St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-02-19
PRESS COMMENT
Building and loan ASSOCIATIONS

passing a feW-yearS ago through
rather trying period, have reasserted
and reemphasized their usefulness
and are today in a more solvent and
prosperous condition than ever. The
building and loan association is to
many of the western states what the
| cooperative bank is to the East. The
| two are alike in all essentials, but
| it should be said that from the be-
| ginning the cooperative bank, espec
| tally in New England, and more par
| ticularly in Massachusetts, has been
subjected to closer supervision and
| regulation by the state. Of late
years there is less to complain OF
on the score of state neglect with
reference to building and loan as
sociations. Illinois may be taken
as typifying the West in it's recent
i treatment of these institutions. They
are now as closely inspected and
guarded as the state savings or COM
merciaI banks
1t is quite proper that these insti-
buttons, whether known by the
eastern or western name, should
have had their origin in Philadelphia
the "city of homes for they are
above all things, BODYBUILDING in
struments. The year 1881 saw
their beginning; their aggregate re-
ceipts in payments and dues for sew
eral years past have averaged over
$500, 100000. In Illinois the as
sets of the associations in 1911
amounting to $68,975, 900, were ex-
.ceeded greatly by those of Pennsyl-
vania and Ohio, and to a smaller
degree by those of New Jersey, but
they were $7,OOO,OOO higher than
fbnco ~ Tn
Illinois, according to the report of
State Auditor Mccullough, just
made public, the assets of the asso-
citation exceeded those of the pre-
vious year by about $6,00o,OO0. This
| shows a wholesome growth not only
in savings but in confidence. In
fact, as compared with ten years
earlier, the combined building and
loan and bank investments in Illi-
/ nois have risen from $35.22 a per-
son to $70.48, an increase that bears
eloquent testimony to the high plano
of prevalent prosperity and assur-
ance. In the view of the Illinois
state auditor, the comparisons given
prove conclusively that, notwith-
standing the increased cost of Iiv-
ing, incomes have materially in
creased, and that a fair share of
i such increase has found it's way in
to the building and loan associa-'
tions."
1t has been said that the village,
/ town or city which most abounds
in homes owned by residents is the
most desirable, because the safest
community in which to fix ones resi-
dence. This may be said with equal
truth of the state or province or
ne Te 10 III g..
sedition to gain a foothold in a land
in which the people have invested
their earnings. ALI the more reason
therefore, why such investments,
in the first place, should be encour-
aged by throwing around them
every possible safeguard. Massachu.
sets has set the pace in this respect,
but in these days few of the states
are far behind. Pennsylvania con-
tinGes to lead the sisterhood both in
membership and capital, and it is
| fact worthy of attention, as indi-
| eating difference in home-makine
tendencies, that New York falls be-
hind some of the less populous
| states either in respect to member
ship, number of associations or
amount of assets. New York city,
doubtless, has a great deal to do
with influencing this condition. =
! lChristian Science Monitor.
Immigrating East
During the past year there have
probably been more Vermont farms
sold to persons in the west, the
middle west and the northwest, than
ever before in any like period, in
the history of the state.
In Washington county alone, one
farm agency has sold between TWEEN
ty and thirty, and they have nearly
all been to persons of some means
and from without the state
One paper on the west side COM
plains that farms in Washington
county bring higher prices than
i those on the west side of the state.
Possibly this is true, but even then
the land seems comparatively cheap
when compared to the almost fabu-
Ious prices received for land in the
western states. And one can get
quite as good living from the pro-
ducts of Vermont farm as he can
| from a much larger tract of western
land. The Vermont farmer has a
market near at hand for all the pro-
| ducts he may be able to raise and
at a good price. There is invariably
rain enough through the season to
keep the crop and a long enough
season for the maturing and har-
Vesting of same. On the large
i farms Of the western states the one
or two kinds of crops are either
very heavy and the profits enormous
or else they are dismal failures and
the farmer must wait another year
and try his luck again.
! There are so many adverse cir
cumstances with which the large
western farmer has to contend that
rarely enter into the calculations
i of the Vermont farmer. There is
the one big crop of the year to de-
pend upon in the west and if that
fails it is said failure. In Vermont
in the spring there IS the maple su-
gar orchard to attend to, and a small
though profitable income is derived
from that; then in the summer the
various products of the farm ripen
| in fb0ir GOoc0n. in ha foil fhora mo