Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-09-23
Firms Build and Occupy Own
Apartments for Only $26.35
a Month.
\, c. |. IN FOR REAL BATTLE
Cooperative Bakeries and Diaries
A,e Soon to Be Erected-communi.
~ Club House and Cooperative
Restaurant Big Success.

group Of thrifty citizens who are re-
siding calmly. comfortably and cheaply
in their own apartment houses.
Their leisure hours are never invad-
ed by landlords and real estate agents.
their sleep is undisturbed by night
mares of sudden evictions and their
eyesight is unhurt by constant contact
with the daily ito let" columns. They
live in attractive, sunny homes. con-
tanning the latest inspirations In
plumbing, the newest styles In win
dows and the hottest kind of heat.
For all of these luXuries they pay
about $50 per family per month. with
the pleasant knowledge that the rent
never can be raised unless they per-
NIT 1t.
Are Not Plutocrats, Either.
They are not wealthy. They are
Woodworking people-carpen ters.
painters, paperhangers. tailors, type
settlers and shop keepers and their fam
ilies-who are not often found dwell
ing In luxury when the rest OF the.
world is putting up with all sorts Of
Inconvenience.
How do they do It? Well, In the
first place, they live in Brooklyn. But
that does not explain 1t. Brooklyn Is
not immune from the high cost Of liv-
ing any more than any other town. But
they are Firms, and that explains a
great deal. For the Firms are an ex-
tremely thrifty lot. They come from
a country where life Is q constant bat
tie with harsh climate, and where
survival Is largely a matter of econo-
my and cooperation. AS a result. the
aggressive instinct is highly developed
In the Finn-he never stops fighting
for life.
So 1t happens that while most ma
tive Americans have been sitting
around deplorng the high cost Of liv-
ing but meekly paying exorbitant
prices for food and rents, the Firms Of
Brooklyn have been forming co-opera-
tive societies and forcing down their
living costs to the lowest possible min
imum. Besides two cooperative
apartment houses, they own a COM
munity club house, cooperative res
taurant and plots of ground upon
which cooperative bakeries and dali
ries soon are to be erected.
First came the club house, which is
always the first social move OF the
Films wherever they go. 1t Is an at
tractive building, with coffee and game
rooms, smoking parlors, womens club
rooms, and an auditorium where pub
are held. To the Finn drama Is al
most as essential as food, so that the
people do not consider 1t an extrava-
gance to employ a dramatic coach for
their young people. Across from the
club house Is the cooperative restau-
rant. and nearby is lot which some
day, when building conditions become
u trifle more stable, is to support CO.
operative moving picture house.
The chief activity of the club house
soon became the voicing of discomfort
with living conditions. The Firms. hav-
pu.t.H!ty, seeking relief from stem
aid exacting environment, were frank
ly disappointed. They found them
selves crowded into grimy tenements,
with insufficient heat and water and
light and air, and unable to earn
enough to obtain anything better The
wages which had appeared so high TO
them from the other side of the ocean
seemed to shrink visibly as they were
dOled out for food and rent and
clothes.
America Worse Than Finland.
AFTER ALL" declared one of the FIN
nish apartment house dwellers the 9TH
er day, ut was just as bad as In Fin
land, only In some ways 1t was little
worse because 1t was all strange-the
country, the language and the ways of
the people. In some of the tenement
flats the kitchen was the only room
that was heated, and 1t was not large |
enough to hold all of the family al |
once. The children caught colds 60 |
Ing from heated rooms to unheated |
ones, and half the time in those old |
houses the water failed to run from |
the spigot, so that 1t was hard for us |
to keep clean. 1t Is still so. When |
you tell the landlords, they say they |
cannot afford to make repairs"
But the Films were not satisfied
merely to discuss conditions. They |
decided to change them. The carpen-
tiers and the painters and plasterers
and the paperhangers among them
knew a good deal about building. and
they fnally suggested the idea of q co \
operatIyely, owned apartment house,
They realized that 1t would be, q huge
for families with so little
capital but experience In Finland had
taught them the value Of cooperation,
In the beginning, 20 families were In.
terested In the project, but when 1t,
actually came to the stagehof signing
contracts sIand buying ground and
building materials, all but six became
di scouraged and dropped out .,,..-. IL H.
Six families. however, refused to re-
Iinquish the project, and saw It
through to the bitter end. They pro-
posed to build 16-family apartment
house, and found themselves facing the
problemqof raising $4,000 II A treas
lrer was appointed, and each family,
paid weekly lnstaIlments to the com
nunal treasury until they had $4,000
IN box. With this they bought q
plot. The rest of the money
hey obtained from a cooperative so
ciety's bank in the form of first and
second mortgages. va. .r
Much OF the building was done by
he men of the six families. all Of !
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