survey shows american people lived in a better house than any people in history when i first read that on the release i thought to myself they call that news everyone knows that even using the word in the broadest we are housed in more comfortable homes  apartments  we buy more efficient stores in shopping cent work in healthier offices and factories we know all this but how many people know how this amazing progress came about where the money comes from because of the millions i mean billions of dollars it takes for this tremendous building program in fact it's impossible for the human mind to grasp the total amount of money that has been required to build the america we know today where then does all this money come from our getting to the point that is new the point this survey makes and to me it's a fascinating story one on which i have had reason to do some interesting research it really started when the first settlers came to this country on their road to better living forebears of ours were willing to endure the hardships of the early american wilderness for the sake of personal freedom and one of the greatest rewards of that freedom was the opportunity to build their own homes and become owners of property modest though it might be in the next hundred years settlements grew and flourished and the folks who worked hard and were thrifty could build better homes and better farm settlements became towns and cities trade and commerce started artisans and margins expanded their shops and stores the spirit of the free world had taken root in north america and the winning of american independence charted its future c by the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century average citizens united here in williamsburg were beginning to have savings in excess of their immediate needs this started them looking for the way to provide long range protection for their dependent to satisfy this need life insurance companies were organized and people began taking up policies the funds accumulated from the premium payments were invested by these companies from the very first in such safe securities as mortgage loans on real estate and mortgage loans have become a traditional form of investment all these institute at about the same time savings banks were granted charters by the state and the savings of individuals were not only safeguard channeled into further community enterprise the rest of the century witnessed on president growth and expansion as american frontier swept westward toward the cities sprang up in the wake of transcontinental railroads and across the land new industries were born bunch of the expansion during this century was provided for by private capital and many large individual fortunes and industrial empires were thus found but as time went on and the country kept on growing individual fortunes were no longer adequate to finance the continued expansion during these years however the insurance payments and savings accounts of millions of small savers piled loan associations commercial banks and pension funds must invest with a minimum of risk outstanding among such investments are mortgages interest bearing loans on homes and other buildings in nineteen thirty four the government cooperated with private business in creating f h a f h a was born in the depression but nothing much was economically sound here was a sound idea of the national need for more homes than a more consistent supply of mortgage money to build them have a j came to the rescue by ensuring long term low monthly payment mortgage mono ship was made possible for additional millions of fans and stimulated a tremendous volume of construction most of the great saving and lending institutions were in the older parts of the country thus insurance premiums and savings deposits tended to concentrate in the these institutions began to make mortgage loans in the areas from which the premiums came as this practice grew a new profession came into being the profession  mortgage banking you see how it grew naturally in response to the needs of the country mortgage bankers a specialist who obtains loans large and small for people in his own area from any number of local and national institutions in doing this he brings funds for construction into his hometown which would not be available locally and after the mortgage is executed the angles all the details for both the investor and b paid off it's quite obvious that these specialists the mortgage bankers play a leading part in the country's progress on the road to better living for us all on our mortgage bankers life well about like any other hardworking businessman suppose we visit one james chandler bunch follow his color mr leonard mercer of the pascoe products corporation who was referred to jim chandler by a mortgage banker in the area of pas here yes that is way hope it won't be our last well that may depend on you mr chandler where decentralizing operations we're going to build a new plant somewhere in this part of the country we're looking for a site your city is one of several under consideration but before we decide  number of problems to be resolved which you'll be interested in exploring these with us we certainly are interested this will be a fine thing for the city there are several properties here i think you'll find very suitable  over here is another but there's one just so happens there's a shopping center going up right near that spot that would be convenient for your people years ago and the railroads are already assured is that the spirit track can easily be extended to this area and that's the kind of information we need suppose i take it easy george christy the industrial secretary the chamber of commerce hears all these facts in these fingertips locations freight rates electric power and so on that would be fine when can you arrange it whenever you say the sooner the better have you been in touch with the city council or not yet that's another thing we'd like to be sure a cooperative local government will have no worry here george christy please after we talk to the chamber  take you to see the city manager and the commissioner of public works hello george jim chandler high five thank you said george i have a gentleman i'd like to bring over to talk about locating a factory here i thought you were eleven five we'll be there you know waste much time well and that's what we heard about you now if our plans work out i understand you're in a position to arrange the construction financing as well as the permanent mortgage loan yes we have good connections with our local banks for construction money and when the building is completed we can place a permanent mortgage with one of our institutional investors and there's one other aspect of this move that's important to us it's housing you see we'll be bringing in a number of our people and we have to have some assurance that homes will be available for them how is the local housing situation frankly it's a little tight at the  see that you get it and we'll get it for you is that your usual practice yes when there's a good reason the lending institutions allow it's reasonable discretion in cases of emergency seem to morrow they recognize their responsibility to the borrowers in many ways let's  as the two men walk along the stream they come to some current construction being financed by chandler and company a little farther along has several substantial older buildings put up more than a quarter of a century  when jim's father james h chandler sr was head of the f chandler and mercer pick up george christie at the chamber of commerce and move on to the city manager saw all agree that the city council will have to authorize the water company to extend the necessary main city manager assur be done as well as anything else but will help to move the meeting ends on a high note of enthusiasm jim chandler is pleased but he knows full well all the work that still will have to be done behind the scenes if this project is really to get off the ground the next day he finds name calling on phil regan a local builder with a good reputation i'm wondering in the build a number of new houses on  all right i'll try to have afforded by thursday ok this is the kind of home we're looking for is the best group of homes in that price class we've had yet they'll go well on that track but jim i've got about all the can handle right now i'd like to do it for you again but i just can't see my way clear this isn't for jim chandler of phil regan this is for the city a brand new industry new employment new business all along the line no matter what i ought to know better than i let you in every time i do it's the same thing if i can arrange for the additional line of credit i'll get it for you well we're waiting for the best drop plans on these two models send them and i still like this one over here let's send all three all right now we are beginning to see something about a mortgage banker really does an active like feeling much of it behind the scenes on the betterment of the community and of course things like this are not accomplished overnight while he's waiting for word on the community redevelopment committee write him a note and tell him i'll say yes or and then you'd better line up my appointments for my trip east next week i want the complete file on the sibley housing tract the cooperative apartment warehouse and the new medical center of course you want to pass the material no yes no and we haven't heard from them just like mother's day sent them everything they needed weeks ago but  proposition i was glad to get the site information or all was able to give us unconditional generally in your part of the country you know that some of like you we have a much tougher job in this ng are fun i'm always glad to hear i mean you know more about conditions down there than we could learn in years that's why i rely on your judgment take a look at some of the projects we're working on with other mortgage bankers from all over the country i'd like to i'm always interested in new ideas edge in chandler studies the fascinating exhibit the latest ways for making life happier for so many he secretly thrilled again to being a part of this important business with men like and stevens and his associates who feel their solemn responsibility both to the policyholders and to those who benefit from the mortgage loan it is a business yes but a business guided by the highest ideal in one community or the need for a moderate price housing was here's something i like to cook some private homes planned for a southern location the emphasis you can see is on the individuality yet the basic architectural style is a soon after labor day stevens arrives in chandler's hometown substantial community because more people own their own homes that's right now this is the way your payments will work up the first year this proportionate share applies on principle well this part covers interest taxes insurance and so on now through the months and years your interest payments become less and less fall apart on principle becomes more and more until by the twentieth year your payments are practically all principle now i need the russells we need you loon you need us jeanne got three needs all of us and we all need men like jean guthrie you know jim is my little niece said to me the other night seriously though this money the savings of all these people when put to work in this way when the benefits everybody the butcher the baker the candlestick maker every every wage earner every merchant that's the reason i like this work i don't what you mean and i'll go along that now if we go to inspect those new properties we better get going i just pick up my things in the office here the two men visit several projects in progress the new pascoe plant an impressive example of the healthy employment of private capital the savings of thousands of average citizens on beyond even that here is one insurance company like many others investing more funds in an area than it receives from the area in premium income jim takes an around to see the new houses still regan is building with jim's financing terms company has no financial interest in this part of the project but an stephens always likes to see what mortgage bankers are doing jim is financing the mortgage s on these us later he will transfer the individual mortgages to one of the savings banks or insurance companies he represents these institutions welcome the opportunity to spread their investments in government insured mortgages and the ripples of prosperity like those from a pebble dropped in the water re job farther and farther to benefit more and more people every trade profession and business in the community all there you are that's what i meant when i was trying to tell you what mortgage bankers are like what they do we've come a long way from the housing of our founding father of the progress we have made in this country traces back directly to the ideals and aspirations to which they were dedicated all of us who have savings accounts and life insurance play a part in today's great building progress and we can take everlasting pride in the knowledge that together with men like jim we are steadily building our own road to better living now and