Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-04-01
SELLING LANDS.

tAO ouOyOSts AAO inst pOlub, DO uOb Ut
mand so many dollars, cash in gold,''
prepares the way for q consideration of
the terms, THAT is, the times of payment.
In every section of country have ever
visited or resided in, have noticed that
the terms of sale for real estate were
somewhat peculiar, dependent upon the
business of the country, the style of farm
ing, the kinds of crops, and the facilities
for marketing. Generally, the more d.
versiied the husbandry, and the better
the markets, the shorter the times of
payments. The reason of this must be
evident to every one on reflection. In
such communities, the farmers are always
selling something, and money is always
afloat. Hence an active business farmer,
who understands how to manage, can or
dinarily arrange TO have money, so as to
meet his payments as they become due.
Experience has proven, that il cash
payment to the amount of one third the
total value of the sale is made, that lien
on the land ought to be considered suffi-
Gent security for the deferred payments.
If such is not the case, the Valuations ex-
cessiVe, aud fictitious. Now remember it
is the interest of both buyer and seller
that the valuation should be reasonable.
If it is too great, as / have before said,
the majority of those who buy land do
30 to use it for the purpose of their sup.
port, there is great danger that the sale
will fall through. Assuming that / am
writing 20 honest men, who do not pro-
pose to make money out of others mis-
fortunes, take it for granted that such
a result is not desirable. They wish q
real sale, that the vacant land may be
occupied and improved and the country
benefited. believe it may be assumed
as an axiom, that any good 200 acres of
tinable land will enable a good sound
farmer, who can pay one third leash in
hand, to clear the place of mortgage in
FIVE years, if the valuation is not excess
siVe. To this conclusion l have come after
considerable personal experience and obser-
vation more extensive than care here to
describe. If this be go, what shall be
said of the ordinary terms Offered by the
DEGREES of Chancery Courts of 6, IL, Is
and "a months, with from Is to 20 per
cent. ''cash in hand. The first thing to say
is that such DEGREES argue gross ignorance
of the possibilities of farming life. The
second is, that very few of such sales, if
made to poor men, ever amount to any
thing except to multiply the number of
Chancery Court slaves, and every one
knows the country Is full enough of
them now. believe that what of such
terms of sale" was not begot
of ignorance, sprung from a much
more ignoble sire, that is an affectation
that has prevailed in some parts of the
earth, of "a landed aristocracy." Hence
an influence has operated to make it diff
cult for poor men to buy land, and when
it was sold, to cause it to be bought up
by the rich. Another practice that has
prevailed more or less extensively, in this
State, is 20 require personal security"
for the deferred payments of sale OF
land. Why personal security2" The
land was held too high, so that the whole
of it was not sufficient security for the
remaining payments. Could it be posi-
bic that there was lurking, in the minds of
those who proposed such terms, a Jealousy
or fear of strangers Sure it is, that
nothing could be better devised to keep
strangers from buying, unless they were
rich enough to be masters of the situation.
Where are strangers TO get personal Sc
curity2 Who is so soft as to put his
hand to paper, to cucumber bis property,
perhaps to beggsr his family, for the
benefit of strangers Does not the Scrip
lures teach us not to ''strike hands" that
is, become security Ftfor the stranger 7"
The truth is, this practice has kept
great deal of the country from being
settled, and ought TO be abandoned. The
next question concerns the interest on the
deferred payments. Our forefathers had
plenty of time to pay for their land, and
generally had no interest to pay.
have known hundreds of fami-
lilies of the olden time, who did not be-
come ''fun owners" of their homeste ads,
for from fifteen to twenty years, after
purchase. They would have had a sorry
time of it if they had been required to
pay interest. Remember that at six per
cent interest, the interest eats up the
principal in fifteen years and two thirds.
As the custom of the day requires the
payment of interest on deferred payments
in the first place, the rate ought not to be
six per cent, because one-fourth of that
was allowed as the price of security, or,
as wewould now say, the cost of insurance
that the money will be paid. Now, If
the whole farm is security for the defer
red payments, the security is absolute al
ready, and no honest man ought to charge
twice for the same thing. If The law
allows six per cent on notes of hand, and
book accounts, and sales of personal
property, or sales of land, one-fOurth of
that ought to be stricken off, and wise is
that man who does not grind the face of
the poor. Some propose that the interest
may be provided for by lien on the
crop. That mode is quite favorable to
the seller, though there are some objec-
tons to that course, even on his account.
The crop is 8 movable thing. 1t ought
not TO be encountered. There is too
much of the personal liberty of the far
Iner in the crop. He ought to have alb
solute control of it and be encouraged to
devote his energies to the business of pro-
duction without any trammel. Besides,
the arrangement furnishes ground for
suspicion and misunderstanding. be-
lieve the better plan is to compute the
interest on the deferred payment, and
add 1t in, and let it all be covered by the
mortgage on the land. l cannot close
this long article without word about
this thing we call 'interest." 1t is hard
on the poor man. Thousands buy farms,
and do not know what they are paying,
because of this thing of interest. A man
buys farm for $4,000, paying $4,000,
''cash in hand" Next year he pays
81, 600 more and one years interest on
$4,000, which is $24O, to which add the
| interest on the first payment $l2O, be-
cause be has lost the use of the money.
Next year he pays $4,000 more, the final
payment and the interest on it, which is
1920, and loses one years interest on the
second payment, 1920 and two years in
terest on the first payment which is S240.
So the farm costs SO, 72O; because man
paying out his money owes himself inter
est on what he pays, if it were his own,
but if borrowed, he owes it to the lender.
Interest backwards and interest forwards.
Interest all the time. Night and day it
works, and don't care for the weather.
1t has but one end, ''to skin" the poor
man, and make the rich richer. How
many groan and toll, and grosn and toll
without hope, on account of the remorse-