The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1903-12-31
THE WASHINGTON HOME
COMPANY
BELLS MAJORITY or IT'S CAPI-
tai STOCK TO A PRO0RESs-
I'VE PORTLAND CON-
Germ.
NEW MANAGER ELEcTED-PRos-
PECT1 BRIGHT FOR THE
HOME BUYERS.

PEcTs BRIaHT ron THE
HOME BUYERS.
The reporter with the nose for
news learned today that there was
something doing" up at the Office of
The Washington Home company and
accordingly favored them with call,
and was rewarded by obtaining the
Z Following information. which will be
OF interest to many readers of The
The Order Of Fraternal Home Buy
ers, corporation of Portland, Ore,
have bought controlling interest in
the capital stock Of the Washington
Home company. c. c.. Wilt, the old
secretary, has resigned and c. Guy
Wakefield, who is the general man
ager of the Order of Fraternal Home
Buyers. has ueen elected in his place
as secretary and manager of the
Washington Home company. This is
certainly a clever move on the part
of the Order of F>raternal Home Buy
ers, as by SO doing they have secured
the business of the Spokane company
even though the same is kept by them
as an entirely separate corporation.
Mr. Wakefield when interviewed to-
day on the plans of the Portland COM
pany said In part:
I'VE have been figuring for some
time on opening an office in Spokane
. the same as we have done in Seattle
and Tacoma and as we will do in all
other cities of the United States as
fast as we can get each Office to
working in proper shape, and we
thought the best way to get into
Spokane was to buy into the company
already working here"
DO you propose to consolidate this
membership with your other member
ship?"
THAT is entirely with the members
of The Washington Home company.
In our Judgment that change would
be advisable Cooperation means
working together" and that would
enable us to make all our members
all over the country help to mature
the contracts of The Washington
Home company. but for the time be-
ing we will let matters go along the
way they are now and see how the
members feel about it. and if they
are willing to transfer then a trans
fer will be made. but If we find that
the members of The Washington
Home company prefer to stay in a
separate series we will certainly leave
this business in precisely the same
shape as we secured it. only we will
instill new life into the company and
get more contracts matured by active
ly pushing this work forward"
How could you transfer these
members to your series without great
ly increasing their numbers"
Our regular contract is different
from the contract of The Washington
Home company, as when the same
mature the entire face value of the
contract is paid in full, while the
Washington Home company is paid
at the rate of 800 per month. This.
contract really shows the best form
~of investment of anything yet de-
vised, but in many cases the holder
of the contract is paying a heavy
rate of interest or heavy rent and
is impatient to get into his home, so
z few months ago. at the earnest re-
quest of number of heavy renters
of Portland and after consulting with
pur board of legal advisors, we de-
cided to inaugurate contract which
would bridge over the difference be-
tween the amount of money the mem
Der was paying for rent and what
would enable him to buy himself
home. This We arranged in the form
of an installment contract, which,
while paying a small amount Of
money into the regular series, pays
into a building fund. out of which
the member gets his return on the
his home. Had this contract been
used by The Washington Home com
pany when they had 1000 members
they would have had 200 of them into
their homes just as soon as one pay
ment had been made; and as soon as
the second payment had been made
40 more would have matured and so
on. The contract has a numerical
representation in this building fund,
and as we have just inaugurated this
contract we can give the Washing
ton Home members practically the
same numbers as they now hold, and
if they were all transferred today we
could declare SO contracts matured at
least and possibly many more. How
ever. for the time being We will
Simply find out how the members feel
about 1t, as change would require
higher payments and we don't want
to work hardship on anyone in any
way. We are simply here to get bust
ness as any progressive concern
should always be doing, and If we find
that the members can afford to pay
the higher payment we will make the
change, but If not, as soon as we be-
come convinced Of that fact we will
block these members down. cutting
out any numbers that have been
skipped and begin the most active
campaign for business that has ever
been known
isn't this cooperative home build
Ing plan yet in its experimental
mot by any means" was the en-
phatic reply And Mr.. Wakefield in
proof of the statement showed the
thirty fifth annual report Of The Co
operative Congress of England,
volume of some coo pages, and in it
the report for 1903 on house building,
showing the enormous sum of $40,-
4ubpsuDV spent ny Tue NdIlOuS SOtltlltb
for the purpose Of home building in
n England. "Of course" continued Mr..
Wakefield. there is always men in
every locality that condemn every
new enterprise and throw dirt at men
who are struggling to do grand,
( good work. and of course we will get
our share of this, but we pay no at
tention to this class OF people-any
vandal can knock the nose off of a
statue, but It takes an artists TO make
the statue. We come into your city
with the very best of intentions, and
we feel fully convinced that the peo-
pie Of Spokane and surrounding terri
tory will give us their hearty sup
e port as soon as they find out what we
[ can do for them.
I'VE have just purchased a grocery
store In Portland and are negotiating
= for abrickyard, but of course, all
these things take time"