12 BULLETIN 384, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
MORTGAGE COMPANIES. 
Figures are not at hand to show the amount of capital invested in 
farm-mortgage loans by mortgage companies. These companies 
figure prominently in the farm-mortgage business in all parts of the 
country, however, and include a number of foreign companies which 
have invested heavily in farm mortgages in the West South Central, 
Rocky Mountain, and Pacific States. 
There are a number of domestic mortgage companies which have 
confined their attention to a conservative loan business and have 
established a reputation for a relatively safe class of investment 
loans. This has enabled them to build up a clientele of investors, 
with connections of long standing. Other mortgage companies pre- 
fer to handle mortgage loans commanding relatively high rates and 
commissions. Among the latter are those mortgage companies which 
li mi t then business to second mortgages, and receive the extreme 
figures for both commission and interest. 
Mortgage companies may be classified also with reference to the 
extent of the territory in which they do business. Thus there are 
those that cover a relatively large territory, including many States, 
while other companies limit their business to a more restricted area, 
often a single State or a part of a State. Most of the loans made 
by either class are placed through local agents or correspondents, 
although many of the smaller companies also make loans direct to 
farmers. A mortgage company may buy the mortgage and reassign 
it to another purchaser, or it may have the paper made out to 
itself in the first instance, to be resold later. In either case, the 
mortgage company collects a commission in addition to that received 
by the local agent or correspondent. 
SCHOOL OR LAND-GRANT FUNDS. 
In addition to the funds supplied for farm-mortgage loans by 
insurance companies, banks, and mortgage companies, approximately 
825.000,000 is being loaned from school or land-grant fimds directly 
to farmers in certain States, such as Indiana, Iowa, Xorth Dakota, 
South Dakota, Oklahoma, Idaho, Utah, and Oregon. The interest 
charge on these loans is usually 5 or 6 per cent, though hi Idaho the 
rate is 7 per cent. These loans are handled directly from the State 
departments in Xorth and South Dakota, Oklahoma, Idaho, Utah, 
and Oregon: in Indiana and Iowa, however, the loans are handled 
through the counties, which are held responsible for all losses on 
account of insufficient, security or through defalcations by county 
officers. 
