THE PLIGHT OF THE FARMER 109 



billions of dollars of other loans and think if it is any 

 wonder times are hard. Will the American people 

 never wake up to the fact that they are being pauper- 

 ized? Four people are paying interest upon each dol- 

 lar you have in your pocket if you have any. Wake 

 up ! Wake up ! 



Whatever the ultimate effects of an inflated and 

 consequently depreciated currency might be, the 

 debtor class, to which a large portion of the West- 

 ern farmers belonged, would obviously benefit im- 

 mediately by the injection of large quantities of 

 money into the circulating medium. The pur- 

 chasing power of money would be lower; hence the 

 farmer would receive more in dollars and cents and 

 would be in a better position to pay his standing 

 debts. Whether or not the rise in the prices of his 

 products would be offset or more than offset by the 

 increased prices which he would have to pay for the 

 things he purchased would depend upon the rela- 

 tive rate at which different commodities adjusted 

 themselves to the new scale of money value. In 

 the end, of course, other things being equal, there 

 would be a return of old conditions; but the farmers 

 did not look so far ahead. Hence it was that less 

 attention was paid to taxation, to railroad rates 

 and discriminations, to elevator companies, to 



