Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 82.djvu/261

Rh a larger market. The bonds of the central association are secured by all the mortgages of the provincial associations belonging to the central association. The results attained through the central association, however, have. not fulfilled expectations. The Pfandbriefen in no considerable extent have found their way into the international money markets. The offering of them in such large quantities on the Berlin Bourse reduced the price below what they could be sold for in home markets through the local banks. Furthermore, there is a sentiment among investors buying bonds that as long as the provincial bond is equally as secure as the central they prefer to invest in Pfandbriefen of their own province. In the province-of Saxony, with its 220,000,000 marks of Pfandbriefen outstanding, the director of the Landschaft estimates that 75 to 80 per cent, of the total amount invested in them is capital of the province of Saxony. So far as security was concerned, nothing was to be gained by consolidation into a central association, since the provincial association bonds are as secure as bonds can be made.

Of the total amount of bonds in circulation at the present time only about 10 per cent, of them are central association bonds. The latest statistics show that the provincial and central association of Prussia have the following amounts of outstanding bonds.

One of the most valuable features of the loans made through the land mortgage associations from the standpoint of the farmer is the gradual amortization through annual payments made with the interest. This is obligatory on the part of the borrower and usually is per cent, to  per cent, of the face value of the loan. In the land mortgage