Evening star., 1902-08-28
BENEFIT SOCIETIES
Cooperative Effort Among
the People Of Cuba.
SANITARY TENEMENTS
WoRKINGMEN DO NOT TRUST
SAVINGS BANKS.
How the Spanish Provincial Clubs As
sist the People in Social and
Educational Ways.
SANITARY TENEMENTS

victor s. Clark. and is OF particular inter-
est to people studying social and economic
questions in relation to the little island re-
public.
The history of workingmen's co-opera-
tive societies in Cuba during the twenty
two years since they were first organized
Is not one of uniform harmony in internal
administration or success in financial pol-
Icy" says Mr. Clark. Still, some societies
no longer in existence were not uuaualified
failures, and broke up only after some
years of successful operation, while there
are at least one or two that have survived
all the storms and turmois of more than
twenty years of continuous life, in spite
OF war, revolution, blockade currency
changes and change of governments The
most important of these is La Reguladora
cooperative workingmen's hotel, founded
IN 1881 and still running successfully in
havana. Twenty-one years Of conservative
management and uniform success In this
case seem to prove that under right con-
altions, and with sufficient experience, Gu
pan Workingmen are competent to conduct
such enterprises.
Method Of Operation.
This institution has gone through the
dangerous process Of expansion and con-
traction. Originally only boarding house.
IL later added bakery and tailor shop.
with the idea of supplying in the course of
time all the necessities purchased by work.
lngmen. But when it was found that the
administration of a too complex business
might fmperil the profits and safe man
agement of the society the clothing branch
VI tne enterprise was abandoned. The
members of this organization are mostly
clgarmakers. There are 211S shares orig
lhaliy or a par value Of S25 in paper cur
rency, which then amounted to about $40
ca In
tne association to place the par value AT
80 gold tS22.50 American) without decreas-
ing dividends or making an assessment.
NO member can own more than twenty
shares' ihere are at present about 300
shareholders, and last year a gold dividend
o! over IL per cent was paid. The assets
OF the society are about S65 600 gold ISIS
900 American), and include a three story
building in Amistad street. Havana With
twenty-three furnished rooms, cafe, dining
rooms and kitchen, besides servants nuar.
ters The bakery is in another building
ms motel is patronized almost entirely by
working people. The rooms are comfort
ably furnished and we'll kept. and the
table Is considered better than the average
in Havana
there is an institution similar to La Reg
uladora at Cardenas. 1t is conducted and
patronized mostly by railway employes
Construction of Tenements.
Another form Of cooperative enterprise
which Is proving successful among Cuban
Workingmen Is the terminating building So
clety for constructing tenements for MEM
bers The associations are quite different
from the building and loan societies of the
united States. and from the various sani-
tary Improvement companies of our larger
cities. Many of them are very young-iu
tact, Just perfecting their organization
and from their nature will be OF brief dura-
ton as individual societies. The method Of
m oiy-cy thhrv, t. g.,
men, preferably not less than a hundred
to organize by electing officers and regis
terfng the name and other required data
with the provincial governor There is no
ofhcial fee charged for registration and 70
attorney need be employed. Each member
pays weekly into the treasury a certain
sum fixed by the constitution or bylaws
usually dollar, silver. AS soon as suffi-
cient money has accumulated a tract Of
cheap land Is purchased in the name of the
society and subdivided into building lots
Thereafter as often the receipts amount
to sufficient sum dwellings are erected of
a uniform cost, according to contracts and
plans approved by a majority of the mem
bers.
Members Draw Lots.
Whenever a cottage is completed mem
bers draw lots to decide who shall occupy
it. The occupant then pays a stipulated
rent to the associa ton in addition to his
regular dues. When cottages have thus
been provided for all the members rent
ceases, each member receives a clear title
to the house he occupies and the society,
having attained It's object, dissoves As
the income of the association is increased
by rents as fast as dwellings are COM
pleted, building usually goes on very rap
idly during the last months of the society's
existence. There are special provisions to
bers. and to carry along members for a
time when Illness or lack of
employment prevents their paying dues A
fraternal and cooperative spirit is usually
manifested in the way these orIanZa tions
are organized and conducted.
Housing Working People.
This plan. however. Is not so novel in
principle as to deserve especially extended
had 1t not already been placed in
successful operation in such way as prac-
tically to solve, in one town at least, the
problem Of housing comfortably the work
ing people. This has been done by the
Union and Progress Cooperative Building
Society of Bejucal. a small town about
eighteen miles south Of Havana. Most Of
the operatives in the village are tobacco
workers and these constitute majority of
the members Of the society. They are
mostly men who earn from 50 to 80 silver
($4.20 to s14 American a week. The con-
sutution OF the society provides that 1t
shall consist Of 115 members, who shall pay
weekly dues Of 81 silver 60 cents Ameri- |
CAM. No member may have more than
one share. If ne wishes to invest more
than the amount specified at once. he may
pay his dues any number Of weeks in ad- |
vance, but the whole society profits by the !
Interest on his money. When a member |
cannot pay his dues on account of Illness |
his share is assessed pro rata upon the |
other members for six months, and this |
money he is not required to repay to the |
society. |
Savings Banks in Cuba.
"For many years there was a savings |
bank In Cuba, with considerable deposits, |
out it failed in the eighties during the |
financial panic. and since then the people |
nave been very suspicious of such institu- /
ions. One of the principal officers commit |
ed suicide and the depositors lost all their |
money. Mark Twain somewhere says that /
! cat that has sat down on a not griddle |
will not sit down even on a cold griddle |
lfterward, and this has been exactly the |
altitude of small depositors in Cuba toward |
LII sorts of banks since the event men
ioned. Indeed, there were no institutions 1
n the island receiving savings deposits until 1
lfter the American occupation, when the /
North American Trust Company, or Cuban
National Bank" as 1t is now named, estab-
ished a separate department for this pur-
'ose. The Royal Bank of Canada later
pened similar department In its Havana