20 BULLETIN 968, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
loan were made on considerations of credit alone. In the second 
place, it is probable that legal restrictions on interest rates exert an 
important influence on normal interest rates for second mortgages, 
as well as in the case of first mortgages. In various ways additional 
charges probably are employed to supplement the normal interest 
rate. In general, this seems to be another indication of the fact that 
lending on second mortgages has not been widely developed on a 
commercial basis. 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. 
The Federal farm-loan system has been employed to a considerable 
and an increasing extent to enable men to buy land. The proportion 
of loans for this purpose has probably not yet reached a maximum. 
AVERAGE INTEREST RATE 
FOR 
FARM MORTGAGE LOANS 
DERIVED FROM INFORMATION FURNISHED 8Y C.w THOMPSON 
TO THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON RURAL CREDITS IN THE 
1 5 - T SESSION OF THE 64~CONGRESS (NOV. 15 AND 17,1915) 
Fig. 
-Average interest rates for farm mortgage lonas, by Federal land-bank districts. 
In addition to the loans made directly for this purpose, it is probable 
that loans made for refunding indebtedness and for other purposes 
improve the financial position of the farmer to such an extent as to 
enable him to invest in additional land. 
To a large extent the use of the system for acquiring farm land has 
been by those already owning farm land, about two-thirds of those 
who borrowed to buy land belonging to this class. Of the landless 
borrowers, about two-thirds were operating as tenants at the time of 
borrowing. 
While it is apparent, therefore, that landless persons desiring aid 
in acquiring the ownership of farm land have not resorted extensively 
to the farm land banks, an examination of the methods employed by 
