| Show farm mortgage loads la a letter to the editor of bradstreets published last week mr edward atkinson conveyed the result of some of his inquiries of firms lending eastern capital secured by western farms during the last few years which as far as they go are surprisingly favorable ah atkinson was recently met in his argument as to the abilay of the american wheat fanner to compete in the worlds marets by a statement in the times that western farmers in the united states were generally bankrupt or were losing money especially on wheat and were being eaten up by mortgages and taxes i the gentleman named could not of course renly to the charge from his own knowledge but sought information as to the facts the replies as far as they went showed that of western farm mortgages ten ro plies covering periods of from 4 to ya years upon which had been loaned an average of per mortgage had been leaving mortgages with a face value of outstanding more than this it is stated that the rate of interest has declined from 10 percent and 10 per cent commission on a five years mortgage to an average of at to 7 per cent without commission few will hesitate to pronounce this a surprisingly favorable report point aug as it does to quite unexpected prosperity on the part of the western agriculturist the inquiry is suggested as to how far this showing from only ten companies is representative senta tive mr atla nyon says that he has not yet exhausted the subject and that what he does present is subject to addition hereafter |
