The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-03-14
ARCHBISHOP ON
LAND QUESTION
(continued from PAGE ID

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that is, at $3.50. the annual payment
| will be e34 There we have asreduc-
tion.of s16, or in otherSwords. ofs32, pei
cent. So then, if any one rent say, a
"second-term" rent, is: spoken of in
both statements-first, when we speak
\ of the rate of reduction. and. again
when we speak of the number of years
purchase-the two things, that is to
say. seventeen years purchase, and a
maximum of 25 per cent reduction, do
not hang together. rs "'ss
All this, may point out, is on the
basis of the financial provisions of the
act of 1885, Under that act, the public
money is advanced to- the tenant pur-
chaser at an interest of So Is cd per
cent, the remaining lis Cd, out of the
ga per cent, which he pays, forming
the sinking fund" which, by the an
nual contributions of lis cd, ,accumu-
lated at compound interest, clears off,
| in forty-nine years, the original adj
vance of G100, 1t is, of course, to be as
suned that the financial provisions of
the forthcoming land bill will be still
more favorable to the tenant purchas-
ers than We're the provisions of the act
of 1885. Thus, the purchase of a hold
ing at seventeen years purchase would
result in reduction of still more than
80 per cent in the yearly payments. All
this is obvious.
I may then take the statement about
seventeen or eighteen years purchase"
as referring to so many years purchase
of the "fi1stterm'' rents. In doing so,
II would, however, point out that the
bringing of "first-term' rents into
such close connection with the state
ment about the reduction to be effect
ed, which is to be reduction upon
"second-term" rents, is very far from
being the best way of bringing the
working of the scheme clearly home TO
the mind of an average member of the
public.
AT any rate, the fact is that, whether
the seventeen or eighteen years pur-
chase" is to be taken as referring to
"frst-term' rents, or to second term
Il
touched upon in the conference scheme
at all. z 49,
Under the conference scheme-not as
it is being expounded by enthusiastic
panegyrists, but as it stands, in terms,
before the public-the question of the
number of years purchase to be paid
by the tenants is left, in the fullest
sense, an open question. Mr.. T. w.
Russell has publicly stated that it was
advisedly left open. To have left it |
open, so that within the limits of the |
conference scheme, the financial pro- |
visions of the government measure |
could be constructed on the basis of d |
smaller or of a larger number of years
may have been wise or I'M
wise. If l may venture to express an |
opinion, l think it was eminently wise. |
At all events, the point has, as mat
ter of fact, been left an open one.
Every one acquainted with even the
principles of the acturial |
work that is involved in the matter
must, know that, within the limits
marked by. the only, points really de-
fined in the scheme as to the terms of
purchase-namely,1 minimum reduc-
ton of 10 per cent, and maximum re-
1uction of 25f per cent, in the yearly
payments to be made by the tenants
is compared W4ln- SFcOnu-Ierm rents
Or their fair equivalent-there is room
'or very great variety as to the num-
Der of years purchase that may have
% be paid. The rate of interest and
he yearly contributions to the sink
ng fund.- being fixed a smaller num-
Der of years purchase will involve a
shorter period of annual payments,
Ind larger number of years purchase
will involve longer period of annual
payments.
AS to the length of the period over
which these payments may have to
,e. extended, there is nothing what
yer defined in the scheme. But the
natter is distinctly referred to. In
he twelfth section we, read that it was
greed:
THAT the amount of purchase money
payable by the tenants should be ex- ,
ended over series of years, and be !
t such a. rate 49,. as will at once {
ecure a reduction of not less than :
5 per cent. or more than % per cent, t
n second-term rents with fur |
her periodic reductions, as under eX- !
sting land purchase acts" {
And for how many years are the an I