The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-10-19
Cooperative Homes No. 4.


t.ipst Of the steps which We have taken m
the matter Of obtaining suburban homes
for worklugmen. lie has pressed before
;he Legislature several Improvements m
the statutes. which. as viii be seen are
-t.at help IN such enterprises and he has
organized small Homestead Clubs, acting
Jn substantially the principle 81 the VOL
laston ASS lciates which will carry out
substantially ON, same result on scale not
quite ~ large
Il viii readily 81 seen that any such
association. Il its members choose may
unite. Nth thy original scheme for buying
land plans fur furnishing money to the
members building such a. are already
Familiarity known Is the plans III Building
Associations u j. very clear that the
credit ut tmrtyyuuug men united, = hfg
ar. uut,i vail br better than the credit
Of ,ur uf them alone. But it is equally
clear that the mure complicated any such
plan Is, the more ayerse are people to Join
It. who du not know the original proJec-
tors. and the more will all the mach NNry
crrak. uf every kind. ! cannot III th&e
snort papers. give the details Of any Of
these plans have published the more
BOB DLi uu} Nrtr. and shall continue to do
su. II amy new features Of advantages
show themselves The merit of Mr.
Quincy Homestead Club is. that as the
enterprise gradually comes 10 its success
II winds itself mp. A mans share of
stuch y MS housr.lut or his house lot is
DIV. Share III stock He finds himself.
Uhcu the plan Is wrought out the holder
III All estate III fer simple All his ooad-
tutors ind the same thing And a. the
Homestead Club comes ~ pacific and
gentle end. because the members an have
homesteads
Some one asked Mr. Quincy who was
going to lend the money to his Homestead
Clubs with which they were o. build their
houses Ri Why. SAID he, who lends
the money o. the merchant princess with
which they build palaces ON the Back Bay
IN Boston Tn, Savings Banks Of Mas
sachusctts lend ID In other words the
poorest people I'M Massachusetts, lend their
money to the Richest to build with This
happens naturally because the Savings
Banks want 81 investments, or first
mortgages, from the best hands i'll large
sums Mr. Quincy, therefore, early and
successfully set him IF to work to carry
out measures ~ which the lending insti-
utions might easily and safely lend to the
Homestead Clubs A large and strong
lending institution will not stop to make
little loan Of one or two thousand dol
lars only. secured on a small house-lot
with a wooden house on it. But it may
very well lend hundred thousand dollars
to corporation which owns a hundred
acres Of land With fifty insured houses on
t. Hon, stead Club is such corpora
talon and persons Who wish to establish
cooperative Homes will find than an i'm
portant sJep IN their affair is some such
arrangement fur securing the confidence Of
the strong lending companies
MIR. Quincy and his friends carried
through the Legislature Of Massachusetts,
at its last session another measure, Of
which the result was Immediate. A stat
ute was passed, requiring all railroads
which run into Boston to establish cheap
morning trains in, and evening trains out,
tor the especia accommodation Of labor
ing men. The Railroad Companies made
no opposition t. tins measure. Their at
tention once called to it in way which
showed that thc poblc was i'll earnest, and
that no one company was expected To in
augurate the system for the benefit Of the
others, and they we're all ready to 20 into
It. The immense success of such a statute
m England in creating the suburban towns
around London IS enough 10 show what
profit they will derive from it,
An intelligent and spirited Homestead
Club. in its arrangements for land, or
with a Railroad Company, need not by
any means confine It's inquiries to points
where stations on Railways are now estab
hshed They may even push their
inquiries on either side Of trunk line,
with a view to the building Of short
branch which will accommodate their
travel But this is more hazardous. and
requires a large combination. A Club
will be- apt to find that lands near the es-
tablished stations are already held at
prices too high for convenient manage
ment. If the Club can offer one or two
hundred settlers, it can secure land which
now has no station, and can have a station
opened for its convenience. The Boston
and Providence Rrilroad, il response to
the hberality by which few years ago it
created the town of Hyde Park, ten miles
out of Boston, has received such an &C
cession Of this class IF local OF neighbor
hood travel that it opened this summer
third track Of rails, ten miles long for the
Independent accommodation of that bust
ness. A ride on this road is already a
ride through one long village with stations
not more than a mile and half asunder
The experience Of the English roads
shows that with every year the trains on
these roads will be more and more fire.
quent The Boston and Providence Road
now gives such customers twenty-six trains
daily each way. The Old Colony Road
gives the Woliaston people twenty-four.
And it is a fact worth note, that people, in
selecting their country homes, have refer
ence 10 the known character Of the COM
panies % do not like their stations ~
a their landings are good -" They have
such civil conductors -" They are care
less about luggage" Such are the critic
isms which you often hear thrown into
discussion-side by side with questions Of
gardening, OF prospects and of air-as to
where the new home shall be.
To sum mp this part Of an inquiry the
experience thus far shows, that while
benevolent despot, arranging from the
beninning any detail of new town for
the benefit of the settlers, is a very desir-
able person in such affairs, the want Of
him be well supplied by firmly organized
Homestead Club-which unites, not TO
make money in land speculation, but
% secure for each of its members COM
portable Christian home If they will |
hold 70 that determination, each Of the
lembers may get what he seeks for.