Norwich bulletin., 1911-01-06
The Mortqaqe Debt of the Nation.

ne MortgaSe Dept or the Nation. Mir Editor: While the people in general try to congratulate themselves and everybody within earshot, ana
 hug the delusive phantom of hope thatN they are making progress instead of retrogressing, 1t seems to not have occurred to them that there is an undercurrent that is carrying them backward rather than forward. Are the people, as a whole. moving for ward or backward? While we are told. and many may believe. that we are l making great progress, is it really fact?
 A few days ago I read in the papers that F million dollar mortgage was placed on milling plants in the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York and New Jersey. This reminded me of some government statistics taken from the census report on real estate mortgages in 1890.
 From that report I get the follow ing information: On the first of Jan uary, 1880, the real estate mortgage debt in round numbers was two and one-haIf billion dollars. On January 1, 1890, it had increased, in round num- bers, to six billion dollars. This is an increase in ten years of about 150 per cent, while the total wealth of the country increased about 50 per cent, in the same time and the pop ulation increased only about p per cent.
 Do you realize the meaning of this :? It means in plain English that the real estate mortgage debt is increas- ing three times as fast as the wealth. Facts are stubborn things. and figures won't lie, mathematically computed Please bear in mind the above re- fers only to the real estate mortgage debt. According to this report, the total debt, public and private, includ ing the real estate mortgage debt on January 1, 1890, in round numbers was nineteen billion dollars. At that time the entire wealth of the nation was computed at sixty-five bil- lion dollars. We are told in this re-
 port that mortgages increase most
 when business is good. It also tells us that when mortgages on acres de- crease, there is a corresponding in crease of mortgages on lots. Taking the total wealth in 1890 at sixty five billions and the real estate mortgage debt at the same time as six billions. any one who cares to, can figure out how long it will take for the real es- tate mortgage debt to overtal1e the en- tire wealth. To be exact, the wealth was $65, ,131, ,791. and the real es- tate mortgage debt was $6,018, ,679985. The increase of the mortgage debt is 1412S per cent. each ten years. It may be interesting to know that the per capita mortgage debt was S96 in 1890.
 Perhaps it would surprise some peo- pie to know the amount of mortgage debt for each man, woman and child in the six New England states. The $96 was the average for the whole United States. Maine had $49; New Hampshire $50; Vermont $S4; Massa- chusetts s144: Rhode Island $106; Connecticut $107. Remember this was the amount in 1890 Of course we have no means of knowing from statistics
 whether the per capita debt is greater or smaller All we can be guided by is the fact that the mortgage debt increased nearly 150 per cent. from 1880 to 1890 An extra census bulle- tin gives the increase of mortgage debt from 1900 to 1890 for our ''be- loved state'' of Connecticut. from $9- 196, 506 in 1880, to $17.703,3 ,325 in 1890, an increase of $S,506.819. an increase of 92.50 per cent, almost touble.
 Let some individual or corporation do business on this basis of the debt increasing three times as fast as the business gains, and it will not be difficult to know about when the bu- mess will change hands. The condi- tion of the people can be no better by being ignorant of the above facts Will a knowledge of the facts make conditions any worse? Are the people of this nation, as nation. drifting or being driven, into perpetual debt :?
 J. c. VALLETTE.
 North Franklin, Conn.