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^Otne f^elj About the ♦ ♦ ♦ 
 
 ^^, ^ — -^ ^^- 
 
 Western Mortgage Business: 
 
 Itj Jlistoty and Its OdtlooH. 
 
 T. E BO\A^MAN. 
 
SOME FACTS 
 
 ABOUT THE 
 
 Western Mortgage Business. 
 
 ITS HISTOEY AND ITS OUTLOOK. 
 
 BY 
 
 T. E. BOWMAN. 
 
 TOPEKA, KANSAS. 
 
 THE HAMILTON PBINTINO COMPANY. 
 1892. 
 
K G 
 
 EXPLANATORY. 
 
 To such of our investors as are busy men, an apology is due 
 for submitting them this lengthy pamphlet. We have lately had 
 inquiries from so many correspondents who are the owners of 
 defaulted mortgages made through companies that are out of 
 business, desiring all possible information on the various phases 
 and present condition of the subject, that it has seemed impossi- 
 ble to give the full information desired in an abridged form. 
 
 While this is written, first, in the interests of ourselves and 
 
 ovr investors, it is submitted with the hope, also, that it may 
 
 prove of some value to others, who are neither interested in us 
 
 or our investments. 
 
 T. E. BOWMAN. 
 Topeka, Kas., March 1, 1892. 
 
THE WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 The writer does not attempt in this pamphlet to give a history 
 of the western mortgage business as conducted through loan 
 brokers and companies. His knowledge of the business is not 
 sufficiently extended, as to time or territory, to enable him to pre- 
 sume to write its full history. 
 
 In this presentation of the subject, such data are presented as 
 will give, in a general way, a knowledge of the business as it has 
 been conducted during recent years, only attempting to give such 
 facts as have come to his personal knowledge and observation. 
 As far as statements are made, he means to confine himself to 
 truths — whether damaging or helpful — and not to opinions or 
 speculations. 
 
 My first acquaintance with the West was in 1878. During 
 that year I made a few loans in Kansas, first for my own invest- 
 ment, and afterwards for my friends. Continuing these invest- 
 ments as other friends desired, I soon found myself fairly launched 
 in the loan business in a small way. 
 
 In my intercourse with loan companies and their representa- 
 tives while I was prospecting in the West, I gathered information 
 that made me sensible of the dangers that beset the business ; and 
 in my first circulars addressed to Eastern investors, as well as in 
 every circular and many private letters thereafter, I have called 
 attention to some of these dangers, chief among which has been 
 the impossibility of the investors knowing the character of the 
 
4 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 men who directly place their loans. Though they might know 
 the officers of the company and have confidence in them, they 
 could not know the character of their agents or sub-agents who 
 represented them at the many points in the West in which their 
 loans were placed. The officers of the company, as well as the 
 Eastern broker who sold the loans, were ofttimes personally igno- 
 rant as to the character of the securities which they sold to their 
 investors. 
 
 In an address before the Kansas Bankers' Association, held at 
 Topeka, May 14, 1889, in which the loan companies as well as 
 the bankers of the State were represented, I endeavored to call 
 attention to the abuses which characterized our business — espe" 
 cially to the fact that we were in part responsible for the results 
 of the boom speculation. To quote from this address — 
 
 "All over the West, every city is surrounded, and many of them to 
 
 distances spreading out far from their circumferences, with lands that 
 
 a few years ago were good farms, now platted into lots with 25 feet 
 
 frontage, with streets and aDeys, and aU in common growing up to a 
 
 wilderness of weeds. These platted prairies are dotted here and there 
 
 with houses, many of them vacant, and if tenants are secured there is 
 
 no work for them to do. Stranded enterprises grown out of these 
 
 have, some of them, died in such early infancy as to merit the epitaph, 
 
 " ' If I was so soon to be done for, 
 Pray, what was I ever begun for¥ ' 
 
 " The answer to the question which the epitaph raises would be: You 
 were begun with other people's money, and that money was loaned by 
 other people than the owners thereof. 
 
 " The borrowing of money has been made too easy. Unwise specu- 
 lation and excessive private and municipal indebtedness have thereby 
 been encouraged. The loan business has, on the whole, been an un- 
 doubted blessing to this State. It has helped its marvelous develop- 
 ment and growth. We are all interested in guarding against its abuses. 
 If we adopt the rule of never loaning money on a security that would 
 not meet the approval of the one whose money will go into it, we shall 
 keep on the safe side." 
 
 That this rule was not generally followed, is now only too well 
 known. This boom culminated in the Missouri Valley States in 
 
ITS HISTORY AND ITS OUTLOOK. 5 
 
 1887. It proved to be a boomerang! The reaction was disas- 
 trous to many. A few shrewd speculators were made rich, but a 
 far greater number were stranded. Many people who had laid 
 by a competency became infected with the speculative fever, and 
 mortgaged real estate which they had previously owned clear of 
 incumbrance to obtain means to buy suburban or other specula- 
 tive property, and are now encumbered with debts which they 
 find burdensome. In some cases, people who, before the boom, 
 were in independent circumstances, are left bankrupt, losing their 
 entire holdings under their mortgages. 
 
 The process of readjustment, however, is now mostly completed. 
 City properties are getting a fixed and stable value, on a basis 
 much below that which prevailed during the exciting years of the 
 boom, and the people of the West who were engaged in these 
 speculations now look back with amazement at their own folly. 
 
 THE CATJSES OF THIS SPECTTLATION 
 
 Are apparent. They may be principally divided under three 
 heads : 
 
 First. — During the decade ending with 1885, the farmers of the 
 West were blessed with bountiful crops. New farms were rapidly 
 opened up, and their products largely augmented the world's 
 wealth. Kansas alone, during these 10 years, broke up raw prai- 
 rie and placed under cultivation an acreage exceeding the entire 
 area of the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island 
 combined. The cities of this great middle West were developing, 
 some gradually, others rapidly, but all with a substantial growth. 
 
 During this period real estate had made but moderate advance- 
 ment. The people found themselves suddenly awakened to the 
 new conditions of their great prosperity ; the possibilities of the 
 future dawned upon them ; holders of city and suburban real es- 
 tate became alive to the fact that selling values had not advanced 
 at all proportionately with the growth and development of the 
 country ; local owners of real estate began to buy more property ; 
 
6 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 farms adjacent to cities were at first bought at values but little 
 above their worth for mere farm purposes; prices rapidly ad- 
 vanced. 
 
 Second. — The in-rush of Eastern capital. The formation of in- 
 vestment companies for acquiring real estate, and of all sorts of 
 senseless and soulless corporations, was now begun. The rush of 
 Eastern people seeking investments was so great in some localities 
 that the hotels were not sufficient to accommodate the guests, and 
 some spent their nights sitting in chairs, that they might be first on 
 the ground next morning, believing that if they only secured lands 
 and lots surrounding these growing cities, for any price for which 
 they were then selling, their fortunes would be made. In this 
 way property was sold to Eastern investors at fabulous prices. 
 The spirit of speculation, stimulated and reinforced by the daily 
 arrival of new investors, became a mania. Clerks and working 
 people of small means who could not individually raise sufficient 
 money to buy a lot joined together and formed syndicates, and 
 for a while the "syndicate" was the popular thing in many West- 
 ern towns. Many owners of farms near cities refused to sell their 
 holdings at any price. The eager purchasers, when unable to se- 
 cure the lands wanted, pushed farther out, seeking those owners 
 who would sell, and thus additions were platted, in many cases 
 disconnected from the city or any other platted suburbs, and miles 
 from the business center. Suburban railroads were projected on 
 all sides, and many were built, not to accommodate the travel of 
 the population living in the suburbs, for in many districts there 
 was no population, but for the express purpose of selling lots. 
 
 In the unavoidable collapse, mechanics and laborers who had 
 been drawn to these cities and towns for employment were left 
 without work, and must seek new fields for a livelihood. The 
 professional boomers, also, had to "move on,'' some going farther 
 west, and others heading towards the present paradise of boomers 
 — Chicago. This largely reduced the population, so that the ex- 
 
ITS HISTORY AND ITS OUTLOOK. 7 
 
 cessive increase of building was followed almost simultaneously 
 by a decrease of population. 
 
 While the strongest and best cities of the West, like Kansas 
 City, Minneapolis, and Denver, suffered, the smaller cities and 
 towns towards the frontier, where previous growth had been rapid 
 and hopes were high, were not less seriously affected. 
 
 The western portions of Kansas, Nebraska, and a large part oi 
 the Dakotas, had always until this period been considered adapted 
 only to stock-raising, and to that kind of farming in a limited way 
 which would support a sparse population. During these years, 
 through the enterprise of railroad companies which still owned 
 lands that they wished to sell, assisted by real-estate agents, and 
 helped by the newspapers, which were in many cases either owned 
 or controlled by the boomers, these frontier counties rapidly filled 
 up with plucky settlers and greedy adventurers. 
 
 The people of eastern Kansas, and other well-developed por- 
 tions of the West, who, 20 or 30 years earlier, had themselves 
 been frontiersmen, were filled with alarm at this rapid filling up 
 of these western frontiers. They realized the hardships that come 
 upon first settlers even in a country that is blessed not only with 
 good soil but a good climate, and they did not have faith that the 
 rainfall on these frontiers was suflicient, one year with another, to 
 produce crops to maintain this population. It was believed that 
 unavoidable disaster and suffering would come to these settlers of 
 the semi- arid plains. 
 
 The majority of the settlers went there in good faith. Many 
 of them were farmers from the older portions of the West — 
 young men and women in the prime of life; people of intelli- 
 gence and education ; the bone and sinew of our land. Mingled 
 with these were many adventurers who never attempted to make 
 a home, but who went there planning to secure land at minimum 
 price from the Government, where there was any Government land 
 left, or to buy it of the railroad companies, and sell at large ad- 
 
8 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 vance to other new comers ; or, failing in that, to sell it through 
 a mortgage to the loan company which would let them have the 
 largest loan. Strange as it now seems, loan companies entered 
 into a sharp competition to secure loans in these districts. 
 
 THIKD. — THE FINAL IMPORTANT FACTOR IN ENLARGING AND SUSTAIN- 
 ING THE BOOM OF THIS PERIOD WAS THE MULTIPLICATION 
 OF LOAN COMPANIES, 
 
 And the readiness of some of the old and most of the new com- 
 panies to lend their large influence to the fostering of these specu- 
 lations. To give prestige to these companies, men in the highest 
 official positions, especially State officers, lent their names, acting 
 in some cases as officers of the companies. They paid large divi- 
 dends, though how they did it it is hard for an outsider to com- 
 prehend. They made a showing of a large increase of assets, but 
 this increase was mostly in second mortgages, which they had 
 taken as commissions on loans. As borrowers on the frontier and 
 suburban and other speculative properties would pay not only a 
 larger rate of interest but larger commissions than the farmers 
 in the established farm regions, and as it was dividends that 
 the stockholders wanted and would have, these loans were freely 
 taken. The stockholders of these companies in the East were 
 the interested allies of the Eastern loan brokers whom the com- 
 panies employed in selling their loans. Besides agents and sub- 
 agents, and in some cases sub-sub-agents, soliciting of the citizens 
 the privilege of placing a mortgage on their real estate, there 
 were men at almost every point who did not act as agents for any 
 particular company, and controlled no money, but who drummed 
 up applications, selling these applications to the large companies, 
 who would then go forward and make the loans. 
 
 It is not within the possibilities of human nature that all of 
 these parties having the disposition of other people's money, and 
 passing upon the value of real estate offered as security, should 
 have all the qualifications of good judgment and integrity which 
 
ITS HISTORY AND ITS OUTLOOK. 9 
 
 are needed in a position so important, or that they were invariably 
 such as would be selected in communities where they lived for 
 holding so important a trust. 
 
 Many companies loaned on vacant suburban lots, basing the 
 loan on fictitious values, while others did a wilder thing in mak- 
 ing loans to build up these suburbs. The location of the property, 
 the primary and vital consideration in city loans, was ignored. 
 Mortgages were not only placed to build residences in localities 
 where residences were not wanted, but they were made in large sums 
 for the erection of business houses in localities where there was not 
 sufficient business to transact. Costly buildings, four and five 
 stories high, were erected on side streets, only to stand vacant when 
 cbmpleted. Sometimes the parties who placed the loans, acting 
 as local agents for a loan company, were interested in the owner- 
 ship of the property. In the abundance of money which loan 
 companies controlled through the eagerness of Eastern people to 
 secure Western mortgages, competition to secure these loans was 
 great, and the borrower usually made his loan through the com- 
 pany which would give him the largest amount. Thus in many 
 cases were mortgages placed for an amount more than the prop- 
 erty was ever worth. 
 
 THE RESULT 
 
 Is disaster to those companies that loaned to any large extent on 
 these suburban lots or frontier farms. The Eastern investor finds 
 himself in possession of a defaulted mortgage on a suburban lot, 
 or a quarter-section of land far out on the plains, which in many 
 cases means the ownership of the property; these mortgages on 
 the frontier usually ranging in sums of from $300 to $700, aver- 
 aging about $500 on a quarter-section (160 acres). 
 
 Those companies which had guaranteed their loans, (and dur- 
 ing this period many investors thought the "guarantee" an im- 
 portant condition of its security,) advanced interest payments to 
 the owners of the mortgages until they could do so no longer, and 
 then failed. The lender thus finds himself left with mortgages. 
 
10 WESTERN MOETGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 but entirely in the dark as to the security, or the whereabouts of 
 the borrowers, excepting as shown by the loan papers. The com- 
 pany who made his loans is bankrupt and out of business. 
 Frightened and discouraged, the investor in many cases sacrifices 
 his mortgage for an insignificant sum. Individuals and compar 
 nies who buy up these defaulted mortgages inform themselves of 
 the value of the security before doing so, while the owner of the 
 mortgage, inexperienced in these matters, in some cases practi- 
 cally throws away a good security. Parties have sold mortgages 
 for a mere fraction of their face, in cases where the owner of the 
 property, through temporary misfortune, has been unable to meet 
 his interest, but where the real estate is adequate, and where buy- 
 ers for this real estate were at hand ready to take the property 
 and pay a bonus for the equity above the mortgage. 
 
 It is not my province in this place to discuss to what extent 
 the responsibility for these results is to be divided between the 
 loan companies, the borrowers, and the investors, or whether the 
 loan companies and their agents should bear all the responsibility. 
 Cautious investors, however, who were satisfied with the lowest 
 current rates which mortgages in a good, well-developed country af- 
 forded, placed through careful and intelligent men, find themselves 
 with good, solid investments, and are comparatively undisturbed 
 by the results of the boom ; while those who were willing to take 
 he greater risk, and trust to less reliable agencies for the placing 
 of their money, seeking high rates rather than sound securities, 
 find themselves owners of precarious mortgages or of real estate 
 that they do not wish to hold. 
 
 These two facts are to be borne in mind, and they stand out at 
 the present time with peculiar emphasis : 
 
 FIRST.— THAT THIS SPECULATION DID NOT AT ANY TIME SERIOUSLY 
 AFFECT THE OLDER FARMING DISTRICTS. 
 
 Farm values, even in the best and richest regions, were not 
 largely advanced during this period. In spite of the depression 
 
ITS HISTORY AND ITS OUTLOOK. 11 
 
 which has since rested upon agricultural interests in consequence 
 of the exceedingly low prices for farm products, farm values but 
 slightly declined, and are now not only well maintained, but ad- 
 vancing. 
 
 SECOND. — THE LESITIMATB BUSINESS 
 
 Of the West was also but slightly aiFected. Its development has 
 continued, and it is now reaching out and strengthening itself in 
 every direction. The bank deposits in the Western cities and 
 smaller towns are, in many cases, the largest that have ever been 
 known in the history of the West. Its agricultural, manufactur- 
 ing and commercial resources are being constantly developed. 
 Its farms never yielded a better income than now, and its cities 
 are securing their share of the general growth. Mortgages placed 
 with intelligence and discrimination on well-located city property, 
 either residence or business, in good Western cities, or on good 
 farms in well-developed farming regions, and cared for by reliable 
 men, have continued through all this period among the best assets 
 of the Eastern investor. 
 
 The inflation of values above set forth, with the resultant reac- 
 tion which always follows, has had either no injurious effect, or 
 if injurious, only temporary, except upon the frontier, and upon 
 such classes of property as were speculative or as had always been 
 of a doubtful character. Only the vigor, recuperative force and 
 large resources of the growing West have enabled the towns to 
 stand up as well as they have against these adversities. 
 
 As it is an ill wind that blows no good, so these adversities 
 
 bring 
 
 SOME Compensating advantages. 
 
 In previous years, rents in Western towns had been nearly 
 double what the same accommodations would cost in the East. 
 They are now largely reduced, though still usually above Eastern 
 standards. This gives encouragement to manufacturers, and, with 
 the lower cost of provisions, enables the mechanic and laborer to 
 secure for himself larger comforts than on the same wages in the 
 East. 
 
12 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 The growth of almost all the Western cities is rapidly filling up 
 the vacant houses, and values must soon again advance. 
 
 HOW SAFETY MAY BE SECUEED. 
 
 An article which appeared in "The Forum" for March, 1890, 
 by J. Willis Gleed, of this city, is generally recognized as the 
 most complete, intelligent and judicial presentation of the mort- 
 gage question that has ever been given to the public. It should 
 be read in full by every investor. We quote the following: 
 
 "Some suggestions as to how investments in Western mortgages 
 may be safely made will not be out of place in concluding this article. 
 Certain Eastern investors have already adopted the plan of hiring trust- 
 worthy salaried agents, to make and to take care of their loans. This 
 plan is not practicable for the ordinary investor, who must depend 
 largely on some trusted middle-man. It is first in order, therefore, to 
 select an honest and capable broker. Here and there may be found a 
 private broker who has clear notions of duty towards his correspond- 
 ents; who makes investments for others on his own judgment, based 
 on personal knowledge; who is content with a fair profit for himself; 
 and who can truthfully say that he has never lost a penny of his clients' 
 money. When such a man is found, he is a treasure. His honor is of 
 a higher sort than the honor of most corporations; and, doing a busi- 
 ness which is strictly under his own personal supervision, he is less 
 likely to be imposed upon by dishonest borrowers. In judging of a 
 loan company, a number of points should be kept in mind: What is its 
 history, and how long has it been in existence? Are its methods of 
 placing money the best ? Does it do business in a safe territory ? What 
 is the standing of its officers and stockholders? Where do its officers 
 and stockholders reside? . . . How is it regarded by the people 
 among whom it makes its loans? Some of the foregoing hints may be 
 enlarged upon. The investor must discriminate as to the territory in 
 which the company does business. A company that loans in the arid 
 belt is a more venturesome company than one that does not. A com- 
 pany whose officers and stockholders reside in the East is probably not 
 doing as safe and careful a business as a company whose officers and 
 stockholders reside in the territory where the investments are made. 
 . . . Borrowers soon find out what companies make safe loans, and 
 what companies make extravagant loans. If the investor can get some 
 
ITS HISTORY AND ITS OUTLOOK. 13 
 
 word from the people as to the character of a loan company, he will do 
 well. The fact that a company is reputed to be fair and just in its deal- 
 ings with the borrower should recommend it to the iuTestor. 
 
 "Let it be remembered that, because the business has proven very 
 protttable, many wild-cat companies have been formed within the past 
 four or five years. Such companies, managed by irresponsible and in- 
 experienced men, have invested much money. They are ready with 
 their guaranties, and they offer high rates, but there is no soundness 
 in them. Tempted by high commissions, they-have loaned largely in 
 excess of the security, so that the settler who desired to go farther west 
 or to return to the East could realize more money upon mortgage than 
 upon sale. The wild-cat company runs a brief but pernicious course. 
 It demoralizes borrowers, plunders investors, and seriously prejudices 
 legitimate mortgage business. . . . 
 
 " On the whole, it is a great mistake to depend too much on the 
 guaranty. Select such obligations as are amply secured by real estate 
 in the first instance. Let the real estate lie in a region the future of 
 which is assured. Let it be improved real estate, so that, if the mort- 
 gage be foreclosed, rentals can be collected." 
 
 There is one thing that holders of defaulted mortgages should 
 not do. Having hastily made unwise investments, they should 
 not hastily, and because of their fright, sacrifice these investments. 
 Remember that buyers, before purchasing such mortgages, ascer- 
 tain, the value of the securities, and select only those that they can 
 make the most money out of by purchasing. Acting with undue 
 haste, many people have sold mortgages that were really worth 100 
 cents on the dollar the day they were sold for a small fraction of 
 their face value. It is rare that a security taken by even the 
 most reckless of the wild-cat companies proves worthless. Occa- 
 sionally loans have been made on suburban properties in the larger 
 cities and on poor properties in small towns where the security, 
 never adequate, has depreciated until it is now of little value ; but 
 the great bulk of these securities will eventually pay out the prin- 
 cipal sum borrowed, though many of them will never pay out, with 
 the best of handling, the principal with interest and taxes added. 
 Lands mortgaged as security, even in the semi-arid districts, all 
 
14 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 have some value ; in most cases sufficient to pay out the mortgage, 
 if the owner of the mortgage will secure title and hold the prop- 
 erty until a purchaser can be found. If the company that made 
 the mortgage is still in business and is doing decently well in the 
 care of the mortgages, they should be left in that company's hands, 
 rather than be put in the hands of a new, though better, agent. 
 There should, in all cases, be some agent entrusted with looking 
 after the payment of taxes, hunting up the borrower if the prop- 
 erty is deserted, ascertaining whether he is financially responsible, 
 and, if payment cannot be obtained otherwise, securing title to the 
 lands and caring for same until they can be sold. 
 
 The boom period has been followed by a debt-paying period. 
 Many farmers are paying ofi' their mortgages; others, as they 
 mature, are reducing them. In this way, large sums of money 
 are being returned to the East. 
 
 HOW SHALL TKIS MONEY BE EEINVESTED ? 
 
 All experience has proved that there is no safer security for 
 mortgage loans than good farms in a fertile and prosperous agri- 
 cultural district. 
 
 Notwithstanding the loss that has come to investors in Western 
 mortgages through the folly of the boom period, the aggregate 
 of final loss, in comparison with losses in other classes of invest- 
 ments, is small. The losses incurred in investments in a single 
 railroad have probably been greater than the entire loss in all 
 farm mortgages in the West, from its earliest history to the pres- 
 ent day. 
 
 There are no safer securities than good farm mortgages in a 
 productive and well-developed and established region. Invest- 
 ments thus secured rest upon the very foundation of all prosperity, 
 the great source of all production. They are beyond the reach 
 of mismanagement, breach of trust, or crime, so often disastrous 
 to the funds of those who have invested in securities controlled 
 
KANSAS AND ITS RESOUECES. 15 
 
 by corporations. They cannot be affected by a board of direct- 
 ors. Carefully made, by competent and trustworthy parties, on 
 the ground, on realty which is increasing in value, and which has 
 sufficient rental or productive value to give an abundant margin 
 beyond any contingency, they are as safe an investment as it is 
 possible to make. 
 
 Following the war, large areas of the public domain were 
 thrown open to settlement, and occupied by returned soldiers and 
 others, and these lands proved among the most fertile and product- 
 ive portions of the whole country, thus largely increasing our an- 
 nual agricultural products. 
 
 THESE AKABLB LANDS BELONGESG TO THE NATION ABE NOW EXHAUSTED, 
 
 With the exception of a small area within the Indian Territory. 
 Many of our most careful statisticians believe that hereafter the 
 increased products of our farms cannot keep pace with the in- 
 creased consumption ; that at an early day, instead of supplying 
 Europe with food, all that we can raise will be required for home 
 consumption. All are agreed that the period of over-productinn 
 of farm products has passed its meridian, and that hereafter the 
 farm lands of the West cannot depreciate, but will advance in 
 value. 
 
 My position enables me to speak more especially of my own 
 State : 
 
 KANSAS. 
 
 Many Eastern people have vague and erroneous ideas regarding 
 our State. To these Kansas is Kansas, and all Kansas mortgages 
 are alike ; and if they hear of a person who owns a defaulted mort- 
 gage on the western frontier, they have no idea but that a mort- 
 gage in the eastern counties would be equally suspicious. They 
 do not realize that the location of one security may be 400 miles 
 distant from the location of the other, or that one is located in the 
 richest and most prosperous farming region in this or any other 
 
16 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 country, while the other is located on the high and semi-arid plains 
 that slope from the base of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 From the northern to the southern line of Kansas the distance 
 is 200 miles, its southern line, latitude 37°, being the same as 
 Norfolk, Va., and its northern boundary, latitude 40°, on a line 
 with Philadelphia, the city of Topeka being on a line with the 
 city of Washington. 
 
 The mean temperature differs but little from the same latitudes 
 on the Atlantic, but we are subject to greater extremes and sud- 
 den changes. During the year 1891, the mercury did not touch 
 zero during the winter, and rose above 90° but 10 times during 
 the summer; but this year was exceptional. 
 
 The State stretches from east to west a distance of 400 miles. 
 If it were divided into two States, by running a line through 
 the center from north to south, the western half being known by 
 another name, the reputation of the State would not be injured 
 by the experiences and vicissitudes of this semi-arid frontier. 
 
 At the eastern line of the State, the altitude is between 800 and 
 900 feet above sea-level. As you go west it increases, until ai the 
 center of the State you reach an altitude of from 1,500 to 1,800 
 feet. Further westward from this point it increases more rap- 
 idly, until; at the west line of the State, you find an altitude rang- 
 ing at different points from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above sea-level. 
 This occasions cold nights and makes a poor country for corn; 
 but more serious than the cold nights is the lack of rainfall. It 
 is by many supposed that this lack of rain and its unequal distri- 
 bution is the weak point in Kansas as an agricultural State, and 
 this is true as applied to the whole State; but those who think we 
 have a small average of rainfall in eastern Kansas may be sur- 
 prised to know that our rainfall is, through the summer months, 
 much larger than on the north Atlantic coast. The average 
 yearly rainfall in eastern Kansas, covering the period of its his- 
 tory, has been between 34 and 35 inches; but this is largely dur- 
 ing the growing months, the average at Topeka the last 14 years. 
 
KANSAS AND ITS RESOURCES. 17 
 
 for the four months of May, June, July, and August, being 1 7.86 
 inches ; while the average for the four winter months, including 
 December, January, February, and March, is but 5.18 inches, 
 our winters being short, and for the most part sunny and enjoyable. 
 
 Our State has an advantage over States both north and east 
 of us, in allowing much plowing and other farm work to be done 
 during the winter months. This advantage is important. There 
 is no grain-growing State, either north or east of us, where the 
 farmer can cultivate so large an acreage with the same help as in 
 Kansas. Our short and open winters are also favorable for stock- 
 raising, the most profitable industry of the State. 
 
 At Boston, the average rainfall for 17 years, ending with 1887, 
 for these four months of summer, was 14.88 inches; for the four 
 winter months, 16.26 inches. 
 
 As you go west, while the elevation increases, the rainfall de- 
 creases, until, at the western line of the State, it is but little more 
 than half the amount that falls in the eastern counties, and it is 
 not so evenly distributed through the growing season. During 
 the year 1891, our rainfall in eastern Kansas was immense, being, 
 at Topeka, for the three months of May, June, and July, a total 
 of 25.42 inches — a rainfall that would have been disastrous to 
 the crops of any of the flat, prairie States, but with the superior 
 drainage and the capacity of our soil for absorbing the rain, this 
 large amount was not harmful to the crops except in a few local- 
 ities. 
 
 In the eastern half of the State, our rolling prairie is broken 
 by numerous streams skirted with timber, the bottom lands — as 
 the valleys along the streams are called — being of unsurpassed 
 fertility. The upland or prairie soil is usually a deep black loam, 
 but greatly varying. In some of the counties there are tracts of 
 stony and hilly lands, not fit for tillage, but excellent for grazing, 
 producing abundance of rich, nutritious grasses. In the eastern 
 counties the native grasses are blue-stem and other varieties that 
 make a rank growth, and blue-grass is rapidly working in, replac- 
 —2 
 
18 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 ing the prairie pastures. Timothy, the clovers and other tame 
 grasses thrive wherever introduced, and are now being cultivated 
 as far west as the center of the State. Beyond the central portion 
 of the State, the buffalo grass begins to appear, and in the western 
 one-third of the State the larger grasses are but seldom seen, but 
 in their stead the fine buffalo grass, with its meager growth, but 
 two or three inches high, carpets the plains. In the eastern coun- 
 ties two acres of land will pasture a steer, while in this buffalo- 
 grass region it requires from 6 to 15 acres. Probably nine-tenths 
 of the eastern half of the State is adapted to tillage. As you 
 reach the center of the State, the prairies become more level and 
 less broken, and merge into the great plains, where the soil is fer- 
 tile, but where the climatic conditions are, as before explained, 
 less favorable. As regards 
 
 WESTERN KANSAS, 
 
 It seems certain that, notwithstanding the disadvantages above 
 referred to, the adapting of agriculture to the climate, which ex- 
 perience is teaching the farmers, insures a future of certainly a 
 larger degree of prosperity than during its early settlement. 
 
 The writer does not pretend to any intimate knowledge of this 
 western portion of Kansas. He has, perhaps, been too much prej- 
 udiced against it, having always warned investors not to risk money 
 in mortgages in these western counties. He would now, however, 
 warn those who have done so not to throw them away. 
 
 Perhaps the report made by Mr. Henry M. Cleveland, of Hart- 
 ford, Conn., who, during the past summer, in the interests of insur. 
 ance companies and other investors represented by him, made 
 a careful and thorough investigation of the western portion of 
 this State, is as intelligent, unprejudiced and reliable as any one 
 paper that has been presented. Mr. Cleveland is the same gentle- 
 man who was appointed by the State of Connecticut, in 1877, to 
 examine the real estate in the West, held under mortgages amount- 
 ing to about $50,000,000, by the various insurance companies and 
 
KANSAS AND ITS RESOURCES. 19 
 
 other corporations of his State, and is rated as a man with the 
 highest qualifications for that business. In his report of last July, 
 he says : 
 
 "It is conceded by everybody that the central and eastern parts of 
 the State possess almost unlimited land resources, and that the soil and 
 seasons are favorable for the production of grain, stock, etc. The as- 
 saults that have been made upon Kansas have been aimed mainly at 
 the western third of the State. It has been said and written over and 
 over that the land is poor, that they have no rainfall there, that nearly 
 all the farms started there had been abandoned, and that all the money 
 loaned on farms there would be lost. Now, it is true that farms there 
 have been given up, some voluntarily and some by foreclosure — and 
 the explanation is clear; all the men who have abandoned their farms 
 in the way named were in two classes. One class would go there, take 
 a quarter-section of Government land, break a few acres, build a sod 
 house, do nothing until the time came to prove up and get title, and 
 then borrow all the money they could on the farm, which meant a sale 
 to the lender. The other class were men who went there from the corn 
 States and tried to raise corn, which cannot be done successfully in 
 that part of the State, for the reason that the altitude is too high, the 
 nights are too cool, and that August and September are the dry months 
 which damage the crops. Some of these men got discouraged and went 
 off; others began to raise wheat, and did well. Winter wheat is the 
 safe, great crop of western Kansas. It is planted in the fall, the winter 
 rains and snows keep the ground in fine condition, and the crop comes 
 off before the dry weather sets in. With rare exceptions, the men who 
 went into western Kansas during the last 10 years, intending to stay, 
 are there now, (if living,) and are in independent circumstances, most 
 of them; and some of them are moderately rich." 
 
 FTJTUBE DEVELOPMENT CERTAIN. 
 
 Although the reaction from the boom period, of which the hasty 
 and premature settlement and reckless loaning on the frontier was a 
 part, and the uneasiness and dissatisfaction in some quarters which 
 have resulted from the foolish demands of the Farmers' Alliance 
 leaders, have been in their influence adverse to our State, and 
 have slightly retarded its development, they have in no wise 
 stopped it. These causes have taken from our State some of our 
 
20 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 floating population ; the opening up of Oklahoma has taken others ; 
 but the development of our State goes on without interruption. 
 Kansas continues, and will continue in the future, as in the past, 
 to fulfill the prophecy of our State motto, "Ad Astra per Aspera " 
 — "Through adversity to the stars." 
 
 Our State has had many adversities, each one of which has 
 been but a stepping-stone to larger development and grander 
 achievements. As has been the past, so is to be the future; as 
 our State has the resources and the people that are the making of 
 one of the grandest commonwealths upon which the sun ever 
 shone. 
 
 THE RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF OUR GREAT NATDHAD RESOURCES 
 CONTINUES UNABATED. 
 
 Let us look at some data showing the growth of the State from 
 the time the writer first made it his home, in 1878, to the present 
 time, and going back to 1875 for population only. 
 
 As to population : 
 
 The population in 1875 was 528,349 
 
 The population in 1878 was 708,497 
 
 The population in 1880 was 996,096 
 
 The population in 1885 was 1,268,530 
 
 The population in 1890 was 1,427,096 
 
 As to assessed valuation, in even millions : 
 
 In 1878, it was $138,000,000 
 
 In 1880, it was 160,000,000 
 
 In 1885, it was 248,000,000 
 
 In 1891, it was 342,000,000 
 
 As to the value of farm products : The Secretary of our State 
 Board of Agriculture has not figured the value of farm products 
 for the State for the earlier years, but, for the biennial period of 
 of 1885 and 1886, the value of farm products, including live 
 stock sold, was $264,000,000; for 1887 and 1888, $275,000,000; 
 for 1889 and 1890, $283,000,000; while for the single year 
 of 1891 our wheat crop, 58,000,000 bushels, corn crop, 139,000,- 
 000 bushels, added to our minor crops, and live stock sold, make a 
 
KANSAS AND ITS EESOUECES. 21 
 
 total cash value of the farm products of the year, $178,000,000. 
 In contemplating this grand result of the year's labor, our great 
 apostle of financial lunacy. Senator Peffer, must have experienced 
 a lucid moment, as his paper, the Kansas Farmer, in presenting 
 these figures, says: "Comment is unnecessary; the plain figures 
 eloquently demonstrate the importance of the farmers of Kansas, 
 their diligence, and their success." 
 
 The above includes only the agricultural products of the State. 
 Our manufactories and mines are also growing in importance. 
 Our coal mines largely contribute to the supply of our home mar- 
 ket ; our salt mines already largely supply the whole West. 
 
 The aggregate value of all live stock of the State at the close 
 of the year 1891, as given by the Secretary of our State Board of 
 Agriculture, is $117,000,000, thus showing the value of the farm 
 products for the year 1891, $178,000,000, added to the value of live 
 stock on hand, to be $295,000,000, as contributing to make up the 
 wealth of the farmers of the State in personal property ; an amount 
 which would pay the entire farm mortgage indebtedness of the 
 State, as given by the census reports, $174,000,000, and leave every 
 farm clear of incumbrance and a surplus of $121,000,000. 
 
 The statistics gathered by the secretary further show that a 
 larger acreage has been added to the cultivated area, as well as 
 larger values realized, during the last two years, than during the 
 period of the boom, a gain of nearly 2,000,000 acres being added 
 during that time to our area under plow, or two-fifths the area of 
 tlje State of Massachusetts. 
 
 THE PRODUCTIVE 6B0WTH OF THE STATE 
 
 Is further indicated by the packing business at Kansas City, which 
 draws its supplies principally from the farms of Kansas. 
 
 The number of hogs and cattle slaughtered at the Kansas City 
 packing houses was, in round numbers, as follows : 
 
 xr.nr Cattle. Bogs. 
 
 jlyg 18,000 349,000 
 
 IggO 30,000 539,000 
 
 1 885 78,000 1,529,000 
 
 J891 511,000 2,223,000 
 
22 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 Besides the immense growth of the packing business at Kansas 
 City, now the second city of the Union in the packing business, 
 packing houses have in the last four or five years been established 
 at other points within the State, those at Hutchinson and Wichita 
 being most important. 
 
 THOUGH WE ARE PRE-EMINENTLY AN AGRICULTURAL STATE, OUR 
 GHOWTH IN MANUFACTURES IS NOT LESS SKiNIFICANT. 
 
 The total capital invested in manufactures within our State 
 
 was — 
 
 In 1878 $6,000,000 
 
 In 1880 10,000,000 
 
 In 1885 19,000,000 
 
 In 1887 35,000,000 
 
 In 1889 51,000,000 
 
 In 1891 60,000,000 
 
 This last date being estimated by State Labor Commissioner 
 Betton. 
 
 The railroad mileage in our State has increased as follows : 
 
 In 1878, it was 2,427 miles. 
 
 In 1880, it was 3,439 miles. 
 
 In 1885, it was 4,168 miles. 
 
 In 1890, it was 8,882 miles. 
 
 Having more than doubled since the year 1885. Anyone who 
 will look at a recent railroad map of our State will see at a glance 
 that about three-fourths of this railroad mileage is in the eastern 
 half of the State, where different railroads have built out in all 
 directions to reach the prosperous cities and towns, and secure a 
 share of the immense freightage of farm products. Though our 
 mileage (mostly, as above stated, in the eastern half of the State) 
 at this date, 1890, exceeded that of any other State in the Union, 
 excepting Illinois alone, our railroad facilities during the past fall 
 and early winter were taxed to their utmost to handle the crops, 
 and the cry of "More cars" was raised in vain at almost every 
 point. 
 
KANSAS AND ITS EESOUECES. ' 23 
 
 PROGRESS IN EDUCATION. 
 
 A FERTILE SOIL IS ESSENTIAL, BUT THE CHAKACTEB OF THE PEOPLE IS 
 THE FIEST REQUISITE TO A PROSPEROUS STATE. 
 
 The Chicago Tines of recent date has the following, not unde- 
 served : 
 
 "Kansas can boast a greater diffusion of popular education, and a 
 smaller percentage of illiteracy and crime, than any other organized 
 community on the face of the globe; and for all that pertains to a 
 strong and vigorous State the history of civil society furnishes no par- 
 allel." 
 
 The 84th bulletin of the Census Report of 1890, recently 
 issued, shows our State to lead every other State in the Union 
 in the proportion of children in our public schools to the whole 
 population, Kansas having 28 per cent, of its total population 
 in its public schools, the smallest enrollment being in Louisiana, 
 which has but 11 per cent., the great Empire State of New York 
 having 17 per cent., and the grand old commonwealth of Massa- 
 chusetts having 16 per cent. This disparity is partially accounted 
 for, however, by the larger attendance at private and parochial 
 schools in these Eastern States; but after making allowance for 
 these, the State of Kansas, with its population of about nine- 
 tenths American-born people, of the best blood of the New Eng- 
 land and Central States, is certainly second to no State in the 
 Union in its average intelligence and its interest in popular edu- 
 cation. 
 
 As showing the increased progress and prosperity of the State, 
 let us look at the attendance of our higher educational institutions 
 that are supported by the State. 
 
 As to the State Normal Schools: 
 
 The attendance at our chief State Normal School, and the only 
 one supported wholly by the State, located at Emporia, was in 
 1878, 130; in 1880, 199; in 1885, 605; in 1891, 1,306. 
 
24 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 At Fort Scott, the attendance at the Kansas Normal College 
 was, in 1878, 75; in 1880, 125; in 1885, 400; in 1891, 700. 
 
 Our State Agricultural College, at Manhattan, had an attend- 
 ance in 1878 of 207; in 1880, of 276; in 1885, of 428; in 1891, 
 of 593. 
 
 At our State University, at Lawrence, the attendance in 1878 
 was 361; in 1880, 440; in 1885, 471; in 1891, 603. 
 
 The smaller apparent growth of the University, as compared 
 with the other State schools, is more than accounted for by the 
 fact that during the last few years the preparatory and normal 
 departments, which in its early history included a majority of its 
 students, have been gradually,, and now finally, discontinued. 
 The increase in the normal schools does not fully indicate the in- 
 creased attendance at this class of schools, as, besides these noted, 
 there has been one inaugurated at Great Bend within the last 
 five years, that now has an attendance of upwards of 400 scholars, 
 90 per cent, of whom are reported as paying their way by their 
 own labor ; and denominational and other private schools and col- 
 leges have multiplied in all parts of the State, until now one is 
 found at almost every county-seat, excepting in the far western 
 counties. 
 
 There is an enthusiasm, enterprise. State pride and loyalty 
 among our people in the cause of our public schools, and partic- 
 ularly among the teachers of the State, that is not found to the 
 same extent in any other State in the Union. This is proved by 
 the attendance, unparalleled in any other State, at our teachers' 
 State conventions, which are held annually in Topeka during 
 holiday week, which bring together the teachei-s from the remotest 
 school districts, the attendance having reached as high as 2,000 on 
 these occasions. 
 
 Another feature of our educational system, which is of immeas- 
 urable value as a progressive factor, is our county institutes, which 
 are really normal schools, practically free to every teacher or 
 
KANSAS AND TflE ALLIANCE. 25 
 
 person aspiring to be a teacher within the State. They are held at 
 every county-seat in the State during the summer vacation, and 
 continue for a full month, led by the best teachers and educators 
 obtainable. 
 
 This progressive spirit in educational matters is largely ac- 
 counted for by our freedom from foreign population. 
 
 By our State census of 1885, not only the nationality of all 
 our people, but the State or nation from which they migrated to 
 Kansas, was ascertained. It shows that only about one-tenth of 
 the population, 132,675, is of foreign birth, and these mostly 
 Germans and Swedes, while the great bulk of our people came 
 from the central States, a greater number (134,703) coming from 
 the State of Illinois alone, than from all foreign countries, our 
 people being mostly of ancestry who came from New England 
 and New York a generation before. 
 
 In our large growth in all desirable directions, it is gratifying 
 to know that the population of our" penitentiary within recent 
 years has decreased, having in 1888 an average of 937 convicts, 
 and in 1891 an average of 894. 
 
 THE ALLIANCE. 
 
 It is too early yet to sketch the rise and fall of the Farmers' 
 Alliance. As a social and industrial organization it will doubtless 
 continue for years to come as an agency for good. As a political 
 factor in the history of Kansas, it seems to have reached the cli- 
 max of its power with its first vote, in 1890, when it elected to 
 Congress five of our eight Representatives, and elected a Legisla- 
 ture that gave us Mr. PeiFer in the Senate. 
 
 In the fall of .1891, the Alliance was defeated at the polls 
 throughout the State. As a political power it shows signs of a 
 general disintegration. A large proportion of the men through 
 whose votes these visionary leaders were elected to Congress fully 
 realize their own foolishness in sending such financial lunatics to 
 
26 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 our national capital to represent them. Reason has returned, 
 and the vagaries of this congressional delegation are repudiated 
 by the majority of their constituents. Whatever the Alliance or 
 the People's Party may be able to do in the future in other ways, 
 it seems certain that there will never again be any serious attempt 
 in our State Legislature at legislation adverse to the interest of 
 money-lenders ; as self-interest demands from the people of Kan- 
 sas a continuation of all safeguards to money-loaners, to prevent 
 money now invested in the State from being withdrawn, and to 
 insure an abundance of capital, without which higher rates would 
 prevail. The decisions of the highest court in the land, that no 
 State legislation can invalidate present contracts, is an additional 
 and important safeguard. 
 
 THE CAUSES 
 
 Which led to the formation and rapid growth of the Alliance 
 are plain. They were in accord with the general spirit of 
 industrial organization for protection and self-interest through- 
 out the world. Their hostility to corporations, and to what 
 Senator Peffer with his usual vagueness calls the "money 
 power," sprung, in Kansas, not so much from the fact that the 
 debtor class is large, and that debts, always burdensome, were 
 found more burdensome than usual during the period of hard 
 times resulting from boom reaction and low prices for farm 
 products, as because the people of the State felt that they had 
 been largely wronged, and their seeming triumphs at the polls in 
 recent years turned into defeats, by the successful manipulations 
 of corporations. The voters repeatedly elected Legislatures and 
 State officers upon the issue of lower rates and the State super- 
 vision of railroad charges through railroad commissioners, and 
 were repeatedly foiled. An unseen but powerful influence pre- 
 vented the needed legislation. When at last secured, it was found 
 that the lower rates which were obtainable saved the people not 
 less than $2,000,000 annually in railroad charges, and still they 
 
KANSAS AND THE ALLIANCE. 27 
 
 were not cut down to an unreasonable figure, and did not prevent 
 the building of new lines by almost every company operating in 
 this State ; and here again the people were cajoled into voting bonds 
 for these new roads, until lines paralleled each other into almost 
 every county-seat. The people who have voted bonds, through 
 which the money to build these roads has been largely furnished, 
 finding that the increased railroads do not bring them, as they 
 expected, either lower rates or boundless prosperity, are, in ac- 
 cordance with the general infirmity of human nature, indignant, 
 not at their own folly, but at the railroad companies, and hence 
 an added cause of hostility to corporations, and an antagonism, 
 sometimes blind, to money influence. 
 
 Having been disappointed in obtaining the desired legislation 
 from the Republican party in repeated Legislatures, on the railroad 
 question, and having secured that legislation under the Democratic 
 Governor Glick, though with a Republican Legislature, in which 
 they had been previously disappointed, and imbued with visionary 
 theories, they thought that the remedy for their ills lay in legislation, 
 and that the only way to secure prosperity was to change the laws. 
 But time and discussion have eliminated all these follies, as they in- 
 evitably will with an intelligent people, and the people of Kansas 
 generally realize that the interests of creditor and debtor, of cap- 
 italist and laborer, are so interwoven as to be inseparable by legis- 
 lative enactment ; that the best way is the safest way, and that is, 
 to do right by all concerned. 
 
 SELF-INTEREST, 
 
 The motive most to be relied upon in human affairs, forbids any 
 legislation adverse to capital, as it would injure the borrower 
 more than the lender ; and the Alliance people of Kansas have 
 had their eyes opened to that fact. 
 
 The farmers complain that they have not in recent years re- 
 ceived a fair proportion of the augmented wealth of the country. 
 No intelligent person can claim that they are not receiving a 
 
28 WESTEEN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 larger reward for their toil than they received a generation ago 
 or at any time previous. They have surrounded themselves with 
 comforts in their homes, with farm machinery, enlarging their 
 ability of production, and other necessaries for facilitating and 
 rendering more easy their toil; they give their children larger 
 opportunities of education than were ever dreamed of until the 
 present day. 
 
 TOPEKA. 
 
 Our city was laid out on a wise scale by its founders. The 
 streets running north and south are 100 feet wide, with occasional 
 avenues 130 feet wide. The east and west streets are 80 feet in 
 width, with avenues 130 feet wide. A liberal portion of the streets 
 and avenues on each side is devoted to parks. During recent 
 years our principal streets have been paved, mostly with asphalt 
 and vitrified brick, and we have an unsurpassed system of street 
 cars, run by electricity. 
 
 It is a city of homes, schools, and' churches, the pride of all To- 
 pekans and the admiration of all visitors. In the intelligence of 
 its people, its high morality, its social and educational advantages 
 and attractions, it is second to no city of its size, east or west. 
 
 Its good order, absence of saloons, drunkenness, and crime, its 
 cleanliness and healthfulness, make it an especially desirable place 
 for a home. 
 
 Besides its splendid public schools, it has Bethany College, oc- 
 cupying a park of 16 acres in the heart of the city, a large and 
 prosperous seminary for girls ; Washburn, just to the southwest of 
 the city, with a campus of 160 acres, a grand and growing college 
 for both sexes. 
 
 Our industries are important, and insure our continued prosper- 
 ity. The shops and general offices of the Atchison, Topeka & 
 Santa F^ Railroad, rank first in importance, though our flouring 
 mills, with a capacity of over 2,000 barrels daily, and other indus- 
 tries, are also important. 
 
EASTERN KANSAS. 29 
 
 Compared with other Western cities, it suffered but little from 
 the boom period, though its citizens invested in a few additions 
 beyond our actual necessities. 
 
 The opening up of Oklahoma, simultaneous with the boom col- 
 lapse, took from our population probably 3,000 or 4,000 people, 
 which is made more than good by natural growth since that time. 
 
 Our population in 1880 was 15,452; in 1890, by Government 
 census, it was 31,007. This did not include the suburban popu- 
 lation, to the number of several thousands. Our present popula- 
 tion, including the suburbs, is about 38,000. Desirable residences 
 are now hard to obtain. Our city is again becoming filled with 
 people, and building activities must soon be resumed. Our city 
 is yearly sought as a home by people of means, not only from all 
 parts of Kansas but from other States, who desire to avail them- 
 selves of its educational and social as well as business advantages. 
 It is not only the political capital of the State, but is, and always 
 will continue to be, the center of wealth and educational and so- 
 cial influence. 
 
 MORTGAGES ON FARMS IN EASTERN KANSAS AS 
 
 COMPARED WITH MORTGAGES IN OTHER 
 
 LOCALITIES. 
 
 Many who have funds to invest, and who prefer to have their 
 investments in mortgages, ask themselves whether they cannot 
 get as good rates at home. The answer is, " Not on as desirable 
 securities." In New England the maximum rate for loans that 
 are at all worth considering is 6 per cent., and mortgages are 
 placed from that rate down to 4 per cent, on the choicest class of 
 securities in the large cities. In eastern Kansas the minimum 
 rate to the investor is 6 per cent., which means a minimum rate 
 of 7 per cent, to the borrower, excepting in large sums, and the 
 maximum rate is much higher. As it is only the best securities 
 that get the lowest rates, one should be sure of obtaining the very 
 choicest kind of securities at 6 per cent, in eastern Kansas. 
 
30 WESTERN MOETGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 It is true that 7 per cent, and 8 per cent, mortgages are adver- 
 tised and sold by Western loan companies, but these, you must 
 remember, are usually on the undeveloped and uncertain frontiers, 
 in new and over-ambitious cities, or on stores and other business 
 buildings outside of business centers — properties that have a 
 speculative and uncertain value, based upon expected future 
 growth. No mortgage is desirable in which the security has 
 not a stable value, with ample productive income. 
 
 There is no class of mortgage investments in New England, 
 excepting possibly the choicest business properties in the large 
 cities, where foreclosures have been less frequent than on farms 
 in northeastern Kansas. The farm security of New England 
 is not to be considered in comparison, and the average city or 
 village property of New England does not usually rank on a 
 par with this class of farm securities. Eastern farms continue to 
 decline in value, and town properties in most cases have an ele- 
 ment of uncertainty, depending upon the success of manufactures 
 or other local business which affords employment. One private 
 investor in northern Vermont states that he owns 150 farms that 
 he has been compelled to take under foreclosure, and Vermont is 
 as good a farming State as any in New England. 
 
 The savings banks of Massachusetts are as conservatively and 
 economically managed, and are doubtless under as wise a system, 
 as any financial institutions in our country; yet less than 15 
 years ago these savings banks were so loaded up with real estate 
 that they had taken under foreclosure, that they were unable not 
 only to pay dividends, but, under special legislation which was 
 enacted for their protection in this crisis, many of them were 
 practically suspended for a year and upwards, and some of them 
 much longer. 
 
 In these northeastern counties of Kansas, years have passed by 
 in some counties without a single foreclosure. A large proportion 
 of the farmers in these counties are free of debt, and others are 
 rapidly reducing their mortgages. 
 
BASTEKN KA.NSAS. 31 
 
 CORN IS KING. 
 
 While our wheat crop for the year 1891 was 58,000,000 bush- 
 els, wheat is not in our State so certain a crop as corn, neither is 
 it so profitable a crop to the farmer in any good corn region for a 
 term of years. A large production of corn means a large produc- 
 tion of live stock to consume it. We are too far from market to 
 ship our corn with the greatest profit to the farmers. It should 
 all be fed on the farms. Live stock — fat cattle, hogs, horses, 
 sheep — sell for practically about the same price on the farms of 
 Kansas as on the farms of New England, New York, or Illinois, 
 and the farms of eastern Kansas must rapidly appreciate in value, 
 until they approximate the prices of the best lands of Illinois, or 
 the Genesee valley. Corn shipped to market in this concentrated 
 form always brings a remunerative price, as the freight rates take 
 but a small per cent, from the value. The great adaptability of 
 eastern Kansas, not only to corn, but to a diversity of crops, gives 
 it large advantage over the wheat districts, as well as over cotton 
 districts, or any section of the country that is dependent upon one 
 crop. 
 
 Our country is adapted equally as well to fruit as to grain. The 
 orchard is becoming an important factor in the average farmer's 
 prosperity. The markets of Colorado and other mountain States 
 and Territories on the west, as well as the markets to the south 
 and east, take largely of all of our surplus. 
 
 There is one apple orchard about 25 miles from Topeka, of 370 
 acres, from which the owner sold apples amounting to $50,000 
 during the year 1890. The same man has now a young orchard 
 growing, of nearly twice this size, in this county. 
 
 IN TAKING THE RECENT CENSUS, 
 
 The department selected five counties in different portions of the 
 State of Kansas, in which detailed information was secured as to 
 mortgages. These counties represent all portions of the State, 
 and the census bulletin, just published, shows that the mortgages 
 
32 WESTERN MOETGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 •of the State are most largel}' in the western counties. As shown 
 by this report, something less than two-thirds of the farm lands 
 of the State are covered by mortgages, leaving nearly 40 per cent, 
 of the lands unincumbered. 
 
 One of the counties thus selected was the county of Jefferson, 
 which adjoins Shawnee county, of which Topeka is the county- 
 seat, on the north. In this count)' only 39 per cent, of the farm 
 lands are under mortgage ; while in Decatur, the county selected 
 to represent the western part of the State, 74 per Cent, of the farm 
 lands are mortgaged, thus showing that the burdensome part of 
 the mortgage debt of Kansas is in the western part of the State. 
 This report further shows, that in Jefferson county 77 per cent, of 
 the mortgages were made for the purpose of purchasing real estate 
 and making improvements, while 9 per cent, were made that the 
 money might be put into business enterprises, and only 2 per 
 cent, were made for farming and family expenses ; and S6 per 
 cent, of this indebtedness is owing to the residents of Kansas, and 
 not to Eastern j^eojjle. This report further shows, and it has 
 been shown by other statistics, that the mortgage indebtedness of 
 our State is now rapidly decreasing; but as these statistics have 
 been placed before the public through the newspapers, it is not 
 necessary to further recapitulate them here. 
 
 ^ ^ H< ^ :}: 
 
 Investors ask themselves, "If I am to send my money West, 
 cannot I secure higher rates than 6 per cent., with safety, bj' go- 
 ing into the newer portions of the far West?" 
 
 Higher rates can be obtained in the Rocky Mountain regions, 
 and also on the Pacific coast; but the terrible reaction that has 
 been visited upon the southern Pacific coast from the excessive 
 speculations of years gone by, and the great depreciation of prop- 
 erty there, and the uncertain elements that make up the condi- 
 tions of the mining communities of the Rocky Mountain regions, 
 indicate a greater uncertainty of permanent values than in the 
 well-developed agricultural districts of the Missouri valley. 
 
EASTERN KANSAS. 33 
 
 Borrowers on irrigated farms in Colorado pay 10 per cent, in- 
 terest, while the farmers of eastern Kansas can obtain money more 
 readily at from 7 per cent, to 8 per cent. ; but these irrigated 
 farms have little value unless their water supply proves certain 
 in dry times. In many localities it has utterly failed them when 
 most needed. 
 
 Then, too, the question of titles to the water is an important 
 factor. Millions of money have been sunk in irrigation enter- 
 prises, because of the fact that prior rights to the use of water cut 
 oiF these later companies from its use until those having the first 
 right by priority have been supplied. 
 
 Colorado is a good little State. The entire annual product of the 
 mines and agriculture of the State combined are reported as 154,- 
 000,000, and the total product of gold and silver for the entire 
 country, as given by the director of the mint, is less than $80,000,- 
 000 per year. Our mines are important; but a comparison of 
 these figures with the farm products of Kansas, or of our other 
 best agricultural States, shows that it is the agriculture of our 
 country on which we rest as the chief source of our prosperity. 
 
 If one places his money at home, he has the care of examining 
 titles and drawing of papers, looking after taxes, insurance, and 
 collections, during the life of the loan, unless he employs an 
 agent to do this for him. Of this care and expense he is entirely 
 relieved if the money is placed with a responsible Western agent ; 
 so that 6 per cent, net to you, with semi-annual interest payable 
 at your office or home, if you can have the assurance of adequate 
 security, is an investment that it is hard to equal in any other 
 line. 
 
 Farmers, if they go into the semi-arid regions and try to farm 
 as they do in the agricultural regions, will fail. They cannot 
 succeed there unless they adapt their agriculture to the climate. 
 Mismanagement, shiftlessness, and sometimes unavoidable mis- 
 fortune, will bring failure to others in the best farming districts, 
 but to a much less extent than to any other class. 
 —3 
 
34 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 THE FINANOrAL STRENGTH OF NORTHEASTERS: KANSAS. 
 
 There is not a county in eastern Kansas where one cannot 
 find hundreds of men who have made all they own out of the soil 
 on which they live, who are worth from $10,000 to .S20,000 each, 
 clear of all indebtedness, while some are worth 850,000 and up- 
 wards, acquired by their own toil and savings. The fact that the 
 carefully-gathered census statistics, just made public, show that 
 only about one in three of these farms, as shown in Jefferson 
 county, is incumbered by mortgage, is in itself a sufficient evi- 
 dence of their thrift. 
 
 That the farmers as a class cannot pay their debts, is about 
 equivalent to the other saying that the world is bankrupt because 
 there is not half money enough in the world to pay its debts. 
 
 Where shall one seek safer securities than this class of farm 
 mortgages? Not in railroads. Railroad stocks are not to be 
 considered in comparison. Not in railroad bonds. The farm 
 mortgages of Kansas are $174,000,000, as shown by the census; 
 we will put against this fact the figures given by the Railroad 
 Commissioners of the State of Kansas, report of 1891, that the 
 railroad bonds now outstanding on roads in this State alone are 
 $213,000,000; thus the mortgages on railroads in this State are 
 $39,000,000 in excess of the entire farm mortgages of the State. 
 If a farm mortgage is foreclosed, the owner of the mortgage se- 
 cures his pay when the property is sold, or, if he has to take it, 
 he secures absolute title and control, and can sell when and to 
 whom he pleases. If a railroad mortgage, which is supposed to 
 be a first lien, is foreclosed, it is kept for a term of years in the 
 courts, and instead of this mortgage being a first lien, the courts 
 allow a receiver to make repairs, purchase necessary equipments, 
 and generally run the road, giving claims therefor priority to the 
 first mortgage. 
 
 More profitable securities than these AVestern mortgages are not 
 now sought in the South, in the light of recent experience with 
 
T. E. BOWMAN & CO. 35 
 
 Southern mortgages and Southern town and development com- 
 panies. 
 
 So money accumulates and remains idle, waiting safe opportu- 
 nities for investment, and finally comes back to good mortgages 
 as the safest and most satisfactory of the whole list. 
 
 Kansas people are borrowers, and will be for years to come ; but, 
 as compared with other States, they are not poor. Debt is always 
 a burden, and the mass of people save slowly and only by toil 
 and economy, but our people are getting ahead. 
 
 The assessed valuation of our State at the present time is $342,- 
 000,000; but, under our system of assessing property, it is only 
 placed at one-fourth of its value, and every tax -payer has .S200 
 exemption, which usually means that several times that sum is 
 exempted. Many people of considerable means escape taxation 
 entirely ; so that the actual valuation of our State at the present 
 time is not less than $1,500,000,000, or fully $1,000 for each man, 
 woman, and child — a larger per capita valuation than is shown 
 by some of the States who send their savings to Kansas in order 
 to find employment and safe security in mortgages. 
 
 THE BUSINESS OF T. E. BOWMAN & CO. 
 
 It is now nearly 14 years since the writer commenced making 
 investments in real-estate mortgages in Kansas. These were made 
 first in a small way for the investment of his own funds, and hav- 
 ing friends who desired similar investments, he immediately found 
 himself investing for other people. Through the confidence and 
 kindness of these friends this clientage increased, until now our 
 firm has 360 investors, including savings banks, colleges, orphans' 
 homes, and other philanthropic institutions. We have a constantly- 
 increasing number of Kansas investors, having now about 20 in 
 Topeka. 
 
 The current mortgages on our books now amount to about 
 $2,000,000. A large portion of this sum has been collected and 
 
36 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 reiuvtsted, some of it several times over, and without loss to a 
 single investor, and with- comparative immunity from foreclosure. 
 We have not sought, and do not wish to do, a large business, 
 but only of such limited amount as can have our personal atten- 
 tion. During the boom period we could have made nearly double 
 the amount of loans we did make, had we accepted all the money 
 that was offered. 
 
 WE ABE ON THE GROUND WHERE WE MAKE OTJB LOANS, 
 
 And consider each application for a loan on its merits, and make 
 the loan or reject it accordingly. 
 
 We have never in all our experience made a. loan on a hotel 
 security. We never make loans secured on business property 
 where the payment of the loan is at all contingent on the success 
 of the business, such as flouring mills and other manufacturing 
 properties. We have not, and never had, to our knowledge, a 
 dissatisfied investor. We allow interest on money sent us for in- 
 vestment from the date it is received, and also allow interest on 
 money until it is reinvested ; so that there is no loss of interest to 
 the owner from the date it reaches us. 
 
 IN MAKING INVESTMENTS, 
 
 We prefer to submit to the investor several applications to select 
 from, where it is possible, but many investors insist on our making 
 the selection of the security and leaving everything to us. It 
 really amounts to about the same thing, as it is the person on the 
 ground who examines the security, and knows all the facts as they 
 actually are, who alone can form a judgment intelligently. It 
 cannot be safely based upon what is made to appear on paper by 
 the applicant. We always have on hand completed papers in loans 
 in various denominations, usually ranging from $200 to $10,000. 
 Our business has been principally in the northeastern counties 
 of the State. In its early history we made some loans towards 
 the central part, especially the south central part of the State; 
 but when the boom struck that portion we thought it advisable 
 
T. E. BOWMAN & CO. 37 
 
 to pull out, and have had at least six loans paid off there 
 within the past three years to every new one we have made. We 
 do not state this in disparagement of that portion of the State, 
 which is blessed with almost limitless fertility of soil, a people 
 who are unsurpassed in intelligence and enterprise, and who have 
 doubtless a grand future before them. They have, however, suf- 
 fered, especially in their towns, from the boom period, as heretofore 
 narrated, and from the consequent inflation of values continued for 
 a short period, only to react to the other extreme. 
 
 Our new business for the last few years has been confined 
 almost wholly to the northeastern counties of Kansas. That 
 there is no better nor safer territory in which to place loans, we 
 believe is conceded by every one who has, either by experience 
 or by residence, or extended personal investigation and travel 
 in this district, made himself qualified to judge. The desira- 
 bility of these counties as a safe place to invest in farm mort- 
 gages is evidenced, not only by the great productive value of 
 the farms, the high character and intelligence of the inhabitants, 
 and their comparatively small indebtedness, but from the infre- 
 quency of foreclosure of farm mortgages in these counties. 
 
 During nearly 14 years of our loaning experience, in which time 
 our loans have been placed principally in this vicinity, we have 
 never had to sell under foreclosure a single farm to collect pay- 
 payment, in any of the northeastern counties. We have two 
 mortgages in which we have commenced foreclosure because of 
 complications in title, growing out of transfers since the loans 
 were made; but there are buyers ready to take the farms for 
 much more than the amount of our mortgages, double the amount 
 of the mortgage being now offered for one of them, in cash, as 
 soon as title can be cleared up, which can only be done by sale 
 under foreclosure. 
 
 We must admit that it is partly by good fortune as well as good 
 management that we are able to show so good a record in these 
 farm loans, as no loan is ever placed, no matter how large the 
 
38 WESTERN MOETGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 security, but that foreclosure may be possible. Owners die ; they 
 fail ill business ; husbands and wives quarrel and separate ; prop- 
 erty changes hands, and present owners have judgments against 
 them so that they cannot make sale and give title ; in these ways 
 legal complications arise; these are some of the reasons why a 
 mortgage, though amply secured, may have to be foreclosed to 
 enforce payment; so that the mere foreclosure of a mortgage is 
 not in itself any matter of alarm. As our 
 
 METHODS OF DOING BUSINESS 
 
 Differ in important particulars from those usually practiced by 
 loan companies, we will here make a full explanation : 
 
 If we have one factor of strength which, more than others, 
 gives us advantage, it is in that we have endeavored to follow a 
 line of procedure in our business with borrowers that would se- 
 cure their confidence and good-will. To do this, the first thing is 
 to make it for the interest of the best class of borrowers to come 
 to us when they desire loans. The usual custom, as is known, 
 with most companies, is either to charge a cash commission for 
 making the mortgage, or to take a commission mortgage, which 
 is placed as a second lien on the property, in payment of com- 
 mission. This last method necessitates the expense of recording 
 an additional mortgage, having same appear on the abstract in 
 future, and has been from the first unsatisfactory to the borrower, 
 and, in the more recent history of the business, has proved even 
 more unsatisfactory to the lender. A large part of our loans we 
 have made to borrowers at a straight rate of interest, and turned 
 them over to the lenders, netting them 1 per cent, less than the bor- 
 rowers pay. Thus, a mortgage written to the borrower at 7 j)er 
 cent., and turned to net the lender 6 per cent., gives a difference in 
 interest of $1 per year on each |100, or a total of 15 on each $100 
 for the five years the mortgage has to run. The present worth of 
 this $5, computed at 6 per cent, compound interest for the five 
 years, is $4^8 on each $100 ; so that the lender paying us this 
 
T. E. BOWMAN & CO. 39 
 
 bonus or commission on the loan receives thereafter the full 7 per 
 cent, on the principal, at which rate the papers are written ; but 
 it nets him exactly 6 per cent., the bonus he pays bearing him 
 thereafter 6 per cent, semi-annual compound interest, the same as 
 the principal note, and is returned to him in the payment of 
 each coupon as it matures. 
 
 We make some loans, however, where parties are willing or 
 prefer to pay cash commission, and are always able to satisfy in- 
 vestors who prefer to make their mortgages at a straight rate of 
 interest to them. Experienced investors, however, care little as 
 to which of these methods we use in making their loans, their 
 chief concern being to secure the best and safest mortgages. 
 
 We do not guarantee our mortgages. The time has now passed 
 when investors desire to depend upon the guaranty of a loan 
 company for the security of a mortgage. We do guarantee faith- 
 ful and intelligent care in placing the loans, and in looking after 
 them until they mature. We try to see that every loan has the 
 guaranty of an ample margin of good, productive, real-estate se- 
 curity, and we make it a rule never to loan to a borrower, no 
 matter how good his security, unless there is a reasonable cer- 
 tainty that he will be prompt in his payments. We are now 
 taking care of defaulted mortgages made by a dozen different 
 loan companies. The very worst mortgages of the lot are those 
 that are guaranteed. Some of them have the guaranties of two 
 companies. 
 
 It is doubtful, at this time, whether a single one of all these 
 guaranties adds a penny to the value of the mortgage. 
 
 No investor has ever lost a dollar through our mortgages. We 
 trust no one ever will, but cannot insure this. 
 
 OUK RECORD, AND THE CHARACTER OF THE SECURITIES 
 
 Behind the mortgages now held by our investors, is the best guar- 
 anty we can offer. 
 
 An abstract of title is furnished by the borrower in every case. 
 
40 WE8TEEN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 showing title by a direct chain of ownership from the Govern- 
 ment to the present owner. We exercise every care, and submit 
 every title to the careful scrutiny of our attorney, wlio certifies to 
 its legality. 
 
 Real-estate titles in the West, however, are much less compli- 
 cated than in the East, and we have never yet known an investor 
 in a mortgage to lose in consequence of a defective title, though 
 we have known of a number of instances where, through the care- 
 lessness of the loan companies or the rascality of their agents, 
 previous mortgages for which a loan was really a renewal had 
 not been paid. 
 
 The contract of our mortgage is so drawn, and is sustained by 
 the courts, that in case of failure to pay interest when due, or any 
 default in payment of taxes or insurance, or a breach in any con- 
 dition of the mortgage, the mortgagee may pay taxes and insur- 
 ance, and the money paid, with interest thereon, becomes a lien 
 on the property under the mortgage, or the loan may be declared 
 due, at the option of the lender. 
 
 A complete set of mortgage papers includes application, ab- 
 stract of title, note with coupons attached, mortgage, and insur- 
 ance policy, if insurance is carried. We always, unless otherwise 
 instructed, record mortgage in the name of the owner, so that no 
 one cau make release but the owner, and if the papers are lost, 
 there is no possibility of the borrower's getting rid of the payment, 
 as the records prove the debt. We always forward all papers, ex- 
 cepting the insurance policy, to the lender, to be held in his name 
 until loan is paid. As insurance is subject to change, we usually 
 send a memorandum showing the data of the policy on file in our 
 office. Some, however, prefer to hold the policies themselves, in 
 which cases we always forward the same. !Many of our investors, 
 also, prefer that we hold their abstracts, as they are sometimes 
 bulky, and occasionally the owner wishes to borrow same during 
 life of the loan. Where lender wishes us to hold the abstract, we 
 prefer to forward same for his examination, as proof of title, as we 
 
T. E. BOWMAN & CO. 41 
 
 believe all papers should be submitted to the investor. After- 
 wards he can return same for us to care for. Once having satisfied 
 himself in the matter, the abstract is of no further use until the 
 loan is paid off. 
 
 Unless othenvise instructed, we always record the asxignment of 
 every inortgage in the name of the owner before forwarding papers. 
 
 The general neglect of this by mortgage corporations, and the 
 acceptance of loan papers by the investors, with the assignment 
 unrecorded and mortgage remaining, as first recorded, in the 
 name of the loan company, we have always considered, and it 
 has now been abundantly demonstrated, to be an unsafe practice. 
 When it is desired by the investor, we make loans payable at his 
 office ; otherwise our loans are made payable at the office of the 
 Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company. Practically it makes 
 little difference how it is written in the mortgage, as we collect 
 both interest and principal at our office and forward by draft to 
 to the office or home of the investor. 
 
 We forward all important papers to the lender by prepaid ex- 
 press, when on the main express line; otherwise by registered 
 mail. Papers that have been paid off can be safely returned by 
 ordinary mail, as, should they be lost, the loss could be remedied 
 by executing a separate release ; but we have never yet lost any 
 valuable papers in transmitting either through the mails or by 
 express. Ih returning papers to us for collection, that is, in cases 
 where the money has not yet been paid to us by the borrower, 
 they should be sent by express or registered mail. 
 
 OUR KECOKD BOOKS 
 
 Show full description of every loan, and its history from the time 
 it is made, showing at a glance at any time when each coupon 
 was due, when paid, whether taxes had ever become delinquent, 
 when insurance should be renewed, and all facts necessary to pro- 
 tect the interests of the investors. 
 
 We send notice to all borrowers from 30 to 60 days in advance 
 
42 WESTERN MOETGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 of insurance expiration, and, if they neglect to place renewal 
 policy in our hands, we take out same, as provided for in the 
 mortgage. In case of default of taxes, we notify the owner of the 
 property. 
 
 If any property goes to sale on account of non-payment of 
 taxes, we buy the tax certificate, and hold it for the protection of 
 the mortgagee, until redeemed by the owner, and call his attention 
 to the fact that his mortgage is liable to be declared due by the 
 lender, if not promptly redeemed. 
 
 In remitting the proceeds of interest coupons as they mature, we 
 have an understanding with all of our investors that we, where 
 necessary, advance the payment of one coupon, which remains a 
 lien under the mortgage, coordinate with the principal note and 
 remaining coupons. In every remittance our letter states this 
 fact, as follows : 
 
 " In order that our investors may reoeiTe their interest promptly, it 
 lias been our custom to remit all interest in season to reach them 
 promptly on the iirst of the month when due. It is understood that, to 
 do this, we in some cases advance the money and collect of the borrower 
 after remitting. The remittance hereby inclosed is made and accepted 
 by the owner of each mortgage with this understanding, and that any 
 money so advanced, not exceeding one coupon on any mortgage, shall 
 remain a lien upon the mortgaged property equally with the principal 
 note and remaining coupons until interest shall have been paid to us 
 by the borrower.'' 
 
 This enables us to forward our check a little in advance of the 
 maturity of the coupon, so that it is in the hands of the investor 
 on the first of every month when due, and leaves a full under- 
 standing between him and ourselves as to the status of every 
 loan, and has worked to the perfect satisfaction of all parties at 
 interest. 
 
 We have a few investors who prefer, and who so instruct us, 
 that we shall never forward an interest payment until it is col- 
 lected from the borrower, but in all other cases we forward under 
 the above plan. We have a number of investors, large capital- 
 
T. E. BOWMAX k CO. 43 
 
 ists, and institutions, who have large sums of money invested with 
 us, some of these investments having been in our hands during 
 the past 14 years, in which the money has been collected and re- 
 invested several times over without loss, and where the interest 
 ■collected and returned has already amounted to more than the 
 principal sum, and where they have not failed in a single instance 
 to receive check for the coupons during this whole time on or be- 
 fore the day on which they matured. 
 
 OUR INVESTOES 
 
 Have, without exception, found the receiving of the interest check 
 at their own office or home on the day that it is due more satis- 
 factory than collecting their coupons through the bank. 
 
 Practically all of our investors have thus far desired their 
 money reinvested as the loans matured. In the majority of cases, 
 we have renewed maturing mortgages, either for the amount of 
 the original loan or with the loan somewhat reduced, though dur- 
 ing the last few months quite a large part of our maturing loans 
 have been paid in full out of the savings of the borrowers, as we 
 have now fairly entered upon a debt-paying period. In renewing 
 loans, if for a term of three or five years, we make the renewal 
 either by signing up new papers, or writing an extension contract 
 with new coupons, which are executed by the original borrower, 
 or, if the property has been sold, by the present owner of the real 
 estate, and forwarded to the holder of the mortgage, to be filed 
 with the original papers. In some cases, borrowers desire to pay 
 at an early day after maturity, and, with consent of lender, ex- 
 tension is granted with the privilege of making payment as early 
 as possible. In loans that have not proved in every way desir- 
 able, we of course do not make either extension for definite time 
 or renewals, but secure payment as early as possible. 
 
 We wish to add a word in favor of 
 
 FARM LOANS, 
 
 There has been so much newspaper talk disparaging to farm 
 loans, arising, as heretofore explained, from the experience of in- 
 
44 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 vestors through reckless companies, or in new districts unfitted 
 for agriculture, that some investors make an unjust discrimina- 
 tion against farm loans. As is shown by the facts before recited> 
 farm loans in these northeastern counties of Kansas are not only 
 secure and desirable, but they are among the very best possible 
 investments that any person can hold. 
 
 We scareehj need to suggest to our investors that the first con- 
 sideration is not high rate of interest, but security. The fre- 
 quent assertion that the Western farmer can easily pay high 
 rates is without sufficient foundation. Debt is a burden every- 
 where. West or East, and the net reward of toil in the productive 
 industries, the amount that can be laid by after affording a live- 
 lihood to the toiler, whether upon the farm, in the shop, or in 
 business, is not so large as to justify an extravagant rate of inter- 
 est. Money is abundant, awaiting only assured safety for invest- 
 ment. Long-time municipal and State bonds, bearing 3 to 4 (and 
 in some cases as low as 2 J) per cent, interest, are promptly taken 
 at par, while railroad and manufacturing securities have an uncer- 
 tain value. A good coupon note, running five years, on which 
 you receive your interest regularly and promptly at your office 
 or home, without care or expense, secured by a mortgage on real 
 estate having an established value based on its producing power 
 either in rents or agricultural products, in a rich agricultural 
 region, and on a security which, from personal knowledge or the 
 examination of a reliable agent on the ground, you can know to 
 be as represented, is, viewed in the light of past experience, pres- 
 ent conditions and future prospects, a desirable investment to pos- 
 sess. Six per cent, net to the investor now is as good a rate as 8 
 per cent, was 5 or 10 years ago, and we have still on our books 
 a good many mortgages not yet matured netting the lender 7 per 
 cent., and some of them 8 per cent. 
 
 We are always pleased to answer inquiries in regard to our busi. 
 ness, our city, or our State, whether these inquiries come from our 
 
KEFEEEXCES. 45 
 
 own investors or from others. We wish especially to impress upon 
 our investors that we wish them to ask every question on which 
 they desire information. Sometimes there is a little delay in plac- 
 ing an investment for a specified sum, in getting loans for just the 
 right amount, or in getting abstract completed. Whenever an 
 investor has the least solicitude or uncertainty on any point, an 
 inquiry costs but a trifle ; and a question addressed through the 
 mails, with our present facilities for communication, costs but little 
 more trouble to reply to than though we were together face to 
 face. We are always glad to answer every inquiry which suggests 
 itself to the mind of any investor. 
 
 As our business is largely in Topeka and the adjacent country, 
 our investors can easily see their securities by a short stop-over, 
 when they are journeying through the West. We always take 
 pleasure in showing investors or any of their friends the proper- 
 ties securing their loans, and in a few hours' drive can show them 
 several hundred of our securities. 
 
 We maintain no eastern office, and employ no agents to sell, 
 and pay no commission for selling, our loans. No one of our firm 
 is in the East to see our investors excepting at infrequent inter- 
 vals. Many of our investors, who have come to us through the 
 kindness of other investors and friends, we have never seen. To 
 the confidence and kindness of our investors we are largely in- 
 debted for our success. This confidence is the highest stimulus 
 for continued careful and faithful work. 
 
 REFERENCES. 
 
 We do not, for obvious reasons, advertise the names of our in- 
 vestors, but we are permitted to refer to the following well-known 
 parties. Many of them are among our earliest and largest invest- 
 ors, either for themselves or for trusts. A large proportion of 
 them have made personal examination of our business methods 
 and our mortgage securities, here on the ground, many of them 
 
46 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 having made repeated visits. We would also refer to any of the 
 citizens of Canton, Mass., the former home of the senior partner, 
 in which little town we have 44 investors. 
 
 Geobgb S. Haewood, 220 Devonshire St., Boston. 
 
 Jonathan A. Lane, Prest. Boston Merchants' Association, 266 Devon- 
 shire St., Boston. 
 
 Geobgb Henby Quincy, John Hancock Building, Devonshire St., Bos- 
 ton. 
 
 Pbank a. Miles, Treasurer Boston Safe Deposit cfc Trust Co., Boston. 
 
 MiNEB, Bbal & Co., 63 Summer St., Boston. 
 
 Chaeles I. Thatbe, of Boston Dyewood & Chemical Co., 108 Milk St., 
 Boston. 
 
 S. P. HiBBAED, of Powle, Hibbard & Co., 176 State St., Boston. 
 
 A. R. Whittiee, Roger's Building, Boston. 
 
 Benjamin R. jBWEiL, 36 Bromiield St., Boston. 
 
 T. B. Hapgood, 100 Franklin St., Boston. 
 
 Hon. Chables Endicott, State Tax Commissioner, State House, 
 Boston. 
 
 Rev. Waltee C. Clapp, 816 No. Eutaw St., Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Bublington Savings Bank, Burlington, Vt. 
 
 Almbt Skeel, 115 Broadway, New York. 
 
 RoswELL Skeel, 115 Broadway, New York. 
 
 CoLEEiDGE A. Haet, Attorney at Law, 140 Nassau St., New York. 
 
 Pboe. Geo. N. Mabden, Eastern Agent Colorado College, Newton 
 Center, Mass. 
 
 Hon. Elijah A. Mobsb, M. C, Canton, Mass. 
 
 I. J. Bbown, Hyde Park, Mass. 
 
 W. R. Rowlands, Treasurer Colgate University, Hamilton, New York. 
 
 Peoe. James W. Poed, Principal Pillsbury Academy, Owatonna, Minn. 
 
 Pbot. Abthub Richmond Maesh, 19 Oxford St., Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 James H. Jackson, M. D., Jackson Sanatorium, Dansville, New York. 
 
 E. N. Poss, Treasurer and Manager of the B. F. Sturtevant Co., Ja- 
 maica Plain, Boston. 
 
 Hathawat, Soule & Habbington, New Bedford, Mass. 
 
 RpBEBT G. Bennett, New Bedford, Mass. 
 
 H. W. Emebson, New Bedford, Mass. 
 
 Calvin Raymond, New Bedford, Mass. 
 
 Hon. Wm. M. Butleb, New Bedford, Mass. 
 
 Thos. D. Dextee, New Bedford, Mass. 
 
IN GENERAL. 47 
 
 Geoegb S. Fox, New Bedford, Mass. 
 J. A. PiOKBTT, New Britain, Conn. 
 Anthony Smalley, Nantucket, Mass." 
 J. B. Everett, M. D., Everett, Mass. 
 Noah Hammond, Mattapoisett, Mass. 
 Geobge Cobntng, Auburn, N. Y. 
 
 IN GENERAL. 
 
 The property rights of married women in Kan!3as are precisely 
 the same as the rights of married men. Women may buy and 
 sell property and do business just as independently as their hus- 
 bands, and neither is responsible for the business debts of the 
 other. The homestead, which cannot exceed 160 acres in the 
 country or one acre in the cities, cannot be levied upon for any 
 debt, excepting, of course, such debt as is secured by mortgage on 
 the same. The homestead of a married person cannot be conveyed 
 by deed or mortgage unless the instrument is executed by both 
 husband and wife. 
 
 The legal rate of interest in Kansas is 6 per cent, when no rate 
 is by contract specified, but any rate contracted for and not to 
 exceed 10 per cent, is also legal. The penalty for usury is for- 
 feiture of double the amount of the excess or usurious interest. 
 
 The release of a mortgage, if made on the original instrument, 
 does not require to be acknowledged, but if a separate instrument, 
 it must be acknowledged before a proper officer, under seal. 
 
 The signature to a mortgage does not require other witness, but 
 must be acknowledged before a notary public or other authorized 
 officer. 
 
 Owners of stock in any corporation chartered under the laws 
 of our State, except railroad corporations, are individually liable 
 for an amount equal to the par value of the stock. 
 
 We now have a law, passed by our last Legislature, providing 
 for placing all banks that are not national under State super 
 vision. Previous to this law there was no State supervision of 
 
48 WESTERN MORTGAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 banks, and many fraudulent enterprises were launched under 
 the guise of banks. 
 
 Taxes are assessed March 1, and are due and payable from 
 and after November 1 of each year, and may be paid in full any 
 time before December 21, or half tax may then be paid, and the 
 remaining half paid any time before June 21 of the following 
 year. If paid in full before December 21, a discount of 2 per 
 cent, is allowed. We request parties desiring full information 
 regarding taxes, and their relation to mortgage holders, to send for 
 our "Synopsis of Tax Laws of Kansas," which is too long to be 
 printed here. 
 
 As it was the part of wisdom for investors to go slow during the 
 high-flying period of the boom, it is now equally wise, while prices 
 are at the bottom, for them to secure investments in choice mort- 
 gages, or by the purchase of good real estate. 
 
 The latest railroad map of the State, or a copy of this pamphlet, 
 ivill be sent on application. 
 
T. E. BOWMAN. H. C. BOWMAN. F. O. POPENOH. 
 
 T. E. BOWMAN & CO., 
 
 Loan Brokers, 
 
 TOPEKA, KAS. 
 
 Seal Estate Loans Foniteen Tears' 
 
 in the Hortheasteni Counties of Eansas. Ezperienoe, and no Dissatisfied Investor. 
 

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