The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-29
ADDRESSES AND REPORTS.
Mr.. Browns Remarks on the Tariff
and the Secretary's Figures.

DETROIT, July 2S.-The United States
League of Local Building and Loan Asso-
Citations opened its fifth annual meeting to-
day in the City Council chamber, with a
fair attendance representing all the States,
about twenty in number, which have state
leagues of local building associations.
President Michael j. Brown, of Philadel-
phia, called the delegates to order and in
troduced Mayor Maybury, who welcomed
the league to the city and acclaimed De-
trot as a city Of beautiful homes, more
of which, he said, were owned by their oc-
cupants than in any other city in the coun-
try. Mans home indicates his character" 4"
said he, whether it be a palace or a hut
Men are led into habits of thrift and influ-
enced to build and own their homes by the
system which your league represents"
President Brown appointed a committee
on credentials with Irving 3. Rich, of
Michigan chairman and a committee on
resolutions, with Judge Seymour Dexter, of
New York, chairman. President Brown then
delivered his annual address. He alluded
to the organization of the league a year
prior to the worlds congress of building
and loan associations at Chicago in 1898 and
recalled the motto then suggested by Pres
ident Dexter, viz: The American Home,
the Safeguard of American Liberties -
which motto had been adopted by all the
leagues of the United States. The president
quoted a statement of w. George Jordan
that Uncle Sans people have II, ,4S3, 31S
dwelling houses, which would make a
double avenue reaching round the globe
with considerable to spare President
Brown gave a lengthy review of the more
salient features connected with the progress
of building and loan associations from their
inception and of the MUTUAL benefits derived
from their operations. Referring to the
question of a central bureau of informal
ton as discussed at the last annual meet
ing in Philadelphia, the president said that
the difficulty of securing necessary financial
support would render the scheme imprac-
tfcable.
Mr. Brown said that the past year had
not been a home-buildng, but rather a
mortgage creating period, in which nearly
all the people had had a hard struggle.
Wage earners of the land had sacrificed
during the last few years s., ,000, 900, 600, ten
times as much as the assets of all the
building societies of the United States.
I'VE have lived" said he, off of those
who had savings to spend and homes to
mortgage, and the government has gone
into debt by issuing bonds to raise money,
all of which is charged against the account
of the people to be paid gradually. My ad-
vice to any young man desiring to enter
trade would be to urge him TO embark in
a business that low tariffs and free trade
can injure only indirectly, to enter a trade
that enjoys natural protection and is not
dependent on written law for protection. |
believe that times will improve as rapidly
as Americans secure the work at home that
Is now being done abroad. The president
urged that building associations encourage
only simple. conservative and economical
methods. and aid in all matters calculated