Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-15
FARM MORTGAGES.
superintendent Porter's Sharp Reply 10 IN
Alliance Editor.

Alliance Editor.
| vEsTIoArIoN ron PARTISAN purrosEs-Irs
ONLY DESIRE IL TO OBTAIN THE TRUTH
BULLETIN TO BE SHORTLY ISSUED.
Mr. Porter, the superintendent Of the census,
has received q letter from Mr.. s. McIallin, the
editor Of The Advocate, Farmers Alliance
newspaper published in Topeka, Kan, CRITICS.
ing the farm mortgage investigation now be-
ing conducted by the Office. Mr.. Porter re-
piled to him q follows:
Dear Sir: A reply in detail is due 10 your
earnest and outspoken letter Of the 4th instant
There is no evidence, nor is il Q fact, that the
census office has conducted the mortgage In
vestigation for partisan purposes. The desire
has simply been to ascertain the truth and, az
Tar a. possible. the whole truth in regard to
the recorded indebtedness Of the people Of the
United States.
The persons whom you refer to a. accusing
tne census ONCE OF unfairness in conducting
TINS inquiry are guilty of large degree of un-
fairness themselves in judging this office with
out hearing and before any results of the
investigation have been issued. II Is a
matter of the plainest justice that facts on al
sides shall be known before condemnation.
The census office has never attempted no.
desired to belittle the importance Of the
mortgage investigation, nor to misrepresent
the amount Of mortgage Indebtedness owed BY
the people or any class Of people. The insinua-
tons against the integrity of the:census Office
expressed in your letter are entirely without
foundation or plausibility.
1t would be foolish to claim that the amount
OF existing mortgage indebtedness can be as
certained without error, whatever the plan
may be-. It is simply question Of choosing
the method that can be practically employed
with the least degree Of error, and it is
expected that the plan adopted by the
census Office will be regarded as euch q one
when 1t is fully understood and its results are
known. No one is qualified to express an in
telllgent opinion in regard to this matter until
he has examined this plan Of work and the re-
suits of the tabulation.
A bulletin containing results for Alabama
and Iowa will be issued in few days, and I
shall take pleasure in sending you q copy, con-
fident that it will convince YOU that YOU have
treated the census Office unjustly.
4! infer that you regret that the census Office
did not ascertain the amount of recorded in
debtedness by making this investigation a part
OF the general enumeration of last summer
The reason why the superintendent of census
desired that this should not be done is expressed
In letter to the Hon. d. B. Henderson, Decem-
Der 3D. 1885, referring to the collection of statis
tics OF farm and home ownership and indebted
ness, which is supplementary to the investiga-
ton Of recorded indebtedness. The foundation
enumerators, who were required to ascertain
whether homes and farms were hired or owned
by the families occupying them, and, if owned,
whether free of debt or mortgaged, and at the
same time they were required to report the post
office addresses if they were found mortgaged.
II at the same time the letter to Representa-
tive Henderson was written l could have fore
seen the extent to which the enumerators
failed to find at home any person who could
tell them whether the home or farm
una mn t<ro<v A1 che - -
that any attempt to ascertain the amount Of
recorded Indebtedness of the people through
the enumeration would be SO great failure
that no trustworthy results could be derived
from it for any purpose. am now more than
ever satisfied that it was wise to exclude
from the enumeration everything in regard to
the indebtedness Of the people that
was not included, not only because the success
OF the constitutional enumeration of the peo-
pie would have been damaged, but because the
incomplete as to be practically worthless.
1t is surprise that you are relying upon the
face Of the uncanceled real estate records for
the purpose OF showing the amount of existing
indebtedness, and that you are preparing to
judge the work of the census Office in compare
son with this standard
Few persons who know anything at all about
real estate records would fail to see that a
great exaggeration of the amount of existing
indebtedness goes with this method. This will
be exhibited to you concluslvely in the bulletin
soon to be sent. The amount of mortgages un-
Cancelled Of record, but paid in full, is every
where an important elemen. Of deception if
reliance Is to be made upon the face of the un-
cancelled records.
Then there are the partial payments that
nave Deen made upon the mortgages in force,
and II allowance is not made for these there
will be an exaggeratiol Of the existing indebt-
edness to the extent Of probably III per cent or
more, although the percentage is much lower
in Kansas.
In the efforts of the Kansas Alliance to ascer
tain the amountof existing mortgage indebted
ness understand that second mortgages given
Tor the security of interest and commission,
nave been taken as principal instead OF being
converted into an addition to the rate of in
terest, as they should be. If this mistake has
been made another large element of error of
exaggeration has been added to the other
errors mentioned.
What these errors Of investigation are doing
Tor you will appear in Lyon county, where the
census ofhce made a special investigation and
ascertalned the amount unpaid upon every un-
Cancelled mortgage recorded during the ten
years, lSSO-'S9, period including all of the
mortgages in force. 1t was ascertained that.
as q matter of fact the debt of that
county, January l, 1880, was s3,4I4,644. The
face OF the uncanceled records, not including
interest and commission mortgages, exaggerate
this indebtedness 26.4l per cent, and the inclu-
sion OF the interest and commission mortgages
explains the remainder of the eAagserstiou
shown by your debt Of SAT-, 476, allowing also
for the debt incurred during the first eight
months of 1880.
With such errors az these underlying your
estimates OF existing mortgage indebtedness
upon farms in Kansas do not understand
why you place that indebtedness at only
Sl47, OOO, OOO, which is not likely to be very far
from the existing debt established by the GEN.
sus othce, estimating from an examination of
partially made tables.
At the present time the census Office is COM
pletlng the collection OF facts in regard to farm
and home ownership in Kansas and neighbor-
ing states, and needs the cooperation Of the
farmers, at whose request the investi-
CATION has been undertaken. 1 have written
you at some length with the hope
that this letter and the bulletin which you viii
soon receive will convince you that you have
been unjust, and that you will give your sup
port to the completion of this investigation.
The census otnce is not antagonizing any one
or any class Of people and is pursuing its in
vestigation faithfully. 1t asks only for common
its Investigations may be judged
according to their merit. Very respectfully.
Robert p. PORTER,
Superintendent of Census.
FOUR ARRESTS MADE.