CHAPTER I. FORECLOSURES OF MORTGAGES. The following statistics relating to foreclosures of mortgages consist merely of a statement of the number of cases in which foreclosure proceedings were consummated during the two calendar years 1880 and 1887. These years were chosen for the reason that a previous investigation has developed the number of real estate mortgages executed and recorded during the same periods. The foreclosures which were scheduled by the agents of the bureau included those in which proceedings were pending and those cases also which had been dismissed before the decree was issued; but in making up the totals which are presented in the following tables, only those were considered in which a decree had been granted and a sale ordered or made. It was believed that this class of cases only should be entered as constituting the experience of the year in the matter of foreclosures. those cases which were concluded during the year were, in many cases, begun in previous years, some in remote years, those which were pending during the periods of investigation were considered as properly belonging to future periods. Differences of opinion may be held as to whether the number of people who have been brought into court during a given year, or those who have actually been dispossessed and whose property has been sold during the year, more truly represent existing conditions in that year. The figures given here represent the latter class, though foot-notes indicate the number of pending and dismissed cases which have been omitted from the tables. As The presentation of this subject is made in a series of small tables, one for the State at large, and one for each county in the State. In each is given the number and amount of mortgages made, and the number, and amount of the mortgages foreclosed during the two years, 1880 and 1887. A separation is made and preserved between mortgages on lands and on lots, and both the number of acres and of lots, incumbered and sold, is given. Under foreclosures will be found the number and amount of the original mortgages, the character of the property incumbered, and the amount of the decrees rendered in each year and county. It is not claimed that these figures are in any sense conclusive either as to the amount of debt in the several counties or the portion of it which is in default at any given time. On the other hand they are merely suggestive as to both. They possess, however, the official quality of being literal transcripts from the public records, and as such they afford a legitimate basis of opinion on a subject which has heretofore been a matter of mere conjecture. FORECLOSURE TABLES. Foreclosures of Mortgages in Illinois during the calendar years 1880 and 1887, compared with the real estate mortgages executed and recorded during the same years,-by counties and for the State. Totals.... 41,805 $52,610, 483 2,059,666 34, 282 *1,435 $2,848,885 72,999 1,519 $2,557,238 *Not including 81 cases, dismissed, pending and incomplete, for $195,734, on 1,796 acres and 875 lots. Totals..... 63,660 $99,795, 681 2,178,532 65, 066 *2,078 $3,088,737 113,598 2,184 $3,374,243 *Not including 165 cases, dismissed, pending and incomplete, for $331,281, on 749 acres and 375 lots. |