St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-02

The state bureau of labor, among its
other statistical labors. is continuing its
study of mortgage Indebtedness and
foreclosures, which it began about two
years ago. In addition to collecting its
own statistics relating to the subject,
the bureau has made some COMPARE
sons between the facts secured by the
United States census department and
those tabulated by itself. The cen
sus diScloses the amount of mort
gage debt in force in Minnesota Jan. l.,
1890. The special work of the state
bureau gives the mortgage foreclosures
in 1881, 1891. and also for 1892 and 1898.
The statistics for the two latter years
will be embodied in the next regular
report of the bureau. The comparison
OF the mortgage debt in Minnesota with
that of the foreclosures in 1891 dicloses
the following ratios:
The total amount of mortgage indebt-
edness resting on acre property Jan. l,
1880, was 1886, 562. OF this debt there
was foreclosed during the year 1891
81, 050,30 The total foreclosures on
acre property in the state were, there
fore, 2.72 per cent of the face of the debt
on that class of real estate i'll the pre-
cedlng year. This ratio does not, how
ever, show the average amount of tore
closures on farm property. This for the
reason that there is III Minnesota large
amount of acre property other than that
used for farming. In certain counties,
as Ramsey, Hennepin, st. Louis and
Washington, the land sold by foreclos-
ure was property purchased or held for
speculative purposes mainly. hen the
lands in many other counties are
valuable manly for the tim
Der or minerals which they contain.
Thus there are in the state sixteen
counties in which the land sold by fore
closure III 1891 was mainly, or eXclu-
slyely, held for speculative purposes or
for purposes other than agriculture.
The mortgage debt of the siXty-six
counties mainly devoted to agrlcult-
ure amounted to $50, 607, 1874, while
there was sold by foreclosure in
1891 the amount of S1,145, 96l. This
was 2.G6 per cent of the amount of the
debt III force on the same property the
preceding year. But while the ratio of
foreclosure i'll the siXty-SiX agricultural
counties was as given above, the ratio
erty 4.55 per cent, or 20 times as great.
In those counties the debt in force on
acre property being 1871, 794, with an
amount OF foreclosures of 1904. 451.
Ihe mortgage debt on city or town
lots IN the state was larger in amount
than upon all acre property. both agri-
cultural and speculative timber and
mineral. L hat amount was 1922, 800 407,
on which there were fOreclOsed S5,951,-
435, or 4.S6 per cent. This ratio for city
lots was thus practically the same as
that disclosed by the sale of speculative
acre property i'll counties like st. Louis,
Hennepin and Ramsey.
But while the ratio of foreclosures
for the siXty-four agricultural counties
was zoo, that OF eighteen counties, in
cludiug Winona, Mower, Olmstead,
which are devoted TO mixed farming,
showed in 1891 ratio of only 1872.
These same counties ten years earlier
when devoted mainly to wheat, had a
ratio of foreclosures more than five
times as great, or greater than the pres
ent ratio on city lots for the state.
The highest ratio OF foreclosure i'll
1891 was found in Cook, with a percent
age of 1876, and the lowest i'll Nicollet.
which mad mortgage debt of S456, 621,
and had no foreclosures. Among the
others with a small ratio we find Cass
with percentage of IL and Mcleod
with IL. The study of the bureau of
labor into the mortgage foreclosures of
1892 and 1888 has not yet been complet-
ed. So far as they have gone they
show an increase of foreclosure
on speculative acre property and town
and city lots in all the smaller cities,
and i'll all the larger ones, with one
exception. But while there is this in
crease i'll the foreclosures on speculative
property in the last two years over those
of 1891, there is decrease in the fore
closures on farm property IN most coun-
ties. Thus the ratio of foreclosures in
Freedom county in 1892 and'1S93 is APP
proXimately only about One-fourth and
one-tifth of those of the earlier years.