Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-02-25
FIFTEEN CENTS A WEEK.
our FARM INDEBTEDNESS.
About 1900, 900 Mortgages Found by the
Census Agents.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.-Superinten
dent Porter is about to issue his'first bul
letin upon the subject of mortgages
The work On this important branch o.
the census has progressed far enough Il
yield some very interesting information
Mr. Porter has already prepared his in
PRODUCTION to the bulletin. He will say
The employment of small army Of
special agents to make an abstract Of
every mortgage placed on record ir
every county in the United States fol
the last ten years has attracted attention
TO the dangers of these membranes, tc
the enormous burdens in the way of in.
terest, to the alarming extent in which
usury is practiced and to the defective.
ness of these records in every state and
territory. They have Travelled on horse.
back and on foot, through the most
| sparsely settled districts of our vast do
main in search of mortgages, and have
| done their work so thoroughly and so in
dustTously that we now have no file in
| Washington as result of their labor
the abstracts of about 5000. 900 mort
! cages. Some months before the inquiry
was begun congress, and through CON
gress the public, was put into possession
of the scope of the plan adopted. That
| plan, with hardly any change, has been
! successfully carried out. 1t comprised
two distinct methods, one having the
local records for the basis of operation,
the other the population schedule, and
hence the individual
LAS will be seen from the accompany
ing preliminary report for the states of
Alabama and Iowa, the first plan makes
it possible to determine with reasonable
accuracy the amount of existing debt
Jan. l. 1890, the rate of interest, and
the motive of the loan, whether for
purchase money, improvement, or other
purposes. The second plan will show
the number of persons by counties in
the United tates who own their farms
and their homes free from debt, and
the number having incumblance there
on, the amount of such Indebtedness,
the value of sHch farms, and other facts
OF minor Importance. These to in
quirie5 com hined will throw light upon
the whole question of mortgage indebt-
edness, and will form a basis for subse-
quent investigations that will probably
yield more exact and satisfactory re-
suits No one appreciated more keenly
than / the magnitude and difficulty of
this investigation. Suggestions and
criticisms have been sought in every di-
rection. and the work has been prose
Cuted from beginning to end with the
sole aim to obtain all the facts as accu-
rately and quickly as possible. That
there are imperfections in the work
readily admit, but no other method
would have yielded better results with
ont ondangei1ng the enumeration Of the
people.
debt in force e-According to this re-
port, the total real estate mortgage debt
in Alabama in force Jan. /, 1870, was
$39, 021 ,983; the total real estate mort
gage in Iowa, in force Jan. /, 1850, was
$3.50, ,951
per capita debts-The average amount
of debt to one of population in Alabama
was &96: in Iowa $10i.
"Number Of acres mortgaged--In 1880
the number of acres mortgaged in Ala
bama was Liza, ,420; total number of
acres in the state, 81, ,0S5, 600; per cent. of
acres moltgaged, 5.3. Number of acres
mortgaged in Iowa, 3,240,432; total
number of acres in the state, 35,504 COO;
per cent. of acres mortgaged, 0.1.
Interest charges The interest charges
in Alabama range from to 40 per cent.
and in Iowa from 1 to 20 per cent.
Throughout the south and west the CON
tracts often state that the debt is with
out interest, or give lower than the
II ne rate.
"Equated life of mortgages The
average life of mortgages, with no
allowance for partial payments, is
computed to be 2.73 years in Alabama
and 4. 93 years in Iowa.
'Motive-By personal inquiry in Ala
nc tn ha nj in, t,f,ans
real estate, the most prominent ones
given aie: Purchase money to buy other
land, business, improvements, farm ex-
penses, family expenses, family supplies.
farm supplies, to repay borrowed money,
and litigation and lawyers fees. In
Iowa: Purchase money, improvements,
to buy other land business, farm stock,
security debts, speculation, litigation.
living expenses and undescribed debts.
The counties thus selected and known
in the census Office as inquiry counties
were jefferson and Green counties, Ala
bama, and Cass, Crawford, Delaware
and johnson counties, Iowa. In Jeffer-
son county, Ala, it was found by actual
inquiry by special agents of the census
that the motive for 95 81 per cent. of the
indebtedness was the purchase Of the in
numbered and Other rra estate, inn
provements and business: III Greene
county, Ala, for these purposes, 6s8l !
per cent; in Cass county, Iowa. 81! 13 !
per cent in Crawford county, Iowa |
033 per cent; in Delaware county,
Iowa, $3.50 per cont, and in johnson /
county. Iowa, Q3. a per cent.
In computing the amount of existing |
indebtedness in two selected or inquiry |
counties in Alabama, the total actual
debt on Jan. /. 1890, was $14, ,952 ,020, the |
total computed debt $l5, ,399, $50, and the
percentage of error in excess was 2.99. |
In the four selected counties of Iowa !
the total actual debt at the same date
was S., 453, "a, the total computed debt |
IS ,I73. l0j, and the percentage of error |
in excess of debt was "a This would |
indicate that the plan adopted would |
yield both valuable and accurate stats
teal results; and this supposition is
fortified when it is borne in mind that
able statisticians admit that even if the
error should vary from Is TO 20 per cent.
the results would be still be of incalcula-
bic value
ANOTHER OIL DEAL.
The Standard BUYS Out the Geyser Oil |