New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-07-07
MORE UORTG4GED FARMS

The Census Bureaus tables showing
an increase in the percentage Of farms
mortgaged in the United States in the
last twenty years open an interesting
field for study. The reports sent out
give no official analysis Of the causes
for this comparative decrease In the
number Of unencumbered farms and
the first impulse in face Of the figures
will probably be TO read in them Il de
crease in thrift. If not in prosperity. As
farm prices are higher and rural pros
perity is undeniably much greater than
in the late SOS, the mortgages cannot be
taken as an index Of increasing want
The suggestion has been made in some
quarters that the mortgages stand for
extravaganza and that their increase has
been coincident with the introduction Of
automobiles and the growth Of luxurious
habits. a little analysis Of the record,
however, suggests that another eXplana-
ton may account for the increased Dor
rowing, and one which suggests prog
ress rather than retrogression.
While In the whole country 2S.2 per
cent Of the farms were mortgaged in
1890, and 1876 per cent in 1910. In the
West North Central States the mort
cages decreased from IS to 461 per
cent in the same period. Yet there, as
much as anywhere, the automobile has
been adopted by farmers. Perhaps the
fact that in that section the mortgages
6anraocaI 70 4 In, nd
then increased again, may seem to sup
port the automobile theory. But look
at the figures for other sections shows
the operation Of some much greater
force. In the South Atlantic States the
mortgages have increased from "A to
1873 per cent, in the East South Central
from 40 to 227 and In the West South
Central from 4.S to 306. Now, this
movement In the Southern States has
been accompanied by the breaking up
Of old plantations and the enormous In
crease in the number Of negro land own
ers filling small farms. The percentage
Of increase in mortgages is greatest in
that region. In New England the in
crease from 2S.3 to $40 took place in
large part between 1890 and 1900, a
period when immigrants were rapidly
acquiring holdings from the old New
England stock. New York's percentage
Of mortgaged farms went from 442 in
1890 to 1853 in 1900 and then declined
TO 43.7 in 1910. On the Pacific Coast
and in the mountain states the percent
age was about stationary between 1890
and 1900, but has since rapidly risen.
In the same Zine the great irrigation
projects have been under way there and
irrigated lands command high prices
and are usually sold on an instalment
basis.
The percentage Of mortgaged farms
increases, but so does the actual num-
Der Of free farms. They were 2,255, 1S9
In 1890, 2,511 ,1O1 In 1900 and 1921 ,073
In 1910, while the mOrtgaged farms
were sS6,957 In 1890, 1,127.302 in 1900
and 1872, $40 in 1910. IT, as these figures
seem TO indicate, the increase Of mort
gagged farms Is in n considerable meas
ure due not to old land owners falling
behind and having to live by borrow
ing, but TO the acquisition Of land by
new men full Of hope and energy. who
are gradually transmitting their earn
ings into land, the increase in mort
cages is not alarming, but promising. A
purchase money mortgage on n pro-
ductive farm Is not an evidence Of the
owners decay, but Of his ambition. The
poor negro who buys piece Of land
and goes to work to pay for 1t Is worth
more to the community than the hired