THE TENANT FARMER 223 



themselves and their entire families. Few of the 

 tenants ever succeed in laying by a surplus. On 

 the contrary, their experiences are so discouraging 

 that they move from one farm to the next in the 

 constant hope of being able to better their condition. 

 Without the labor of the entire family the tenant 

 farmer is helpless. As a result, not only is his wife 

 prematurely broken down but the children remain 

 uneducated and without the hope of any condition 

 better than that of their parents. The tenants 

 having no interest in the results beyond the crops 

 of a single year, the soil is being rapidly exhausted 

 and the conditions, therefore, tend to become 

 steadily worse. Even at present a very large pro- 

 portion of the tenants' families are insufficiently 

 clothed, badly housed, and underfed. Practically 

 all of the white tenants are native-born. As a 

 result of these conditions, however, they are de- 

 teriorating rapidly, each generation being less ef- 

 ficient and more hopeless than the one preceding. 



"A very large proportion of the tenants are hope- 

 lessly in debt and are charged exorbitant rates of 

 interest. Over 95 per cent, of the tenants borrow 

 from some source and about 75 per cent, borrow 

 regularly year after year. The average interest 

 rate on all farm loans is 10 per cent., while small 

 tenants in Texas pay 15 per cent, or more. In 

 Oklahoma the conditions are even worse in spite 

 of the enactment of laws against usury. ^ Further- 

 more, over 80 per cent, of the tenants are regularly 

 in debt to the stores from which they secure their 

 supplies and pay exorbitantly for this credit. The 

 average rate of interest on store credit is con- 

 servatively put at 20 per cent., and in many cases 

 ranges as high as 60 per cent. 



1 See Chapter XXII, "The Farmer and the Banker." 



