The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-06-23
THE WESTERN FARM MORTGAGE

Some people have formed the habit of
sneering at the Western farm mortgage
as a thing of inevitable evil in itself, and
many people make the mistake of as
cribing the troubles of investment COM
panies such as the Northwestern and Or
we'll, in which Vermonters are especially
interested, wholly to "those Western
farm mortgages" AS matter of fact,
however, the collapse of these and other
similar companies has been largely ow-
ing to the short time commercial paper
which they handled, the payment of
nuch of which was guaranteed. The
companies which confined their opera
tions almost entirely to legitimate farm
mortgages, on the other hand, have not
suffered as have the short time paper
companies.
Now we do not desire to advertise
Western farm mortgages, nor to encour-
age Vermonters to send their m ney out
of the State for investment, but we do
desire to coreect the ioea entertained by
many, that every Western farm mortgage
is necessarily a wildcat investment"
A mortgage is a mortgage the coun-
try over, and where an investor
can investigate in relation to the nature
of the land mortgaged there is no more
risk in taking a mortgage in one part OF
the country than in another, as a rule.
Indeed some Vermont savings banks can
furnish the information that more money
has been lost in mortgages upon Yer
mont farms that have deprecated in the
past twenty years than has been lost by
Vermonters in legitimate Western farm
mortgages. The difficulty with some of
these Western mortgages has been, that
the companies handling them have been
so anxious to do business that they
would not take pains to see that there
was sufficient value to the land covered
to make the investment sure one, and
in this as in other branches of business,
there have been concerns of wholly
fraudulent nature that have palmed their
paper off upon the public for legitimate
mortgages, when the land covered might
not be worth the paper upon which they
were written. Long distance has en-
abled many of these bogus concerns to
| flourish, but this fact does not affect the
character of the legitimate and long es-
tablished investment companies, al
though it does seriously affect their
standing with people who do not know
them, and interferes with their business.
The problem is to distinguish the legiti
mate from the bogus concerns. AS a
matter of fact considerable portion of
the loss suffered by Vermonters in the
West has been sustained by those who
invested in the stock of speculative con-
Germs and in the securities of short time
paper companies. Some of the savings
banks have loaned money on Western
farm mortgages, sending,their represent
atiYes there to see that the land was
what it was represented to be and these
investments ought to be as safe as they
would be were the land situated in Yer
mont, and had these same representa-
tives looked after the investment.
Moreover, the fact must be conceded
that the Western farm mortgage is i'm
proving as a secure investment, while
the rate of interest is falling to CORE
spending degree. This results from the
fact that the condition of the average
Western farmer is improving. Residents
of Burlington who have travelled
through the West, say that the farmers
there were never in better condition
| than they are at present, and other au-
thorities testify to the same effect.
Edward Atkinson, the well-known stat
istician, informed New York reporter
the other day that commissioners spec
tally appointed for the purpose have been
conducting investigations among official
records with reference to farm mort
cages. Complete returns have been
made for Iowa and Montana, and nearly
complete returns for Ohio, Illinois, Kan
sas and Nebraska. These reports show,
according to Mr.. Atkinson, that more
than one-half of the Western farms are
free from any mortgage of any kind.
Less than one-half are subject to mort
gage. The amount of the mortgages,
taken as whole, is less than one-half of
the value of the mortgaged land. Half
the money lent on mortgages has been
lent by cititizens of the same State in
which the mortgaged farms are.
The indebtedness on mortgages OF
Western farmers to Eastern capitalists,
or others who DO not dwell in those
States, is less than twelve and one-half
per cent of the true value of the farm
lands in the States named. This does
not mean that there are no attempts to
secure loans upon undesirable security,
or that all the mortgages already exist
ing can be paid off at once, but it does
indicate that there has been adisposition
on the part of professional agitators to
exaggerate the real condition, which, in
the main, is not nearly so bad as 1T has
been represented to be. Those who are
expecting to see the Western farm mort
gage contributes to panic in that sec
ton or in any section are therefore likely
to be disappointed, and this considera-
ton ought to have some weight in re-
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