Chapter XIX 

 EPILOGUE 



PERHAPS the one thing that stands out conspicuously among agrarian 

 developments during the first two decades of the century is that the 

 farmers were temporarily enjoying the fruits of prosperity. Even though 

 these good times were not shared in by all farmers, and doubts were voiced 

 whether they were good times, there were those who viewed the rising 

 farm prices, incomes, and land values as proof that this was the "golden 

 age" of American agriculture. When the war created heavy demands for 

 food, these optimists found additional cause to believe that the need for 

 our goods would give our farmers a profitable export market for many 

 years to come. If there were any alarmists in their midst who dared to 

 find some cause for alarm in the rising production costs, mounting debts, 

 and overexpansion, or to entertain doubts about the future, they certainly 

 were a meek and inarticulate group. Yet the truth of the matter is that 

 these depressing times came much sooner than even some of the most 

 pessimistic expected. 



Many of the problems that faced the farmers, beginning in 1920, were 

 like those of earlier times, except that this time they were more wide- 

 spread and more aggravated, and had come swiftly upon the heels of a 

 vanishing prosperity. The overexpansion of agriculture; the want of a 

 program to aid the farmers convert from wartime to peacetime needs; 

 sharp price drops; heavy freight, tax, and labor costs; high prices for 

 farmers' supplies; and the lack of credit to tide them through the early 

 months of the depression helped make their lot an unsatisfactory one. 



