The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 3, 1919, Page 5

kota by hail insurance companies in any one year were something less than $3,000,000. Therefore it can be seen that the bill proposed by the League is a conservative one, even though more farmers will be automatically insured. Probably much more money will be collected every year than will be paid out. The bill, therefore, provides that whenever the surplus has reached $5,000,000, which would give a good margin of safety, either the rates charged shall be made lower or the amount paid per acre ghall be made greater The North Dakota hail insurance plan, though indorsed by an overwhelming majority of the vot- ers of North Dakota, has’ been .called “wild” and “visionary,” apparently because no other state has ° yet put it into effect. But it has been in active operatlon in the grain- growing provinees of Canada for many years and has proved absolutely sound. In Saskatchewan and Alberta the law has been operated with lower rates than those proposed for North Dakota. This has been partly due to the large amount of un- settled “crown lands” in both provmces, which have paid the full tax and have thus helped the settled and cultivated area to enjoy a much lower rate. It is also true that the. Canadian provinces have a lower average hail loss than North Dakota. It is extremely probable, however, that after active experience it will be found possible to reduce North Dakota’s rates considerably. What the Nonpartisan league has presented is a conservative and safe plan that will insure farm- ers protection, a thing that private companies no- toriously have not done, and that will give them this protection at a minimum cost of 15 cents an acre. North Dakota to Boom Home Owning Service of Large State Building and Loan Agency Will Be at Cost—Loan Limits Put at $5,000 in Town and $10,000 on Farm ° OMEONE said, years ago: “A man will fight to his last drop of blood in defense of his home, but did you ever hear of a man who would go to war in defense of his boarding house?” Jf any proof of the correct- ness of this statement was needed, the gallant fight that home-owning French poflus and Belgian peasants made for four years, to recover their homes from alien invaders, ought to supply it. Farmers of North Dakota, in comtrol of both branches of their state legislature, intend to make their state a land of home-owning city workers and farm-owning farmers, not a state of renters and tenant farmers. And that is the purpose of the “home building” bill, now before the North Da- kota legislature. The home building bill is one of the measures that Governor Frazier was talking of when he said, in his epoch-making message to the legislature: “These measures not only will pronote general prosperity, but will encourage education, remove the restraints of privilege, provide more equal op- portunity and give our children and our children’s children a chance to be better citizens and broader; “and happier men and women.’ The home building bill, in a few words, is intended to do this: To put a city worker in-a $5 000 home or a farmer on a $10,000 farm after he has saved one-fifth of the purchase price. Thereafter payments are to be made monthly over a term of 10 or 20 years, and in most cases will be less than rent payments . would be on the - same property. " The bill provides for the creation of the Home Building Association of North Dakota, under the control of the industrial commission. The Home Building association is authorlzed to receive de- posits and use ‘these funds, in addition to $100,000 appropriated by the state, to purchase land and build houses and other necessary. buildings. Any 10 or more depositors in the Home Building association may organize a Home Buyers’ league. Whenever a member of such " league shall have deposited 20 per cent of the ‘purchase price of a home or farm, he or she may apply for the home or farm. With the approval of the local league and the state as- sociation, the home or farm’will be turned over to the depositor, who will complete payments, on the amortization plan, over a period of 10 - or 20 years. The other members of the Home Buyers’ league will be responsxble for the car- rying out of the contract to the extent of 15 per cent of the purchase price of their own homes. In practice it is unlikely that they will . ever be called upon to make good this guar- antee. / The Home Building association will make a spe- cialty of buying and opening tracts of land and puttmg up standardlzed houses, which will result in cutting almost in half the ordinary purchase price. It can acquire property by eminent domain, it landowners attempt to “hold up” the state, and has authority to subdivide property, laying out streets and parks and supplying home owners with water, light and heat. The principle is much the same as that of pri- vate building and loan companies, but with a wider field and greater powers the state will be able to operate much more cheaply and will provide ab- solute safety. After the initial payments are made purchasing a farm or home will actually be cheaper than rent- ing. It was brought out at the caucus that in- dorsed the bill that a house worth $5 000 ordinarily ' rents for $40 a month. On the amortization plan this house can be bought on 20-year payments of $26 a month. One case was cited of a man who, in 20 years, at the rate of $7 rent per month, had paid $1,680 for a house that originally cost $250. And he still doesn’t own the house. Any person may open an account with a Home Buyers’ league. A special effort will be made to induce the habit of saving among children. . If a boy of 10 years old can put away $1 a month until he is 15, then save $1 a week until he is 20, and then save $20 a month until he is 23, he will have enough money, with interest, to make the first - payment on a $5,000 home, and thereafter his pay- ments will be cheaper than rent. The interests of any depositor who may become dissatisfied, or who may be unwilling to continue his payments, are safeguarded under the bill. De- posits can always be withdrawn, with interest, on six months’ notice. In practice he will doubtless be able to withdraw at once. North Daketa’s home building plan is no untried experiment. The same principle has been put in operation, in private hands and with a rich profit for the private stockholders,, in all parts of the TUnited States for several decades. and West Australia, with successful operation over a long term of years, have demonstrated that in this field, as in many others, government operation is not only cheaper and more businesslike, but safer than the operation of private profiteers. The Great Opportunity What the present session of the North Dakota -legislature means to the farmers of the United States and common people throughout the world, was put in a few paragraphs by President A. C. Townley when he addressed the League caucus re- cently at Bismarck. “What does the North Dakota 1eglslature mean to_you?” Mr. Townley asked the members. “This is what, it means to me: “For the first time in the history of the United. farmer. Around the table, from left to right, are Chairman Walter J. Maddock, - Arena; Jim Uglum, Bowbells; C. W. McDonnell, Kensal; “Dell” Patterson, - field, R, H. Walker, Yucca; Oscar R. Nesvig, Buxton- E C. Heckenlaxble (committee clerk), Bismarck. Sk PAGE FIVE dmmrmffifl"’ém:: g CERSEEES New Zealand: States the lawmaking power of a sovereign state has been taken away from the exploiters and de- vourers, the beasts that prey, and has been placed in the hands- of white men—men who have a noble purpose, who are raised from out themselves. “We can depend upon the collective judgment of this group of men. Do not rely on my judgment, for I make mistakes. Every man makes mistakes. “My only fear is that we may become entangled in the jealousies and prejudices that have kept the people apart for centuries, that we may let little personal desires intrude and so forget the big things. “Let us guard this magnificent instrument which is ours to employ for the betterment of humanity. Let us make it an organization to serve the people, for everything in the League belongs to the people and it will survive only so long as it dedicates it- self to unselfish service. “We have arrived at the ptace and the time to either accomplish the League program or quit coming to Bismarck. Much depends upon our action—not only the prosperity, safety and happiness of the people of North Dakota, but the fate of the toilers all over the United States. “The special interests are not saying much just now, but this is only the lull before the storm. In a few days the most vindictive, vituperative, vile, dishonest flood of ecriticism in the history of the United States will be let loose. We will be abused “"as” few men have ever been abused because we have the courage ‘to stand for a new order. “But if you can really succeed in carrying out the League program you will have done more to- ward the common good than any group of men in the world before you, for no man can picture the happiness and prosperity that will result in North Dakota. Then South Dakota and Montana must follow; then the people of Minnesota will insist. that their government come up-to your standard and one by one the states of the Union will fall into line and the Burnquists will collapse of their own weight.” | : The state affairs commlttee of the house of representatlves, North Dakota legislature, in session. This committee introduced the industrial commission bill, the Bank of North Dakota bill,-the terminal elevator - bill, and all other measures in the state ownershif’ program. Every memher of the committee is a League, aza; Frank G. Prater, brook; Gust Wog, Bel-