339] The Condition of the Western, Farmer. 61 



of large eastern loaning companies f and it is due to the size 

 of this debt, and the debtor's consequent liability of losing 

 his homestead if poor management or bad luck prevent him 

 from meeting his payments as they fall due, that much of 

 the recent wide-spread discontent has arisen. The tables to 

 be given will include, first, a general statement of the debt; 

 second, an analysis of it based on the character of the land, 

 whether originally government, railroad, or school land; 

 third, an analysis with reference to residents and non-resi- 

 dents; fourth, an analysis of the debt owed by residents with 

 regard to the source from which they derived their title to 

 the land; and fifth, the connection will be traced between 

 the debt and the quality of the lands mortgaged. 



i. Table XIII. shows the number and per cent of farm's 

 mortgaged, and also the number and per cent of acres mort- 

 gaged. It then gives the face value of the mortgages as 

 they stand in the office of the county clerk; but in order to 

 allow for partial payments which have undoubtedly to some 

 extent been made, and which it was not possible to inves- 

 tigate directly, a deduction of 5.21 per cent is made, since 

 it has been shown by the census of 1890 that that per cent 

 is the average proportion of partial payments on real estate 

 mortgages for the State of Nebraska. With the total amount 

 of debt thus calculated, we find the average indebtedness on 

 each acre mortgaged to be $8.78, and the average debt per 

 farm to be $1517.32. Now it would not be safe to estimate 

 the average value of these farms, even when well improved, 

 above, say, $25 an acre, so we can see what a large propor- 

 tion on the average the debt on the mortgaged farms bears 



1 Seventy-six per cent of the mortgages were given to loaning 

 companies; twelve per cent were given to persons of whom the 

 land was purchased, and twelve per cent to other persons or cor- 

 porations. As to the residence of the mortgagees, seventy-nine per 

 cent of the mortgages are owned by persons or corporations non- 

 resident of Hall county; seventeen per cent are owned by residents 

 of the county, while the remainder, four per cent, have owners 

 whose residence is unknown. None of the mortgages are owned 

 by residents of the township. 



