The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-02-21
L. Associations.

Mr.. Wittowsky. of Charlotte, n. c.,
delivered an interesting ana Instructive
lecture at the Star Theatre on Friday
evening. Mr.. Wittowsky's subject was
the Building and Loan Association oi
which be Is an earnest advocate. Ihe
text of his lecture Was as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
lam pleased to see the ladies ont
here tonight I regret ere are not mi +.
ofyou present. Yours by the decree OF
the Creator, the province Of. making
home heaven. We read in the Sacred
Scripture, that when the Creator had
made man, he found it not good for
man 10 be alone he gave woman to
man. On you depends whether the
coming. generation shall have inter
twined within their very heart-strings,
that place which above all others on
this earth shall be to them the dearest
spot on earth, where whether In chill
dish glee, or young manhood's active
prime, or old ages reminiscent moods
we look back back at our happy child
hood days, when tired from play or lit
tie aches and rains we nestled In our
mothers lap and in loving arms for
petful' of all, fell in blissful innocent
sleep. Yours is the province to en-
bellish that home, to plant avine here,
q shrub and flower there, in the happy
consciousness that this is your own
home, where the wife and the little
ones listen forthe familiar and ever.
welcome step of the bread winner Of
the house, and where in the loving
companionship the household is nest
led in the security of their castle, how
ever humble, none dare to molest or
enter without being hidden 10 TO
do.
That we may gain clearer under
standing of what position the building
and loan association system has sus-
tanned in the industrial and economic
affairs of the world, perhaps it may
not be amiss to briefly and rapidly
sketch, in outline, the origin ano his
tory of such organizations.
NV friends, it is not easy to TX up
on a date when and where these So
cities originated. Some writers assert
that they existed in crude form as far
back as the Greeks, during their Re
publican form of government. Later
they were said to be among the Anglo
Saxons in Great Britain. But the ear
liest authentic information we have ls
that a society for the purchasing OF
dwellings was formed in Birmingham,
Eng, In 1881. So beneficial were they,
and in such popular favor did they
grow. that England has today perhaps
no less than $4,000 such institutions.
with q capital in subscribed shares of
probaly two billion dollars, and 3
, membership of two million stockhold-
era.
In this country Pennsylvania was
the original home of the building and
loan association. The first one was
ORGANIZED in 1881 at what IL now u
suburb of Philadelphia, called Frank
fort, and today over 100000 homes IN
Philadelphla and its environs stand to
the credit of the great home building
idea. .,,.
In such favor have building and loan
association 3 grown in, many States.
where their benefits have been demon
stIated, that special favorable legis-
lstion has been enacted, among which
is exemption from the burdens of tax
alton, even from the operation of usu.
~ laws. Friends, 1t will no doubt be
surprising to you to learn that while
these associations receive their life and
their being from the wage-earning
classes paying weekly the small sum
of 25 cents per share, that tie COM
bined amont of subscribed shares was
on the 3lst of December, 1902 (the
latest official report obtainable), the
E. colossal sum of $500, 100000. From
q money standpoint these institutions
are second only in importance to the
combined paid-in capital of all the ma
tionai banks in the United States,
which at that date was $3.50, 900, 900, or
only $780, 900 more.
OF the several States standing high
est in rank of number of associations,
SUBSIDIZED shares ami amount per capita,
we find
No. Shares Per
Ass'ns Subscribed Capita.
New Jersey 36l 81 mil. $27
Ohio 73I 1l6 mil. 25
Penn. ll96 123 mil. II
New York 300 "A mil. 8
What building and loan associations
have accomplished for Charlotte may
in some of its lesser details be reduci-
BILE to mere figures, but in the larger
reckoning of its bearing upon the lives
of people, individually and collective