106 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



interest. Frequently the interest was higher than # 

 per cent, and outrageous commissions on renewal* 

 increased the burden of the farmer. The result 

 was one foreclosure after another. The mortgage 

 shark was identified as the servant of the "Wall 

 Street Octopus," and between them there was little 

 hope for the farmer. In Kansas, according to a 

 contemporary investigator, 1 "the whole western 

 third of the State was settled by a boom in farm 

 lands. Multitudes of settlers took claims without 

 means of their own, expecting to pay for the land 

 from the immediate profits of farming. Multitudes 

 of them mortgaged the land for improvements, and 

 multitudes more expended the proceeds of mort- 

 gages in living. When it was found that the pro- 

 ceeds of farming in that part of the State were very 

 uncertain, at best, the mortgages became due. And 

 in many instances those who had been nominally 

 owners remained upon the farms as tenants after 

 foreclosure. These are but the natural effects in 

 reaction from a tremendous boom." In eastern 

 Kansas, where settlement was older, the pressure of 

 hard times was withstood with less difficulty. It 

 was in western Kansas, by the way, that Populism 

 had its strongest following; and, after the election 



1 G. T. Fairchild, Pol Sc. Q., vol. 11, p. 614. 



