SECRETAPwY'S REPORT. 9 



speculators^ they being the class of persons borrowing 

 much the largest portion of the money loaned upon 

 personal security. Farmers borrow but little except 

 upon mortgage upon their farms. 



Mr. Brooks also stated that it was generally con- 

 ceded that twenty years was about the average dura- 

 tion of trading life ; that ninety- five per cent, of all 

 persons entering into trade failed, and that fifty cents 

 on the dollar was a large average dividend to receive 

 from bankrupt estates. If, therefore, traders and spec- 

 ulators are the class of persons that borrow the money, 

 and ninety-five out of every hundred that enter this 

 class fail in the course of twenty years, and settle with 

 their creditors by paying fifty cents on the dollar, it 

 follows that one-half of ninety-five, or forty-seven 

 and one-half per cent, of all the money loaned is lost 

 every twenty years, when, if it had been expended in 

 improvements on the farm, the capital at the end of 

 twenty years would have been unimpaired, and have 

 paid as much or more interest than if it had been 

 loaned out. As evidence of this, Mr. Brooks stated 

 that some thirty years ago he commenced improving 

 some of his land, by removing stones, &c, and in about 

 fifteen years he had cleared about thirty acres, at an 

 average cost of fifty dollars the acre. The land, before 

 improving, did not yield an income of more than the 

 interest on twenty dollars the acre annually. Since 

 the improvement, the same land had given an income 

 equal to the annual interest on two hundred dollars 

 the acre. It was his belief that if farmers would 

 expend more of their surplus funds in improvements 



