ABSTRACT
After 1920, farmers were feeding the city population at abnormally low prices at a time when there was a shortage of houses. When employment becomes general, the population will again use its normal housing facilities, the apparent surplus will suddenly disappear, and the real shortage will be evident. When prices rise, wages rise less rapidly. Laborers, therefore, economize on houses, so that city real estate prices are depressed or do not rise so quickly as prices of farm land. A business depression that is caused by a drop in commodity prices requires a complete readjustment of equities before business can start again. Farm and city real estate are among the last things to recover after a depression. The deluge of foreclosures that hung over the market in the spring of 1933 was greatly reduced by the advance in commodity prices and the improved business conditions which resulted from the advance in the price of gold.
