938 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



Mortgage Indebtedness 



Farmers now began to feel the burden of their great mortgage 

 indebtedness, which had grown enormously during the preceding 

 decade and which had been incurred largely for unproductive 

 purposes. Many could not pay their interest, and as it often 

 happened that the selling price was less than the amount of the 

 mortgage, foreclosures were common. This collapse caused wide- 

 spread discontent among the farmers, and as a consequence many 

 investigations into conditions of rural indebtedness were instituted. 



The first attempt to secure information regarding the amount 

 of mortgage indebtedness for the entire United States was made 

 by the census of 1890. Two independent inquiries were made 

 at this time. In one case experts were sent to secure the infor- 

 mation from the records of certain typical counties, and on the 

 basis of these data the real-estate mortgage indebtedness both 

 urban and rural was estimated for the entire country. In the 

 second case an inquiry was included in the population schedule 

 concerning the mortgage indebtedness of owned farm homes. The 

 data obtained in this latter inquiry is made use of in this study. 



While the census of 1900 secured data for the number of 

 farm homes mortgaged, no inquiry was made as to the amount 

 of indebtedness. The census of 19 10 secured, on the regular 

 agricultural schedule, information regarding the mortgage in- 

 debtedness on farms operated by their owners, but the data was 

 published only for owners renting no additional land. Moreover, 

 complete reports were secured for only 75 per cent of such 

 farms, the mortgage indebtedness of which is reported to be 

 ;^i, 726,172, 85 1. The reported indebtedness in 1890 on mort- 

 gaged farm homes was ^1,085,995,960. This amount is not 

 comparable to that reported for 19 10, since the 1890 statistics 

 include data for owners renting additional land and estimates for 

 the defective reports. In order to make these figures comparable, 

 estimates have been made for 19 10 for those owners renting 

 additional acres and for those not reporting. On the assumption 

 that conditions of mortgage indebtedness for such owners are the 

 same as those for which data was published, the total amount of 



