THE IMPACT OF WAR 107 



in taxes for each $100 in real property, but by 1932 he was paying $1.50. 

 From 1913 to 1929 the rise had persisted, year after year, with the single 

 exception of 1918, when there had been a drop from 58 to 57 cents. Real 

 estate values, in terms of the 1913 level, stood at 160 per cent in 1920, 114 

 per cent in 1929, and 87 per cent in 1932. But taxes in the same years stood 

 at 209 per cent, 241 per cent, and 189 per cent of the 1913 figures. In Iowa 

 alone taxes rose from $96,000,000 in 1920 to $110,000,000 in 1930 a 

 $14,000,000 increase in a decade when prices were going steadily down. 40 



The rising cost of doing business was another headache for the farmer. 

 Farm wages, according to the most trustworthy estimates, had risen from 

 the prewar level by the index figures of 101 in 1914, 239 in 1920, and 170 

 in 1927, while the prices of the things the farmer had to buy had shown 

 a similar ascending curve. With his earnings down and consumers' goods, 

 equipment, and wages still up, the farmer's struggle to keep solvent grew 

 harder year by year. Transportation costs provided still another heavy 

 item of expense. Freight rates, after two preliminary boosts of 5 per cent 

 and 15 per cent respectively in the region east of the Mississippi and north 

 of the Potomac, were increased by 25 per cent for the country as a whole 

 in 1918. This meant for most of the western Middle West a total increase 

 of about 50 per cent. Still another increase occurred in August, 1920. 

 Meanwhile, although farm prices also had been rising, even faster than 

 the freight rates, the break in prices came just before the last major advance 

 in rates took place. Sharp protests on the part of the rate payers brought 

 from the railroads a voluntary reduction of 10 per cent on the shipment 

 of farm commodities in January, 1922, followed shortly thereafter by a 

 general cut of 10 per cent; but absolutely essential transportation costs 

 still took a formidable share of the farmers' profits. 41 



Numerous necessary readjustments in farming methods made another 

 heavy dent in the farmer's budget. New and expensive machinery was 

 available, and the farmer who lacked it was at a serious disadvantage. 



40. The Farmers' Tax Problem (73 Congress, 2 session, House Document 406, 

 serial 10126, Washington, 1934), p. 10; J. O. Babcock, "The Farm Revolt in Iowa," 

 Social Forces, XII (March, 1934), p. 369; Mclsaac, in Facing the Facts, p. 290; G. F. 

 Warren and F. A. Pearson, The Agricultural Situation (New York, 1924), p. 32. 



41. Ibid., pp. 1-5; J. C. Folsom, "Relief from Farm Labor Costs," Annals of the 

 American Academy of Political and Social Science, CXLII (March, 1929), pp. 196- 

 201; H. Gabriel, "Transportation Rates and Facilities," ibid., p. 147. 



