The New York herald., 1922-01-08
MARKET IS SETTLING
DOWN TO SAFE GAIT
Loan Expert Says Enough High Class
Flats and Office Buildings
Have Been Produced
BY CLARENCE III. KELSEY.
President of Title Guarantee and Trust
CO7nDUHU

, as are attractive to installment pur-
chasers with limited incomes"
Among the things to be determined
are:
Methods by which excessive costs
and charges can be eliminated.
A method has been suggested to Sec
retary Hoover which, If he would adopt
It, would perhaps make some progress
toward the correction of the evils which
lie so clearly sees. II his Department
would call the labor chiefs before him.
from Samuel Gompers down. and insist
that the principles of union labor should
be radically changed so as to provide
for a secret ballot In all voting and a
graded wage or piece work, and that
unless that Is done the Government
would use its whole power to protect
the citizens in working under the open
shop. we would all see daylight at once
The majority of union laborers are
still honest and wish to get ahead on
their merits. They abominate the cor
rupt and foolish leadership that Is now
disgracing them. With secret ballot
they would throw 1t out and stop strik.
ing and try to get ahead in life on their
merits when the rules made that the
cnly way It may be that the present
leaders would defy the Government and
the cry would be that the Government
had destroyed the unions. The fact
would be that it would have destroyed
dishonest unions and prepared the way.
through the lesson taught, for the crea-
ton of an honest unionism that all
mechanics could espouse.
In discussing this question Mr.. Hoover
has said in recent letter:
"In all fairness to John A. Donlin,
president Of the Building Trades Section
Of the American Federation OF Labor,
T, who was a member of the committee on
construction, 1 must say that he fully
realizes the necessity of high produc-
tivity to maintain high level OF real
wages he believes that putting the con-
struction industry on a sound OASIS
would help materially to relieve the
housing shortage and reduce rents
thereby raising the purchasing power
of wages. He has maintained this posi-
ton in the American Federdtionist and
has expressed his desire to help elm
mate abuses in local building trade
agreements"
1t is not right to hold these views and
do nothing to enforce them. High pro-
ductivity by labor will result at once
when its compensation is made to de-
pend absolutely on its productivity. Ex-
horting union labor "to be good" accom-
plishes nothing.
There will be plenty of construction
and plenty of money for financing II
when 1t is honestly and economically
conducted. The lending institutions are
coming back into the market and so are
the individuals in spite of the high in
come surtaxes. The small investor,
however, seems to be the support OF
the individual mortgage market now
rather thu the large investor. The
Title Grs lntce and Trust Company has
sold IL the year 1921 s55,o00.oo0 OF
mortgages. and of this vast amount about
S13. .O00,G00 has been sold in mortgage
certificates averaging less than $4,000
each to more than 1000 separate in
vestors These small investors are not
concerned with the income taxes. and
through the practice inaugurated by the
company of splitting up large mort
gage into small pieces secure high
type of mortgage investment and safety
of principal. a liberal return on their
money, and freedom from any danger oi
loss which many of them have expert
enced in investing in fluctuating securi-
ties and far too often in wildcat ven
lures.