Imperial Valley press., 1922-05-31

welfare determines the policy of other
men. He puts up cheap apartment
house or throws together three or four
makeshift dwellings, on a lot not half
big enough for one family. He is the
meanest of all profiteers for he specu-
lates in human lives, prospers at the
expense of human health and human
happiness. He is the lowest level but to
this level he eompels his competitors
to sink.
We must not forget that no nation
can be any greater or more enduring
than its homes and we must not allow
, such men as these to determine the, life
and stability of the nation itself.
Shall we exploit selfish interests un-
der the guise of home building2 If this
is what we are undertaking then Lord
forgive us!
"Where there is no vision, the people
perish.'
When we have the vision-when We
realize that only by all working to-
gether unselfishly, patriotically, deter
Ilninedly for the common good of all, real
prosperity can be ours-thcn and not
until then will we have a community OF
home owners.
We must be determined-dete
to awaken public sentiment for home
ownership; determined to bring about
conditions that will make it possible
for every family to own home; deter
mined to see that every man gest Il
square deal.
If we do not own home we must be
determined to own one. Even though
our wages be small, and there are many
depending upon us, we can own home
il we are determined to do so.
\ home for every American means
home for every family residing in the
country as well as q home for every
family living i'll town. Farm tenantry
| is menace to the city, the state, and
the nation.
The prosperity of every city depends
upon the production of the farms. No
farm can long be productive unless the
| fertility of the soil is maintained. Farm
tenantry means grain farming and grain
farming robs the sol of its fertility; re-
duces farm production.
1t takes two things TO make great
country-a fertile soil and q great peo-
| pie. James j. Hill said that "Land
without people is wilderness, and peo-
| ple without land is mob
Lesson of Homeless Lands.
| The Sahara Desert has no people, no
| homes, no schools--it is wilderness.
Russia was overrun with mobS-people
without land.
When this country belonged to the In
dians, the soil was fertile, but it was
rot worth much. Today the land Is
ours and We must guard and protect it.
If We did not preserve its fertility, we
viii be robbing our children and our
childrcn's children.
The farm tenant gets as much out of
the land as he can. He has neither
time nor inclination to build up the soil.
Every community Of tenant farms
shows neglect. Buildings need repair,
fence corners grow up to weeds, the
roads are poor. Things look like every
body was "just kind o. gettin' along
somehow
| The tenant is not community build
er. He doesn t care to help in any pub
lie movement because he dOesn' It expect
TO stay long.
We must not forget that America S
immense wealth is directly based upon
the production of American farms.
Just as sure as we become nation
of farm tenants, our prosperity. our
wealth, our welfare, will suffer great
| loss-and the loss can never be made
up.
In home ownership-farm home and
city home-lies the safety of America