gj] THE INFLUENCE OF THE CREDIT SYSTEM 51 



cases the mortgage was not made to secure the purchase 

 money, and hence it indicated a loosening rather than a 

 tightening of the farmer's grip upon the soil. 



Three of the one hundred and two counties receiving 

 special investigation as to mortgages at the Eleventh 

 Census were in Georgia. In these counties — Bartow, 

 Houston and Twiggs — thirty-two per cent, forty-six per 

 cent and sixty per cent respectively of the mortgages 

 in force January, 1890, were for farm and family ex- 

 penses. 1 These figures do not give an exaggerated view 

 of the real situation. It is likely that these percentages 

 would be somewhat larger if they had reference only to 

 farm mortgages instead of to both farm and other real 

 estate mortgages. 



Even in those cases in which mortgages were made 

 for farm and family expenses, it should be remembered 

 that although titles to the land were thereby imperiled, 

 a real change in ownership was not in every case effected. 

 The mortgages were made to secure debts ; they were 

 executed therefore only in those cases in which the debts 

 lapsed. These cases were numerous, however, on ac- 

 count of the decline in the price of cotton from 1874 to 

 1898, and also on account of the slowness with which 

 the farmers have been adjusting themselves in accord- 

 ance with the best combination of the productive factors. 

 Again, it should be mentioned that in many cases the 

 force of a mortgage was not required to effect a transfer 

 of land. Some sold land in order to liquidate their 

 indebtedness, although the merchants held no mortgages 

 against the land. 



All of this means that during the period under con- 

 sideration the farmers of the state were as a rule not 



1 Eleventh Census, Real Estate Mortgages, p. 287. 



