70 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [348 



in Nebraska, at the current prices of land and under the 

 present agricultural conditions; unless, indeed, he be pos- 

 sessed of unusual energy and ability. 1 



5. Our last analysis of the real estate mortgage debt will 

 consist in drawing a comparison between the size of the 

 mortgages and the fertility of the lands mortgaged, showing 

 what a very great disadvantage the possession of relatively 

 poor land is to a farmer. These figures are not given for 

 the whole district which we have heretofore been consider- 

 ing, but only for the thirty-six square miles included within 

 the township proper. 2 Table XIX. shows the amount of 

 the debt on all the lands of the four different grades described 

 on page 54. As it refers to both residents and non-residents 

 it is naturally rather vague, but we see from it in general 

 the fact that the mortgages on the poorer lands tend to be 

 larger than those on the better lands, and that, in the main, 

 a larger percentage of the poorer lands is under mortgage. 



Table XX. contains the same statistics, but limited en- 

 tirely to residents. We see that the average debt per acre 

 for all land of each class decreases steadily with the rise to 

 better grades of land; also the percentage of the land which 

 is under mortgage is much less for the better land than for 

 the poorer. All of the land of grade seven owned by resi- 



1 This statement, it is true, is at variance with the eager demand 

 that exists in certain quarters for really desirable farming land. 

 Why this great demand may exist and yet the position taken in the 

 text be true, will be touched upon in a later place. 



2 The omission of the outside lands is made necessary because the 

 writer has not at hand any ratings for the fertility of the lands not 

 within the township proper. The estimates have been made by 

 using quarter sections of land as a basis, not, as in the preceding 

 tables, by considering the individual man as a basis and referring 

 all his debt to all his property. Consequently the totals will differ 

 in some respects from those preceding. The total debt for each 

 quarter section, whether it is to be paid by one or more persons, 

 and whether all or only part of the area is encumbered, is attributed 

 to the quarter section as a whole, and so to the appropriate grade 

 of land. Thus only those quarter sections come under the heading 

 unmortgaged which have no encumbrance upon any portions of 

 them. 



