36 



Land Planning Report 



apt to be poor. Even though this be true in tliis 

 region, the cost of poUtical and social institutions is 

 still too high, sometimes exceeding total county tax 

 receipts. One must conclude that in part tWs is due 

 to county xmits being far too small, but in part, how- 

 ever, it is due to an institutional program not ad- 

 justed to basic land productivity. Public buildings are 

 costly in proportion to the total taxable wealth, the 

 standard of sciiool expenses high, and roads (owing 

 to the haphazard location of farmsteads) are numer- 

 ous. Consolidation of county units and zoning of 

 rural residence to achieve lower road and school costs 

 might achieve some economy, but the quaUty of public 

 service would still be low unless these areas are to 

 receive assistance through States and Federal funds. 



In portions of the western Great Plains as many as 

 60 percent of all farm families depend upon cash 

 grain crops for the major portion of their income. In a 

 region subject to complete crop failure tliis is a feitile 

 cause for wholesale distress. Even in good or average 

 years low incomes are almost universal in many dis- 

 tricts. A gross income of less than $1,000 or even 

 $1,500 means real poverty even in normal times, 



because operating expenses are high and net income 

 is very low, and the farm often contributes almost 

 nothing to family living. Inunigrant farmers are 

 usually more successful than those of native American 

 stock, partly because they will accept a lower standard 

 of living, but more so because they make their farm 

 ^•ield more toward family subsistence rather than con- 

 centrating their efforts on the production of the princi- 

 pal cash crop. 



Where net incomes are as small as those of many 

 Great Plains farmers, expenditures are limited to the 

 purch.ase of the necessities of life. Practically notliing 

 remains in all too manj- instances for home conven- 

 iences, amusement and recreation, or for self-improve- 

 ment. Fairly representative of the areas of "problem" 

 agriculture over the Great Plains are conditions in 

 southwestern Kansas. Here the houses are frequently 

 either meager frame shacks or "dugouts" with very 

 few outbuildings. Well improved homes are scarce. 

 The usual farmliouse has bare floors, often the plaster 

 has partially fallen from the walls, furnishings are 

 scarce and poor in quality, and modern conveniences 

 are rarely seen. Wells must often be supplemented by 



us DEPARTMENT OF AGBICULTURE 



BUREAU OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



FinuRE 6.— The severe drought in the Xorthwest States in 1934 required extensive advances from the Federal Government to enable farmers to purchase feed, .\dditional funds 



were made available through the winter of 1934-35. 



