The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-06-18

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| good security and paid high rate OF
interest. but they allowed the money
loaner to run up handsome bin for ex
aiming the property to be offered for
security, for legal expenses In examin-
ing the title, and for commissions for
| obtaining the money from some distant
capitalist. Observation shows that
persons who make business of loaninq'
| money to- farmers almost invariably be-
| come rich in short time In large
! cities money can almost always be OBJ
| tanned on good security for a trihe
more than the interest allowed on state
bonds. At the present time banks and
capitalists in all our large cities are
| holding large sums of money that they
/ are not able TO loan at the legal rates
of interest. Still farmers in the sparse
| ly settled states and territories are
! charged usurious rates for the use Of
money, even when they are able to offer
security on land that has been improved
and which is rapidly advancing in
value.
That many western farmers borrow
money injudiciously is matter Of COM
mon observation Ii is the fashion in
| for farmers to hire money st rate OF
interest that the profits of their brlsi-
ness do not warrant. and at the same
time to contract debts for running ex-
penses They are anxious to make
their farms pay better than they do at
present. They want to keep not only
more but better stock. In order TO en-
able them to do this they require more
barns and stables, and a larger amount
of grain and tame grass Lnmber and
other building materials are expensive,
and the wages OF carpenters are high.
There is pressing demand for all
kinds of farm machinery. which holds.
its price though the price of al farm
products is very low Drills for plant
ing wheat and machinery FOR harvest
ing it cost as much with wheat so cents
per bashel as they did when it sold for
more than twice that sum- Machines
for planting and cultiyating corn COM
mand the same price they did when
the price of the grain they are used to
produce was double what it is at pres
ent. The like is true of almost every
machine and tool used on farm
Crops are very low, but, singularly
enough, farm implements are high. and
there are no indications of decline IN
price. Interest is low in all great
money centers, but it remains very high
in all parts of the country where there
is not capital enough to make neces-
sary improvements on farms and to
properly stock and manage thems
While this state of things exists farm
ers must exercise much discretion and
judgment about mortgaging their land
in order to raise money. They should
carefully consider whether they can
invest the money so that it Will
be profitable for them. Manufacturers
ana mercantile men state that it does
not pay to hire money at even 6 or 8
per cent to put into their business.
Still farmers in many parts of the west
and south are hiring money for which
they promise to pay 10 per cent inter-
est, and to obtain which they pay per
cent commission. A business must be
very profitable that allows the person
use OF money. Very few farmers can
produce enough on their places, to pay
l5 per cent on the capital invested.
This rate of interest would soon drive
them from house and home.
Many farmers in those parts of the
western states that have been longest
settled have placed mortgages ON their
places that they can never lift except
by the aidiof another one. The i'm
comes of their farms, at the present
low prices of grain and meat, do not
pay the interest on the money they owe
and the running expenses Of the fam
| lily. One failure of a leading crop, the
visit of a contagious disease among an
imals, one protracted sickness in the
family would result III ruin or a great
sacrifice of property acquired by long
years of hard labor and self-denial In
| the south, where cotton and tobacco
are the leading crops, the system of
getting advances on crops has become
general The farmer mortgages what
is only in prospect. AS great risk att
tends the production of the crop. mon
| ey-loaners demand exhorbitant rates ON
the sums they advance. Advancing
money on growing crops of wheat has
also, it is said. become quite common
in California. Oregon, Minnesota, and
Dakota. Loans on growing crops are
generally made to parties who have
mortgaged their land or who have not
yet acquired title to it.
! Raising money on stock has become
very common, not only in the terrific
! ries, where there are numerous quanti-
ties of land that is only valuable for
grazing purposes, but in most of the
northwestern states where stock-raising
| is the leading industry Men are con-
| stantly engaged in making out and re-
cording chattel mortgages. Many
| farmers have given a mortgage on the
team they drive and use to do plowing.
| on the cows they milk, the sheep they
shear, and the young cattle that are
| grazing on the prairie. These farmers
have placed themselves at the mercy Of