212 City Homes on Country Lanes 



been virtually our only reliance in widening the founda- 

 tion of urban communities, and largely so in the ex- 

 tension of rural development. If its contribution to 

 these results were suddenly subtracted from the sum 

 of national greatness, it would leave many gaping 

 holes. But it possesses this fatal weakness that it 

 is animated by selfish interest, aiming at private profit. 

 It is, then, primarily the expression of the speculative 

 instinct; and only secondarily the expression of the 

 social spirit. 



It is estimated that the present home shortage in the 

 United States reaches the astounding figure of 2,000,- 

 000. The Senate Committee on Reconstruction, under 

 the able and devoted leadership of Senator Calder of 

 New York, estimates that $5,000,000,000 is needed to 

 build homes a situation that calls for a higher leader- 

 ship than the real-estate fraternity, with all its enter- 

 prise and constructive imagination, is able to furnish. 



The policy embodied in Senator Smoot's "Rural 

 Homes Bill" would substitute national for private lead- 

 ership in this great field of effort, while still preserving 

 individual initiative, and relying on private capital to 

 furnish the sinews. The policy is expected to effect a 

 very great saving in the cost of land, largely because it 

 can readily eliminate most of the selling expense, which 

 usually ranges from 20 to 40 per cent in the case of 

 private real-estate operations. This is possible because 

 the people so readily Follow the Flag, as has been shown 

 over and over again in the opening of public lands. 

 In a recent instance where the land was free, but water 

 rights cost about a hundred dollars an acre, such an 

 offering by the Government was over-subscribed nearly 



