11 Cuban Investments 



and in the formation of such class of securities 

 improvements should not be considered. 



In the making of loans on farm property, it 

 is customary to never lend more than fifty per 

 cent of the actual land value, without regard to 

 the improvements already made on the property. 

 Under this system a first mortgage is taken 

 on the property behind the loan, and the mort- 

 gage includes both the land and improvements. 

 As partial payments are made on the principal 

 of the loan, the security is enhanced since the 

 mortgage continues to apply on full amount 

 of the security. 



As a result of the stability of this class of 

 securities, the great investors of the United States 

 have turned their attention to the investment of 

 their funds in farm and city real estate mort- 

 gages. 



As an illustration of this, over Three and One- 

 Half Billions of Dollars have been invested in 

 this class of securities in the United States, as 

 shown by report of the Comptroller of the Cur- 

 rency, in June, 1914 (the latest figures available.) 



14,512 State Banks % 539,400,000 



634 Mutual Savings Banks 1,897,600,000 



1,466 Stock Savings Banks 478,900,000 



1,064 Private Banks •. 26,600,000 



1,564 Loan and Trust Companies 565,500,000 



19,240 Banks and Trust Companies ^3,508,000,000 



Add to this the sum of ^1,706,000,000 of 

 mortgage loans held by life insurance companies 

 in the United States, and we have the immense 

 total of $5,314,000,000 invested in mortgage 

 loans by these two classes of institutions alone. 

 Fraternal societies and thousands of private 



