242 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



would-be farmer who has nothing to offer but his 

 labor. There is no provision for the tenant farmer 

 except such as he secures from the local banks or 

 the store which has a claim upon his produce. 

 And the extortion of the banks and money-lenders 

 of the South, the Southwest, and the West is al- 

 most incredible. 



The Comptroller of the Currency has investigated 

 usury and the excessive rates charged by the banks. 

 A similar investigation was made by the Commission 

 on Industrial Relations. In the South and West the 

 tenant farmer is continually in debt. He rarely es- 

 capes. 



An elaborate report of the practices of the banks 

 in Oklahoma was made to the Comptroller of the 

 Currency by Judge L. C. McNabb, of the county 

 court of Sequoyah County. It describes how the 

 bankers and money-lenders keep the farmer in 

 bondage, of how they increase the rates and com- 

 missions, of how the farmer once involved is rarely 

 permitted to get free, and how as a result his farm 

 is finally foreclosed and he is reduced to the posi- 

 tion of tenant or farm-laborer. Probably in no State 

 in the Union have the banks contributed more to 

 the destructio nof home ownership than in Okla- 

 homa which a few years ago was one of the richest 

 agricultural States in the nation.^ 



The farmer, says Judge McNabb, usually makes 



1 Report of Comptroller of the Currency, 1915, pp. 218^. 



