Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-02-22
Western.Farm Mortgages.
New York Daily Bulletin, Jan, %

New York Daily Bulletin, Jan. %.
The following letter relating to the
security of Eastern advances on West
ern farm-lands is deserving of attention
from the standing and bona fides of the
writer. We are disposed to think that
a great deal of the adverse criticisms
upon these transactions has arisen from
a misconception. The defective %securi-
ty and the losses on Western mortgages
apply almost exclusively to loans upon
city real estate, and especially upon
b%uilding-lots connected with specula-
tive schemes. The loans upon farms
rest upon a totally different basis, the
property in those cases having a solid
productive value and having shrunk lit
tie in market value compared with city
property. A little discrimination by
Eastern writer's OF this matter might
have saved much justice and needless
alarm
DWIGHT, Livingston Co., ILL.,, Jan. 5,
1878.-To the EditorV the New York
Bulletin: The u%nfavorable comments
of some of your city papers upon the
security of loans made on Western
farms have occasioned a great deal of
uneasiness on the part of those who
have hui invested, and the numerous
inquiries made by my correspondents
induces me to comply with the request
of your regular correspondent at this
place for facts that may have occurred
under my personal observation and in
my own business on this subject. 1t is
about ten years since | made my first
loans, and, possibly, the l%oaning that |
have done may not average with many
Of the larger firms who do an exclusive
loaning business. My loans at first were
mostly for personal friends, and through
them | have reached many more, so that
perhaps no one in the West could give
a greater number of correspondents for
the amount loaned. My loans aggregate
several hundred thousand dollars, and
at the present writing but two parties
are in default of interest, and I have
never been compelled to make a fore
closure. An extract from my cores
pondence to a party in New Bedford,
Mass, for whom | have invested quite
a large amount, and who has written me
for my opinion in regard to Western
loans, having been advised by his friends
that it was Extremely hazardous" to
make such investments, may furnish
some facts. | replied that | knew of
no security in our country that | consid-
cred so good as a loan of from $3.50 to
$15 per acre on farms lin this part of
the country that the general average
of market value Of farms was from 1913
to $40 per acre, The rental is from So
to $3.50 per acre, and all loans thus
made in these depressed times were the
best security that a person could have.
| was fully aware Of the occasion of so
much uneasiness ON the part OF the
Eastern people, because some reckless
and irresponsible agents had betrayed
the trust committed to them by making
loans to the full value in good times OF
farms upon which the loan was secured,
and from this cause parties had become
suspicious and had lost confidence in
Western loans" Iwould refer you for
further information on the subject to a
very responsible firm in Chicago, D: K.
Pearsons & Co., who have loaned q large
amount in this part Of the State, and
whose business will run up into the mil
lions. They can give you facts that
will do away with all u%neasiness on the