The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-10-18
FOR HOME OWNING.

echoed from many quarters.
The Southern Churchman, Protes-
tant Episcopal journal published in
Richmond, Va, has quoted literally
and approvingly from booklet pub
lished by the Rotary club of Macon,
both the contents of the booklet and
the comment of the Churchman having
been reproduced by the Real Estate
Journal of Miami. The article is too
lengthy for publication here, but there
are many points which should be read
not only by every Rotarian, but by ev-
cry American who places patriotism
above profit, and the love Of home
above the love of lucre.
Macon Rotarians call attention to
some startling statements from the re-
cent census, which may be summarized
as follows
| Sixty per cent of the population of
! this country do not own their own
/ homes. We have become a generation
/ of drifters, renters, floaters. The de-
| cade from 1910 to 1920 shows the great
(, est decrease. Also, that speriod records
| the keenest restlessness, the boldest
| and most fragrant defiance of author
| ity of any period in our national life.
| There is an impression abroad that
| the decrease in home ownership is con-
| fined to the cities.
| Figures show that scarcely more
| than one half of the rural population
| own their homes and that this per
centage has decreased constantly dur
| ing the last twenty years.
Not all the malcontents of America
1 H., 90
| and San Francisco.
/ Nor are all the forces of disorder
| traceable to the manufacturing cities
! having a large foreign element. 1t
/ true, however, that the proportion OF
! homes rented is larger in the manu-
featuring cities of New England than
i in any other part of the country, with
! the exception of the District of Column
4 bia, and that more than four-fifths OF
! the population of New York, Boston,
| Newark, Fall River and Cambridge
/ are renters, dependent upon the ca
price of landlords.
The unrest that is shaking the coun-
| try like q sickening sort of ague has
| been patty named IndustriaP'-anc
] the term sticks, as pat terms are apt
| to do. Yet it is actually no more in
! dustrial than commercial, no more
| commercial than professional or. agri-
| cultural. Men who are Supplying tht
| situation deeply are beginning To
I argue that it is fundamental--that il
! is a blight eating the core, its acric-
| decay destroying continually more
| and more of the precious tissue of our
| independence.
And what are the Fundamental
4 things? What are the pillars upo.
/ which the wise old fathers of Plymouth.
4 and st. Augustine and Fort Dearborn
| built this land?
| HOME FIRST! And after that.
liberty and opportunity and religion.
| Reformers have consumed reams o.
! priceless white paper haranguing the
j multitude concerning American iber
ties and opportunities and upon re
ligion: but the Nation we have bull
is four cornered creation-and th,
| chief corner-the home-is more than
60. per cent gone.
!, No wonder it topples. Any four
| square thing will topple when you
| compel it to stand on three legs.
In mob of 5000, surging like van
! dals through the western city. not one
| rioter was found to own his own home
| Home owners do not go about with
! torch and bomb, bent on destruction.
Give the most illiterate foreigner Il
/ bit of land of his own, however pitiful-
| " small it may be and a threshold to
] defend, and the violent hootings OF
| radicalism will drift past his ears I'm
| needed. He owns something. The town
! is his town because he owns a piece
| of it. The community is his communit..
because he is a part of it. Whateve.
| threatens the community threatens his
| property. Men who have roofs of thei
| own do not go about scattering fire
| brands.
OF the 40 per cent of Americans who
do own their own homes, not one ha
vet been classed with the malcontentS.
Home owners as class are univer-
sally considered to be thrifty, law
abiding, religious, public spirited,
| good workmen, desirable citizens.
What of the children? Here comes
Uncle Sam again, with his columns
of irrefutable figures, to prove that tn
death rate among children is loves :
in the homes owned by the parents. II
| homes where the lowest rent is paid
| 81 per 1000. In homes owned by the
parents, this rate is reduced to Sc
per 1000.
And what of the future of the 7S)
who survive? Psychologists aver tina
| regardless of origin and environment
every individual possesses some meas
ure of criminal tendency. The youth
who grows up in the discouraged anc
sullen atmosphere of discomfort, who
gets little out of life save hard knocks.
is already predisposed to criminalits
and Is an easy victim for temptation.
WHAT THE COUNTRY NEEDS
NOW. AND QUICKLY, IS THE
REMEDY.
Many men of vision are already see
ing this, striving in their individual
and personal ways to assuage the fe-
verish sore