The Coconino weekly sun., 1893-12-07
ABOUT FARM MORTGAGES.


 Census Returns by Herbert Myrick.
 ''Nine-tenths of our farms are mort gagged for all they are worth" This statement has been made so often that the general impression among all classes of people is that it represents the facts. Nothing could be further from the real truth. But not until the census of farms, homes and mortgages was taken in 1890, was it possible to get at the truth on this subject These returns are now sufficiently compiled to warrant the following startling statements:
 Three-quarters of all the farms in the United States are owned free of in- cumbrance Only one.fourth of the total number of farms in the United states are mortgaged, Or, to express it more specifically, out of every 100 American farms more than 70 are fully paid for and less than 30 are mort gagged.
 The average mortgage represents only one-third of the value of the farm upon which it is secured
 The total amount of farm mortgages in the whole country is hardly one- tenth the total value of all our farms.
 In 1880, nearly one-ffth of the mort gage indebtedness rested on farms; but in 1890, farm mortgages represented only one-seventh of the country's total indebtedness on real estate.
 Out of every hundred families on American soil in 1890, AZ owned their farms free of mortgage, 20 owned, but with incumbranne, and 32 hired the farms they lived on and worked.
 Of those who cultivated their own farms, 70 per cent owned without in- cumbrance and only 30 per cent. had mortgages, Of the farms occupied by tenants, less than 10 per cent were in cumbered
 Four-fifths of the amount of debts on farms and homes was incurred for the commendable purpose of buying and improving the property, and a like pro. portion of the numbers of farms and homes were mortgaged for the same purpose.
 The total real estate mortgage debt that existed in the United States in 1880 is estimated at two and one-halt billions of dollars, equally divided be. tween lots and acre tracts. In 1890 the total amount of such incumbrance had more than doubled, but only 34 pen cent of it was on acres and 66 per cent on urban property.
 The total mortgages on actual farms were about S525, GOO, 900 in 1880, and ten years later was about ss75, 900, 900, an increase of s35O, ,OOO, 900 in the decade.
 During these ten years no less thar 600,0 new farms were created at the west and south. If only one-half oi them carried the average sized mort. gage, this would readily account the increase in the total debt on farms,
 Mortgages on other acre tracts than farms proper were in 1890 about sl,. 163, ,000,0 ,000, or an increase of SASS, ,000,. 900 during the decade.
 The mortgages on lots, that is, on city and town property, amounted to s1 ,250, 900, 900 at the ninth decade, but in 1890 were estimated at nearly S4, 000,- 0o0,o00, or an increase of over $2, 700,- 900, 900 during the seven years. I lhc JOtdl HlOTlpdSt lulcDJSuHtSS III June, 1890, is estimated to have been some s6,000, 0O0,000 as against s2, 5OO,- 900, 900 in 1880, an increase of s. 300, 000,- GOO.
 These figures look large, but show that the total indebtedness on all the real estate in the United States is only about s92 per capita Add to this the anita mt fa1 hVr ha public debts of the United States (si463), of states and territories (s3. 5G). and of counties (s2.27)-a total of S20. 40, and it appears that the total public debt and all real estate mortgages in the United States amount to only SIP per capita.
 In other words, in June, 1890, the sum of SIP from each man woman and child in the United States would have paid all the mortgages in the country and also all the national, state and county debts. In France the national debt alone exceeds S116 per capita, En- glands national debt. is nearly S9O head, while the colonies are $500 for each inha bitant. There are good req. sons for believing also that mortgages ! in England, France, Germany and Australia vastly exceed the American average of s92 per capita
 The official figures for thirty three states, upon which the foregoing state ments are based, were prepared for the American Agriculturist by George K. Holmes, special agent in charge of the division of farms, homes and mortgages of the eleventh census, and are given in full in the December issue of that magazine, in connection with Mir. My rick's article. Another interesting fact is that the number of families is prac- tically one to farm in most states, but for twenty-two states these farm fam flies comprize S5,per cent. of the total number of families. In this group of states only one-fourth of the farms were occupied by tenants in 1880, whereas now nearly one-third of the farm families are tenants-a gain in the wrong direction. The article con cludes with the following statement:
 ''Certain it is that enough has been set forth herein-most of it for the first