#84. Loans on Mortgage.# Credit is given in many different ways; sometimes a man is assisted by a permanent loan from a relative or friend who has confidence in him. Enormous sums of money are lent, as it is called, upon #mortgage#. A man, for instance, who has built a cotton mill with his own money, pledges the mill as security for a loan, that is, he gives his creditor a right to sell the mill unless the debt is paid when required. #The mill is called a mortgage or dead pledge#, because it becomes dead to the former owner, if he breaks the conditions of the loan. There are many institutions, such as insurance companies, building societies, &c., which have a great deal of capital to lend on mortgage, and many rich people invest their money in the same way. Thus a very large part of the houses, land, factories, shops, &c., are not really owned by the people who seem to own them, but by #mortgagees#, who have lent money on them. Generally speaking, the interest paid for such loans is 4-1/2 or 5 per cent. per annum, when the security is quite good, that is, when the property mortgaged is sure to sell for more than is lent upon it. A considerable margin is always left to cover mistakes or alterations as regards the value of the property; thus, if a house be said to be worth L1000, it will usually be security only for a debt of L700 or L800. When the security is not so good, because the ownership or the value of the property mortgaged is doubtful, the rate of interest charged will be higher, and may be six, seven, or more per cent. The surplus covers the risk, that is, compensates the lender, for the chance of losing what he lends. Mortgage loans are generally made upon fixed capital like houses, mills, ships, &c., which last a long time; but sometimes stocks of goods, such as cotton, wine, corn, &c., are mortgaged as security for temporary loans.