THE AFTER-WAR DEPRESSION 39 



levels alone, the crisis was not so apparent at 

 first, because many farm prices were still above 

 the level of 1913, and in fact they have so con- 

 tinned in many instances until the present. 



The difficulty arose from the fact that farm 

 prices declined earlier and more suddenly than 

 other prices, thereby bringing a hardship on the 

 farmer because of his reduced purchasing 

 power. 



The farmers' dollar was worth less than in 

 1913 for several months during 1916 and 1917, 

 which was a period commonly supposed to be 

 a very prosperous time for farmers. The 

 reason that it was not prosperous for farmers 

 was because general wholesale prices increased 

 more rapidly than farm prices. 



The real depression began in January, 1920, 

 at a time when the country as a whole was en- 

 joying almost unprecedented prosperity and 

 was in a disposition to give scant attention to 

 warnings or complaints from any source. The 

 farmers* dollar in January, 1920, was worth a 

 dollar in purchasing power in other products 

 than food and farm products. Then followed a 

 steady decline until December when this same 

 dollar was worth only 65 cents and the average 

 for that year was 86 cents. It was during 1920 



