Sentence:  The bank which held the mortgage on the old church declared that the interest <WSD>was</WSD> considerably in arrears , and the real estate people said flatly that the land across the river was being held for an eventual development for white working people who were coming in , and that none would be sold to colored folk . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)