6 BULLETIN 1047, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



against the land it is frequently assunied by the purchaser, or a new 

 first mortgage may be placed by him with some financial institution, 

 the former owner accepting a second mortgage for his interest in 

 the land. A very large percentage of the second mortgages on farm 

 land are, therefore, held by former owners, as well as a considerable 

 percentage of the first mortgages. 



BASIS OF FIGURES ON LOANS BY BANKS. 



Table 2 summarizes the actual returns from the questioniiaire to 

 banks. These figures, together with data from the comptroller's 

 report, constitute the basis of the estimated total farm mortgage 

 loans by banks, as given in Table 1. For the United States as a 

 whole, 45 per cent of the banks reported. The lowest percentage of 

 return was 27.5 per cent, from North Carolina, and the highest, 

 72 per cent, from Massachusetts. 



In estimating the total farm mortgage loans held by banks, the 

 figures for national banks and those for ''banks other than national" 

 were for each State tabulated and calculated separately.^ 



In general, the loans held by commercial banks originated with 

 them. The country banks especially are instrumental in placing 

 farm mortgage loans with insurance companies, as well as with savings 

 banks, trust companies, and mortgage bankers in the larger cities. 

 In some cases, these country banks sell mortgages which they already 

 own, but more often they act merely as agents or correspondents 

 either for the farmer or for the investor and may or may not assume 

 liability to the investor. 



2 It was assumed in the case of each State, first, that the percentage obtained by dividing the 

 totalloans and discounts of each class of Ijanks which replied to our questionnaire into the total 

 loans and discounts of such of these banks as reported some farm mortgage loans applied also to the loans 

 and discounts of banks of the same class which did not reply to the questionnaire. Secondly, it was assumed 

 that the percentage of loans and discovmts represented by farm mortgage loans in the case of the banks 

 reporting some farm mortgage loans held also for the part of the loans and discounts not reported, but 

 which, according to the first calculation, were composed of some farm mortgage loans. In the State of 

 Missouri, for instance, the total loans reported by banks other than national were $172,370,019, and the loans 

 reported by banks whose loans, in part, represented farm mortgage loans were $119,772,263 or G9.5 per cent 

 of the total. Furthermore, of the total loans reported by the banks the loans of which were, in part, farm 

 mortage loans, $21,683,921, or 18.1 per cent were farm mortgage loans. By applying the first of these per- 

 centages, 69.5 per cent, to $587,691,000, which was the total amount of loans and discounts of banks other, 

 than national reported for the State by the Comptroller of the Currency, a total of $408,445,245 was obtaLaed 

 which represented the loans and discounts of banks having some farm mortgage loans; and by applying 

 the second percentage, or 18.1 per cent, to the last named sum, a total of $73,989,362 was obtained for farm 

 mortgage loans. A similar computation was then made for the amount of farm mortgage loans held by 

 national banks, and the resulting figure was added to those obtained above, giving a total of farm mort- 

 gage loans held by all banks in Missoiu-i amounting to $75,093,027. 



