THE FOOD CRISIS AJtD AMERICANISM IOI 



the increase in the farm mortgage indebtedness in Ne- 

 braska, during the year 1917, was $29,755,109.14, as 

 compared with an increase of the farm mortgage in- 

 debtedness for 1906 of $8,092,336.48; in 1907 of 

 $10,074,881.70; and in 1908 of $9,707,244.64; with 

 nothing like an adequate increase of the farmers' as- 

 sets. In my opinion, on account of high cost of ma- 

 terial and scarcity of labor, less than the usual amount 

 of farm improvements was made in 1917. As I have 

 shown, the increased selling price of land is of no 

 value from either the standpoint of national econom- 

 ics, or that of the real farmer. 



