49 ] THE INFLUENCE OF THE CREDIT SYSTEM 49 



lien to the merchant. Moreover, in making this transfer 

 the landlord usually becomes liable for the debt as 

 endorser. „ 



A farmer may usually secure a debt in one or more of 

 three ways : he may give a real estate mortgage, he may 

 give a chattel mortgage, he may give a mortgage on the 

 growing crop. Of course the farmer would prefer to 

 give only the latter, inasmuch as that brings into jeopardy 

 only the year's income for the sake of the year's expendi- 

 tures. Owing, however, to the risks of crop failure and 

 the like, the merchant regards a prospective crop, con- 

 sidered alone, as a rather unsubstantial security for a 

 debt. Nowadays this is very often combined with a 

 chattel mortgage, that is, a mortgage on mules, cows, 

 wagons and the like. In so far as those tenants are con- 

 cerned who farm without the direct aid or intervention 

 of landlords, only the last two forms of security can be 

 used. The merchant prefers the real estate mortgage, 

 and he was able up to within recent years to demand to 

 a considerable extent such security. The forces which 

 have contributed toward the freeing of the farmers from 

 the necessity of mortgaging their acres, and towards the 

 mitigation of some of the evils connected with the other 

 two classes of mortgages, will be described later. 



It is now desired to call attention to the influence 

 which the land mortgages have had on the proprietor- 

 ships. As suggested above, not alone were the farmers 

 who cultivated their own acres brought within the scope 

 of these mortgages, but also the owners of larger tracts 

 who endorsed the accounts of their tenants with the 

 merchants. A very acceptable form of endorsement in 

 many cases was a " deed to secure debt, with power of 

 sale." Such a mortgage was the occasion of the transfer 

 of titles to much land in Georgia. Thus many large 



