The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-07-29
SOCIALISM NOT so POPULAR.

That the state ownership of all kinds of prop
erty is not popular among wage earners as the
Socialist propaganda would like it to be, is con
hrmed by the report of the United States League
of Building and Loan Associations made to del
egates in convention at New York From that re-
port is ascertaned that small wage earners to the
number of two millions are learning to save out of
their little incomes and to administer these savings
in large collective amounts as we'll as any trust
company with great captahstic backing could do
the same work. knowledge Of this fact was I'M
parted III the address of President A. L. Guthel.
The league is national association of more than
5000 local building and loan associations.
How does the system operate? Nowadays the
word system has become painfully frequent in the
daily chronicles of strenuous finance President
Guthie Che is from Indiana) says "the beauty of
the system of the local building and loan associa-
lions lies in the fact that they operated in the
Immediate vicinity wherein dwell the shareholders
and officers. Nine-tenths of the officers of such
institutions serve without pay. The shareholders
and officers all personally known to each other
and each shareholder know from month to
month, exactly how his money is invested. They
have no paid agents to drum up business and only
small salaries sufficient to keep the machinery in
running order"
That system should endure which allows the
largest opportunity for every shareholder to par
ticipate and furnishes him the widest knowledge
of every dollar expended; and upon such SYSTEM
easily mastered and cheaply and honestly admin
istered, the building and loan association is based
The past year has been a successful one for
these local associations throughout the country
The annual report of the league secretary places
the total assets of the local building associations
IN the United States at $6O0,3 ,569, which is
net increase for the year of 500 786474 The total
membership is 1631,O46 net increase of 64346
The number of separate associations is now 1926.
Good people professionally alarmed over the So
cialist peril should place these figures presented by
the building league beside those represent
ing the Socialist increase in this country.
The comparison will show what little faith
the wage earners have in the surrender of all
kinds OF property to the state no matter how
earnestly they support the Socialist protest against
the INJURY done the citizen through political malad-
ministraton. If the Socialist party can become as
useful as the Greenback party was in the mod
itcation of goldbug legislation, its presence is
more beneficial than harmful. Americans join the
Socialist party not to become irreigious scoffers
and disbeevers in the Christian idea of the family
-for only the nutty disciples of Marx are such
but to favor amy change in government that
promises a square deal. Give them a square deal
chance to put by money for home and the
American Socialist party will be laid away in the
political grave with its predecessor-the Green
back party.
The American people are essentially practi-
cal For proof, look at the local building and loan
associations of small wage earners Not many So
sialists in that multitude