6 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



increase in rent, wrapping paper and containers, twine, ice, etc., but 

 in larger part by the higher wages which employees in the distrib- 

 uting business have been able to maintain. 



Although not directly affecting the price of farm products, the 

 tremendous increase in taxes has added a burden which is very heavy 

 to carry. In most farming States taxes on farms have more than 

 doubled. On 155 farms in Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin in 1913 

 the income available for the owner's labor, profit, interest on capital, 

 and taxes — that is, receipts less expenses other than taxes — averaged 

 $1,147 per farm. Taxes averaged $112 per farm, which amounted to 

 9.8 per cent of the foregoing income figure. On these same farms in 

 1921 the estimated income available for labor, profit, interest on capi- 

 tal, and taxes averaged $771 per farm. The taxes in this year were 

 $253 per farm. Taxes, in other words, absorbed one-third of the 

 farm income in 1921, as compared with less than one-tenth in 1913. 

 Between 80 and 90 per cent (the percentage varying in different sec- 

 tions) of the taxes paid by the farmer is for expense within the 

 county, the larger items being schools and roads. Such taxes, there- 

 fore, are within the control of the majority of the people in the 

 county. Nevertheless, the increase in taxes is proving to be one of 

 the most frequent subjects of complaint by farmers, as answers to a 

 questionnaire sent out by this department showed very clearly, and 

 during the next few years the whole question of taxation will evi- 

 dently receive considerable attention by thoughtful farmers. 



HOW THE FARMERS ARE WEATHERING THE STORM. 



The production records of this year furnish a vivid illustration 

 of the vitality of American agriculture and of the courage and hope- 

 fulness of the American farmer. Certainly no other industry could 

 have taken the losses agriculture has taken and maintain produc- 

 tion, and we have no evidence to show that any other, group of 

 workers would have taken the reduction in wages in the spirit in 

 which the farmers have taken their reduction. 



Many thousands of farmers have not been able to weather the 

 storm, notwithstanding their most strenuous efforts. Thousands who 

 purchased land during the period of high prices, making a small 

 payment down, have been obliged to give up the struggle, let the 

 land go back, lose all the money they paid for it, and start anew. 

 Many thousands of renters who had substantial savings invested in 



