Cleveland County herald., 1921-01-27
Are Not Plutocrats, Either.


 Are Not Putocrats, Either.
 They are not wealthy. They are hard-working people-c ters. painters, paperhangers. tailors. type setters 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 inconveniertes.
 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 Films, and that explains a great deal. For the Films are an ex- tremely thrifty lot They come from
 a country where life is constant hat tie with a harsh climate. and where survival is largely matter of econo
 my and cooperation As a result the aggressive instinct is highly developed
 in the Finn--he never stops fighting 1 for life.
 So it happens that while most na-
 tive Americans have been sitting
 around deploring the high cost of live
 ing but meekly paying exorhitant | prices for food and rents, the Films of l Brooklyn have been forming co-0pera- tive societies and forcing down their
 living costs to the lowest possible min
 imum. Besides two cooperative
 apartment houses, they own com munity club house, cooperative res
 taurant and plots of ground upon which cooperative bakeries and dai- | ries soon are to be erected.
 First came the club house, which is | always the first social move of the l Films wherever they go. It is an at trarGire building, with coffee and game l rOo.cs smoking parlors, women's club rooI. and an auditorium where pub 1 lie meetings, dances and theatricals are held. To the Finn drama is al most as essential as food, so that the 1 people do not consider it an extrava-
 gance to employ 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
 trifle more stable. is to support a CO., 1 operative moving picture house.
 The chief activity of the club house soon became the voicing of discontcu
 with living conditions. The Films hay l ing come to America. the land of op- portunity, seeking relief from a stern op6 avoctip0 oDvironulant Irara fro nl, ly disappointed. They found them
 selves crowded into grimy tenements with insufficient heat and water and lgh and air. and unable to earn
 enough to obtain anything better. The
 wages which had appeared so high tc
 them from the other side of the ocean seemed to shrink visibly as they were doIed out for food and rent and clothes.
 America Worse Than Finland.
 "Aftar ali declared one of tine Fin uish apartment house dWelIers the oth- CT day. "it was just as bad as in Fin land only in some ways it was littl; worse because il was all strange-the country the language and the ways of the people. In some of the tenemen' fts he kitchen was the only room that was heated. and it was not large enough 10 hold an of the family al once. The children caught colds go ing from heaIed rooms to unheateG ones. and half the time in those old houses Ihe water failed to run from the spigot. so that if was hard for us to keep clean. Ii is still SO When you tell the landlords they say the, cannon afford to make repairS''
 But riIe Films were not satisfied, merely to discuss conditions The, decided to change them. The caIpen tprs and the painters and nasterer, snd tlie paperhangers among lhem knew q good deal about building. and they finally suggested the idea of 4 co opeiativcly owned apartment house They realized ihai il would be d hug, undeliah king for families with SC iittl. capital. hti experience in Finland hat; laueiit fhe.t ihe value of cooperation, h. he hegisning. 70 families were in tereSlee il ihe pr 'ect lnii when f act8.liY cfiHir fo' gfp stage Of signing con'e,rtS an hpNing around and