THE POPULIST MOVEMENT 683 



their money at exorbitant rates of interest, taken mortgages, and 

 were drawing from the state and impoverishing it. All these 

 things have increased the cry that the entire West is mortgaged, 

 and the inability to make ends meet is explained on the ground 

 that the mortgage eats up the larger part of the product. 



The late United States census does not corroborate this view 

 of the question. In response to the demands of the West, the 

 Census Bureau has made a careful investigation of the subject. 

 Even if the figures have no positive value, their comparative value 

 cannot be gainsaid. The entire mortgage indebtedness on June 1, 

 1890, was $6,019,679,985, representing 4,777,698 mortgages. 

 The mortgages on acres amounted to $2,209,148,431 ; and on lots, 

 $3,810,531,554. The number of acres covered was 273,352,109. 

 Of this mortgage indebtedness, New York had $1,607,874,301 

 or 26.71 per cent of the total mortgage debts of the country. 



Nevada's debt was $2,194,995, which was less than that of 

 any county in New York. During the ten years of the census 

 the increase in acres covered by mortgages was 65.36 per cent; 

 in lots, 198.25 per cent. The mortgage indebtedness on agricul- 

 tural land increased 70.98 per cent as compared with 216.80 

 per cent on lots. 



The increase of values in the states of California, Florida, 

 Washington, Nebraska, and Kansas has been sufficient to pay 

 the interest at the average rate on the mortgaged farm for the 

 ten years, and in the end to pay the principal. There are four- 

 teen states in which the rise in value has more than paid the 

 interest. 



Twenty states, however, experienced an increase in value not 

 sufficient to meet the interest charges, while ten others suffered 

 a loss in the average value of farms per acre. In these states 

 the loss in value and the interest charges have pressed -hard upon 

 the people. But six of these states belong to the North Atlantic, 

 the other four to the Western division. On the whole the investi- 

 gation has shown the mortgage indebtedness to be much less than 

 was supposed and to be under more favorable conditions. That 

 much-reviled state, Kansas, is grouped among those which have 

 been able to meet interest charges and pay at least part of the 



