THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM 123 



for the Kaiser." In this, Mr. Stockbridge quotes him- 

 self as saying to Mr. Rumely : " I don't care what 

 you put on the editorial page that influences no- 

 body." ..." The place where poison works is in the 

 news." 



As one illustration of how this works in matters 

 pertaining to agriculture, I would say that the tremen- 

 dous number of land sales, during recent years, has 

 had this effect upon the farm mortgage business: viz., 

 that perhaps 40 per cent, of all the business done 

 throughout the year is transacted during February and 

 March ; that is, in the nature of things, to avoid inter- 

 ference with farm operations, possession of land is al- 

 most invariably taken on the first day of March. 

 Hence, practically all sales of farm lands, made 

 throughout the year, provide for closing on the first 

 day of March, and a very large proportion of all mort- 

 gages are made payable on that date. To avoid loss of 

 interest, or payment of double interest, the money, 

 both on account of land purchased and for taking up 

 old mortgages, must be paid on the first day of March. 

 Hence, to prepare for this, the mortgages are made 

 many of them, several months before; but practically 

 all of them executed and filed for record prior to the 

 first day of March, with the provision that they begin 

 to draw interest on that date. The inevitable result 

 is that in nearly all of this vast volume of business, the 

 mortgages are recorded prior to the first day of March, 

 and the releases, or satisfaction of the old mortgages, 

 are filed after that date. With the result, that there 

 is in each March a tremendous amount of mortgages 

 released, and comparatively a very few mortgages 



