238 THE GREEN RISING 



1. The farm indebtedness of the United States 

 increased from $4,328,000,000 in 1910 to 

 $12,250,000,000 in 1920. Figures compiled by 

 the Census Bureau show that from 1920 to 

 1925 the mortgage indebtedness has increased 

 steadily. In typical agricultural states like 

 Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Kansas, 

 the percentage increase ranged from 12 to 18. 



2. The number of bankruptcies among farmers 

 steadily increased from 679 in 1910 to 1906 

 in 1916. The number declined to 1632 in 

 1917, 1207 in 1918, and 997 in 1919. The num- 

 ber increased rapidly from 1363 in 1921 to 

 7872 in 1924. The percentage of failures has 

 increased from 21 to 123 from 1920 to 1925. 



In commenting on these figures, the National In- 

 dustrial Conference Board directs attention to the 

 fact that "These disparities and their effects have 

 not been the same in all sections or in all branches 

 of the industry. ... In general it appears that the 

 producers of wheat, corn, cattle, hogs, and cotton 

 have felt the effects of the post-war readjustment 

 most severely, while the producers of dairy products, 

 fruits, and vegetables, especially those in proximity 

 to urban markets, have been less severely affected. 2 



The debate in the Sixty-ninth Congress on farm 

 relief repeatedly brought out the fact that most 

 of the bank failures from 1920 to 1925 were due to 



a The Agriculture Problem in the United States (1926), Chap. 2, 

 p. 63. 



