The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-12
THE TALK ABOUT MORTGAGES
An InvestigatiOn That Brought Dis
appointment to CaIamityites

10 the Editor of the indianapolis Journal:
ABOUT ten years ago the slogan of the
caiamityites of the period was the great
wrong the poor laboring man was sufYerins,
from the exactions of heartless capita,;sts
VINO held mortgages upon the homes of the
iaho' ana how to relieve them was the
paramount question of the hour Tn aid
them in their crusade against these on
pressors they introduced a bill in Congress-
TO require the takers of the census of 1Sao
10 take the number and amount of every
mortgage upon the homes of the peonIa
Wmch, after being amended so as to rec,uire
the report to show what the mortaa ges
We're given for, became a law IT was :,
new item IN our national statistics but the
proper officers give it their attention ana
the result has been published. but profess
sionai calamityites never once quote from
the report. 1t is not what they hoped for
and much wanted it to be. In the first
place IL SHOWS that in the rural districts
including all towns and cities of 5000 in
habitants and less, Sc per cent. of tha
homes are owned by the occupants. a con-
dltion found in other country on earth
and that even in such cellters of povertz-
as the greater cities over 81 per cent of All
householders own the houses they live In
rms was a revela ton the caiamityites ver.
NOT ueslrlng, for 1t showed distribution OF
Wed!tn ana nome comforts that was fatal
to their theory. But the large percentage
OF nome owners was the least item in their
alscomnture When the investigation re-
vealed that only rs per cent. of these. homes
We're under mortgage they lost heart But
TINS was not the worst. When the report
showed that 80 per cent. of these MORTGAGES
We're given to secure unpaid balances on
the purchase of the home, for substan-
.ial betterments, and that 10 per cent. was
Tor the purchasing of farm stock or irnple-
ments, or for other facilities of making Ia
Dor profitable. and that 4.37 per cent. were
q
1orts which the mortgageors wished to en-
Joy. they We're so disappointed and dis
pleased that not a Populst in all the land
has once appealed to the census report to
prove their allegation that heartess capt.
talists have taken advantage of the misfor-
tune of home owners and are about TO re-
duce them to want by foreclosures. AS TO
a a. class y mortgages which is known to ex-
necessities. the official report says
The mortgages distinctly representing q
loss of wealth. or wealth soon to be con-,
stunned, are embraced in the description OF
farm and family expenses, and their num-
Der is $40 per cent. of that amount of raort-
cages in force while their Original
amount is LIZ per cent OF the total orr ginal
amount. Probably not more than d frac-
percentage for amount for farm nd family
expenses, other wealth soon to be con
sumed, and losses of wealth included i'm
mortgages in association with other OBJ
lects and in mortgages with miscellaneous
No wonder calamityites never appeal to tn,
census report to prove that the NOR gageors
OF homes are numerous and oppressed peo-
pie Less than / per cent. of the amount
secured by mortgage can be in the hands
of the class they SO commiserate which
means ] per cent. of % per cent. of home
owners. the balance belonging to that class
of enterprising and industrious citizens
VINO are the pride and glory OF our coun-
try, men who are buying or building or
repairing homes or enlarging their facilities
for producing wealth: and who scorn with
Bryan is making ostensibly in their behalf
but really and solely In the interest Of the
mine milionaires who employ him Hav-
ing conjured up class OF suffering they
must of necessity find guilty party Like
the old-time schoolmaster who always
found Il dolt whom he could fog on gem
eral principles. when the actual perpetrator
of the real or imagined offense could not
easily be detected. these men pounce upon
1.-The crime OF "a though whatever 1T was
had been committed ten wears or more be-
fore the fateful mortgage had been given
and their proposed remedy is as noteworthy
the crime itself Whereas this accord
ing to their own showing, consisted solely
in ceasing to turn. free OF charge 10 the
owners. old spot ms and old coins and other
odd scraps of silver into dollars to be inn
mediately exported as bullion. not Of
them entering permanently into circula-
ton as currency. and five years later be-
ginning the coinage of the same kind OF
dollars at the rate of about 26.5O0.0o0 annu-
ally. every dollar of which entered into tie
currency CT the country TO stay: and where
as, according to MIR. t3ryan, the condition
of these unfortuBates and of everybody
else has been waxing worse and worse as
Il csc millions OF silver dollars have multi-
propose to greatly multiply these dollars
and make the annual output hundreds OF
millions instead of of millions. with
only this difference: that the work shall he
done free of charge by the government ana
the profits shall go into the Golfers OF the
mine owners instead of into the treasury
of the United States. as now. This is
clear case of what used to be Known among
doctors as heroic treatment. IL the pa tienr
continued to grow worse and worse Under
calonel in broken doses they prescribed IL
by the spoonful. and the patient soon GO.
well or died-generally most always died
and the blame was laid On ''iaSefiitu-
bic providence" According to Mr.. Bryan
and in this he IS right-tim never were
so hard now on poor people. but We
never had such millions of silver dollars.
Have they caused it2 He says so. for they
are a part of the crime of 10. Bat as
we have grown worse and wore under the
tens of millions Annually, he proposes
heroic treatment. and prescriles hundreds
OF millions annually. People have cunt fak-
ing calomei by the spoonful ana they VIII
Hardly take silver dollars by the hundreds
OF millions and risk the consequences.
Indianapolis Oct 10 K. l.. SEE.