The Washington herald., 1907-09-07
Saping Money to Build Homes
By FREDERIC J. HASKLN
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

fined for each week if ne omits to make
the small payment. He has been
kept in one town by ties of home. and
has thus been enabled to work up to
better position In the mill-for a roll
ing stone gathers no moss of promo
tion. He has become tax-paying cit-
izen and a valuable member of So
ciety. for a thousand such as he have
been at work on the same programme.
and they have helped to make city
prosperous.
In Charlotte the work of those lnsltu-
tions is by no means confined to this
class. Handsome cottages have been
erected through the associations which
would never have been built except that
the institution compelled a man once a
member 10 save his money. Several
churches have been erected In this way.
and two colleges in Charlotte owe their
new homes TO the building and loan asso-
Citations. One newspaper building was
paid for In that way, the company doing
so to encourage its employees to save their
money. Each Saturday afternoon a negro
Z
the weekly payments for the company,
the printers, the reporters, and the press
men, and does not neglect TO put In his
own mite.
A North Carolina town viii soon issue
$4,000 bonds 70 build a new schoSlhouse
These bonds viii mature in le45 The
town may pay into the building and loan
association S3.75 a week toward the cre-
alton of a sinking fund. Six years be-
fore the bonds are due this weekly pay
ment will cease, and the money earned
will stay at interest. When the bonds are
payable, this building and loan associa-
/ ton sinking fund will amount TO $50. 400.
although the actual payments amount TO
but S6,O36. The interest Will have TO be
met, Of course, as 1t is due. This calcula-
tiOn was made at the request Of the town
authorities, and is on the basis of the
business done by the association for the
twenty-five years Of its existence. II the
ups and downs Of the business world are
no more serious or revolutionizing be-
tween now and 1915 than they have been
since 1882 the scheme viii work out
These Institutions have made the thou
sands Of wOTkingmens homes In Phila-
delphia and Baltimore and other cities a
possibility. and have materially added to
the financial solidlty Of those cities. In
Ohio and Massachusetts, the associations
have banking features not known to the
purely cooperative companies. However,
taking all the associations of the kind
into consideration. the cost Of operation
for the entire United States is but 1.23 per
cent. IN Charlotte the operating expenses
are less than l per cent in Massachu-
setts the expenses are only "a per cent.
The Charlotte associations have loaned
out over Sl,500,O00, Of which one-tenth has
been loaned 70 negroes. The Charlotte
associations have never had loss. With
but a few exceptions, the foreclosures
have been the result Of death, insanity,
or the separation of husband and wife
The city of Charlotte has about 500
homes built or bought through the asso-
Citations, and they have made $500 loans
In ali.
The associations issue shares OF s1Or
each in series, two series being issued
each year. The shares are paid for at the
rate Of . cents a week for each share. Il
requires S33 weeks for q share to mature.
At the end of that time the shareholder
has paid in $S325, and ne has 500 in cash.
profit OF $3.50. If be has borrowed
money, he has been paying s per cent In
terest, while the money he has been pay
ing In has netted him practically 6i-4 per
cent. To the nOnboTrower the invest
ment nets practically per cent. They
make no loans outside the township.
Talking to the shareholders. one finds
that the chief feature Of the association
which makes it more popular here than
! the savings banks, is its coercion. If the
weekly payment is not made. there is a
fine TO be collected out of what is already
paid In. There is nothing but will power
TO compel one to put money In the bank
The habit Of making the weekly payment
becomes so much a part of the ordinary
routine life. that few persons who have
matured the shares In one series fan "a
go in again. Thus it is that men who
work for small wages not only have q
I home OF their own, but also own another
cottage, under mortgage 10 the associ-
alton, OF course, but which pays almost
enough rent to meet the dues. One young
man built a nice house here through the
! association. The monthly payments and
| interest were $50. He rented the house fol
$S2 a month. so that his tenants paid for
his property and gave him a little or
the side with which to make repairs.
The first building and loan association
was formed In Birmingham, England, IN
| 1871, when a number Of mechanics formed
a society to aid each other TO build homes
/ The association came TO the United States
| in 1891 Frankford, then a suburb of Phila.
| delphia, was the Industrial center OF
the country. English workingmen were
| brought over TO It's shops, and with them
came the building and loan association.
| Thus It was first planted in Philadelphia
where its benefits have been greatest.
Charlotte affords a fine example OF
| the good effects Of the institution. Or
Saturday afternoon, when the bis
crowd comes to the uptown streets. il
| is not q sign of weekend dissipation
They are not going TO the barroom, fol
| there are none to go to, nor are they
o. 90 % o. 90 ,ynh rz01 10. 90 rSz rS1 sr 10 (