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THE MEANS FOR CO-OPERATIVE
SAVINGS BY SOUTHERN
WORKING PEOPLE
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D. A. TOMPKINS OF CHARLOTTE, N. C.
REPUBLISHED FROM
MANUFACTURERS' RECORD, BALTIMORE, MD.
19 04
STEPHEN Bo WEEKS
CLASS 0FI886;PH.D. THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
OF THE
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BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS
The Means for Co-Operative Savings
fov Southern Working People
. . ♦ . » i •
D. A. TOMPKINS OF CHARLOTTE, N. C.
Republished from
MANUFACTURERS' RECORD, BALTIMORE, ME).
1904
PREFACE
That country is always the most prosperous whose workpeople have the most and
best home life. The most and best home life conduces to the highest wages, the best
education and training and the greatest prosperity of a nation and of all its people.
I have worked as a machinist, as a designer of machinery in the drafting-room,
as master machinist, and in conducting a business of constructing industrial works
on my own account. In each of these occupations I have found the "home" or "local"
building and loan association of invaluable service, and its exacting but fair require-
ments have been of inestimable advantage to me.
When I was a machinist, the building and loan association made for me an
opportunity for regularly saving a portion of my pay. While working for wages,
and later, when receiving a salary, I accumulated some little capital, and was always
getting an enforced training in economy and promptness. The condition imposed
by the association, of regular and prompt payment of dues or submission to a fine,
made just enough coercion to enforce upon me the habit of regular savings and
prompt payments. Since I entered upon business for my own account the shares
which I have carried in the building and loan associations have ever given me a feel-
ing of security, in the consciousness of holding a reserve fund. Once or twice I have
had occasion to make use of this resource at times when I might otherwise have been
more or less embarrassed.
Being much impressed with the advantages of the building and loan system for
the people of any community, I have in this monograph endeavored to exhibit these
advantages as I have seen them, for the benefit of other working people.
D. A. Tompkins.
Charlotte, N. C.
BUILDING AM) LOAN ASSOCIATIONS
CHAPTER I.
Co-operative Saving.
For working people, the difference between prosperity and poverty may depend
upon slight differences in the systems of education, labor or savings which have been
afforded them.
The object of this writing is to discuss the best system of savings institutions
which has been devised, and to show how to use it.
The most successful and most advantageous system for working people is that of
co-operative institutions, whereby working people may help themselves and make
their own way to prosperity.
The most important conditions which I conceive to be necessary for the main-
tenance of a successful co-operative savings institution are these :
(1). The development of a high respect for Christian principles. This work is
naturally, to a large extent, in the hands of the ministers of the different Christian
denominations.
(2). The development of intelligence and skill by education and training. The
development of intelligence rests upon the system of education provided by the State.
The execution of the system is in the hands of the teachers. The development of
skill rests upon the system of industry or labor fostered by the State. The execution
of the system rests, in industrial pursuits, with the employer and the workman ; in
agricultural pursuits, with the farmer.
These preliminary conditions are fairly well fulfilled in almost all communities
in the United States. Wherever they are well fulfilled human labor, when aggre-
gated, is a most excellent basis of credit.
At some time in the past somebody discovered that human life, when taken in the
aggregate, is a good collateral — an excellent basis of credit. Upon this theory, with
proper regard for surroundings of industry and economy, life insurance companies
have been formed, and from very small beginnings have accumulated vast wealth.
Nothing is more uncertain than the life of one individual. Nothing in human affairs
is more certain than the average life of 5000 men having normal surroundings.
So also an agreement with one workingman is an uncertain basis of credit. One
workingman might be dishonest, might lose his job, might get sick, or might die.
Five hundred or a thousand workingmen together, however, have a certain average
condition of continued work and pay. If one drops out, another can take his place.
This makes the very best basis of credit, superior to all other forms of security.
All accumulated property, except land, is the result of past labor. Even land
would have no value except for labor. Buildings depreciate. They become old and
obsolete. Corporate securities are uncertain and hazardous. Even land itself depre-
ciates under changed conditions. But the labor of <a country is always in the most
modern form and of the fullest value. Current labor — the labor of today — labor in
(lie aggregate — when its uncertainties are eliminated, ranks, as a basis of credit,
above the very best of other forms of collateral.
A building and loan association is an institution for aggregating and averaging
the net results of labor and establishing it as a basis of credit. To illustrate its oper-
ations, assume that 500 people form an association. They may be machinists, brick-
layers, merchants, clerks, telegraph operators, etc., all working people, and all having
fair prospects of regular employment for wages or salaries. If each member pays
in $1 a month, these 500 people will save an aggregate of $500 a month. In two
months the association will have $1000. This may be used to build a house for one
of the members. The house is deeded to the member for whom it is built. The asso-
ciation retains a mortgage on it to insure payment of dues and interest until each
other member, in turn, gets a house. This usually requires regular payment for
about six and one-half years.
The member moves into his new house. The rent formerly paid is now saved,
to be applied as part of the dues and interest payable to the building and loan asso-
ciation. In some cases, when rent is high, the rent alone will pay dues and interest.
In such cases rent money literally buys a home. In all cases the rent money pays
a large portion of the instalments. At the worst, a very small additional outlay is
required for a home of comparatively high value.
Where houses are rented, in half the cases the rent money will pay half the cost
of the house in about six and one-half years. In a quarter of the cases the rent
money will pay three-quarters of the cost. In a quarter of the cases the rent money
will pay all the cost. These differences depend on the cost of building, the rates of
rent and the discretion and taste of the member who builds.
CHAPTER II.
Building and Loan Associations in the United States and England.
The membership of these associations has been mainly drawn from industrial
wage-workers. It is, however, by no means confined to this class. The membership
of most associations includes also merchants, professional men, teachers, preachers,
and in some cases also capitalists and farmers. Building and loan associations have
had their greatest development in Philadelphia and adjoining towns in Pennsyl-
vania. They have been notably successful, however, in and near Baltimore, Md., and
in Charlotte, N. C. They have also succeeded in the principal cities of the States
just north of the Ohio river, and in many other parts of the United States. The
plan of organization is briefly as follows :
A charter is obtained and by-laws are prepared.
A subscription list or subscription blanks are provided ; sometimes both.
An admission fee of 25 to 50 cents per share is usually charged to pay for
charter, cost of books, stationery and expenses connected with organization.
The payments are usually fixed at 25 cents a week or $1 a month per share. It
is best to make the payments by the week, with provision for those who prefer to
pa j7 by the month.
In most cases from 500 to 1000 shares are subscribed before business is begun.
Associations are sometimes organized and put into operation with no more than 100
shares subscribed. This would give an income of about .$100 a month. To accumu-
late $000 to lend to a member to build a modest house would require six months. It
would be necessary in such a case for officers to serve practically without pay. Yet
a small beginning like this has in many cases been made, and the organization, under
careful management, has grown into a large and important institution. Indeed, it
would seem that in most cases of starting a new business small beginnings are advan-
tageous.
In all cases the money is loaned to members as fast as it is accumulated in such
sums as they may desire, and on the approval of the board of directors, or of a credit
committee of the board. A first mortgage is taken on the property on which the bor-
rowed money is spent. Loans to the extent of about two-thirds to three-fourths the
value of the property are usually considered safe. If the borrower owns a lot he
can generally get enough money to build the house. If a member has no lot he may
find somebody willing to sell one on long time and take a second mortgage, provided
the first mortgage is given to the building and loan association to secure a loan for
building a house 'on the lot.
Land companies and individuals trading in land are often willing to sell a lot
on these terms. When the payments to the building and loan association are com-
pleted, say in six and one-half years, its debt and mortgage are cancelled, and then
the second mortgage, made for the cost of the lot, becomes the first. But if desired
money may now be borrowed from the building and loan association on a new series
to pay off this original debt on the lot. The advantage of this is that the debt is
finally cancelled by the easy payments to the building and loan association, whereas
it might be irksome to pay it all off at one time.
There are many variations in the details of plans for building and loan payments,
loans, premiums, discounts, etc. These are fully discussed in another chapter.
Land loan banks are co-operative savings and loan associations, made up chiefly
of farmers. They originated in Germany, and have their highest development there,
though they are now extending over many parts of Europe. They are the applica-
tion to a farming population of exactly the same principle which has been so suc-
cessful in the United States in building and loan associations for industrial popula-
tions. In the building and loan association payments are made at periods that suit
the manner of income of most of its members. This is naturally by the week or by
the month. For an association of farmers the payments must be made to coincide
substantially with the marketing of the crops. For the United States, such an asso-
ciation of farmers in the Northwest would naturally fix the payments to coincide
with the marketing of wheat, in Kansas with the marketing of corn, and in the
$1000 HOUSES.
PAID FOR IN 6y2 YEARS. DUES, PER MONTH, $10 ; INTEREST, $5 ;
TOTAL $15. LOT NOT INCLUDED.
South with the marketing of cotton. Thus, instead of paying by the week, 52 times
a year, or by the month, which would be impracticable for a farmer, the payments
would be made in about three instalments, one month apart, as crops mature and
are marketed.
For the organization of a land loan bank among cotton farmers, for example,
the charter and by-laws are prepared and the subscription or membership list is
completed. Suppose shares are made $100 each, and payments are fixed at $13 a
year a share. Cotton matures all through the fall months, beginning about Septem-
♦)3r 1 and ending about December 15. The marketing begins about September 15 and
ends about January 1. To suit these conditions, the instalment dates for cotton
farmers might be made October 1, November 1, December 1 and January 1. This
would make four instalments each year. For a farmer carrying two shares ($200)
the yearly payments would be $26, or $6.50 on each of these dates.
Assuming- that we have an organization of 100 farmers, and that the shares car-
ried by the members (some with one, some with two, some with five, some ten, etc.)
should average $300 each, then the annual aggregate savings would be $3900. The
board of directors would lend out this money to the members. One member having
five shares may borrow $500 to lift a mortgage on his farm. The association or land
bank takes the mortgage to secure regular payment of future dues and interest by
the borrower. Every payment of dues cancels so much of the debt, and when, in
from six to seven years, the instalments paid, together with the interest or profit
credited, equal the face value of the stock, the mortgage is given up and cancelled,
and the debt is at an end.
When the first building and loan associations were established, more than 50
years ago, those who were most sanguine never indulged the expectation that they
could ever approximate the vast accumulations of money which have actually been
made. Working people, most of whom had little or no accumulated capital, formed
a class among whom past experience justified no hope of great savings. The results
which have actually been accompanied by these people could not possibly have been
conceived in the early days of these organizations.
The same is true also with the German land loan banks. These were organized
originally (and remain even now) mainly amongst poor farmers. But the aggregate
accumulations of these banks have become a financial power in Germany. Formerly
these associations of farmers borrowed money from city banks to lend their members.
They sometimes do this yet, especially the new ones ; but the older ones now lend
money to the city banks. The large commercial banks of Berlin now have vast sums
on deposit belonging to the land loan banks. Some of these co-operative banks have
as many as 1500 members. The co-operative instalment savings and loan principle
has been worked out for the farming interests of Germany along the same lines as
for the industrial workman in the United States.
These instances are sufficient to show what the workingman, mechanic or farmer
can do if he has a chance. No reason is apparent why the German industrial work-
ers should not adopt the American industrial savings system, nor why the American
farmers should not adopt the German farmers' savings system with the greatest
advantage to both classes.
Isolated and in debt to a city bank or merchant, the farmer often desponds. He
sometimes first evades, then repudiates his debt. In an association of his own people,
his neighbors, he could not afford to do this. His neighbors would not let him do it.
In a land loan association he can borrow a reasonable sum, secured by land, live-
stock or any other good collateral (the same which is now necessary to get advances),
and pay off the debt by instalments. The instalment payment at any one time never
seems to be an impossibility. The payments come in sums that are not discour-
aging. His neighbors, members of the same association, are interested to see him
get along with his payments. The encouragement afforded by this interest on the
part of his neighbors, and the knowledge that he will forfeit their esteem if he gives
up, constrains every member to carry out all his promises, or at least to do his
utmost. All these influences put together are enough to make the difference between
success and failure. They are enough to change the farmers from a debtor class to
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a creditor class. The farmer is the great producer, aud with this system of being
his own banker he can save for himself something of value out of each year's product.
Many Scotch banks practice with farmers a system called "cash credit." Four to
twelve farmers, or even more, get together and form a sort of partnership to borrow
money jointly. This is obviously the aggregation of farm labor as a basis of credit
similar to that of the German land loan bank. The bank makes a contract with the
aggregation. Suppose five neighboring farmers combine and jointly make a contract
writh the bank for "cash credits" to the extent of $1000. They agree amongst them-
selves what part of the sum each man may draw. They are each and severally, how-
ever, responsible for the entire amount, or so much of the entire amount as may be
drawn out. The bank opens an account with each member of the borrowing associa-
tion, and for each, separately, cashes checks and credits deposits. Interest at 4 per
cent, per annum is charged on the average balance. Tlius each man pays a very low
rate of interest, and pays only for the actual time the money is out of the bank.
What makes this feasible is that the Scotch banks are allowed by law to issue
bank notes on their good assets. This privilege is coupled with the condition (among
others) that the bank must redeem its notes in gold on demand. These conditions
never give serious trouble. A Scotch bank is always in position to issue bank notes
in the crop-producing season and cancel them in the crop-marketing season. This
plan saves the bank from having to rediscount notes, and in cases of financial stress
the bank can always save its own home people with its own notes.
This same feature of Scotch banking is also of great assistance to merchants and
manufacturers. It is an elastic feature that has saved Scotland from many a panic,
besides providing at all times cheap and sound money for farmers and merchants and
manufacturers.
In American building and loan associations each stockholder is independent of
all the others as to obligations, no one guaranteed for any other. In the land loan
banks of Germany sometimes the stockholders individually guarantee the debts of
the bank, aud sometimes not. In Scotland the number of men in each separate
set of borrowers from the note-issue bank is very small, generally five to ten. In
these cases the parties do guarantee for each other all their indebtedness to the bank.
This makes this system rank as one of the co-operative institutions.
Co-operative banks of Massachusetts are practically a form of the building and
loan association, authorized and controlled by the State. The sums of money accu-
mulated in them by the working and other people of Massachusetts are astonishingly
large, and would be beyond belief except for the fact that while they have the fea-
tures of good building and loan associations, they are treated by the State as banks.
They are regularly examined, and are subject to regulation the same as other banks.
The building and loan associations of Ohio, like those of Massachusetts, are all
subject to State banking laws.
There are other systems of co-operative savings, but these illustrations are
enough to show the utility of the system when a proper plan for its application is
worked out and put into operation. By the land loan bank system thousands of
poor, despondent and debt-ridden farmers in Europe have paid off mortgages or
bought land, live-stock and other equipment. They have changed their condition
from one of depression to one of independence. They were formerly always debtors
to the land-owners, merchants or banks. Their aggregate savings deposit, through
co-operative associations, now make them large creditors of the commercial banks in
financial centers.
9
By the building and loan association thousands of wage-workers in the United
States who formerly l-ented cheap houses at high rent have been enabled to build
houses themselves, and in many cases to build other houses to rent to less thrifty
people and to acquire other property besides. The great number of blocks of neat
two-story brick houses belonging to workingmen in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and
the rows of neat frame cottages on good large lots, with flower gardens in front and
vegetable gardens in the rear, belonging to the working people of Charlotte, N. C,
attest the value of the system.
If the American farmer would adopt the co-operative system, as German farmers
have done in their land loan banks ; if the German mechanics would adopt it as the
American mechanic has done in building and loan association, then the value of the
system would be doubled in both countries.
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CHAPTER III.
Essential Principles of Building and Loan Associations.
The first requisite of a savings institution is that it must be safe. In the discus-
sion of these co-operative associations an effort will be made to exhibit on the one
hand the conditions which are necessary for safety, and on the other hand those con-
ditions which have contributed most to failures among so-called co-operative savings
institutions.
The development of the life insurance business has led to many schemes, based
apparently on the same general principles which govern life insurance, some of which
were mistakes, and many of which were swindles. The beneficent features were
always put in evidence, but the errors and cheats could not always be seen until it
was too late. Life insurance has survived in spite of multitudinous mistakes and
swindles perpetrated in the name of life insurance. It has survived because there
was enough good in it to save the general principles under which it somewhat equal-
izes human burdens.
The building and loan association has been the victim of the same sort of vicissi-
tudes. Many mistakes have been made, and many swindles have been perpetrated,
but there are too many families living in their own homes, which have been bought
through the building and loan associations, and which could not have been bought
in other ways, to let the principle of the co-operative institution be driven out. Mis-
takes and swindles will tend to be eliminated, and the system will become still more
extensively developed. No practical reason appears why American farmers should
not adopt and apply the system, as well as American mechanics already do, and as
well as German farmers already do.
The laws of the various States should classify and forbid what are known to be
errors in the methods of co-operative associations. They should severely punish
those who perpetrate or attempt to perpetrate swindles upon the people under the
guise of operating a building and loan association. Sometimes an association is
organized with the best intentions, but subsequently falls under incompetent or dis-
honest management. Therefore, it is important for the State to inspect and regulate
the management of building and loan associations, just as it inspects and regulates
the management of banks and life insurance companies.
Indeed, while the building and loan association is capable of bringing to a people
the most beneficent results, the abuse of the name or of the appearance of the prin-
ciple gives the best possible opportunity for fraud by extortion and otherwise.
The best form of association would seem to involve the following points :
First. It should be local.
Second. Its intervals of payment should be suited to the average usual manner
of income of its members.
Third. Its rules as to prompt and regular payments should be rigid, and should
be rigidly enforced.
Fourth. Its shares should be $100 par value, and the interest rate 0 per cent.
Fifth. Loans should be made in the order of application for them, and should
be made at the par value of $100 a share, without discount, bidding, premium or
reducl ion of any kind.
11
Close association is a sharp spur. People living in the country, where families
are considerably separated, are rarely so careful about neatness as those who live
in towns and cities. The influence of doing things jointly, too, is always strong.
Association with a number of other people, many of whom one knows and is likely
to meet at intervals in social life or in business, rarely fails to stimulate the indi-
vidual to his best endeavors to do his part in any organization as well as the average,
or better. Club members usually regard club dues as a first debt to be paid.
The moral influence of local and social association has its effect upon the officers
of an organization, as well as on the members. Where the members have easy access
to the officers, and meet them in daily life, the opportunity and the desire to do
A BLOCK OF CITY HOMES. $3000 HOUSE. PAID FOR IN t>y2 YEARS. DUES PER
MONTH $30 ; INTEREST $15 ; TOTAL $45. LOT NOT INCLUDED.
wrong are minimized. Here again is seen the effect of aggregated influences. The
officers are encouraged and constrained to do right by the elbow touch of the entire
membership.
The co-operative savings institution, to be successful, must be of a kind that
aggregates the strength and influence of its members, and it must also be so situated
that this aggregate influence is always upon its officers, thus constraining in them
the greatest circumspection, and constraining each member to the highest degree of
effort to keep himself straight with his associates. In local institutions the conscious-
ness of oversight stimulates each member to keep his property in better shape, pay
12
his dues and interest with unfailing regularity, and be sober, industrious and
economical.
The system may be varied in many ways as to payments, fines and other regula-
tions, to suit different conditions ; but the aggregation feature, in some form or other,
must always be preserved. The meaning of this is that the great bulk of the members
must know each other, or at least be near enough together to attend meetings in case
of trouble, and that loans must be made only on property so situated that it may be
readily visited by an examining committee, and may, if occasion requires, be
inspected and passed upon by the bulk of the members. This means that all the
property taken for security must be within a limited local area, say a city or a town-
ship, and that most of the members must live within this area. The character of a
member who borrows is an important element in the security of the loan. It, as
well as the mortgaged property, ought to be under the observation of the members.
These considerations establish the first condition, namely, the successful building
and loan association must be local. Any limit is suitable within which people are
likely from time to time to see something of each other. Ten miles is of little conse-
quence to a farmer, who has facilities for the trip, and has the habit of traveling
more or less over the country, while for a machinist it would be both inconvenient
and unusual to go into the country to inspect property. It would not be advisable
for an association made up of workers in industrial pursuits in the town or city to
take farm property lying at a distance in the country. In such an association prop-
erty accepted for security must be in the town or city and the immediate environs.
If farmers should undertake this sort of savings and loan association the county lines
would usually enclose a territory that would be "local" within the meaning intended.
Membership need not be rigidly restricted to locality. Most of the members
should, however, always come from the territory in which the securing property is
to be taken. Indeed, the purpose of the association is that home people may save
home money to buy houses to live in or to do business in, or that they may lay by
something against a rainy day, or to make old age comfortable, or to raise and
educate a family of children.
Many so-called building and loan associations have been formed on plans that
were totally wanting in the essential features of co-operation. These spurious insti-
tutions are made up of members widely scattered, few of whom ever see the officers.
It stands to reason that the very scattered condition of the members of such an insti-
tution prevents co-operation, and creates the very best opportunity for the officers
to swindle the stockholders. These institutions are generally called national or
interstate building and loan associations. Most of them have failed.
With possibly a few exceptions, they have somebody in some way connected with
them who practices impositions on the members. The representative of these organ-
izations, when discussing a subscription for stock, always shows how easy it is to
withdraw; when later on application to withdraw is made, it is not found so easy.
In one case a stockholder in Texas made application to withdraw from an Eastern
association. He had paid in $360, and was entitled under the by-laws to withdraw
this amount, together with some slight profit. In answer to his application, he was
advised by the secretary of the association that there was no money available for
paying off withdrawing stock, and that there would be none available for nearly a
year, or perhaps more than a year. The secretary had a friend, however, who would
buy his stock for $250. What is the Texas man to do, being 1000 miles away?
Counting the cost of a lawsuit or a trip, he finds it cheaper, less trouble and more
18
expeditions to accept the offer. The secretary is his own friend. As soon as the
secretary received the stock he proceeds at once, according to the by-laws, to draw
$360 with the profit added.
In many ways institutions which have stockholders much scattered are liable to
fall into bad habits. They may, in perfect honesty, make loans at distant points
through local boards on property of far less value than the cash loaned. This error
has been extensively committed, to the disappointment and injury of the stockholders
when the time came for final settlement. Mortgages which instalments should have
cancelled in six or seven years have run eight or ten years, and even more, because
of bad loans on inadequate security or bad conduct in the home office, or both.
Notwithstanding these objections, it is not impossible that under certain favor-
able conditions or influences there might be devised an interstate or national associa-
tion which could be made secure and desirable.
Exact knowledge of the condition of a corporation by the stockholders and by
those who may wish to become investors, and a method for calling the officers back
to regular operations (under the by-laws if necessary), are essential to fair dealing
with the people. Up to a certain point these things may best be secured by localizing.
When this is impracticable, or not enough, some plan of legal regulation and restric-
tion is absolutely necessary.
It long since came to pass that the people demanded regulation and restriction
of banks, and the publication of their statements in prescribed forms. Regulation
and restriction of the insurance business has also been permanently established.
Some degree of regulation and restriction of railroad management and publication
of rates has been obtained. A number of manufacturing interests have been more
or less combined or consolidated, but so far no regulation, restriction or publicity of
accounts of any value has been attempted with reference to them.
Those interests where regulation, restriction and publicity of accounts are most
complete have securities which are more attractive to the investor than those which
work under cover. Government bonds, publicly issued and publicly handled, bring
the highest prices and bear the least interest. The stocks of national banks, next
best and most publicly regulated, bring the next highest price with the next lowest
interest. Insurance companies come next. Railroads come next. Stocks of indus-
trial combinations, practically not regulated at all, come comparatively low. An
industrial stock drawing 7 per cent, preferred and cumulative dividend will bring,
say, 90 per cent, of par value ; a railroad stock paying the same will bring 150, a
national bank stock 200, and a government bond, if there were any such, would
bring 250.
There has been much criticism of the tendency to find fault with combined corpo-
rations or trusts. But it should be observed that the objection is not to the magni-
tude or the legitimate profits of a corporation. There has been consolidation of
banking interests in New York aggregating enormous sums, yet no serious criticism
has been made. There are some other complaints against the banking law ; the system
is not flexible, and does not sufficiently seive the interests of the whole people ; but the
matter of size and profit creates no serious prejudice. The knowledge of the condi-
tion of national banks, which is disseminated by the government, satisfies people
14
about all questions relating to capital, issues of stock, conduct of business and other
such matters.
The only way to insure success, or a reasonable probability of it, to a building
and loan association operating on the national or interstate plan would be by govern-
ment restriction and control, with examination and publication of accounts by good
experts like the national bank examiners.
With such examination, publicity and control such organizations might be made
not only safe, but advantageous both to the investing stockholders and to the bor-
rowing stockholder. The prosperous locality, where money for investment is more
or less plenty, could then furnish money to invest in less favored sections. People
having valuable resources in less developed localities, by joining such an association,
could borrow money at a lower rate than in any other way ; the transaction would
be profitable to themselves and to the investing members.
In the absence of laws, or with inefficient laws for control and regulation, the
interstate plan of association had better be let alone. The time may come when,
under control and regulation, it may become all right ; but it is not yet.
The next important condition for a successful association is that regular and
prompt payment be secured. To this end the times of payment should be fixed to
correspond with the usual pay-days at the various works, stores and other institu-
tions in the town or city. An association of farmers would naturally fix their instal-
ments to suit the marketing of their crops, having them come quickly on the heels
of their principal sales.
Whatever the appointed times of payment, strict observance of them should be
rigidly required. One of the most wholesome and advantageous influences of the
land banks of Germany has been the education of the farmer to a knowledge of what
prompt payment means.
Most of us need just a little pressure to make us do fairly by ourselves in the
matter of husbanding the fruits of our labor. Working people are usually rather
liberal and generous, and there is always a crowd of human parasites that live on
the labor of others. If the savings institution would succeed among workingmen.
it must shape its rules so that they may and must pay in their money before these
parasites can get it. Once satisfy the member that the instalments paid in are safe,
and to his own account, and he is willing enough to pay in his money whenever he
has it: but if he must wait long, or even if he may wait long, his money is likely to
go before he knows it, and in ways that are unaccountable even to himself. It is
important, therefore, to make the instalments suit pay-days, to fix a fine to enforce
payment, and to be strict in requiring that payments be prompt. It is not desirable
to be so inflexible in the enforcement of rules as to cause hardship ; temporary failure
to pay on account of unavoidable accidents or sudden and temporary sickness should
be judiciously overlooked occasionally. This should be done, however, only in special
cases.
The plan of bidding for loans, though not so disastrous as that of scattering the
members, is very undesirable. By this plan the money is loaned by auction, as it
were. Whoever bids to accept a loan at the greatest discount gets it. Sometimes
15
the bid is 5 per cent, discount, or "premium," as it is called. Sometimes it is 10 per
cent., and even higher. As much as 40 per cent, has been known to be bid. This is
taking advantage of the needs of members in a very unfair way. Where two men
want money it would be much better to accommodate both without discount, and in
the order of their application.
Some associations have had a fixed discount or "premium." In Bethlehem, Pa.,
a fixed premium of 12 per cent, was popular some years ago, but is now abandoned.
By far the best way is to have applicants for loans listed in order, and to assign
accumulated money in regular order and at par, according to the list. By knowing
the rate of income of the association and the aggregate of applications ahead, any one
applicant can be told with approximate accuracy when he can get the money applied
for. Knowing this, he can easily make his arrangements without being harassed, as
he might often be if bidding had to be done to get a loan.
10
CHAPTER IV.
Opportunities and Benefits.
The building and loan association is not in itself, even in its best form, a prim-
rose path to fortune. It is, in a feeble way, and for this world, like the plan of
salvation. It is simply an opportunity to those who, in its absence, might despond
and be lost. It does nothing for the man or woman who is unwilling to try. In this
chapter will be discussed the opportunities it furnishes.
It makes a great difference whether the operations of a building and loan asso-
ciation are conducted in a growing town or in one that is retrograding or standing-
still. In a progressive town rents are high. Therefore in a progressive town rents
will come nearer paying dues and interest on a loan to build a house than in a town
that is not progressive.
To the individual the opportunity is simply a question of getting wages. Even
in a slow town and at cheap rent a family would be better off to join an association
and build a house for themselves. Many a time in Pennsylvania and North Caro-
lina the first dawn of awakening and prosperity for a town has been due to the act
of the working people in the organization of a building and loan association. When
working people abandon rented houses and apply their wages to payments on houses
of their own, then capitalists are compelled to make investments in enterprises that
make more occupation, more wages and more wealth. I will give some examples.
While working as a machinist and in other capacities for the Bethlehem Iron Co.
in Pennsylvania, I saved money enough to buy a lot. I joined a building and loan
association and borrowed money enough to build a house on the lot. The par value
of a share was -$200. I subscribed for and borrowed on seven shares, making a mort-
gage debt of $1400 at 6 per cent, interest. The dues on the shares were $7 a month,
and the interest ($1400 at 6 per cent.) was $7 more. This made $14 a month 1 had
to pay. It required about 10 years for the stock to mature and bring the shares to
the par value of $200. I rented the house for $15 a month. While I had to pay
$14 a month for 10 years to own the house, the tenant paid me $15 a month, and at
the end of 10 years he owned none of the property he had paid for.
I owned a lot of about 75 feet frontage on College strpet in Charlotte, N. C, with
one negro cabin on it. I reconstructed the cabin to make a neat workingman's cot-
tage with two rooms and kitchen. I built two other similar cottages, each on 25
feet of the lot. The reconstruction of the old cabin into a cottage cost $100. The
new cottages cost me $250 each. I borrowed $600 from the building and loan asso-
ciation. This required six shares at $100 each. Dues were $6 a month ; interest
at 6 per cent, was $3, making $9 a month. The houses rent for $4 a month each.
I pay out $9 and collect $12. In six and one-half years the tenants pay for the cot-
tages for me and pay me a surplus besides.
In both the above cases there are some expenses, such as insurance, taxes and
repairs, which have not been taken into account. Both are rather exceptional and
favorable cases. But even when rent money can be made to pay for a house a man
will sometimes figure and figure to show that a bank loan at simple interest is
cheaper than a loan from the building and loan association.
Even when an ordinary loan can be made, the differential cash advantage of it
17
over the building and loan method is of small consequence. The main difference is
chat the building and loan plan leads the borrower gently, easily and surely, though
somewhat forcibly, out of debt. If it is a home he has built, his mortgage is being
every week reduced, and will certainly be cancelled at the end of the term of the
series. By any other plan of borrowing, maturities of debt and interest are far
apart. Interest alone becomes a lump sum, and unless it has been accumulated by
instalments at home it is hard to pay. Deficiencies soon bring discouragement, and
by discouragement many a house is lost and goes to the money-lender, and he is
blamed for what is no fault of his. The trouble is that the workingman has no
means of making regular small payments on his debt at intervals when he has the
money, and in the absence of any pressure to accumulate it, he spends it.
A $2000 HOUSE ; PAID FOR IN 6% YEARS. DUES PER MONTH $20 ; INTEREST $10 ;
TOTAL $30. LOT NOT INCLUDED.
It is not intended to argue that there are not conditions under which it is as
well or even better to borrow from commercial banks or individuals. This discus-
sion relates to a plan for serving advantageously a large proportion of working-
people and people engaged in commerce in a modest way. The tremendous success
of these associations leads one to the conclusion that 90 per cent, of all the houses
built through them could never have been built by borrowing money and making an
ordinary mortgage to a money-lender, bank or individual ; or if they had been built,
more than one-half would never have been paid for by the purchasers. The great
advantage of the building and loan association lies in the instalment payments and
the little coercion to compel regularity.
18
It is sometimes argued that the early borrowers are at a disadvantage. They
pay interest through the life of the series, while the last man pays no interest at all.
It is forgotten that the first man has the use of the money or the use of a house
rent free during the whole life of the series, while the last man may have been pay-
ing rent all the time. If a borrower uses a loan to pay for a house and moves into
it he saves his former rent against the interest paid. The dues are separate, and
go to pay for the house, which none of his rent money did. Assuming a fair oppor-
tunity to use the money to advantage, it is just about as profitable to be the first
borrower as the last one. While no credits are made against the debt on account of
the dues that are paid, the debtor is participating in the profits. The 6 per cent,
he pays on the full amount is somewhat more than offset by his share of the profits
of the association. On the average, when shares are $100 each, the debtor for $1000
pays back only about $S00, besides interest. The other $200 is his share in the
profits or accumulation of all the interest — his own and others.
The advantage is greatest for working people living in houses of moderate size
and cost. This is not because the landlord is extortionate. Small cottages, frame
or brick, are necessarily more perishable than larger and more expensively built
houses. The average tenant refuses to make repairs that he could well make. He
always makes the landlord spend money. Therefore the landlord must get rent
enough to pay for repairs. Thus the tenant pays in cash for something that he
could as well do without, and would do if he owned the house.
Besides repairs, the workingman can make improvements often without cost.
The owner of a property always finds economical means to better it. In this lies
much of the advantage of the building and loan association. It requires a man to
own his property before it will deal with him at all, except as a stockholder and
saver of money. The building and loan association is perfectly willing to advance
the money necessary for a man to buy or build, but it will not consider such a thing
as buying property for a member to reDt.
In the two examples shown it has actually cost no money to buy houses. In the
great majority of cases the rent will not pay all the interest and dues. Sometimes,
where the rent is $10 a month, it will take $15 to pay dues and interest. Meantime
one is living in one's own house rent free. Sometimes, when rent is $20, the interest
and dues for a $2400 loan would be $?>."> a month. The variations are innumerable.
To save disappointment, each individual must figure out for himself the case lie has
under consideration. Some cases are more favorable and some less, but I have not
met with any case in which it did not pay a workingman to join a building and loan
association, quit renting, build a house and apply rent money toward paying for it.
The building and loan association generally requires that a man own his lot.
Then it will lend money to build a house, taking a first mortgage on the whole prop-
erty. Many a workingman reflects that for a man without a lot the plan is imprac-
ticable. That conception is a mistake. There are almost always opportunities in a
town for a workingman to buy a lot on long credit, with the privilege of building a
house on it with building and loan money, giving a first mortgage to the building
and loan association and a second to the landowner. At first blush this would seem
indiscreet on the part of the landowner. On consideration, however, almost any
landowner and all the land-development companies will do this. Every payment
made to the building and loan association is a reduction of the first-mortgage claim.
Therefore, soon after the start the second mortgage is perfectly safe. At the end
19
of about six and one-half years ($100 shares) the first mortgage is paid off, and the
second mortgage becomes the first.
Thus a workingman may, on the basis of his sobriety, honesty and industry, buy
a lot on credit, build a house on credit, and pay for the house in about six and one-
half years through the building and loan association, keeping up the interest on the
lot debt. Then he can transfer the lot debt to the association and pay it off in about
six and one-half years more. This takes 12% to 13% years — a long time. That's
true, but reflect that the start was with nothing and the end was the ownership of a
house that otherwise never would have been owned.
In operations of American building and loan associations the majority of all
loans are made to build homes for members. Loans are never made except to mem-
bers. (This rule is somewhat modified in the case of associations in the State of
Ohio, but these are more or less like the co-operative banks of Massachusetts.)
Members who have satisfactory security, however, borrow money for any purpose.
To mortgage a home already paid for is generally very dangerous. It may hap-
pen, however, where conditions are favorable, that a man may mortgage a home to
get capital to enter a mercantile business which promises to pay for itself and make
money in addition. Or a man already in business may extend his business or get
over a hard time by means of the building and loan association. A merchant can
have no better safeguard against a panic or any tight time than a fair amount ot
building and loan association stock. Ten shares are always good for $1000, even
when the banks have no money to lend. Merchants who own some real estate oftec.
subscribe for and carry 10 to 50 shares ($1000 to $5000 par value), in order thai
if in their business they should at any time be pushed for cash, it may always be
available from the building and loan association by application in regular order. It
is a great advantage in business to be so situated as to know where a sum of ready
cash may be had at any time when needed. Of course, this involves mortgaging
some real estate, but when shares are being carried the debt may be already half
paid when the loan is made. In any event, the repayment of the debt goes on at
short intervals, and in that respect is a light burden. It is easily paid as compared
with an ordinary mortgage, which cannot be reduced until due, and must then be
paid all at once. In the latter case the natural tendency of human nature is to
hope to pay the debt when due, but not to make prei ration in time. In the former
^e the building and loan association permits and re /uires that a beginning be made
at once ; that regular and very light weekly payments be made, and that these be
regularly continued until the mortgage is paid in full and cancelled. To the average
man it looks beforehand as though it would be a hardship to have to keep up these
payments. After starting, however, one always becomes more pleased with the plan
and really interested to learn how easy it is to accumulate money by regular savings
or pay off a rather ugly debt in instalments that are comparatively insignificant.
We often hear that such or such a successful man was backed by some friend
who helped him over rugged places. I know a number of successful men who could
not have succeeded without the good and sure backing they have had. The backing
has been by no man, but only by the building and loan association. It stands like
a rock behind every man who will use it right. It can never be made the victim of
prejudice, and can never be brought by lies or conspiracy to desert one of its mem-
bers in need. Fulfill its conditions, and its help is ready at all times and under all
circumstances.
Aside from the question of building a house or serving as security for a business.
20
building and loan shares are a good investment, and the plan is the very best for
savings. Every young man could with advantage carry a few shares. It will astonish
any young man to find how his savings will increase with regular forced payments.
Many a mechanic or clerk or other person working for wages will trouble him-
self with figuring the profit on money saved in a building and loan association to
show that it is more or less than the current rate of interest. For capitalists taking
stock for investment there might be a shade of difference one way or another, that
some might think worth considering. But even for a capitalist the superior safety
of this investment is worth a shade of difference in interest rate.
For the average workingman such a calculation is foolishness. In the great
majority of cases the savings are all profit to the workingman. Most of them spend
all they make, whether it is much or little.
As a matter of fact, the profit or interest averages about 7 per cent. This varies
with the actual rate of interest charged borrowers, which is usually 6 per cent. It
also varies with the expense of conducting an association and with the amount of
fines imposed and collected.
In subscribing for shares without loans no serious obligation is assumed. There
is generally, and should be always, provision for withdrawal of cash paid in, with
some little interest, after the series has been in operation for more than two years.
(The amounts paid for expenses for the first two years or more are usually at least
as much as the accumulated interest for those two years on the small sums paid in.)
With this provision, if the wage-earner of a family should die, the membership in
the building and loan association is a benefit, and no disadvantage. Any accumu-
lated money is an advantage to the widow and children, regardless of interest.
Sometimes there is hesitancy because of a possibility of moving. The member-
ship is no hindrance to moving. The money paid in can be withdrawn, or, better
still, it may be let alone and the payments to the building and loan association at
the old place may be kept up from the new home. Even a great distance in America
makes little difference. The writer, while a machinist, left Bethlehem, Pa., and went
to Missouri as a master machinist of a manufacturing company. The mails carried
the building and loan payments back, and not one ever failed. The possibility of
moving is no reason for hesitation. On the contrary, wherever there is a good and
safe local building and loan association one should always join, because, in case of
moving, there might not be one in the new place.
A well-conducted savings institution is like a church, a school and a library.
Everybody ought to belong to one. Join the others first, and in the order named, but
don't quit till the building and loan association is reached. Whoever does his best
in these four institutions will stand far above the average of humanity.
In addition to the profit shown in figures or dollars and cents, the home-builder
makes other gains, which show themselves in better citizenship and better life :
1. He puts himself in position to utilize his spare time for his own advantage.
Improvements he can make on the house are all his.
2. Flowers, trees and vines planted are all his own, and he can take more interest
in these adornments if they are his rather than his landlord's. This ought not to be
so, but it is so.
3. It raises him in the esteem of his neighbors to become the owner of his house.
This brings him better opportunities.
4. It settles him in a house and raises him above the transient workman, both
21
in his own estimation and in fact. His self-esteem being stimulated, he is at once
a better man.
5. Having a home, he becomes interested in the local church and the local
school. He learns loyalty to his town and patriotism to his country.
Taking safety into consideration, the interest or profit is usually more than a
working-man can get on regular savings from any other source. In addition to this
profit, the workingman gets the opportunity to shift his rent money to the payment
of a house for himself, and in some few cases the rent money actually pays the
whole dues and interest or the whole cost of the house. In such a case the profit is
100 per cent., aside from the fact that in many cases the workingman's savings are
all profit, because the money would have been spent had not the periodical pressure
of the building and loan association caused him to save it. The profits might be
roughly summarized as follows :
Per cent.
Interest 7
Rent saved 60
Value of habit of regular saving 60
Improvements made on house with home labor 20
Better life and surroundings 60
Total profit, financial, moral and intellectual 207
These figures as to moral and intellectual results are simply given to put the
idea into measurable form. Such advantages are in reality immeasurable in figures.
The value of a beginning to save is often in itself the equivalent of a fortune. One
frequently hears a successful man attribute his success to some incident that induced
him to begin saving.
The workingman who owns his home has made the conditions that are necessary
to free him from the harassments of strikes and squabbles for increased wages. By
home study and self -improvement he can learn to do better work at higher pay. A
weaver of plain goods can, by learning to do Jacquard work, double his pay quicker
than he could ever get 10 per cent, advance by a strike. How much better to make
substantial headway by peaceful means rather than make scant headway by violence
and troublesome means ! The family owning a house has better opportunity for
home study.
Besides the material, moral and intellectual advantages of home-building already
recited, there is an aesthetic and artistic advantage. The workingman who owns his
home may take pleasure in planting flowers, in making a pretty plot of grass, in
planting trees and shrubs and in otherwise improving the beauty of the home. Many
a child is born to working parents who has taste and talent for art, music, painting,
tapestry weaving, etc. In the conditions that often surround working people in
rented houses and hovels any superior talent or taste of a child or youth is dried
up and lost to the world.
One of the most astonishing things in my experience with building and loan
associations and with working people is the contrasted conditions at Charlotte, N. C.
Part of the working people live in their own homes and stand the equals, if not the
superiors, of working people in any other section. These are the machinists, carpen-
ters, bricklayers and workers at several other trades. They send their children to
school, attend church, and have all the attributes of good citizenship. Another class,
the cotton-mill operatives, in many cases live in company houses, move frequently,
save4 little money, and give scant attention to schools. Many of them are as good
citizens as working people who are in other occupations, but in the main the differ-
ence between their condition and that of the former class of work people is enough
22
to be notable. It is equally notable that the machinists, carpenters and bricklayers
are extensive patrons of the building and loan association, while the cotton-mill oper-
atives are not. Sometimes it is claimed that the wages of the cotton-mil! operatives
are too low to admit of saving, but this is an error, as the income of the average
cotton-mill family is greater than that of the average machinist or carpenter. In
a cotton mill several members of a family can work, while the carpenter alone of
his family is a wage-earner.
A similar contrast exists in Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia mechanics are
usually members of building and loan associations, and live in homos which they
own through these institutions. On the other hand, the coal miners live usually in
company houses, and are inclined to strikes and squabbles.
No matter whether the membership in the building and loan association is the
cause of the better living, or whether the disposition to live better is the cause of
the membership, the advantagesof the membership are apparent. It appears also that
a community of working people who are saving their money and building homes are
rarely engaged in any kind of controversy with their employers, and are practically
never engaged in strikes. The ownership of a home by parents leads to better
attendance at school by the children and to steadier industry by all. It is soon
learned that by increase of knowledge and skill far better advance in wages can be
gained than by strikes. It is learned that education and training are the cheapest
things in the world to buy and the highest-priced things in the world to sell.
Working people have rarely raised wages more than 10 per cent, by means of
strikes. By improving one's knowledge and increasing one's skill wages may be
doubled, tripled or even stiil further increased. The first step for a workingman's
family towards education and skill is the saving of money to buy a home. It is in
and from the permanent home that the best education and the best training can be
acquired. Philadelphia has been called a city of workingmen's homes. It is notable
that Philadelphia has a population of high-priced and contented working people.
They build the ships and locomotives, weave the lace curtains and carpets of Amer-
ica, and do a lot of other high-class work at high wages. They commenced early to
save their money, build homes and educate their children.
CHAPTER V.
Some Examples of Home Building.
The co-operative savings banks and building and loan systems of Massachusetts.
Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina have brought about the construction of
thousands upon thousands of working people's homes, which are models of domestic
convenience and comfort. In the homes of the Pennsylvania working people in and
about Philadelphia, and in the Lehigh valley, not only is every piece of furniture
and every piece of equipment of the very best, but the arrangement of them has been
studied out to reduce the work in the kitchen to a minimum. The stove, the kitchen
table, the sink and other appliances are so placed that the work can be done with the
fewest steps. The windows are placed to give the best light and the best ventila-
tion, and to give them exactly where they are most wanted.
These perfections are the result of much study and suggestion on the part of the
working people themselves. They become a part of the profit or advantage that the
building and loan association brings. Few people care to trouble themselves to work
out good ideas and economical arrangements for a landlord. This ought not to be
so, but it is so.
In studying the economies of house building let no one think he can safely dis-
pense with the services of an architect. If a bricklayer wants corpenter work done
he had better hire a carpenter to do it than attempt it himself. If a machinist wants
bricklaying done he had better get a bricklayer to do it. The architect is trained in
making a house cheap and beautiful, as thi mechanic is in doing a good job at his
own trade. He can reduce expense at one point and add much to beauty at another.
and the net cost of employing him will be little or nothing.
Yet, with the opportunity to build houses for themselves, there is no more fruitful
source of good ideas than the working people themselves. The husband is usually
a mechanic of some kind — machinist, bricklayer, carder, weaver or some other. He
can give good ideas about constructions. The wife usually does her own housework,
and she can give good ideas about location of doors, windows, kitchen equipment, etc.
The writer, while working for the Bethlehem Iron Co. in Pennsylvania, fre-
quently had occasion to make drawings for working people who built homes through
the building and loan association. The designs of these houses were usually made up
of ideas furnished more by the mechanic and his wife than by the draftsman.
Indeed, the wife had the most to say about it, and the mechanic and the draftsman
generally did as she said. By this process of engaging the interest of the mechanic
in the design a standard type of workingman's home was soon developed. This is
a two-story brick building with parlor, dining-room and kitchen on the lower floor,
and with two or three bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor. Block after
block of these houses has been built in the Lehigh valley, in Philadelphia and in
Baltimore.
There has been a similar development of a system of cottages in Charlotte, N. C.
The owner is generally a mechanic, and his wife generally does the housework. This
has naturally led to the same degree of perfection and convenience, with an entirely
different method of architecture, more suitable to the climate, and utilizing the fact
that land can be bought much cheaper, thus enabling the builder to get land enough
in the front yard for flowers, and also plenty for a vegetable garden. These Char-
lotte houses are mostly frame cottages, and they usually have lots containing from
a quarter to half an acre.
24
The cost of workingmen's houses varies in different parts of the country. For
the Piedmont region of the South Atlantic States the following estimates are typical :
Two-room cottage with kitchen $250
Three-room cottage with kitchen 325
Four-room cottage with kitchen 400
The above are simple frame houses without baths, closet or other "modern con-
veniences." They are built mostly for and by cotton-mill operatives — carders, spin-
ners, weavers and dyers — who, up to the present time, have been accustomed to very,
very simple but not economical methods of life. The rapid development of cotton
manufacture has brought them from the farm to the factory.
For machinists, carpenters, bricklayers and other similar trades more expensive
houses are the rule. These run about as follows :
Pour-room cottage with kitchen $600
Six- room cottage with kitchen 900
Eight-room cottage with kitchen 1200
These with moderate interior finish and conveniences.
For a better line, the following :
Five-room cottage with kitchen $1000
Seven-room cottage with kitchen 1500
Nine-room cottage with kitchen 2000
These with nice finish and excellent modern improvements.
Any of the above houses can be made to cost more by the use of hardwoods, finer
papers on walls and more expensive plumbing or other better finish.
Take now the first case of a small and cheap cottage. A young man, who is a
carder's helper and gets $1.25 a day, marries a girl who is a weaver earning $1 a
day. The husband at $1.25 a day makes, say, $30 a month. He takes three shares
of building and loan stock and builds a cottage costing about $300. His payments
are as follows :
Dues per month of four weeks (13 months in a year) $3 00
Interest 1 50
Total per month $4 50
The dues and interest would stop in about six and one-half years, and the carder's
helper, with his wife, would own the house. If he had been renting a house mean-
while they would have had to pay about $2.50 a month rent. But by saving this rent
money the net cost of the house is $2 a month for six and one-half years, or about
$160, for a house worth $300. The balance of the $300 is covered partly by the rent
money and partly by his share of the general profits of the association.
The building and loan association requires a first mortgage on house and lot. In
the above case the carder's helper who built the home is assumed to have had his lot
bought and paid for. Suppose, however, that he buys his lot on long credit, giving
a second mortgage to secure the debt and a first mortgage to the building and loan
association for money to build a house. The lot in this case for building a very
simple and economical cottage ought not to cost over $100. Suppose the purchaser
pays for his house in the first six and one-half years, at the rate of $4.50 a month
of four weeks (13 times a year), and then subscribes for one share of building and
loan stock in the next series, $100, to pay for the lot. His dues and interest on
this will be $1.50 a month for six and one-half years more. A carder's helper, earn-
ing only $1.25 a day, can pay for a house and lot in 13 years. In the meantime all
the work he has put upon the place himself has gone to improve it for his benefit.
It is natural to suppose that the carder's helper would in time get to be a carder
and get more pay. Even if he should then want a larger house he could add to his
cottage or go in for another house and keep the cottage as an investment.
Take the case of a $500 house :
Dues on five shares of building and loan stock per month (of four weeks),
principal $5 00
Interest 2 50
Total dues and interest per month $7 50
Deduct rent which would have been paid per month, say 5 00
Net amount paid for ownership of house per month $2 50
This amount paid for about 841/. times, making the total net cost of a $500
house $211.25.
I know of a case iu a prosperous and growing manufacturing town where a
young man had a lot bought and paid for. He took 20 shares in the building and
loan association, borrowed $2000, and built a house, intending to live in it.. About
A $1500 HOUSE ; TAID FOR IN 6% YEARS. DUES PER MONTH
$7.50; TOTAL $22.50. LOT NOT INCLUDED.
$15 ; INTEREST
the time the house was finished he got an attractive offer in another city, which he
accepted. This brought him to regard his house investment as a sort of handicap.
His dues were, per month $20
Interest 10
Total $30
He actually rented the house for $32 a month through the whole six and one-half
years. At the end of that time the building and loan association cancelled the debt.
In other words, the tenant actually paid for the house and paid for six and one-half
years $2 a month over and above the cost of the house. Such a case only happens
in a prosperous and growing community, where rents are high and houses scarce,
and yet it does happen not at all infrequently. I know of a number of other cases-
similar to this.
20
Take the case of a machinist working at $2.50 a day. Some earn more, some less.
At 26 working days in a month, the pay per month would be $65. A $1200 house
would require monthly payments as follows :
Dues on 12 shares $12
Interest on 12 shares 6
' Total per month $1S
Deduct rent formerly paid, say 12
Net monthly payment to buy house $6
This for six and one-half years (13 months in a year) makes a total of $507, the
actual cost of a $1200 house.
In Philadelphia, where there is an older development than in the Piedmont
region of North Carolina, houses are usually brick, instead of frame, and they there-
fore cost more. The range would be about as follows :
Six-room house and kitchen $1500
Nine-room house and kitchen 2000
Eleven-room house and kitchen 2750
Sometimes the building and loan associations in Philadelphia have shares of $200
par value, requiring 10 years to mature. In these cases the monthly interest is equal
to the monthly dues. Thus :
Dues on 10 shares are, per month of four weeks (13 months in a year) $10
Interest 10
Total per month for 10 years $20
Thus in one of these associations a person may borrow on 10 shares $2000, and
pay $20 a month for 10 years to cancel the debt.
Some prefer the 10-year plan, with shares at $200 each, but most people prefer
the six-and-one-half-year plan, with shares at $100 each. Either plan is all right,
and is generally satisfactory. The longer the term, the easier the payments are, and
conversely, the greater the monthly instalments, the shorter the time to finish.
There is practically no limit to the size and cost of houses that may be built. A
merchant may take 100 shares at $100 each, and on this basis borrow money to build
a $10,000 house or store. I have known houses worth $25,000 to be built through
the building and loan association on the instalment plan, for business purposes,
when the money could not have been raised in any other way with any assurance of
easy repayment.
A merchant wishing to build a house at a cost of $10,000 would have payments
as follows :
Dues per month of four weeks (13 months in a year) $100
Interest per month 50
Total per month (for 84% months) $150
Subtracting former rent from this, the total net cost would be a very small sum
for a fine piece of property if well located.
A merchant wishing to build a store to cost $20,000 would have the following
payments to make :
Dues per month of four weeks (13 months in a year) $200
Interest per month 100
Total per month (for 84y2 months ) $300
Deduct from this the former rent, and the total net sum again becomes small for
a very important property.
CHAPTER VI.
Philanthropy and Working People.
This system of the co-operative savings bank and the building and loan associa-
tion gives a solution of the problem of working people's homes that is most essen-
tially a peaceful advancement. It is a plan by which working people themselves
solve the problems of betterment for themselves. There is nothing philanthropic
about it. It is business, pure and simple, and nothing but business. The man or
woman who joins a building and loan association and builds a house sacrifices noth-
ing of self-respect and nothing of dignity. Indeed, self-respect and dignity are
increased. The mechanic who builds a house, sends his children to school, attends
church and otherwise identifies himself with a community of good people is im-
mensely advantaged over the one who comes today and may go tomorrow. He be-
comes a citizen, a neighbor and a friend, where before, even though a good mechanic,
and well thought of, he had no particular standing in any community. His better
situation makes better opportunities for his children. If there is a young daughter
with musical taste and talent, people take more interest in her than if she might go
tomorrow. Identification with a community and its people always makes a better
condition for any family. The home and the binding of the family to the commu-
nity are largely the basis of Anglo-Saxon strength and Anglo-Saxon civilization.
There is no help for working people that compares with the help they provide for
themselves. Munificent philanthropy is as nothing compared with a morsel of self-
help. The one may be fruitless, or even injurious ; the other is always strengthening
and fruitful.
Philanthropy is not so easy as it appears on the surface. Even with plenty of
money there are few people who can do true philanthropic work. With most people
the idea of philanthropy is to make other people, and especially work people, do as the
would-be philanthropist thinks they ought to do. This is naturally fruitless and
offensive.
With many other people egotism is made to simulate philanthropy. In many
churches the sense of pride leads to the appointment of committees to look after
working people. These committees, in turn, go out among working people in pride
and conceit, and, of course, do no good.
It is far from my intention to charge these ignoble motives upon well-disposed
people and churches or philanthropic societies, or to depreciate their many and vast
good works. But the best philanthropy is that which places opportunity within the
reach of humanity and keeps the personality of the philanthropist wholly in the back-
ground. Much of the best work in this line has been done by people who had no
money to give. The men who devised and pressed to practical operation the scheme
of the German land loan bank system did not give a cent. Yet by means of this
system, and by patient encouragement to follow it, the condition of the German
farmers has been wonderfully improved, and their banks now lend money to the city
banks, instead of borrowing from them. No money has ever been spent in the name
of philanthropy to establish or foster a building and loan association in America.
Yet with the plan plainly laid out, and with laws that tolerate rather than foster
them, tbey have been perhaps the most important factor among civilizing influences
2S
in raising vast numbers of working people into the position of home-owners, and in
many cases have been the means of launching a career which has culminated in high
position and wealth.
People are constantly being heard to say what they could and would do if they
had Mr. So and So's money. This is simply the lame excuse with which the laggard
deludes himself and tries to delude others. As a matter of fact, nothing is more
astonishing than the actual results when ample money is put into the hands of such
people. Indeed, the results are usually just the same as they formerly were with the
same individual when he had no money. In such cases the giving of money is simply
foolishness. The thing needed is to put at the command of the individual some fair,
open opportunity, and then stimulate him to embrace it and hold to his purpose.
I have known this experiment to be tried over and over again. A tenant was
asked by the landlord to improve the grounds about the house. Invariably the
$800 COTTAGE
PAID FOR IN 6V2 YEARS. DUES PER MONTH
TOTAL $12. LOT NOT INCLUDED.
INTEREST $4;
answer was that nothing would be more easy or agreeable if the family could spare
the money. The landlord offered to pay bills for necessary outlay. But there was
no perceptible change in appearance, even though comparatively liberal sums were
paid for expense of effort. The truth is that for a tenant or home-owner the money
required to keep premises neat and attractive is so insignificant that it need not be
considered. The desire for better appearance must first be acquired, and then the
result comes without the need of much money.
Working people have far more resource and ability to pay their own way, and
to pay for what they get, than is generally supposed. Indeed, most of them pay
extravagantly for what they get. In many cases they pay enough rent for a cheap
and uncomfortable house to pay in a very few years for a good comfortable house
and own it in fee-simple. It is the opportunity to do this latter thing, rather than
29
financial help, that they need, even if the help is called philanthropic or semiphilan-
thropic. The greatest mistake of the philanthropist is usually judging others by his
own tastes or ideas. He too frequently fails to give either support or sympathy to
what the workingman wants to do, but he insists that the workingman shall do as
the philanthropist wants him to do.
It is surprising to note how many people there are interested in helping to im-
prove the condition of working people, when in fact they are interested in exploiting
themselves or some of their purely theoretic ideas. Assign to one of these a quiet,
modest duty which requires no personal prominence, and his interest lags at once.
Many are simply tender-hearted, and sometimes work themselves into an excess of
sympathy for imaginary hardships of others. Many situations which are hardships
to some people are actually enjoyed by others. I recall the instance of an affection-
ate mother who would sometimes worry herself into sickness about stories she heard
of her son who was visiting in the country. This boy would go 'possum-hunting
with negroes ; the party would sometimes build a fire in the woods and lie down by
it, along with the dogs that would be sure to join the sleeping party, all simply to
await an hour when it was thought the 'possums would walk more freely in the night.
This all sounded very rough and pitiable to the mother, and she thought the negroes
ought to be reproved for subjecting so nice a boy to such treatment. The boy him-
self, however, regarded the whole proceeding as very excellent sport — something
unusually choice in the way of an enjoyable time for a boy, and his impatience at
his mother's fervent sympathies brought him almost to intolerable rudeness. He
suggested that she quit making herself a nuisance about his very enjoyable hunting
parties.
The only person who can gauge the workingman's tastes and requirements is the
workingman himself. With a fair opportunity he will do more for himself than can
possible be done for him by contributions of money or by statements of what he
ought to do by some one who has no appreciation of his point of view.
In education it is more or less the same way. There are many institutions that
are endowed by States and individuals, and many institutions where a college course
may be obtained almost free, but whenever a person having only a common school
education wants to supplement that education in some way that will qualify him to
make a living, it is left for the commercial college to accomplish this at full pay and
a profit besides. These are the only schools where a young man or a young woman
may go for a few weeks or a few months and learn to do some one thing so well that
lie can make a living by it. Without endowment, and usually with scant capital,
these commercial colleges are doing work that yields a very high percentage of suc-
cess for themselves and the youth of the country. The popularity of country youth
in employment in cities is due to the fact that they are usually willing to help them-
selves and know how. The extent to which they have been left to depend upon their
own resources has made them self-reliant. It is really this self-reliance, together
with their physical development, which constitutes their best value.
At all times and in all countries the happiness and prosperity of the people have
depended upon the security of the farmer and mechanic in the pursuit of labor and
the enjoyment of its fruits. When the laws and systems of industry conduce to
keeping the farmer and mechanic poor, they naturally become indifferent about
results one year after another. Ultimately they seem to become utterly lacking in
those better qualities which under more favorable conditions would develop to a high
degree.
30
In the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth
there was a well-developed and extensive manufacturing interest in the South.
White mechanics were numerous, and lived well. The growth of the institution of
slavery had nearly destroyed all manufactures in the South by the middle of the
nineteenth century. The white mechanics had been to a large extent driven to emi-
grate or forced into that poverty that brought upon them the reproachful name
"poor white trash."
After the abolition of slavery, and after a period of disastrous experiment in
trying to legislate on social and political conditions "without regard to race, color
or previous condition of servitude." education, intelligence or moral character — in-
deed, without regard to any of the faults or virtues of humanity — manufactures were
A $400 COTTAGE
PAID FOR IN 6y2 YEARS. DUES PER MONTH $4 ; INTEREST
$2 : TOTAL. $6. LOT NOT INCLUDED.
quickly re-established in the South, and the descendants of the mechanics of former
days ceased at once to be "poor white trash" and became with marvelous quickness
as good carpenters, machinists, carders, weavers, etc., as their ancestors were.
As long as the South was destroying the opportunity of her mechanics they be-
came poorer and weaker. This caused her to lose in the Civil War. As soon as she
changed her system and gave the workingman a chance she commenced to prosper
again, and she is rapidly becoming both rich and strong. It is always so. Oppress
and impoverish the working people, and the nation becomes weak and poor. Put
opportunity within their reach, and the nation becomes strong and rich.
3J
England has always been very careful of tbe treatment of her working people,
and very solicitous to keep open to them opportunities for good living and independ-
ence. It was in England the building and loan association first started and pros-
pered. Parliament has always been most liberal in making laws that created or
fostered better opportunities for the working people and safeguarded their interest.
Many who study these questions attribute to this the great success and strength of
that nation.
Laws and conditions that place opportunity within the reach of the workingman
himself, and for himself, do more good for his advancement than all actual contribu-
tions in money or advice that could possibly be made. All humanity can be brought
to lose courage and heart by being given no chance. There are so many ways by
which working people are cheated out of or otherwise deprived of savings that many
a one is brought to feel that he had rather squander his surplus earnings than put
them where he might likely lose them for the advantage of somebody else. With a
knowledge that what is saved is safe for himself the workingman becomes a great
capitalist, as is evidenced by the aggregate capital in the co-operative banks of Mas-
sachusetts and the building and loan associations of Pennsylvania, Maryland and
North Carolina, and the farmers' land loan banks of Germany.
It is rare that a working-man needs charity or any kind of free help. Make for
him a fair opportunity and good security for his savings, show him the opportuni-
ties, convince him that they are safe, then give him friendly encouragement, and the
chances are he will succeed. But to do so he must be left perfect freedom to under-
take something according to his own tastes, and not be pressed into doing something
that somebody else thinks he ought to do. Good advice is all right, but it is all
wrong to press on the workingman methods of spending his earnings and savings
that are contrary to his tastes and what he considers his requirements.
Good philanthropy for the workingman is, more than all else, opportunity and
freedom.
CHAPTER VII.
State Laivs, Charters, By-Laws and Reports.
Every State should have a special law relating to building and loan associations.
These laws should be in some respects similar to the laws relating to savings banks.
Provision should be made for the inspection of the accounts of building and loan
associations and their publication similar to those provided for savings and other
State banks. It should be provided that the form of title "Building and Loan Asso-
ciation" should be exclusively used by associations which are purely mutual. Any
corporation undertaking to do a savings business not wholly on the mutual plan
should be required to be known as a bank, and not as a building and loan associa-
tion. The law should require the associations to pay the cost of inspecting their
books and of publishing their statements, but should not require any other tax. This
is not because the building and loan association should be exempted from paying
taxes upon any assets it owns not otherwise taxed, but because the building and loan
association in reality never owns any property except in the event of having to fore-
close a mortgage on a house. In such a case, of course, taxes would be put upon the
real estate. The association as ordinarily operated, however, simply acts as an agent
for the members, receiving the instalments from each of them, and turns the aggre-
gate over to one member to build a house or for other purposes. Therefore, as
quickly as the money is paid in by the various members, it is promptly paid out on
a loan and goes into real estate or some other property which is taxable. The asso-
ciation is simply a legal entity. It is an instrumentality by means of which a great
number of persons may pay in small sums and have the aggregate paid out to indi-
vidual members in succession until each member shall have received the par value
for his shares. The building and loan association in reality charges no interest. The
word interest is used very much as the word current is used in connection with elec-
tricity. When any one member gets the amount of his shares at par before he has
finished the payments and before a number of other members have received their set-
tlements, the member receiving his money in advance is required to pay an additional
instalment to equalize his use of the money in advance of that received by others.
It is generally called interest, but it is not interest, because it does not diminish with
«ach instalment payment, but is fixed at a sum or percentage that equalizes the use
of the money by those who have received it with those who have not received it.
It is very important in the interest of safety that the law of every State require
foreign or interstate associations to make a deposit with the State treasurer for the
security of stockholders, the same as is now required by insurance companies for the
safety of policy-holders. The greatest injury to the building and loan association
business has been that done in the State by corporations calling themselves building
and loan associations, but which in reality were corporations operated for personal
profit. Sometimes it is provided that the profit may be legitimately made, but in
many cases the non-local institutions, commonly called State or interstate associa-
tions, have every semblance of being properly organized, and the personal profit is
made by their misconduct. It would probably be just as well if the restrictions upon
*o-called interstate associations were made sufficient to prohibit their operation.
The reputation of the home or local institutions should not be hazarded by permit-
ting the operation of corporations from other States, except under severe restrictions
for procuring the safety of the money and the safe conduct of the business.
It should be provided that the par value of the shares shall be $100, and that the
instalment payment shall be 25 cents per week, or $1 per month.
The by-laws should in all cases provide that loans shall be made only upon real
estate upon first mortgage. The amount allowed to be loaned should be no more
than the net value of the house, leaving the lot as a margin. Three-quarters the
value of the entire property might be a good rule.
Loans should also be made on the stock of the association. Ninety per cent, of
what had been paid in at any time would be a fair loan on the stock of the asso-
ciation.
Loans should always be made in the order in which they are applied for. The
income of the association is generally very accurately known, and when the loans
$2500 DWELLING; PAID FOR IN 6% YEARS. DUES PER MONTH $25; INTEREST
$12.50; TOTAL $37.50. LOT NOT INCLUDED.
are made in the order of application the secretary and treasurer can estimate very
accurately about when any one applicant would get his money. Formerly loans
were made by putting the money up for sale on a discount basis ; whoever offered to
suffer the biggest discount on the amount asked for would get a loan. In the past
some associations have fixed an even discount. These premium discounts or regular
discounts are all wrong. Each borrower should be loaned the full amount on his
stock at par, without deducting premiums, discounts or other diminutions. The pro-
vision should be for the utmost simplicity — nothing but the payment of weekly or
monthly dues, the loaning of the money to the full par value of the shares and the
fixing of an interest rate, or an additional instalment standing for an interest, and a
vary moderate fine, say five cents per share for failure of prompt payment. Some-
34
times associations make their par value $200. This simply requires longer for a
series to run out, and is of no particular advantage.
Below there is submitted some statements of building and loan associations oper-
ating in the current way of starting a new series once. each six months, of having
$600 COTTAGE ; PAID FOR IN 6% YEARS. DUES PER MONTH
TOTAL $9. LOT NOT INCLUDED.
; INTEREST $3;
shares at the par value of $100, charging an interest rate of fi per cent, and requiring
about six and one-third years to run a series to maturity with payments at 25 cents
a week :
THE MECHANICS' PERPETUAL BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATION OF
CHARLOTTE, N. C.
R. E. Cochrane, Sec-
Officers: S. Wittkowsky, President; R. II. Jordan, Vice-President
retary and Treasurer ; C. H. Duls, Attorney.
Directors: S. Wittkowskv. R. H. Jordan, A. E. McCansland. J. H. Wearn, A. C. Summer-
ville, C. Valaer, H. G. Link, Dr. R. L. Gibbon, YV. W. Phlfer. A. L. Smith, R. F. Stokes,
R. E. Cochrane.
Trial Balance, February 29. 1904.
Assets:
Loans $547,930 00
Interest on matured stock 546 27
Discount on advance payments... 1,513 75
Expenses 1,170 5S
Taxes 1,423 97
Profits paid on withdrawals 495 00
Withdrawals 14,243 00
Forfeitures.
Matured stock
Office furniture
Insurance premiums.
Cash in office
Dues unpaid
Interest unpaid
Fines unpaid
15 00
39,803 00
1,065 92
50 63
3 02
3,555 50
456 48
480 00
Liabilities:
Capital stock $!34.S4S 47
Instalments S2.S32 00
Interest 14,460 38
Fines 358 75
Transfer fees 8 50
Release fees 70 00
Membership fees 426 25
Loans repaid 36,420 00
Loans discharged by matured stock 13,200 00
Matured stock 21,346 25
Bills payable 4,274 54
Forfeited stock 15 00
Dues unpaid 3,555 50
Interest unpaid 456 4S
Fines unpaid 480 00
Total assets $612,752 12
Total liabilities $612,752 12
42d Semiannual Report for Six Months Ending February 29, 1904.
Assets:
Liabilities:
Number
Profit
Value of each
Number
Number
of years
Amount paid
per share W
ithdrawal share, inchid-
Value of
of sei'ies.
of shares.
in force.
per share.
on books.
profit. ing profits.
each series
31
462
6
$78 25
$14 69
$13 00 $92 94
$42,938 2S
32
541
5%
71 75
12 37
10 00 84 12
45.508 92
33
622
5
65 25
10 21
8 00 75 46
46,936 12
34
733
4y2
58 75 .
8 27
6 00 67 02
49.125 66
35
1,074
4
52 25
6 54
4 00 58 79
63,140 46
36
73S
3%
45 75
5 01
2 50 50 76
37,460 88
37
1.177
3
39 25
3 6S
1 50 42 93
50.52S 61
38
1,024
2y2
32 50
2 54
1 00 35 04
35,SS0 96
39
1,194
2
26 25
1 64
50 27 89
33.300 66
40
1,147
1%
19 50
91
20 41
23,410 27
41
2,03S
i
13 on
40
13 40
27,309 20
42
1.610
%
6 50
10
6 60
10,626 00
43
12,360
1,396
Advance payments,
$466,166 02
13,742 25
Total. 13.756
Loans at beginning 42d term $444,590 00
Loans this term 103.340 00
Total loans $547,930 00
deductions :
Loans repaid $36,420 00
Loans discharged bv ma-
tured stock, 30th series. 13.200 00
49.620 00
Present balance loans $498,310 00
Discount on advance payments... 1.513 75
Office furniture 1,065 92
Insurance premiums paid 50 63
Cash in office 3 02
Dues unpaid 3,555 50
Interest unpaid 456 48
Fines unpaid 480 00
$479,908 27
Dues at beginning 42d term $393,1S5 25
Dues this term 82,832 00
Total dues $476,017 25
Deductions :
Dues withdrawn $14,243 00
Dues forfeited 15 00
Dues to matured stock,
30th series 33,034 00
Dues overpaid, 30th series 3 00
47,295 00
Net dues to stock account...
Dues unpaid
$42S,722 25
3,555 50
Total dues paid and unpaid.. $432,277 75
Profits at beginning 42d
term $41,663 22
Interest this
term $14,460 3S
Less interest on
matured st'k. 546 27
Fines
Transfer fees
Release fees
Membership fees.
Trofit and loss. .
13,914 11
35S 75
S 50
70 00
426 25
15 00
Total profits $56,455 83
Deductions :
Expenses $1,170 5S
Taxes 1,423 97
Profits paid on
withdrawals... 495 00
Profits to ma-
tured st'k, 30th
series 6,766 00
9.S55 55
Profits to stock account. $46,600 28
Interest unpaid 456 48
Fines unpaid 480 00
47,536 76
Total assets $505,435 30
Total dues and profits $479,814 51
Matured stock 21,346 25
Bills payable 4,274 54
Total liabilities $G05,435 30
. 36
Tabulated Statement of Each Seeies.
Memo. We, the undersigned committee appointed
Shares since organization 34,455 b.y the Mechanics' Perpetual Building and
Shares "March 1 1903 10 414 Loan Association, herehy certify that we
Shares "sold during 'the" year 'ending ha.v.,e examined the hooks and records of
March 1 1904 4 05° sal<^ association and found them correct
Shares withdrawn' during the 'year.'.' '. '. '645 and in good shape We find that the asso-
Shares in force March 1, 1904 12,963 nation holds 605 deeds of trust, amounting
Shares sold since March 1. 1904 1,396 to $498,310.
Loans made to March 1. 1903 1,841 A. T. STJMMBY,
Loans made during the year ending March 15, 1904. F. J. HAYWOOD, Je.,
March 1, 1904 236 A. M. MCDONALD.
End of 23d Year.
SEMIANNUAL REPORT OP THE MUTUAL BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATION
OF CHARLOTTE, N. C, MARCH 31, 1904.
Officers: P. M. Brown, President; F. W. Ahrens, Vice-President; A. G. Brenizer, Secre-
tary and Treasurer.
Directors: P. M. Brown, Dr. D. O'Donoghue. J. G. Shannonhouse, R. L. Gray, John R.
Pharr, W. F. Dowd, John B. McLaughlin. Jr., George B. Hanna, A. G. Brenizer, F. D.
Lethco, F. W. Ahrens, H. A. Klueppeltoerg.
Face of Ledgee.
Loans on mortgages $214,175 00 Capital stock $168,574 20
Office furniture 26147 Instalments 33,313 25
Due by members 4,217 77 Dues paid in advance 14,324 55
Expenses 647 50 Dues 39th class prepaid 1,032 00
Prepaid stock 1,469 94 Bills payable 2,900 00
Profit and loss 992 00 Entrance fees 180 80
Cash on hand 5.32194 Fines 25197
Interest 6,568 85
$227,0S5 62
Gains and Losses.
Entrance Fees.
Fines
Interest
Less :
Expenses
Trofit and loss.
Net profits during the past six months.
$227,085 62
$180 80
251 97
6,56S 85
$7,001 62
1.639 50
$647 50
992 00
$5,362 12
Assets and Liabilities.
Assets:
Loans on mortgages $214,175 00
Cash on hand 5,321 94
Due bv members 4,217 77
O ffi c e 'f u r n i t u r e 26147
Discount prepaid stock 1.469 94
$225,446 12
Liabilities:
Bills payable $2,900 00
Dues paid in advance 15.356 55
1S.256 55
Net capital stock at present date $207,1S9 57
Composed as follows:
21S shares twenty-seventh class, value per share $78 25
Profit. 15 32
$93 57 $20,398 26
257 shares twentv-eighth class, value per share $71 75
Profit, 12 S3
S4 5S 21,737 06
250 shares twenty-ninth class, value per share $65 25
rrofit, 10 49
75 74 18,935 00
2S3 shares thirtieth class, value per share $58 75
Profit, S 40
67 15 19.003 45
708 shares thirty-first class, value per share $52 25
Profit, 6 52
5S 77 41,800 16
2ftt shares thirty-second class, value per share $45 75
Profit, 4 07
5q 72 13 237 02
383 shares thirty-third class, value per share $30 00
Profit, 3 60
42 60 16,315 80
488 shares thirty-fourth class, value per share $32 50
Profit, 2 50
35 01 17,0S0 00
490 shares thirty-fifth class, value per share $26 00
Profit, 1 58
27 58 13,514 20
657 shares thirty-sixth class, value per share $19 50
Profit, 90
20 40 13,402 80
563 shares thirty-seventh class, value per share $13 00
Trofit, 40
■ 13 40 7,544 20
620 shares thirty-eighth class, value per share $6 50
Profit, 10
6 60 4,092 00
5, 178 $206,869 85
Balance undivided 319 72
Net capital as above $207,189 57
We, the undersigned committee appointed by the board of directors of the Mutual
Building and Loan Association of Charlotte, N. C, to examine the hooks and assets of said
association, report that we have done the same, and find the assets and liabilities correct
according to the statement of the secretary and treasurer.
The Association holds:
15 mortgages twenty-seventh class $9,400 00
12 mortgages twenty-eighth class IS, 400 00
10 mortgages twenty-ninth class 8,950 00
16 mortgages thirtieth class 11,425 00
32 mortgages thirty-first class 22,125 00
16 mortgages thirty-second class 20,350 00
20 mortgages thirty-third class 22,875 00
19 mortgages thirty-fourth class 28,250 00
2S mortgages thirty-fifth class 22,200 00
14 mortgages thirty-sixth class 24,100 00
14 mortgages thirty-seventh class 19,000 00
8 mortgages thirty-eighth class 7,100 00
207 mortgages, amounting to $214,175 00
Due by members as tier statement 4,217 77
Prepaid stock ". 1,469 94
Office furniture 261 47
Cash on hand 5,321 94
Gross assets as above $225,446 12
We find that the income from the stock, after the association paying all taxes, is nearly
6.7 per cent, per annum.
Number of shares in the 12 series to April 1 5,178
Number of shares in the 39th, opened April 1 642
5,820
II. B. FOWLER,
T. S. FRANKLIN,
JOHN B. ALEXANDER
[Finis.]
Photomount
Pamphlet
Binder
Gaylord Bros.
Makers
Syracuse, N. Y.
PAT. JAM 21, 1908
00040628295
FOR USE ONLY IN
THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION