Better Homes in America | Page 2

little in realities. We cherish too many
impossible projects of setting worlds in order, which are bound to fail.
We consider too little plans for putting our own households in order,
which might easily be made to succeed. A large part of our seeming ills
would be dispelled if we could but turn from the visionary to the
practical. We need the influence of vision, we need the inspiring power
of ideals, but all these are worthless unless they can be translated into
positive actions.
The world has been through a great spiritual and moral awakening in
these last few years. There are those who fear that this may all be
dissipated. It will be unless it can be turned into something actual. In
our own country conditions have developed which make this more than
ever easy of accomplishment. It ought to be expressed not merely in
official and public deeds, but in personal and private actions. It must
come through a realization that the great things of life are not reserved
for the enjoyment of a few, but are within the reach of all.

There are two shrines at which mankind has always worshipped, must
always worship: the altar which represents religion, and the hearthstone
which represents the home.
These are the product of fixed beliefs and fixed modes of living. They
have not grown up by accident; they are the means, deliberate, mature,
sanctified, by which the human race, in harmony with its own great
nature, is developed and perfected. They are at once the source and the
result of the inborn longing for what is completed, for what has that
finality and security required to give to society the necessary element of
stability.
The genius of America has long been directed to the construction of
great highways and railroads, the erection of massive buildings for the
promotion of trade and the transaction of public business. It has
supplied hospitals, institutions of learning and places of religious
worship. All of these are worthy of the great effort and the sustained
purpose which alone has made them possible. They contribute to the
general welfare of all the people, but they are all too detached, too
remote; they do not make the necessary contribution of a feeling of
proprietorship and ownership. They do not complete the circuit. They
are for the people, but not of the people. They do not satisfy that
longing which exists in every human breast to be able to say: "This is
mine."
We believe in American institutions. We believe that they are justified
by the light of reason, and by the result of experience. We believe in
the right of self-government. We believe in the protection of the
personal rights of life and liberty and the enjoyment of the rewards of
industry. We believe in the right to acquire, to hold, and transmit
property. We believe in all that which is represented under the general
designation of a republic.
But while we hold that these principles are sound we do not claim that
they have yet become fully established. We do not claim that our
institutions are yet perfected.
It is of little avail to assert that there is an inherent right to own

property unless there is an open opportunity that this right may be
enjoyed in a fair degree by all. That which is referred to in such critical
terms as capitalism cannot prevail unless it is adapted to the general
requirements. Unless it be of the people it will cease to have a place
under our institutions, even as slavery ceased.
It is time to demonstrate more effectively that property is of the people.
It is time to transfer some of the approbation and effort that has gone
into the building of public works to the building, ornamenting, and
owning of private homes by the people at large-- attractive, worthy,
permanent homes.
Society rests on the home. It is the foundation of our institutions.
Around it are gathered all the cherished memories of childhood, the
accomplishments of maturity, and the consolations of age. So long as a
people hold the home sacred they will be in the possession of a strength
of character which it will be impossible to destroy.
Apparently the world at large, certainly our own country, is turning
more and more for guidance to that wisdom born of affection which we
call the intuition of woman. Her first thought is always of the home.
Her first care is for its provision. As our laws and customs are
improved by her influence, it is likely to be first in the direction of
greater facility for acquiring, and greater security in holding a home.
Some of the fine enthusiasm which was developed by the required
sacrifices of war may well find a new