different counties we serve. These pastures were needed in accordance with agricultural college recommendations, and they called attention to the value of carpet grass, Dallis grass, and lespedeza as pasture plants, and the proper way to use them, so effectively there is now a steady increase of thousands of acres of new permanent pastures seeded each spring in accordance with what many of our friends call the Central of Georgia Railway pasture recommendation-although we got it from the College. These pastures prove we can have in our region pastures with a grazing capacity equal, if not superior, to those of other pasture regions of the country which have long been famous for good pastures. Now our region is steadily building, and will continue to build, a foundation of good permanent pastures for profitable livestock arising. We also pioneered in the effort to call attention to the possibilities of winter legumes for soil building, and for 10 years have operated test plots on which farmers, following our recommendations, planted these winter legumes in the fall, to grow during the winter months and plow under in the spring for the benefit of the following summer crops. Ten years ago there were practically no winter legumes planted in our States of Georgia and Alabama. Now, every county agent is urging his farmer constituents to plant winter legumes; there was a total of nearly 10 million pounds of hairy vetch, Austrian winter peas, and crimson clover seed planted last fall in the States of Alabama and Georgia; and the possibility of taking advantage of our opportunities to grow something in the winter to add humus and nitrogen to the soil, and so increase its ability to produce more profitable following summer crops has become generally recognized. 120904-35--3 These winter legumes not only increase the humus content and improve the condition of the soil, but they prevent leaching of the soil fertility in the winter, and the new Soil Erosion Control Service is using them for strip cropping in connection with terracing in order to save the soil fertility of our region. The encouragement of the use of permanent pastures as a foundation for profitable livestock raising, and the practice of winter farming with winter legumes for increased profits from farm crops, are the two most conspicuous lines of work for which the Central of Georgia Railway Agricultural Department can claim credit as having done things that help to increase the agricultural prosperity of our region. Of course, our field agricultural agents have assisted the county agents and extension forces wherever possible, in their many varied efforts for increased use of profitable farming practices, and we have tried to help in every good movement for better agricultural conditions. Realizing the value of boys' and girls' club work from its beginning some 25 years ago, the Central of Georgia Railway for 9 years gave prizes to winners of club contests in counties we serve, the total cost of which amounted to $40,000. Most of these prizes, aside from some scholarships for agricultural short courses, were in the form of livestock-something that would reproduce itself-and included 137 registered boars and 202 registered beef-type bulls. The distribution of these purebred sires stimulated an interest in better livestock, and to supply the demands of farmer friends, we had to send representatives to breeding sections to select and import registered cattle in carlot shipments to fill farmer orders. All this about my work for the past 25 years is intended as evidence of my touch with the encouragement of more profitable agriculture and to support the following statements. We found the farmers we could interest in better livestock and the use of new methods, were invariably farm owners; and while, like the county agents, we worked with and for farm tenants, giving them all the encouragement and advice they would or could accept, it cannot be disputed that the hope for agricultural progress of this country depends almost entirely upon the class of farm owners. Farm tenants and share-croppers may be energetic and progressive minded, but they cannot pay the cost of better sires, winter legume seed for soil improvement, or pasture seed, and so forth; and cannot afford to invest, if they had the money, in improvements that would increase the value of land they do not own. Therefore, from the very beginning, I have realized the need for increasing farm ownership, and have wanted to do something about it; believing the steady increase in percentage of farm tenancy shown by each new census is a serious menace to our agricultural progress, particularly in the Southeast where the percentage of tenancy is highest. Now, the new Bankhead bill, S. 1800, promises to do just what I have felt for years should be done; and I will a little later explain that I am not speaking for myself alone, but represent a force of workers who are in position to understand the agricultural situation, |