The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1922-10-26

character of a nation by its homes
For II is mainly through the hope Of
enjoying the ownership Of a home
that the latent energy OF any citizenry
Is called forth. The universal yearn
ing for better homes and the larger
security. Independence and freedom
that they imply. was the aspiration
that carried our pioneers westward
Since the preempton acts passed
early in the last century. the United
States. in its land laws. has recognix-
ed and put a premium upon this
great incentive. II has stimulated the
building of rural homes through the
wide distribution of land under the
homestead acts and by the distribution
of credit through farm loan banks.
Indeed. this desire for home owner
ship has, without question, stimulat-
ed more people to purposeful saving
than any other factor. Saving. in the
abstract, is. of course. a perfunctory
process as compared with purposeful
saving for a home, the possession Of
which may change the very physical,
mental and moral fiber of ones own
children.
Now, in the man because of the
diversion of our economic strength
from permanent construction to man.
,.f.o.u-sor of oos,uoohia commodities
during and after the war, we are
short about a million homes. In cities
such a shortage implies the challenge
of congestion 1t means that in prac-
tically every American city of more
than 100000. from Otto 30 per cent
of the population is adversely affect
ed, and that thousands of families
are forced into unsanitary and dam
gerous quarters.
This condition, in turn. means a
large increase in rents, a throwback
in human efficiency and that unrest
which inevitably results from inhibi-
ton of the primal instinct in US all
for home ownership. II makes for
nomads and vagrants. In rural areas
it means aggravation and increase of
farm tenantry on one hand. an in
crease of landlordism on the other
hand, and general disturbance to the
prosperity and confinement OF rural
life.
There is no incentive to thrift like
the ownership of property The man I,
who owns his own home has happy
sense Of security. He will invest his
hard-earned savings to improve the
house he owns. He win develop ii
and defend it. No man ever worked
for or fought for boarding house.
But the appalling anomaly of a
nation as prosperous as ours thwart-
ed lergely in its common yearningsJ
for better homes. is now giving way
to the gratifying revival of home con-
struction Accordingly, the time is
ripe for this revival to afford an OPP
portunity to our people to look to
more homes and better ones, to bet
ter. more economical and more uni
form building codes. and to universal
and d-application of zon-
ing rules that make for the develop
ment of better towns and cities.
We have the productive capacity
wasted annually in the United States
sufficient to raise in large measure
the housing conditions of our entire
people to the level that only so per
cent of them now enjoy. We have
wastes in the building industry itself
which, il constructively applied would
go a long way toward supplying bet
ter homes, so that what is needed
is organized intelligence
and direction. For the problem Is es-
sentially one of ways and means.
And. finally, while we are about
Better Homes for America and are
lending such indirect support to the
movement as the government. states
counties, communities and patriotic
individuals and organizations can
rightfully give. let US have in mind
not houses merely. but homes!
There Is large distinction. 1t may
have been a typesetter who con-
founded the two words. For. curious
ly, with all our American ingenuity
and resourcefulness. We have over
looked the laundry and the kitchen.
and thrown the bulk Of our efforts In
directions other than those designed
to make better homes by adding to
the facilities OF our very habitations'
II. In other words. the family 10 the
unit of modern civilization. the home.
ts shelter and gathering point, should
II would seem. warrant In its design
and furnishing quite as large . share
of attention az the power plant or the
factory.-Herbert Hoover. /