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Show from the commendable effort to secure a home of their own. he swindling real estate concern is one of the greatest enemies to the iro- , provemeot of the standard of living of people of. small and moderate moans. Some years ago many building and loan associations of Pennsylvania 'were in the hands of unscrupulous or incapable officers who misused the resources of their victims; but a crusade of prosecutions prose-cutions resulted in putting these institutions insti-tutions on a solid financial basis, and in many of the large as well as the smaller towns thousands of workingmen have come by this means to possess homes which are models of convenience and comfort. Prosperity should never have the effect ef-fect of lessening the watchfulness of public authorities in the effort to prevent pre-vent the legitimate betterment of the status of home building as a working factor in national life. Wall Street Journal. BOOMS THAT NEED WATCHING. It might be in order for the District Attorneys of cities and towns where real estate booms are running riot to inquire into the kinds of - offerings, forms of contract and means of attracting attract-ing purchasers. There is no doubt that a great many building lots are sold on terms of which the unsophisticated purchaser is not fully aware. The practice, prac-tice, for instance, of buying a building build-ing lot and paring down a given sum with a series of periodical Daymeuts to follow, without any passing of title or any trusteeship of payments for the protection of the purchaser is liable to a great deal of abuse. There is no lack of victims to this practice, but very few are willing to confess themselves as victims because of the fear of trouble. trou-ble. They usually swallow their dose and are "forever, afterward deterred |