66 LoN L. Swift the value of the property, but the more prevalent way in which land is transferred is by the purchaser paying one-fourth or one-half of the value of the farm and giving the original owner a mortgage on the balance. The usual rate of interest charged is eight per cent. State school money can sometimes be had for one-third of the value of the property, and this loans at the rate of six per cent interest. If no other means is available, the private money lender will generally advance money on mortgage security to one-half of the value of the property. The percentage of encumbered farms varies in dif- ferent parts of the State. Landowners in the Willamette Val- ley and on the coast report that no more than lo or 15 per cent of the farms in their counties are encumbered, while in all parts of Eastern Oregon except in a few older counties like Union county, from 50 to 75 per cent are encumbered. The proportion of mortgaged farms is very high in Klamath county owing to the method of selling employed whereby small tracts of land can be had on easy terms. From what little informa- tion has been gained of foreclosures, it appears that mortgages are paid except in very rare cases. The older sections of the State having the smaller percentage of encumbered farms tends to prove that mortgages are, in the main, an indication of development of agricultural resources. Most of the rented farms belong to aged retired farmers or to landed capitalists, who hold the land for investment or spec- ulation, and a few to those to whom land has reverted in de- fault of payments of mortgages or who have received land by inheritance. It was largely a guess for the landowners to answer this question, but they for the most part agree through- out the State that the first two classes include nearly all who rent land. Tenant farming is said by the majority of landowners to be on land more fertile and productive than the average land. They say that tenants will always choose the best place to rent available, because, as is evident, the more the yield for
a given amount of work and expense, the larger the profit.----
