The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-04-01
FARMS AND HOUSES.
Statistics Conserving the Number o.
Those That Arc owned and Rented.

Statistics Concerning the Number of
Those That Arc owned and Rented.
From the New York SUM-
There are in the United States 12,690,-
152 families. OF these 52.20 per cent.
hire the farms or homes they occupy,
while 47.S0 per cent. own them. OF the
farms or homes owned by their occupiers
27.97 per cent. are mortgaged, and 72.03
per cent. are free from mortgage. To
put the facts In another way, let us take
100 hundred families; We find that, on
an average, 52 hire their farms or homes,
l3 own with encumbrance, and 35 own
without encumbranee. or the farms
and homes which are both owned by
the occupiers and encumbered, the liens
amount to $2,132, ,949, $685. which aggre-
gate represents 1850 per cent. of the
value of the mortgaged premises. The
debt bears interest at the rate of 6.65
per cent. We should note, further,
that many more farms than homes are
owned by the occupying families. Thus
among 100 farm families, on the aver
age, "a hire their farms, l9 own them
with remembrance, and AZ without en-
cumbrance. OF 100 average home fam
lilies, on the other hand, 63 hire their
homes, 10 own them with encumbrance,
and q without encumbrance.
The Prepriet Orship of Homes.
| Let us look next at the difference be-
tween the urban and the rural popula-
ton in respect to the proprietorship OF
homes. For the purpose of comparison,
';he compiler of the census bulletin
takes the whole country outside Of
I ut t,I l. %
ants or over. OF 100 home-occupying
families within this non-urban region
there are ON the average So that hire
their homes, 10 that own them with
encumbrance, and "a that own without
encumbrance. We turn to the 420 cities
and towns that have each a population
of 5000 to 10000 OF 100 home families
in these urban centres we find that GA
hire their homes, that II own with en-
cumbrance, and "a without encum-
brance. Passing to the 2S cities that
have each a population of 100000 or
upward, we observe that, out Of 100
home families, II on an average hire
their premises, 3 own with encum-
brance, and IA without encumbrance.
In the city of New York no fewer than
homes they occupy these figures may
be compared with those officially re-
turned for Berlin, where in 1890 it APP
pears that $685. per cent. of the families
lived in hired homes. AS New York Is
the highly congested part of a large
urban region, what, for the purpose OF
this enquiry. may be fairly termed the
greater New York, should be taken
into consideration. In New York and
in nineteen other cities, each having a
| population greater than 5000 and situat-
ed either in New York state or in New
Jersey, all of the nineteen being by in
terest and situation virtually parts of
the commercial metropolis SG.37p per cent.
of the whole number of families hire
the homes they occupy. This percent
age, large as it is. does not greatly en-
ceed that presented by Boston, where
1t is S1.57. Next to New York, Boston
is the city in which the fewest families
own their homes.
Proprictorship by Races.
The effect of race upon proprietorship
is distinctly traceable in these statis-
ties. OF white persons occupying farms
| or homes 51.4S per cent. owned their
! premises; of negroes but 1850 per cent;
of Chinese and japanese only 1872 per
cent. Sex also makes difference. The
percentage of ownership is slightly
| higher for women occupiers than for
men; the percentage of unencumbered
ownership Is likewise higher among
women, whose instructive caution leads
them to avoid mortgages. We remark,
lastly, that of the farm or home occu-
piers who have both parents native
born. 54.66 per cent. are owners, where
as of occupiers who have one or both
parents foreign born only 43.31 per cent.
own the homes they live in. Mr.. Wright
cautions us, however. to remember that
in comparing these two classes of occu-
piers those whose parents We're native
! born are older than those whose pa
rents We're born in foreign parts. Many
of the foreign-born parents are not old
enough to have children that have
passed beyond the earlier years of life;
and consequently large portion of
their children are too young to have ac-
cumulated the capital requisite for own
ership.'