Date: July 21, 1930
Location: Northampton, MA
(Original document available here)
No one can tell just how high or how low the price of commodities will go. When they are much above the cost of production it is probable they will be cheaper. When they are well below that line probably they will be higher. At the present time the price of most building materials has reached a low level. The savings banks and insurance companies are taking in a great deal of money and interest rates have declined. Labor is seeking employment. Yet residential building has decreased about one half.
Present conditions suggest that this is a favorable time to build a home. The future may be better or worse, but the present appears good. The moral power of the nation rests on the home, the schoolhouse and the place of worship. The government looks after education and few churches are overcrowded. But home owners are too few. Good roads, automobiles and transportation, opening large spaces hitherto unavailable, have much increased the opportunity for the people to provide their own homes. The reliable real estate operators can perform a high public service in co-operating with the people to make this a nation of home owners. It would strengthen the whole fabric of society.
Citation: Calvin Coolidge Says: Dispatches Written by Former-President Coolidge and Syndicated to Newspapers in 1930-1931 (Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation)
The Coolidge Foundation gratefully acknowledges the volunteer efforts of Craig Eyermann who prepared this document for digital publication.