The advocate., 1891-11-04
RHE VALUE OF. RELEASE OF MORTGAGE
FIGURES AS. GIVEN AT STATED TINES
BY THE CAPITAL"


The official state paper Of Kansas Is
mildly referred to in the following mat
ter from the Plsinville Times, plainly
showing what an utter perverSon Of facts
characterizes the statistics that the Ogpi-
tai is wont to give in Its supreme deVo-
tlon to the interests Of organized mo-
nopoly:
In the Times Of October a challenge was
issued to Walter R. McNutt, register Of
deeds Of Rocks county, to furnish this
paper with the names of those parties who
have paid farm mortgages in Rocks county
during the six months ending August /,
1891, together with descriptions of land on
which such mortgages we're he'd. AS stated
before, our object in making the challenge
was to ascertain whether the mortgage re-
ports which have been published monthly in
the Topeka Capital for the past six months
were true reports Of mortgages actually
paid, or whether the Capital had included
in its figures, for political effect, the mort
cages released by virtue of foreclosure pro-
ceedings in the district court, which pro-
ceedings eventually act to release mort
gage and render clear title to the land
against which proceedings are brought.
The result of the challenge is perfectly
satisfactory to the Times. It has proven
Just what we have believed all along, viz:
That about half of the gigantic figures that
Che Capital has been using to whack the
Alliance over the head have come not from
the debts which farmers, by economy and
hard labor, have been enabled to pay, but
instead come through the system in vogue
in Kansas of taking the homes of unfor-
tunate settlers who have become involved,
without redering any equivalent whatever
therefor, not even giving due credit on the
amount of mortgages for the value of land
sold under the sheriff's hammer.
Il will be seen by the above that in May
the actual mortgage payments were only
$3.50, and for the same month Mr.. MoNutt
reported to the Capital that there had been
&19,975 in mortgages paid, making only the
small difference of $16,0S6, This latter
amount simply represents the mortgage
foreclosures of that month, or, in other
words, Mr.. McNutt reported Sl6,036 falsely,
while he was reporting $3.50 which repre-
gented true mortgage payments. More than
this, in the same month there were new
mortgages recorded in the county amount
ing to $10,630, or an excess Of mortgages re-
corded over those released Of $6,69l, equal
10 nealy one dollar per capita of population
Of the county. Yet, at the same time, the
Topeka Capital, by the aid of such men as
Mr.. McNutt, heralded abroad over the union
that Kansas farmers were paying their
debts, that they we're prospering under the
present shylock system, and that the ALI
anCe and all its helpers were fanatics and
deserved the condemnation of the entire
country. We haven't all the Capitals hg-
ures at hand, but in the month Of Septem-
ber we find that Mr.. MoNutt reported mort
gage releases to that paper amounting to
$8,62l, while he can furnish the Times with
releases amounting to only $5,1S7, showing
the small discrepancy of SS,434. Again ad-
ding up the grand totals for the six months
we fnd that the Capitals figures show mort
gage payments amounting to $60,4SO, and
that the total of all that Mr.. McNutt can
furnish to us is only S27,9S4.S0, difference
Of $22, ,593.70, which was falsely reported.
This shows conclusively that either Mr..
McNutt has misrepresented facts or else
that the Capital has mslioiously changed his
figures to suit it's own tastes, thing we
do not believe even the Capital has brass
enough TO do. VIII some one who 81 trying to
uphold these attempts at blindfolding the
public, while farms are passing one by one