The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-04-10
AMERICAN FARM HOMES.
Interesting Data Summed Up for
the United States.

Difference Between the Urban and Rural
Population In the Respect OF Pre-
prletorshIp-R Race and Sex
Percentages.
There are in the Uuited States 12,.
600, 152 families. OF these 81. 20 per cent.
hire the farms or homes which they oc-
cupy, while 47.sO per cent, own them.
Of the farms or homes owned by their
occupiers 27.97 per cent. are mortgaged
and 1908 per cent. are free from mort
gage. To put the facts in another way,
let us take 100 families. We find that
on an average 80 hire their farms or
homes, IS own with incumbrance and
85 own without incumbrance. OF the
farms and homes which are both owned
by the occupiers and incumbered, the
liens amount to $2,182, ,949, ,563, which
aggregate represents $3.50 per cent. of
the value of the mortgaged premises.
The debt bears interest at the average
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 fami-
lies, on the average "a hire their farms,
10 own them with incumbrance and Al
without incumbrance. OF 100 average
home families, on the other hand, 63
hire their homes, 10 own them with in
cumbrance and 81 without incum-
brance.
Let us look next, says the New York
Sun, at the difference between the ur-
ban and the rural population in respect
of the proprietorship of homes. For
the purpose of comparison the compiler
of the census bulletin takes the whole
country outside of cities and towns
having each 5000 inhabitants or over.
Of 100 home occupying families within
this non-urban region there are on the
average Sc that hire their homes, 10
that own them with incumbrance, and
"a that own them without incum-
brance. We turn to the 400 cities
and towns that each have population
of 5000 to 100000. Of 100 home fami-
lies in these urban centers we find that
Ga hire their homes, and 10 own with
incumbrance and "a without incum-
brance. Passing to the % cities that
have each a population of 1000 or up
ward we observe that, out of 100 home
families, II on an average hire their
premises, 0 own with incumbrance and
IA without incumbrance. In the city
of New York no fewer than 03.67 per
cent. of the families hire the homes
they occupy; these figures maybe COM
pared with those officially returned to
Berlin, where in 1890 1t appears that
! 9665 per cent. Of the families lived in
hired homes. AS New York is the high
ly congested part of large urban
region, what, for the purpose of this
inquiry, may be fairly termed the
greater New York, should be taken
into consideration. In New York
and in nineteen other cities, each
having population greater than
| 5000, and situated either in New York
state or in New Jersey, all of the nine
teen being by interest and situation
virtually parts of the commercial me-
tropolis, s6,37 per cent. of the whole
number of families hire the homes they
occupy. This percentage, large as it
is, does not greatly exceed that pre-
sented by Boston, where 1t is S1.57.
Next to New York Boston is the city in
which the fewest families own their
homes. ...
The effect of race upon proprietor
ship is distinctly traceable in these sta
tistics. Of white persons occupying
farms or homes 81. .4Sper cent. own their
premises; of negroes but 1880 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 unincumbered
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 1881 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 were native
born are older than those whose par
ents were 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 accum-
ulated the capital requisite for owner
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