76 OUTLINES OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



14. Have some of the old mortgage companies survived down to 

 the present time ? Why ? Are they doing the same kind of business 

 today ? 



15. Do they buy mortgages with their own funds and sell them 

 to their clients as opportunity offers or do they merely negotiate a 

 transaction between two other parties borrower and lender ? 



16. Do they issue debentures? Explain the debenture system. 



17. What are the points which a mortgage company emphasizes 

 in recommending a particular mortgage to prospective purchasers? 

 Show the relation of these features to the desirability of the loan. 



18. How does it come that life insurance companies have such 

 large sums to invest in farm mortgages? Are there any special 

 features about the cost of production of this capital ? 



19. Is the percentage of such funds which is invested in farm 

 mortgages growing or falling off ? Why ? Can you explain why their 

 lendings are very large in some sections of the country and relatively 

 small in others ? 



20. How liberal is the life insurance company in the size of loan 

 it will place on a given farm? Does this meet the farmer's needs 

 fully ? How can it be supplemented ? 



2 1 . How about the rates of interest and other charges on insurance- 

 company mortgages ? 



22. Explain the method followed by the insurance company in 

 making loans. Is it entirely separate from all other rural-credit insti- 

 tutions or does it overlap and work through the others ? Explain. 



23. From the investor's point of view how does the drainage- 

 district bond differ from the ordinary mortgage ? from the debenture 

 of a farm-mortgage company ? from the mortgage he buys from his 

 bank? 



24. How does it differ from the farmer's point of view ? Is it a 

 desirable way of securing capital on a credit basis ? 



25. How does it come that the implement companies are in the 

 lending business? Are they extending or withdrawing from these 

 activities? Are their terms liberal or otherwise? Is it their own 

 capital ? If not, whose is it, and why could not the farmer borrow 

 it direct? 



26. How did the southern store-credit system come into being? 

 Is it necessary? Is it economical? In order to get away from it, 

 what line must be followed ? In what does its strength consist ? 



27. Explain the " cattle bank." Do commercial bankers also lend 

 direct upon " cattle paper " ? Is there any reason for the continuance 

 of the cattle bank as a separate institution ? 



28. Why do the farm mortgage bankers claim that there is need 

 to continue to avail ourselves of their specialized services ? What do 



