It is, however, to be hoped that the present American fathers will not hesitate to provide something better for their children.
CHAPTER V.
MORTGAGOR FAMILIES.
It must be borne in mind that in this chapter we have to consider only those families of the nation which were in possession of real or artificial[[86]] property before and after the year 1890. And we have especially to consider those of them whose properties were mortgaged; and those whose properties were to be lost in consequence of the mortgages they were encumbered with. While the propertyless or the tenant families, that were treated in the preceding chapter, will now be kept in the background of the statistics with which we have to deal.
When, however, we are through with the statistics, we may make references to and may even make special statements about the tenant families treated before; while the prominent position will now be given to the mortgagor families, showing how they fall from the class of property owners, become debtors to the owners of greater wealth, lose their properties and increase the numbers of the propertyless.
It is important to note here that the loss of the rights to property always precedes the actual loss of property itself; and that the fall of the propertied into the sphere of dividogenesure, also precedes the actual economic slavery of those that become propertyless.
The very day in which a propertied person mortgages his property he loses his rights for the wealth he has owned, because his property goes from him as a security |LOSS OF RIGHTS PRECEDES LOSS OF PROPERTY.| for the loan he makes. And while losing the rights, he takes upon himself the obligation to divide the results of his labor between the lender and himself, and thus falls under the influence of dividogenesure. For, henceforth, he spends his active energy in favor of the creditor and himself, and is obliged to regard the interests of the creditor as of more importance than his own. The rate of interest to the creditor must be accurately paid so much per cent per annum for the loan. Hence, the mortgagor at once appears in the position of a tenant of farm or of any other property. And it depends on the rate of the percentage he agreed to pay out of the results of his labor whether he is better off or worse even than a mere tenant. It also depends on the fact whether his mortgaged property is a large one or small, and whether he has mortgaged one part or the whole of his resources of wealth. In any way, a mortgagor, according to the degree of his indebtedness, is an economic slave of the owners of greater wealth. And he must have a supernatural ability and must use an extraordinary effort in order to pay his debt or to redeem his property. Otherwise his property must pass into the absolute ownership of the wealthy families that millions of other individuals already labor for under the modern type of slavery.
But let us now see the statistical facts and then we may better judge of what mortgages signify and what they mean to the nation. We shall take the other class treated in the same bulletin out of which we extracted the 6,624,259 tenant families for the preceding chapter.[[87]]
STATISTICS.[[88]]
“Extra Bulletin No. 98 of the United States Census, 1890,” (of the mortgagor families) “says:”
That out of the whole 4,767,179[[89]] farming families in the United States only “65.92 per cent,” or 3,142,414 families “own the farms |FARM FAMILIES IN DEBT.| cultivated by them.” And “that 28.22 per cent,” or 886,839 families out of the 3,142,414 owning ones, “own subject to encumbrance,” i. e., they are in debt; “and 71.78 per cent,” or 2,255,575 families, “own free of encumbrance.” So that among every 100 farm owning families 72[[90]] own without encumbrance and 28 own with encumbrance.