A Primer on Farm Mortgage Debt Relief Programs during the 1930s

Jonathan D. Rose

Figure 2. Distribution of outstanding farm debt across lenders 1909-1953

year	total	federal land banks	ffmc	joint stock land banks	banks and tc	life insurance com	other	indiv and misc	farmers home admin
1909	3207863	0	0	0	406248	386961	2414654	2414654
1910	3522121	0	0	0	477568	423454	2621099	2621099
1911	3929758	0	0	0	580300	479653	2869805	2869805
1912	4347679	0	0	0	673752	550158	3123769	3123769
1913	4707358	0	0	0	723787	597462	3386109	3386109
1914	4990785	0	0	0	746111	669984	3574690	3574690
1915	5256425	0	0	0	776269	765571	3714585	3714585
1916	5825851	0	0	0	933990	861144	4030717	4030717
1917	6536860	39112	0	1888	1008492	955591	4531777	4531777
1918	7137365	156214	0	8384	1030240	1018163	4924364	4924364
1919	8448772	293595	0	60038	1204383	974826	5915930	5915930
1920	10221126	349679	0	77959	1447483	1205778	7140227	7140227
1921	10702257	432523	0	85017	1540005	1432367	7212345	7212345
1922	10785621	639486	0	218775	1506467	1556203	6864690	6864690
1923	10664919	797785	0	392639	1388106	1792145	6294244	6294244
1924	9912650	923077	0	446429	1200456	1942624	5400064	5400064
1925	9713213	998552	0	545559	1178460	2030301	4960341	4960341
1926	9658422	1068642	0	632476	1143595	2123664	4690045	4690045
1927	9756957	1144984	0	669798	1097085	2172863	4672227	4672227
1928	9756559	1182813	0	656516	1046624	2138980	4731626	4731626
1929	9630768	1201732	0	637789	997468	2118439	4675340	4675340
1930	9398088	1197063	0	605858	946876	2087047	4561244	4561244
1931	9093983	1180992	0	552180	940135	2036614	4884062	4884062
1932	8466418	1147014	0	474954	889083	1898318	4057049	4057049
1933	7685203	1257825	70738	412346	710863	1697787	3535644	3535644
1934	7584459	1947442	616737	277020	498842	1301562	2942856	2942856
1935	7422701	2113502	794147	200617	487505	1112289	2714641	2714641
1936	7153963	2147768	841251	162786	487534	1015615	2499009	2499009
1937	6954884	2126610	824151	133554	501450	988557	2380562	2380562
1938	6779318	2088478	774377	114992	519276	982939	2299256	2289038	10218
1939	6586399	2009820	713290	91726	534170	984290	2253103	2221176	31927
1940	6493527	1957184	685149	73455	543408	1016479	2217852	2152558	65294
1941	6376080	1880784	634885	55919	535212	1063166	2091581	2091581
1942	5956458	1718240	543895	37015	476676	1042939	1980230	1980230
1943	5395671	1452886	429751	10097	448433	986661	1896080	1896080
1944	4940915	1209676	347307	5455	449582	938275	1797243	1797243
1945	4760464	1078952	239365	3208	507298	891263	1858517	1858517
1946	4896970	976748	146621	1641	683229	888665	2010766	2010766
1947	5064245	888933	107066	645	840647	959715	2072170	2072170
1948	5288331	868156	77920	462	900843	1036383	2215674	2215674
1949	5579278	906077	58650	270	937144	1172326	2315956	2315956
1950	6071345	947431	44008	0	1008359	1355766	2501734	2501734
1951	6588270	994128	32778	0	1046923	1541041	2740026	2740026
1952	7154038	1071358	23899	0	1105096	1715164	2980585	2980585
1953	7656186	1169418	17628	0	1131214	1892643	3177223	3177223

Return to Figure 2

Figure 3: Number of outstanding loans held by Federal Land Banks and the Land Bank Commissioner

Year	Number of FLB loans	Number of LBC loans
1932	400537	0
1933	428861	43994
1934	606344	347299
1935	643803	431205
1936	639828	455082
1937	635776	455291
1938	628781	448080
1939	618456	439076
1940	613098	433226
1941	597141	422630
1942	554163	382504
1943	502298	338521.5
1944	450433	294539
1945	391721	252797
1946	371635	163546
1947	331743	122887
1948	308649	92466
1949	303567	73380
1950	308798	59148
1951	308258	47440
1952	310638	37701
1953	315750	30507
1954	323188	24880
1955	350888	0

Return to Figure 3

Figure 4: Average interest rates on outstanding loans, by lender groups

Year	FLBs and LBC	Life Insurance Cos.	Commercial Banks	Individuals
1933	5.4	5.6	6.6	6.1
1934	4.5	5.6	6.5	6.0
1935	4.6	5.6	6.3	5.9
1936	3.9	5.6	6.2	5.8
1937	4.0	5.5	6.0	5.6
1938	3.7	5.3	5.8	5.5
1939	3.7	5.1	5.7	5.3
1940	3.7	4.9	5.5	5.2
1941	3.5	4.8	5.5	5.2
1942	3.5	4.8	5.4	5.1
1943	3.5	4.7	5.4	5.0
1944	3.5	4.5	5.3	5.0
1945	4.1	4.5	5.2	4.9
1946	4.2	4.4

Return to Figure 4

Figure 5: Delinquency rates on Federal Land Bank and Land Bank Commissioner loans

year	FLB loans	LBC loans
1935	20	20
1936	14	19
1937	14	22
1938	20	28
1939	20	29
1940	18	23
1941	12	15
1942	8	10
1943
1944	5	7

Return to Figure 5

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