New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-09-07
MORTGAGES IN THE WEST.
KENDALL COUNTY. ILLINOIS. TAKEN AS AN
EXAMPLE.

oo4"H 'iUOtSrS THAT CONTRADICT The Ohf OB
cALAMITY-THE GREATER PORTION OF THIS
INDEBTEDNESS HELD IN THE WEST
EASTERN LENDERS GRADU-
ALLY DISAPPEARING.
TO the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: For months and months the gentle breezes
from the West have come laden with the old familiar
cry Of mortgaged farms. There once time
within easy recollection of the people when the poor
aborng man was the object Of the deepest solcitude
the politician fet keenly for his welfare, but the
sturdy farmers wero the lords Of creation" and the
name "famer' was synonymous with Independence
thrift and comfort. But discovery had been made,
and the Democratic party is entitled to the patent
They have all at once learned Of the poor farmers
fororn and pertlous condition. He is no longer the
independent thrifty farmer. He is said to be mort
gagged; mortgaged TO the verge OF insolvency; be-
yond all hope OF redemption, and the Eastern capt
talist is going to close him out The poor labor1ng
man with his tin pail is not the only object Of
felicity 1t is the farmer who is to be Guilt
waited and utilized for political purposes.
The Democratic party is seeking to draw the line
between the farmer and the capitalist, and Is giving
the farmers their first lessons In reputation, Of
which they themselves the patentees. They
Ignore the rights of the moneyed men who furnished
the Western farmers money to tide them In the
days Of their stringency; they in effect say the
Is
10 respect. Governor Boies Of Iowa. jouTneyed east
ward to tell the people that the Hawkeyes be-
coming bankrupt by filling the SOIL and raising
corn at loss. The people Of Iowa were In poor
business when they elected him Governor, and they
feel deeply chagrned at his recent manifesto in be-
lifting the condition OF the agncuturists of their
progressive State Of which they are Justly proud.
Kind Providence has this year rewarded the farmers
with an unprecedented crop Of all kinds of products
from to ocean, and present indications promise
very remuneratve prices The calamity shnekers
have locked horns with Providence, but the farmers
can more safely trust to Providence than the calamity
shriekers. Iowa and Kansas not the only States
afflicted with calamity blowers. "JerTy" Simpson and
Senator PETER are abroad sowing the wind and hop
ing the Republicans will be carried away in political
whirlwind They have taken a contract to kill of
Senator John Sherman. In 1890 the Democrats had
no issue Which 70 base a campaign, aud they con-
oeived the plan OF carrying the election by tho most
outrageous Misrepresentation. They thought a lie
well stuck to good the truth.
And the question Of mortgaged indebted
ness in Illinois is engaging the farmers atten-
ton. The question has been harped by the
Democratic press and the Alliance men have obtained
extravagant notions about II. UnquestlOnably they
have been grossly deceived by false teachers Some
recent estimates placed the mOrtgaged Indebtedness on
farms at twenty-five million dollars In Kendall
County; others half that sum, and others a
between the two. If those who made such extrava-
CANT estimates had done little figuring they could
see that their estimates far than the value
OF the land Believing that the people, and especially
the farmers were being deceived by this unreasonable
cIamor the writer has undertaken 10 throw O little
light Oh this subject and Kendall County being a
fair average county In Illinois and in the agricultural
domain OF the Fox River Valley, he has made com
putaon from the records Of this county of all uncan-
celled mortgages, which is neither cOored, enlarged
nor diminished by estimates.
1t must be borne in mind that the following tabu-
latiou does not include all mortgages filed in the
period gwen but only those uncancelled as SHOWN by
the public records. For the purpose Of better
understandings some classihcatiOns are made to sep
arate farm mortgages from those on town and city
lots. They arc further classified by separating the
indebtedness held by the residents of this county and
that held by parties residing outside OF the county
and designated home capital and foreign capital:
FARM MORTGAGES.
Homo capital mortgages, filed before ooo ~.
FOr rE capital mortgages iicd before
1880 ..'....-..' $3.50 @o'ol0
Total filed before 1850 ...........- s2j3,923
Home capital mortgages hled since jan s7o7 u.
Foreign HSV Capital mortgages, died snco a,o7,
Jan. i, 1oSo--..-------''.. $4,000 o'oIo''
Total flied since Jan. l, 1ss0......... 1,S7SOss
Total n all mcancelcd farm mortgages sl697,OM
TOWN OR CITY LOT MORTGAGES
MORTGAGES flied before Jan. l. 1850. S37 go
Mortgages ned since Jan. l, 1060...... @29.l94
Total uncancelled mortgages on lets s2eosli
Total Of all uncanceled mortgages. 81 ,425
Nv the above classification it will DO that of
the entire mortgage Indebtedness the sum Of S253023
was filed before $50 and has been standing more than
eleven years, and very small portion OF this re-
NAMED unpaid Years ago 1t frequently happened
when farmer paid off his mortgage he considered 1t
of greater importance TO regain possession Of the
r.Vvifh ham.
procuring release. Latterly better methods have
been adopted the land is valuable, and people
find it necessary to be particular with land titles
The records Of many counties will show uncanceled
mortgages from twenty to fifty years Old, but there lS
no pretence that any Indebtedness exists on the ana
IS unquestonably fact that the records Oh every
county In this state evidence OF vastly more In
debedness than exists and what IS true OF THIS ste
Is apt to be true of many other States
BY an examination of the assessment rolls, the az
gregate acreage OF farms IS found to be 2O2O45 II
the average Indebtedness is computed on the entire
amount of outstanding farm mortgages 1t "ou4d De
IS O5 per acre. But in determining this average, IL
should be remembercd1rst, that mortgages are usually
made payable in from three To five years from date'
general average would be not exceeding four years
second that nearly the entire aggregate is undergoing
extinction by payment Of instruments and they are
paid of much faster than they Increase by accunu
lated interest therefore are perfectly correct ID
assuming that the present aggregate farm Indebtedness
will not exceed the amount Of those filed since 1885,
viz 1873 Goe which is equal TO average OF 30 ~
per acre 49,, I'M.
ne of the most gratifying features OF this exhibit
Is shown By separating the home capital from tle
foreign 1t has repeatedly been asserted that all over
the west the Eastern capitalists had their MORTGAGES
planted and the Western farmers surely Within
The grasp of the Eastern Shylocks. That condition
Of things may exist to some degree In states fuIthGF
West but il does not In Illinois. We lind In the claSSl
hcatOn that Of the total OF farm mortgages the amount
home capital Is 500 49, against %OdO, 102 Of cdpa
ownd by non-r residents, and foreign capital Is hst
losing is grip IN this county. . ,
one of tne stock arguments Of the calamity blowers
is that Tie farmers are pnched by taxation, and are
being robbed by unjust legislation which they eau
SPECIAL privileges u the few. They abOrng In
cessany to convince the farmers that legislation Is
the panacea for all their Affections, and That Iegisa
lion Will regulate the values all commodities. Ihey
contend the farmer has been growing poorer every
year. but the following exhibit does not bear OUT the
assertion. The aggregate of farm mortgages filed Tor
1850 1890 and l6s1 and those paid of and released
Tho