Evening star., 1935-06-15
800 LOAN GROUPS
ARE 50 YEARS OLD
Assets of s503, $50, 900
Held by Associations
in 80 States.

Three hundred savings, building
and loan associations which are mem
bers Of the United States Building
and Loan League will have completed
their fiftieth anniversary by July l
this year, 1t is reported by the league.
Scattered through 80 different States,
these half-century- home-flnanc-
ing institutions have assets Of $685.
$50 900. according to H. F. Cellarius,
secretary treasurer of the league.
The leagues leadership is closely
associated with these long-enduring
institutions. Four of its directors are
connected with associations so years
old-Edward G. Baltz, Washington;
Albert o. Horner, Pittsburgh; Charles
S. Moore, Atlantic City, N. j.. and
Frank o. Schneider. Kankakee, Ill.
Its first vice president, l.. w. Pellett.
Newburgh. N. Y. and its second vice
president. H, r. Donaldson, Lansing.
Mich, manage associations which
have already passed their forty ninth
anniversaries this Spring.
Citing all these institutions so
years of continued operation as wit
ness to the soundness of their mort
gage making procedure, Mr.. Cellarius
said that their principles should be
recognized as competent guides for
mortgage practice throughout the Ma
ton in the future.
Loans Are Long Term.
"The consensus of opinion among
the managements of these senior in
l. LAr
more of stability are due to the max
ing of long-term amortized home
loans with long-term funds" said the
league official. Happily the country
has recently recognized on wide
scale the superiority of the long-term
loan from the borrowers point of
view. But that is only half the story.
Equally as important, from the point
of view Of the investor, the man or
woman whose money goes into the
mortgages, is the fact that such loans
have been made by the associations
with long money. The necessity
for safety's sake of combining this
practice with the other is not gener-
ally accepted yet, If we are to judge
by repeated attempts to give the COM
mercial banks more mortgage busi-
ness Yet is it one of the important
lessons which these so years of build
ing and loan history show.
Here Is group Of local institu-
lions. managed usually by the sub
stantial citizens of the community
which have maintained their solvency
and most generally their earning
power for the investors throughout the
devastating business and financial
conditions of 1898, leo3-05. 1908
90. 1e21-22. 1930-34. Since 90 per
cent of their investments during those
50 years have been in mortgages on
residential property, they would have
had to develop sound procedure or
perish. 1t is flying in the face Of
experience to disregard a fundamental
Of the procedure they did develop. viz,
the use Of long-term investments"
London Joins Celebration.
Indicating that the last so years
have been significant ones in the de-
velopment of specialized thrift and
home financing institutions, Mr.. Gel
lsrius also calls attention to the fact
that the largest building society in
London. the Abbey Road. is this year
celebrating its fiftieth anniversary
While this plan of home financing
has been in opera ton here for hun
dred years and in England for more
than q hundred and fifty, its major
development in both countries is a
matter of the last half century" he
explained. This is largely due to the
prevalence of 'terminet ting associa-
tions' in the earlier history of building
and loan. For this reason when we
look at the institutions which are now
rounding out their fifth decade or
more we are looking at the first perm
anent stones in our specialized mort
gage financing structure.
The 1905 were a period of par
ticular interest in the building and
loan type CT institution. We fnd that
is of our 4s States organized their
first association some time in that
decade. The growth and success OF
the thousands Of small cities which
took their first strides ahead in this
great era of expansion in the sos. was
safeguarded by the fact that they had
found logical and practical way to
finance their homes early in their
development"