Search -
Annual Report of the Homestead Commission
Annual Report of the Homestead Commission Author:Massachusetts Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 1913, it should be on an easy payment basis, providing for semiannual or quarterly payments over a twenty, twenty-five, or thirty year period, to cover amortizat... more »ion of the price, " not less than the cost of the land plus the cost of reclaiming the same." Interest should not exceed the prevailing rate on State bonds. Such a scheme would enable workingmen to acquire agricultural lands, and might lead to the reclamation of much greater amounts of land. The Constitutional Objection to State Aid for Workingmen's Homes. While by its instructions the commission does not feel warranted in recommending amendments to the Constitution, it would be remiss in its duty if it failed to discuss the effect of the constitutional difficulties preventing the solving of the problem it was appointed to consider, ? that of insuring to each citizen of the Commonwealth an opportunity for a healthful home in which to rear his family. The opinion of the justices (House 2339, 1912: Opinion of the Justices, 211 Mass. 624) makes clear that without amendment to the Constitution, State aid, direct or indirect, for workingmen's homes, such as has been afforded in nearly every civilized country in the world, cannot here be extended. Wherever the State has undertaken such work, profound economic, social and political advantages have resulted. In Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, New South Wales, New Zealand, Norway, Queensland, Roumania, Scotland, South Australia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and some of the United States' insular possessions, direct or indirect State aid to workingmen for homes is being afforded. Where it has been most completely given, in New Zealand, ...« less