Omaha daily bee., 1896-10-10

genius that has multiplied n thousand
times, In many instances. the strength Of
n single arm. and enabies us to do today
with ono man what nfty men could not do
nifty years ago That Is what has brought
down prices in this country and every
where"
reasoning powers had not been shattered
by the silver mania.
FACTS ABOUT FARM MORTGAGES.
The following facts regarding farm mort
cages are from tables recently compiled
and heretofore unpublished:
The mortgage Indebtedness on the farms
of the United States is very little more than
one-sixth of the total mortgage Indebted
ness of the country. even after we exclude
from the latter the. mortgage Indebtedness
of railroads and other public corporations.
OF farmers owning their farms II rs per
cent, or nearly three -fourths hold them free
Of lncipGmndbranee. M Only, 2s2 farms out OF
every 1000 occupied by their owners are en-
numbered.
OF the 2s22 per cent of farmers whose
farms are mortgaged, three-fourths eX-
pended the amount borrowed in the pur-
chase or Improvement of their farms.
The farms of the North Atlantic division
relatively TO their value, than those of any
other division. New Jersey stands at the
head, and while its farm mortgage debt rep
rcsents 49Gi per cent of the value of the
farms enCumbered II amounts to only 1911
per Gent of the total value Of al the farms
of the state. Similarly, while the farm
mortgage Indebtedness Of the state of I'LL
nols Is 3i.63 per cent of the value of the
per cent of the total value of all the farms
of the state the values being in every case
as reported by the farmers themselves.
The total amount of mortgage indebted
ness upon the farms of this country occu-
pied by and upon % 5oo aSre i0 tracts thai
amount represents about 16 per cent of the
total valuation of farms in the United
States In 1890. But deducting from the
above amount the sum of 81 1873 152.47l, which
represents the mortgage indebtedness upon
acre tracts that are not farms, and we find
that the real and actual farms of f. this n re re
or only about per cent of their value.
INCREASE OF LAND VALUES.
The advocates of cheap money lay great
stress upon the fact that 1t takes more
bushels of wheat or other cereals to pay
than would have been required to buy the
same number of dollars when the incum-
brances were incurred But the fact that
1t would also, In most cases, take more
dollars to buy the land now than 1t did
when the land was purchased is not men
toned. Between 1880 and 1890 the valuation
OF all property in the United States rose
from A3,6i2. 0O0,O 900 to $4,000 600 a gain in
ten years, under the gold standard, of over
S21, 600 G00,0oO
Nor do the fervid pleaders for cheaper
money with which TO pay off the obliga-
tions of the debtor give the land any credit
whatever for having subsisted those who
occupy 1t, nor for the fact that the land is
paid for out of the surplus products which
are annually sold from it,
The total valuation of farms in the United
States in 1890 amounted to Sl3,279, ,252,6 $40 The
total mortgage Indebtedness upon those
farms amounted in that year to Sl,0S5. $685.
96o. For the seven fiscal years ending June
30, from 1890 down to and including 1896,
these same farms, after feeding and cloth
ing their occupants and feeding all the
urban population of the United states
(Which is 5S per cent of all the people of
this republicj exported annually agricul-
tural products as follows: