El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-05-24

fHE United States Leagues OF Go-
cal Building and Loan asSocl-
atoms will meet today in annual
session at Charlotte, y. c., This league
is the national organization represent
ing nearly 5000 purely local building
and loan associations having d nam
bership Of 100000 persons and total
assets of almost 100000, 900. Not only
do the local building and loan associ-
atoms have total assets of S7S5,0O0,OOO,
nearly as much as the capital stock of
all the national banks in the country,
but they also represent that huge
amount in the savings of the people
Not only do they represent great
financial pow er in their present status,
but they have behind them a record Of
work accomplished in the betterment of
conditions of working people which
makes the city blessed with building
and loan activity better than the city
rot so fortunate
Development at Charlotte.
The meeting OF the league in Char
lotte is particularly welcome for the
building and loan association has reach
ed a higher development there than in
any other town of similar size in the
world. Charlotte has subscribed for
sos per capita in building and loan
stock. and this subscription has palo
nm s45. Pennsylvania leads all the
states and Philadelphia is the foremost
citv in building and loan activity Dut
charlotte is entitled to first place
Ghen size and all conditions are con-
sidered.
Born In England.
The building and loan association was
horn I'm the brain of an English WORK
iro,r,an in 1871. when the first build
inc society" was organized on the CO.
narrative plan. In 1912 this idea was
developed in England and the assocla-
lions became numerous. In 1881 the
idea was brought to America by Eng
Usb emigrants. and the first American
building and loan association was or
ganized in Frankfort, the manuIactur
ing suburb of Philadelphia Its locai
growth was rapid and the results were
highly satisfactory BY 1889 the rue"
had been transplanted into New Eus-
land. But on account of the purely 10
coI character of the association they
have not spread rapidly, and their
greatest development has been IN more
or less isolated communities
Was Lucrative for Syyindlers.
The growth was steady and healthy
however, until about twenty years aSo'
Then a great number of so-called ha-
tionaF building and loan ASSOCIATIONS
sprang I'D. In their very essence they
dence which had been the spirit or the
local associations-the concentration OF
all activity under the very eyes or the
cooperative shareholders
Many of the national" societies were
mere swindles, and most of those Wh1ch
were honest went down in the financial
storm of 1893. Some few were sue
cessful, but not on a scale to compare
with the local associations. The fail
ure Of the national" associations gave
the building and loan savings devices
black eye, but that is now passing from
the memory of man
All States Represented.
Pennsylvania leads all the states in
the building and loan business with 1923
associations having 3S9,446 members
and total assets of s15S.510,745- Ohio
comes next with 645 associations. 323,-
662 members and total assets of $685.
34O.424. Ranking according 10 assets
the states follow in order: New Jersey.
Illinois. Massachusetts. New York. In
diana. California, Michigan. Nebraska,
Louisiana. Missouri and North Caro-
lima All of the other states are repre-
scented. but they have less than So
600, 900 assets each.
Promoter Poor Man
No better example of the work which
properIv conducted building and loan
associations ca do for q community is
TO be found than Charlotte. where the
United States league is meeting today
Her two leading citizens have\led the
work and encOurag ed its development
Perhaps the most prominent man in
Charlotte and one of the leading manu-
facturerS of the south. is 4. A TOMB
kins He made his start in life when
working as q mechanic in bethlehem.
Pennsylvania. He ere dts the fact that
he got out of ovNralls 10 the building
ard loan association Of Bethlehem. into
which he paid ? small weekly saving.
which became the nest egg of a large
fortune.
The head Of the largest building and
loan association in Charlotte. the chief
promoter of the association work there,
and vice president of the United States
league is s. Wittkowsky. He landed in
the United States with only one dollar
in his pocket and he went to Charlotte
as a clerk in a store. He, too. made
his first S"ving through the building
and loan association. For twenty light
years he has devoted his time and at
tention TO the work of fostering the
building and loan associations of Char
lotte and the country. He has not
taken one cent of pay for his services,
but is in the work as missionary, pure
and simple 1t is to these two men
that the prominence Of the building and
loan association in the social, indus