Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/220

198 {|
 * Farms operated by their owners, total number||3,925,090
 * Free from mortgage||2,313,712
 * Mortgaged||1,611,378
 * }
 * Mortgaged||1,611,378
 * }
 * }

While the number of farms operated by their owners decreased 23,632 or 0.6 per cent, between 1910 and 1920, the number of such farms mortgaged increased 283,939, or 21.4 per cent, and the number free from mortgage decreased 307,571, or 11.7 per cent. The percentage of owned farms mortgaged increased from 33.6 in 1910 to 41.3 in 1920. This increase does not necessarily indicate any lack of prosperity, however, since much of the money is borrowed for profitable investment in improvements or in additional land.

According to a statement issued by the Treasury Department in September, 1921, the deposits in more than 37,000 savings banks in the United States amounted to about six billion dollars. In 1916 the total was about five billion dollars. Orrin C. Lester, acting director of the Savings Division, Treasury Department, furnished me with the following statement of the total of Liberty bonds and Victory notes, by denominations, outstanding May 31, 1921.