4 BULLETIN 1047, V. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



LOANS BY LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES. 



The figures presented for life insurance companies are based on 

 replies received from 216 companies out of a total number of 266. 

 The 216 companies reporting had admitted assets of $6,539,537,868, 

 representing 96.3 per cent of the assets of the total number of life 

 insurance companies as reported in the Insurance Yearbook of 1920. 

 Only 29 out of the 216 companies reported no farm mortgage loans. 

 Assuming the farm mortgages held by the 50 companies not report- 

 ing to be the same percentage of their assets as that obtained 

 for reporting companies, the total amount of farm mortgage loans 

 held by all life insurance companies would be $1,256,225,217, or 

 approximately $42,000,000 more than was actually reported and 

 shown in the table. The total real estate loans of the 216 companies 

 which reported amounted to $2,024,745,646. Farm mortgage loans, 

 therefore, constituted 60 per cent of all real estate loans of these 

 companies and 18.6 per cent of their admitted assets. In 1914, farm 

 mortgage loans constituted only 39.7 per cent of total real estate 

 loans and 13.3 per cent of admitted assets, whereas in 1916 the corre- 

 sponding figures were 46.6 per cent and 15.3 per cent, respectively.^ 

 The increased percentage of assets invested in farm mortgages by 

 Ufe insurance companies is particularly striking in view of the fact 

 that the percentage of total admitted assets represented by real 

 estate loans of all kinds has decreased from 34.6 per cent in 1914 to 

 34.2 per cent in 1916 ^ and to 31 per cent in 1920. The figures in 

 the table indicate that Iowa has 23.5 per cent of all farm mortgage 

 loans by life insurance companies, which is approximately as much 

 as was reported for the three next highest States, namely, Kansas, 

 Missouri, and Nebraska, each of which had between ninety and a 

 hundred millions of such loans. 



The larger life insurance companies as a rule maintain their own 

 investment departments and employ special loan agents or corre- 

 spondents. Others rely for their mortgage loans largely on banks 

 and mortgage brokers. 



LOANS BY FEDERAL LAND BANK SYSTEM. 



As has been previously stated, the figures given for the land banks 

 are official, and comprise those for both the Federal and joint-stock 

 land banks. It will be observed that in spite of adverse conditions, 

 these institutions are now carrying 10 or more per cent of the esti- 

 mated farm mortgage loans in 14 States. In general, the ratios of 

 land bank loans to the estimated total farm mortgage debt are 

 highest in the Southern and Western States, where farm mortgage 

 credit has hitherto been particularly inadec^uate. 



1 "Life Insurance rarm Loan Investments in War Time," by Geo. T. Wight, Secretarj' and Manager, 

 Association of Life Insurance Presidents. 



