The Sauk Centre herald., 1940-03-14
PAGE SEVEN

as everyone knows, that it costs
money tO build a home and more
money to carry it and maintain it.
1t Is easy to take a pencil, and it
does not need to be very sharp, and
compute that a person should not
own a home and that it is far
cheaper and better to rent than
build. But there are other sides to
the whole story.
The people of the United States
buy automobiles. That Is splendid.
Civilization has put en- a new eco
nomic face with the development
of the gasoline engine. If family
cannot afford a home, it cannot
afford an automobile. A home
A home is a sound possession and
many are the homes that actually
increase in value after construc-
ton. An automobile costs money.
1t is large investment to start
with. 1t demands cash for gasoline
! and maintenance. In a few short
years an automobile is completely
gone. Yet for more people own cars
than own homes. Most people who
have a car can afford to have a
home. Those who can afford to
speed and spend up and down the
highways can afford to build a
shelter for themselves.
We are strong on booze of var
ious kinds in the United States. It
is probably true that millions Of
| people have sat at table or stood
at the bar in a saloon buying liquor
and arguing, as the professors
argue, that they cannot afford
home. A drink a day will pay the
taxes on a small home. 1t will pay
the interest on quite a substantial
mortgage. Less alcohol and more
homes is real temperance slogan.
The same argument is applicable
to other forms of expense and plea
sure. If people do everything that
they wish to do there is seldom
much left for a home. Many cannot
afford homes because they are af-
fording other things which are not
so sound Or so useful. Most people
who argue against a home are
usually unwilling to make the sac
rifices necessary to get a home.
The truth if, all the professors in
the world to the contrary that
nearly everyone can afford a home.
In some cases it may be a very
modest hcme. In most cases it must
be obtained by patience and sacri-
flee. In nearly every case it can
be paid for by stopping expense
for things far inferior in their con-
tributions to health and happiness.
There are millions of people who
have bought and built homes that
may have appeared as unwarrant-
ed investments. Yet those are the
people who have gotten ahead. The
reason is that they have been
thrifty. They have saved in one
direction to pay in another. The
home Is an inspiration to thrift
and accomplishment. In millions of
cases it has been an incentive to
ambition.
The people of America can, by
and large. afford many wonderful
things. They can afford marriage,
children, schools, churches, a rea-
enable amount of fun, life insur-
ance and a home. But society
spends for many things that it
cannot afford. 1t cannot afford ex-
penditures for the excessive use Of
alcohol, for the time that is wasted
for amusements that are harmful
and activities that are senseless
and injurious. Most all of the great
and good things of life are within
the reach of virtually all citizens
if the people do not think that they
must also possess the bad things.
America should not argue that it
be set forth that homes are a
source of happiness and inspir-
alton and an incentive to ambition
and accomplishment. They can be
obtained by the age old principle of
rejection and selection. This means
that money which would go to
less beneficial purposes must be
diverted to a cause Of Long endur-
ing benefit. A home Is, under nor
NAL circumstances, and for many
good reasons, the best investment
on earth.-Grand Rapids Herald
Review.
OF the "a billions which have
been added to the national debt,
only something over three billions
was spent for purposes which in
creased the assets of the nation, &C
cording to the National Economy
League. The rest has just been
spent for pump-priming purposes
that didn't work, and to spread
purchasing power" 1t will all
have to be repaid.-Morris Tribune.