Improvement In Housing Told; Private I Mortgage Lenders Hejp Finance Gain ' \ " » i j ■ glimpse of how housing has im proved in recent years is provided by the Bureau of the Census in statistics based on information collected in the 1960 Census of Housing. While the typical home in the Unit ed States has long been a single-fami ly det&ched residence, the figures show that this is more true today than ever. It has all necessary indoor plumbing facilities including hot wa ter and bath. It is in good repair. Chances are better than even that it has central heating. About four out of every five have mechanical refrig eration, and practically every home has a radio. More and more have television sets. Over Half Owner-Occupied The average home, too, is owner occupied, a characteristic which ap plies to more than half the dwelling units in the United States. Some what less than half ,of all homes are mortgaged, but there are proportion ately more mortgaged homes now than in 1960. Reflecting the record housing boom since the end of World War 11. about one home in every five now dates from the middle of the last decade. These are among the highlights of ( the Census Bureau’s housing data, but they give only an inkling of the vast improvement in housing that has tak en place in recent years. The figures for example, do not touch on the tre mendous volume of modernization work and additions, so much of it on a “do-it-yourself” basis, that has gone into millions of homes over the last decade. Nor is there data for such innovations and conveniences as home labor-saving devices, freezers, and air-conditioning units, which have enjoyed a boom. This housing record has been a pro duct of a number of economic and social factors. Among these has been an 'abundance of mortgage money made available by private sources, no tably by the nation’s thrift institu tions. According to the Federal Re serve Bank of New York, the life in surance companies, savings and loan associations, and banks combined ab sorbed seven-eighths of the post- World War II increase in small-home mortgage debt and held approximate ly four-fifths of this, debt at the end of 1952. Contribution of Life Companies The figures show that the life in - surance companies made the biggest proportionate contribution of all pri vate lenders to the supply of home mortgage loans in the post-war per iod. The total mortgage debt on one to-four family nonfarm homes rose from $18.5 billions at the end of 1945 to an estimated $58.2 billions at the end of 1952, an increase of 214 per cent, according to the Home Loan Bank Board. The life insurance com panies alone supplied $9.5 billions of this increase, their home mortgage loans rising from $2.3 billions to sllß billions in this period for a gain of 422 per cent. This rate of gain was not only practically double that of the national average but it was nearly half again MATCHING BRACELET^gjJg Campen s JEWELERS as great as that of the commercial banks, which were the runner-up in percentage increase in holdings of the home mortgage debt' in the 1945-52 period. As a result of this development, the life insurance companies were the sec ond largest holder of hpme mortgages at the end of 1952 as against fourth in 1946. And while making this contri bution to better American housing, the life insurance companies were likewise making available billions of dollars of loans to business and in dustry for expansion and were in creasing their holdings of farm mort gage loans. Home Valuations Up*Sharply One of the signs of the times in the housing field is the extent that home valuations have risen over the last decade in response to the increase in construction costs and the advance in the general price level. The Bu reau of the Census placed the median j valuation of all non-farm occupied j dwelling units at $7,354 in 1960 as compared with $2,996 in 1940. The median valuation for. all occu pied urban dwelling units in 1950 was about SI,OOO higher than that for all non-farm homes, but in many city 'areas the figure was very much high er. The median for dwelling units in the Stamford-Norwalk urbanized area for example, was $14,519 in 1950, the highest in the country, as compared with the national median of $8,280 for all urban dwellings in that year. Washington was close behind with $14,373, followed by Hartford with $3,425, New York with $12,529 and Chicago with $12,502. More than half the homes had val uations of over SIO,OOO in 16 other urbanized areas. These were Albany- Troy, Boston, Bridgeport, Cincinnati, | Cleveland, Los Angeles, Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New ‘ Britain-Bristol, New Haven, Niagara Falls, San Francisco-Oakland, San Jose, Syracuse, and Waterbury. Pvt. David L. Bass [ Finishes Radio Course Private David L. Ba is, son of Mr. ! and Mrs. W. S. Bass, Route 3, recent ly completed the Intermediate Speed I Radio Operators Course conducted by the 23rd AAA AW Battalion of the Eighth Infantry Division’s Specialist • Twining Regiment at Fort Jackson, t South Carolina. During his veeW training ■ he learned to install and operate a - temporary radio and telegraph com - munications system in the field. - In addition to the Morse code, he ’ was taught basic coding for radio' MHEassßaßmesßassssx-?zr_n; v 5 ( t noouo * a jaWWnCYWH'SKtY- A IUWD K THE CHOWAN HERALD, EDENTON, N. O, THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 19, 1953. phi I Who Builds and maintains prac tically our entire road system? I You Do- Yes, you ... the public —you ... the taxpaying yon. The ■Ming public, in “use” taxes, has paid ‘ tor the roads, and for much more, too. For millions of dollars derived ■ from highway use taxing Have been ! diverted—spent for other things. I These Other Things may be fine > i and necessary, but the hard fact is j that our highway system is not yet j good enough to meet all the needs of i the public. Until it it that good, yon I i ean’t justify spendingvhighwsy rev- j, enue for anything but building and : maintaining roads. In More Than 20 states it is now unconstitutional to divert road-tax money.' It should be so in all the states. When yew buy a car, a truck, license plates, or a gallon of gaso line, you pay taxes that should buy you an ever-improving road system. Commercial users of the roads pay even more than the general public. Although less than a fifth of all the vehicles are owned by motor trans port interests, their users pay nearly a third of the total use taxes. Remember this, too. There are many other beneficiaries of good streets and highways beside the peo ple who drive on them. The land owner profits when his land is made accessible. Highways are essential in transacting public business, in war. in providing police and fire protec tion and access to schools. Two Facts, then, are self-evident. One is that motor transport already pays its full share for the use and maintenance of roads, and the other, that America’s highway system would be vastly better if millions in “use’’ taxes had not been diverted. messages and the use of flags io. vis ual communication. MmgmmpummHmmummn imummumumnMm This Week’s Poem By WILBOUNIi HARRELL DREAMS DELAYED Yesterday I dreamed of a brighter today But fulfillment today seems far away, Not knowing that all I have is what I hold And tomorrow a promise. Tho I may Live through many todays with hope my friend And run many a race on Mer cury’s heels, \The present will be ever without end, The now is all that lives and breathes and feels. Why shed a tear for a deed that is dead, Or for happiness that has glowed ! and gone, For the Infinite leaves more to be said, j And having writ, begins another dawn. Since ye are but mortal and flesh ly man Yearn not to grasp the All within your hand. better buy! 1m) I • IfO ▼ AUTHOR.!* jailor DULR 8.8. H. Motor Co. EDENTON, N. C. LOOK AT THESE WK) USED CAR BARGAINS 1952 Chevrolet 1951 Chevrolet 2-door Styleline Deluxe Ful- er gJ?d°_ cku P- E S ui P- Sedan Delivery. Com green paint. In first P? d . , wlth he^. r ' , Co ™' pletely reconditioned, in ■ shape. pletely reconditioned, in- eluding new paint ' eluding new paint job. 8.8.H* Motor Company, Inc. „ ‘TOtffc FRIENDLY CHEVROLET DEALER” EDENTON, NORTH CAROLINA Felling Trees Halts Phony Peach Disease | Phony disease of peaches, which has j destroyed numerous orchards and in dividual trees over the State in recent years, can be controlled by wiping out trees that carry the infection, ac cording to County Agent C. W. Over man. Removal of all wild pmm rveco as ■ well as infected peach tree* is neces sary to a successful control program, I according to Mr. Overman, because I wild plum is also infected by the virus ( Which causes phony disease. This• ! calls for community cooperation in areas where both peaches and wild | I I plum trees are common, he points out. Fall is a good time to cut down i thickets of wild plum, Mr. Overman I suggests. Then when the stumps be-j I gin to sprout in the spring, spraying ! I with a herbicide will kill them. Peach orchards should be checked annually by a competent inspector ' and trees showing signs of disease should be removed promptly, Mr. Ov . erman declares. It is also a good i practice to remove all weak and sick ly trees, he adds, because they are es -1 pecially attractive to the insects that carry phony disease from one tree to ' another. 9 124 Languages Taught , r At Army Schools - MONTEREY. i.tX. - The Army | Language School at the Presidio o_ | Monterey now is teaching 24 different | I The school was established in 1946 SECTION GNE- to teach just one language, Japanese. | Later Chinese was added, and then bit ■ by-bit, language-by-language, as the ' Army’s international commitments j increased, the language spread be came greater. *During the coming year the school expects to instruct more than 2,800 { language students, both enlisted and officer personnel. Languages to be studied by the students are: Albanian, Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Bulgarian, Norwegian. Cantonese, Po lish, Persian, Mandarin, Czechslovak ian, Portuguese, Danish, Rumanian, French, Russian C erman, Serbo-Cro latian, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Turk ish. J. L. Baker, Jr., Sees j New Line GMC Trucks The long-awaited 1954 line of GMG trucks was viewed by J. L. Baker, Jr. salesman for Chas. H. Jenkins Motor Company, at a special GMC truck dealers regional meeting held Monday in Charlotte. i Mr. Baker said he has been prom ised in advance by GMC officials that he will 3ee a truck “years ahead” of its competitors, incorporating more than 100 new engineering and style features. “All I can say now is that for the first timj, passenger-car styling has 'been brought to trucks by GMC,” he > said. | A. E. Jenkins said the display date of the 1954 GMC truck models in his own showroom will be announced ; soon. I TRY A HERALD C ! SSIKIED AD Page Five