Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1897-07-21
WEST is PROSPEROUS.
Ora tifyinR Reports Come IRON
Nebraska and the TWO
DakOtaS.

Chicago, H.. July 1.-THE West is
prospecting. says the Times-Heraid III
review of the agricultural situation.
Thrift and good crops are having graft
flying results. Reports indicate that in
the last eighteen months Nebraska has
extingus.ed $30,000,0O0 of mortgages.
In Omaha alone mortgages amounting to
1886, 900 have been paid off, While loan
men declare that i'll the interior of the
state far heavier payments have been
made.
Bright prospects have materially helped
North Dakota. and there the reduction
of Indebtedness in the last four years
has been $25.OOO,OOO
In South Dakota the outlook is also
fiattering and there has been in the state
a liquidation estimated at S5OOOO,OOC
within a few years
1t may be said that recent good crops
and the policy of the farmers to stop
borrowing money and to run on cash
basis have produced results pregnant OF
good times in the near future.
Paying Off Nebraska Mortgages.
Omaha, Neb., July 17-Thirty million
dollars, at a conservative estimate, is the
sum which has been used during the last
eighteen months in paying Oft mortgages
on Nebraska property.
Loan agents and bankers throughout
the state are unanimous IN reporting that
the GQuidating of Indebtedness by Ne
braSka merchants and farmers is prog
ressing at an astonishing rate The vol
ume of payments is so enormous that to
say it exceeds anything known in dozen
years is but weakly to express the man
ner in which mortgages are being lifted.
This disposition to pay off loans and
discharge all liens upon realty was first
n nTsiTv Lost lrYpI hn
presidential campaign the growth of the
movement was not unduly noticeable,
but since November it has gained such
force that today the amount of money in
vested IN mortgages throughout the state
is not more than one-third of what it
usually has been.
Evidence of Thrift in Omaha.
P. E. Elsasser, register of deeds for
this Douglas county. has completed the
mortgage record for the year ended Jan
uary l, 1897, showing the number Of
mortgages filed during 1896 and the mum
Der which have been satisfied. This rec
ord shows a substantial decrease in the
total of mortgages on city property.
The number of mortgages on city prop
erty filed for record is TIA, aggregating
S2,1S2,SO5.9G, while 1882 mortgages Oh
city property have been satisfied, aggre-
eating S.. 1854. 1925. a net decrease in
amount of 1,201 .309.2S. The reduction
for the first six months of 1897 is proper
tionately large.
All loan men agree that the interior of
the state is better off in this respect than
Omaha, and that the ratio of mortg ges
paid in the interior Of the state to those
paid in Omaha is about four to one
On this basis the estimate of 100000
of decreased Indebtedness is made
The majority account for this evidence
of thrift on the theory that the hard
times during the last two years have
caused the people of the state to do bust
ness on q cash basis. OF course, the
enormous crops Of those two seasons
have made it possible to carry these
ideas into practice, w. B. Meikle one
Of the most conservative investment
brokers in Omaha, and q man who prob
ably commands as many wealthy East
ern clients as any man in the West,
gives a different eXpls M ton. however,
for the improved financial condition of
the state,
Unable to Place Loans.
Three months ago his many Eastern
clients were not inclined to place money
in Nebraska, He has just returned from
Philadelphia, and while in consultation
with one of his clients, who commands
ct least S100,00O,000 for loan purposes,
he was told that the recent scientific
demonstra ton that cOrnStalks may be
used for an innumerable variety of man
ufacturing purposes had increased the
value Of land in the West on which he
had loaned money AZ from Sc TO SO per
acre and he told Mr.. Meikle to go back
to Nebraska and send in all the appIica-
tons for farm loans he could get When
asked as to the limit he said he would