could not be repaid, and many peasants became seriously indebted or were forced off the land. As early as May 1930 farmers began coming to Bangkok to plead for government assistance and in the following year a growing number of petitions were sent to the king asking for reductions in the land and capitation taxes. Urban dwellers were also suffering badly as a result of the economic decline and the number of unemployed increased, many of them being officials retrenched from the bureaucracy