A North Dakota Provides State Aid FEW years ago state aid for local housing enterprises seemed to be a very vague dream of a far distant future. North Dakota, however, has taken steps to bring that day nearer thru the enactment of Senate Bill No. 19. Opposition developed and a referendum was demanded, but as a result the proposed experiment in direct state aid now starts over again, this time with the approval of the electorate as well as the Legislature. It will be interesting to see how the experiment works out in practice. The act provides that for the purpose of "promoting home building and ownership," the state of North Dakota shall engage in the enterprise of providing homes, and to that end the act establishes a business system operated by the state, to be known as "The Home Building Association of North Dakota." The Home Building Association is to be operated by the Industrial Commission, which may acquire by purchase, lease or eminent domain all property needed for the realization of its purpose. The Industrial Commission is authorized to construct, repair and remodel buildings, employ a manager and needed subordinates and provide for their compensation and for the expenditures of the association out of the annual appropriation and the earnings legally available for that purpose. The manager is to be bonded for not less than $50,000, and all other employes must be bonded proportionately. With whatever funds shall be available from the sale of bonds or appropriations by the Legislature, or from deposits received for the association, the Commission shall proceed to undertake the building or purchasing of homes within the state for members of the Home Buyers' League, which is set up by the act. No home shall be built, purchased or sold at a price to exceed $5,000, except farm homes, which may not exceed $10,000. "Home" is defined as a dwelling-house, within or adjacent to a town, village or city, together with such equipments as are customarily used in connection with a dwelling-house. "Farm home" means a tract of agricultural land with dwelling-house, barn, and other neces sary farm building equipment. The association is commanded by the statute to make a specialty of building standardized houses, barns and other buildings. The Industrial Commission, upon acquiring a suitable tract of land, may subdivide it, lay out streets, sidewalks, parks and gardens, and after building the homes provide them with water, light and heat. Any person upon application may open. a home buying account with the association thru a Home Buyers' League, trade union, woman's club or other recognized social or civic body. "Special efforts shall be made to secure deposits from children, young people, renters and wage-earners, in order that more people may own their own homes." Provision is made for the withdrawal of any such deposit with interest upon six months' notice. The Home Buyers' League referred to are to consist of ten or more depositors in the association who may form themselves into a local body. Such leagues must be registered. The SecretaryTreasurer of the League shall also be the agent of the association and perform such duties as the Industrial Commission may prescribe. As soon as a member of a Home Buyers' League has deposited a sum equal to 20 per cent of the total selling price of a home or farm home which he desires, the association is required upon his application to purchase or build such a home for him and convey it to him, the balance to be secured by a purchase money mortgage on the property and to be paid on an amortization plan by means of equal monthly installments, considered sufficient to cover: first, a charge on the loan at a rate to be determined by the Commission; second, a charge for administration not exceeding one per cent per annum on the unpaid principal, the two rates combined constituting the interest rates on the deferred payment, and third, such amounts as, applied to the principal, will extinguish the debt within a period of not less than ten or more than twenty years. Additional payments of $25 or any multiple thereof may be made at any regular installment date. An interesting provision is the one which states that in case of accident, crop failure or other event which reduces the buyer's reasonable income by one-half, all payments under the contract of the sale may, at the discretion of the Industrial Commission, be extended from time to time for a period of one year. Of course this necessitates a proviso governing additional payments for the interest for the years during which no payments were made. The Home Buyers' Leagues are thus obviously intended to be local assurance companies safeguarding the investments of the state, for it is provided that the members are jointly and severally liable for all contracts, debts and obligations due the association from the local league to the extent of 15 per cent of the price at which their homes were sold to them. All funds of the association must be deposited in the Bank of North Dakota and disbursed thru it. Title to the property remaining in the hands of the association is likewise held in the name of the state. The state in the act consents to be sued in civil actions arising out of the transactions of the association. An initial appropriation of $100,000 is made available immediately in the act itself so that the state may assist its citizens to relieve the housing shortage wherever local initiative desires state assistance. Ultimately it is expected that this sum will be paid back to the state out of the earnings of the association. A Modest Request A Letter from a City Engineer to the Mayor and Commissioners of a City in the to Retain an Experienced Man on This Basis? And if They Lose The Honorable Mayor and Commissioners: When the office of City Engineer was created some ten years ago, the salary for that position was set at $1,500 per year, or $125 per month, which was very good for those times. In the last three years the buying power of the dollar has been reduced about 60 per cent, while the salary of the City Engineer has remained the same. It is scarcely necessary for me to dwell on the time required to fit an engineer for the practice of his profession, and to compare the rewards he secures with those obtained by his professional brothers in the practice of law and medicine. A salary of $125 per month is $4.17 per day. The common laborer now receives from $4 to $6 per day, and he has no responsibilities whatever. Another thing: When the office of City Engineer was created there were no inspections of any kind. Now the City Engineer is the plumbing and electrical inspector, chairman of the Electrical Board of Examiners, and Secretary of the Board of Plumbing Examiners, for all of which he receives no extra remuneration. Since the new electrical ordinance went into effect the inspections have been increased about four times: for three months in 1918 they were as follows-April, 19; May, 12; June, 19; for the corresponding months in 1919 they were 62, 66 and 74 respectively. In 1918 my plumbing inspection fees amounted to $247.55, as compared with $71.75 in 1917, and the electrical inspection fees in 1918 amounted to $180.35, as compared with $67.45 in 1917. So far this year the plumbing inspections amount to $124.75, and the electrical inspections to $173.60. I believe all city employes except the City Engineer have had at least one raise in salary in the past fifteen months, and some have had two raises. The City Engineer of a nearby city receives $250 per month and has no inspections whatever. The City Engineer of another town of about 4,000 inhabitants receives $150 per month and has no inspections. I am also furnishing my own car to the city free of cost. I shall appreciate it, gentlemen, if you will give my case some consideration. I think I am entitled to $175 per month. City Engineer, In Choosing Your There are three things you will wish to make sure of in choosing your city memorial: First: That nature is adequate to represent your city. Second: That the memorial is enduring so that it may honor those who fought for centuries to come. Third: That the memorial is correct in design and workmanship. In the preparation of memorials which measure up to these requirements in every particular we are specialists. May we offer you our counsel? Our 26 years of experience is at your disposal. We will be glad to work with you and your committees in person and to take any amount of pains to produce the memorial you desire. Our staff will originate and prepare any size or form of memorial, including Bronze, Statuary, Bronze and Granite Memorials, Bronze and Granite Fountains, Flag Poles, Honor Rolls, Service Rolls and Individual Memorial Tablets. Write or wire for full information. Portfolio -"Bronze, The Imperishable Memorial"sent to your committee members without charge upon request. FLOUR CITY ORNAMENTAL IRON CO. GRANITE OBELISK WITH BRONZE This shaft of granite with its bronze tablets forms an News and Ideas for Commercial and Civic Organizations Warning Road Signs Erected by El Paso Chamber EL PASO, TEX.-There are practically no bad roads in the county in which El Paso is situated. Radiating from the city are paved, concrete, and bitulithic roads as fine as can be found anywhere in the county, but the roads extending into New Mexico are not so good, and El Paso's road problems are therefore not in its own county, but in the adjoining state. Roadbuilding is expensive, and it would be too much to expect even as progressive a city as El Paso to undertake the actual construction of roads in the neighboring state. The next best thing is being done, however," and that is the placing of appropriate signs along the roads thruout the Southwest, also the encouraging of better road construction. About twenty miles out of El Paso is a sandy hill where many motorists come to grief. Here was posted the first sign erected on foreign soil by the El Paso Chamber of Commerce thru its Automotive Trades and Highways Department. reads: "Private Cemetery at Bottom of Hill for Reckless Drivers." It is a sign that most drivers heed. A sign was placed at the foot of another hill which reads: "Road up This Hill Is Not Fool Proof." On each of these signs appears a skull and cross-bones. It Distinctive signs of this kind are more effective than the ordinary "Danger" signs, according to the experience of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce, and large numbers of them may now be found all thru New Mexico and Arizona. During the month of October more than sixty direction and danger signs were placed along the Borderland Route in those two states at the expense of the El Paso Chamber of Com merce. The Chamber does not confine its goodroads activities to erecting road signs, however. The $12,000 road race held under its auspices on November 2 and 3, 1919, did the Arizona State Highway Department's spending thousands of dollars on roads which otherwise would have been neglected. The citizens of the little town of Lordsburg, N. Mex., raised $1,000 by popular subscription with which to improve the forty-odd miles of road between their town and Rodeo, N. Mex. The Southern Pacific and the El Paso and Southwestern Railways sent out crews to make permanent crossings over their tracks, which had been source of grief to tourists for years. This and much more was accomplished in the way of road-building by the Desert Dash in November. a ROBERT J. PRITCHARD, Manager, Automotive Trades and Highways Department, El Paso Chamber of Commerce. |