St. Tammany farmer., 1915-08-28
BUILDING AND LOAN ASeOCaA'
TIONs As OOANlUNI.
TY AS6DT8.
(By W. R. Percy. Minden. La.)

have the title by the evening Of the
18th: I was very busy In one OF our
country terms Of court and other le-
gal business, and hadn't even begun
the preparation Of anything. or chos-
en- a subject, but as had promised
him l would have something. l hur-
riedly picked out q title that was 50
comprehensive might write most
anything Hereunder.
open with this preface so that
you will not expect me to set fortn
all, but only . few reasons why our
Building and Loan Associations are
assets to Z community.
In the humble opinion Of the writ
or of this paper one OF the greatest
curses to civilization In America, one
of the greatest deterrents to prog
ress, IL l may put 1t, 10 the want OF
the permanency Of residence In
large part Of our population. the
fever for change, the desire to wan
der, the willingness. not to say ankle
ty. Of 10 many families to constantly
change location. and often for what
is nothing more than . transparent
advantage.
The spirit Of unrest exists ineVery
section Of our country II We read
the papers and authorities on such
subjects Alright, but Is something that
we in this particular part OF the ma
ton, known as the South" have
not always had to contend with. TOR
We learn that prior othe breaking
up Of the "Old South love Of home.
sentiment for the location OF 1t.
an attachment, may say. for To-
cality, was . distinguishing charac-
teristic of our people. a. It undoubt-
edly Of the majority OF people OF
the old countries Of Europe.
But this moving spirit" IL on US.
and what does 1t carry in its train?
Many evils, not the least Of which
is q diminished family. or l should
say diminishing family. for 1t goes
from few children in some cases to
non Elm many, and fro mthat to the
divorce court, when even the relation
of husband and wife is legally dis
solved.
For II it ia q good reason to have
few children, IL frequent moves are
made, It is IN excellent reason for
why one should have none at all,
and a. 1t is easier to move one than
two, SO, at the least, the excuse or
even fear that married life will grow
burdensome, the divorce court Is
sought and moving whenever and
wherever one desires is made most
easy.
But understand. do not charge
non-permanency Of location, II may
use that expression, - the sole and
only cause Of the evils above referred
to, but I am satisfied that In con-
tributes to them to = far greater ex-
tent than we have IN idea of.
Again, how many. many small
cities and towns. numbering popula-
ton in the Thousands. have utterly
disappeared from the map in this
great country. and why? Not only
has it been because some great single
industry, like q factory or mine has
ceased operations, but because the
vast majority Of the people in such
towns and cities nven in rented
houses, and when the main industry
failed or ceased Of operation there
was no tie to their residence, no real
home, so no sentiment for locality;
at least not sufficient for them to re-
main and build mp another. - has
been done in countless places, where
this very home sentiment did exist,
or the population knew that they
would suffer q severe financial loss
by q sudden or Wholesale removal,
because they owned their homes and
had taken years to pay for them and
had many hallowed memories con-
nected with them, all compelling
them to stay and make good" when
some lone industry didn't.
The last named evil will probably
not appeal to those Of you that have
resided all your lives In large city
where such thing is impossible. but
tell you that it Is very real to some.
for while I have not experienced It.
such cases have. come under my OBJ
servation.
Some claim that the unequal dis
tribution Of wealth is the cause Of
the above recited ills. others that 1t
is due to q decadence Of the people,
others ascribe 1t to the youth Of the
race, and yet others think 1t is caus-
ed by the decreasing real family life
i'm other words, to q decadence Of
the home sentiment In America. /
agree with the last class. For do we
observe such sociological troubles
among people whore the home life is
fostered?
What IL home life ray to you
that there is NO true home where the
homestead is not owned by the
householder, for believe that love of
locality Of home 10 almost a. strong
in the human as in the cat, which.
you know, will come back, not to
master or mistress, but to the house.
Ownership Of home contributes to
permanency Of citizenship also. and
who will say that where the majority
Of householders are house owners
is not good community asset?
Should point out that where the
home Is owned the number Of child
rem is generally greater; that where
there are children. there is NOR dis
position to bar and forbear between
man and wife, and that therefore the
ownership Of homo fosters home life
and discourages its destruction.
Consequently, anything that con-
tributes to the upbuilding of real
homes accompNshes oil Of this and
Is bound to be q community asset.
Who will gainsay the assertion
that the Building and Loan Associa-
ton of this country have builded