14 OUR USE OF THE LAND 



of booms and depressions, two causes of which were the rise 

 and fall of farm markets, and the invention of farm machinery. 

 Each new boom had led the farmer deeper into debt. 



Machinery made it possible to cultivate great stretches of 

 what was formerly range and prairie. For the commercial 

 farmer, the invention of farm machinery meant this: In 1830 

 without machinery, his great grandfather spent 183 minutes 

 of labor to produce a single bushel of grain while in 1900, with 

 machinery, he was producing that same amount of grain with 

 about 10 minutes of labor. 12 Since 1909 farm efficiency has in 

 creased 30 per cent. 13 In the 1930's 19 farmers grew enough 

 food to feed 66 non'farm people, while in 1787 the same number 

 of farmers grew only enough surplus to feed a fraction of that 

 number. 14 This meant that as commercial farming became 

 more efficient, there was less opportunity for many farmers to 

 sell their produce. A smaller number of farmers could supply 

 all the food for the many new city dwellers. 



The rise and fall of the prices of farm produce that came 

 with commercial farming had this effect. When prices went 

 up, the farmer borrowed money to buy new land and ma 

 chinery so that he could raise more crops to sell. Then, when 

 more grain and cotton and beef were raised than could be 

 sold, their prices fell. The farmer was left stranded with his 

 debts, and no money with which to pay them. He could see 

 but one escape to plant more so that in spite of falling prices 

 his crop would bring enough money to pay his debts. But the 

 more he planted the lower crop prices sank. The government 

 was still giving away land, but by 1920 free land was no solu 

 tion to the problem. Even if there had been good farm land 



12 Hacker and Kendrick, United States Since 1865, F. S. Crofts tf Company, 

 New York, 1934, p. 175. 



13 National Resources Board Report, United States Government Printing Office, 

 Washington, December, 1934, p. 102. 



14 "The Farmer Looks Ahead," Farmers' Bulletin No. 1774, United States De' 

 partment of Agriculture, 1937, p. 5. 



