Mortgage Loans on Farm Real Estate in Clark County South Dakota, 1910 - 1930

Purpose of Study.-This circular dealing with conditions in Clark County is part of a larger research project involving also a study of the farm mortgage situation in the counties of Brookings, Hyde, Haakon and Turner. Ever since the post-war deflation began in 1920 the farm credit problem has been more or less acute. This is an inevitable result of falling prices after a period of inflation such as that brought on by the World War. Because the bulk of the farm credit is based on real estate mortgages it has seemed particularly appropriate and timely to try to determine at this time the actual farm mortgage situation in representative areas of South Dakota. The collection of factual information about past and present farm mortgage conditions is a necessary preliminary for any plan of improvement. The immediate purpose of this study is thus to assemble all available and pertinent data respecting the farm mortgage situation in the areas studied. The ultimate purpose of the study is to bring about some improvement in prevailing conditions by the application of the relationships and principles developed. By assembling and analyzing the information as to the source of funds, amount of indebtedness, cost of credit, term of loans, volume of delinquency and of foreclosures, indebtedness per acre, etc., as these have changed during the twenty years from 1910 to 1930, some basis will be laid for recommendations aimed at the betterment of the relationship between borrower and lender and the solution of their mutual problems