The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-05-26
Frederic Haslkin,s Letter .
Gum Your DUN Home.

coming around to the Chesterton-I
ian belief that under the system OF
private property, every citizen
should be a private property owner.
Just what the government Intends
to do about 1t, however, still NJ,
mains q mystery. 1t is not known
to have acquired vast reams Of IN,
formation upon. the subject: 10
have been deep In the consideration,
Of public health reports ON hous-,
ing conditions and financial re.
ports concerning mortgages and
loans, as well as reports on rent
increases in various cities; but the
nation still awaits a home run from
congress. Senators Calder. Edge
and Kenyon have made their i'm.
portant recommendations, but as
yet nothing has come of them.
City Building Projects.
Meantime various cities have at
tempted relief measures. A few
have themselves gone into the home
building business for the benefit Of
the public, while others have placed
restrictive measures upon proiteer-
ing landlords. New York has made
things as pleasant as possible for
the BODYBUILDING public by ex-
empting its property from taxes for
the next five years.
But, for the most part, the would.
be home owner is left to solve his
difficulties for himself. He can
either build a house at the present
high cost Of building materials,
moving that eventually that prices
must come down; or he can pay an
exorbitant rent for a house whicl
he never will, and probably
wouldn't want to, own. In one case
he buys stock that is certain to 60
down; in the other, he pays large
rate of interest on stock that be-
longs to someone else. OF the two
alternatives, building seems to or
er the better returns.
Take, for instance. a house
which costs $6,545, including the
price of the land. II rented. the,
owner would demand Is per cent
profit on his investment, which
would make the monthly rental
$81.64. (In New York a house Of
this value would bring 500 a
month"; Now the home builder has
only $3.50 invested in his proper
ty. He must pay interest on the
mortgage in addition to the taxes.
/ but altogether his entire carrying
charges come to just $33 a month.
In building he saved nearly $50 a
month, which would have gone to Al
! landlord had the house been occl-
pied on rental basis. /
One of the greatest deterrents to-
home building on a nationwide
scale, OF course, is the inability oil
a large number Of citizens to obtain
the necessary capital. They are
perfectly willing to build homes,
long to do 50, in fact, but they can
not even begin to pay for the lum-
Der. To these eager but thwarted
"Own-Your- Own-Homers," perhaps,
the building and loan association
is the best answer.
To the person who owns the land
upon which he wishes to build, or
who has saved enough to pay enc
fourth or one-third on a piece OF
property, the building and loan as
ISOLATION lends the necessary CAP
ital, which the borrower pays of
in regular monthly payments.
The would-be home builder who
lacks even the one-fourth or one
third property interest required,I
would do we'll to Join one of these
associations and begin the accumu-l
lation as q savings investor until
he can obtain a loan. A fair rata,
of interest is paid on savings ac-I
counts.
There are 5000 Of these building
and loan associations in the Unii-
ed States, which are doing a real
service to the people as well as,
making a great deal of money. 1t Isl
estimated that the mortgages heidi
by them now aggregate in excess OIL
81, SOC. O00, 900; their total member
ship is about 100000 persons, and
approximately 100000 home pur-
chase loans. totaling $50,000,0o0I
were made by them last year. All
Of the associations are under the
strict supervision Of the banking
departments of the states and are
regularly examined the same as
other savings institutions. Phila-i
delphia probably owes its designa-
ton as the City Of Homes to tho
great multiplicity of its savings and
loan associations, which are looked
upon as the real hope of the Own
IYour-OWn-Homem movement,