The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-04-04

those removed by circumstances or their own eff.
forts from that sort of distress that always
hovers over the man who has no substantial stake
in the country in the form of holdings that
they do not estimate properly the intense senti
ment of the poor man for the place he calls home
Dickens, who had wonderfully keen insight into
human nature in the raw, said:
"'The ties that bind the wealthy and the
proud to home may be forged on earth, but those
which link the poor man to his humble hearth are
of the true metal and bear the stamp of Heaven.
And again.
"In love of home the love of country has its
rise
"The key to the problem of social unrest-and
political and economical unrest, too, for the mat.
ter of that's therefore at hand: Encourage
the Industrious poor to acquire title to his
home; let him have stake in the country; let
him, as the French say, stick his foot in the
ground And this can be done without the ex-
ercise of that patronage which is certain to be
promptly rejected by the sef-respecting man
it may be done as business proposition-and a
mighty profitable one at that. We believe that
our friends of the working class will meet more
than half way any well-thought-out plan to pro-
mote the acquisition of homes; we are profound
ly impressed by the necessity which exists for
the employing element of the population to give
earnest consideration to the opportunity that
presents itself for insuring the prosperity of the
entire body of the people.
"The Own-a-Home movement that is spread
ing over the country, and which has been taken
up by civic organizations, is of much deeper sig
nificance than may be measured by the desire OF
stimulating business by putting construction
work on pre-war basis. It came originally from
the people and was inspired by the fact that they
enjoyed an unusual tangible prosperity in the
form of savings it has, very properly, been taken
UP by organizations that will be able to bring
wealth and enterprise to the realization of the
aspirations of the people. The State Chamber
of Commerce of Indiana has taken hold of the
subject with intelligence and vigor; other organi
cations have become infected with the idea. And
great good must come of this arousal of public
sentiment.
"But in the long run the workingman will
have to exert himself to realize this ambition that
is innate in all of us to have one spot on earth
with roof over it that we can call our own. And
it is not difficult to realize this ambition. The
building and loan associations present ready
means to this end-and they have already accom-
plshed tremendous good in making it possible
FOR the poor man to acquire real property. But
with the facilities that now provided the
thrifty worker to get title to home there is no
reason why the most humble should not secure
FOR himself the advantages of capital in stretch
ing his little savings to the limit needed to give
him a title to the roof over him. He will find
hat the banks and trust companies will go
ong way to help him realize his ambitions and
the organizations that are prompting the Own
alone movement may be depended on to greatly
facilitate his hopes.
But employers can do more than any other
element of the community in furthering this
work. They know their men and they know their
own resources; they promote organizations
within their works for the forwarding of the
nome owning movement. They can do this with
out offending the independence of the self-res-
)ecting worker and they can link his interests
with their own with hooks of STEEL.