Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-09-24
NO HELP TO THE MoRrGAGED.
Free silver . Hardship and Not Relief
to Most Of Them.

FREQ silver . Hardship and Not q Relief
to Most Of Them.
People owning their homes and having
mortgages upon them should not be mis-
led into thinking that free silver VIC
tory in November would be of assistance
to them in meeting their mortgages.
A little examination will show that on
the average it would bring hardship in
stead of relief. This would be true,
leaving out of consideration all circum-
stances affecting wages and incomes,
and combining the argument simply to
bare discussion of the mortgage itself.
The great majority of mortgages, cs-
pecially the smaller ones on dwelling
houses, are written for three or five
years, and of this class the greater num-
Der for the lesser period, while many run
for a year or two. During the last few
years great many of these mortgages
have contained gold clause. 1t Is OBJ
vious that no one having such mort
gage on his house would be helped in
the slightest by free silver. 1t is equal
ly plain that on the contrary, were gold
at a premium, 1t would be harder than
ever to make payment.
1t might also be remembered that
there are always, especially during hard
times. large number of mortgages,
especially ON small houses, that are over
due, and are being carried along by the
mortgagee.
Bearing these facts in mind it seems
safe to assume that the average life of
mortgages on this class of property in
this city and it's suburbs does not ex-
coed one year.
For free silver to be of advantage to
the mortgagor, money must be more
plentiful and more easily obtained with
in that time than it is today. Is there
any reason to believe it would be?
Even without a special session of Con-
free silver law, such a law. could not
reasonably be looked for within that peri
cd, much less an imitation of the cur
rency, so as to give relief to debtors.
In the mainline, what would be the sit
uation?
The crisis in financial affairs would fol-
low Immediately upon the success of free
silver at the polls. Following the with
drawal of gold there would be sharp
contraction of the money in circulation,
and instead of more money with which
to meet indebtedness there would be less.
Owing to the unsettled condition of af-
fairs, lenders would be more unwilling
than ever to loan, and, as an inevitable
result, payments would have to be de-
faulted.
There is still another point. In the
very great majority of cases mortgagors
do not willingly foreclose. They want
their money and interest, rather than
the property This is especially true of
the savings and cooperative banks. AS
Il result, they often carry mortgages that
are due until such time as the owner
can meet them. But If they saw that
they would receive at some future time
an amount less than it's value in gold.
and only such a payment could be of
benefit to the borrower, they would de-
mand a settlement at once, and, If that
was not forthcoming, they would fore
close. And foreclosure in panic means
the wiping out of equities.
In the above statement no allowance
is made for loss of earning power on the
part of the home owner. 1t is assumed,
for the sake OF the argument, that he
will have as much money as he has now.
Even on such showing, free silver to
the great majority would not be help,
but an injury.-Boston Herald.