MEANS OF ACQUIRING LAND 



a successful one. It becomes a misfortune when for any 

 reason it becomes a business mistake. 1 



These figures, it is true, refer to real-estate 

 mortgages generally ; but there is no reason for 

 thinking that the mortgage is used for other than 

 the securing of the purchase price of real estate in 

 the case of farm mortgages than in the case of 

 other real estate mortgages. In general, we 

 would be inclined rather to think that farm mort- 

 gages were more likely to be given to secure the 

 purchase price than the mortgages on city lots, for 

 example, where the total value of the lot might be 

 relatively small compared with the value of the 

 business which might be established thereon, and 

 which might be an occasion for desiring to mort- 

 gage the real estate to secure funds to extend the 

 business. In general, the conclusion which 

 should be drawn seems to be that the mortgages 

 on farms are in the vast majority of cases used as 

 a means of making the transition from tenancy to 

 landownership. 



The evidence seems to show, also, that the 

 farmers are usually successful in their use of the 

 mortgage as a means of acquiring the ownership 

 of land. In Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and 

 New Jersey, from one-third to one-half per cent., 

 only, of the farm mortgages are foreclosed each 



1 Eleventh Census of the United States, 1890, Report on 

 Real Estate Mortgages, p. 310. 



221 



