Show BEAT I 1 RENT MD WS t N T al IL 0 G S BY CO COOPER OPER U A 1 TION A finns build and occupy own apartments for only 2635 a month H C L IN FOR FOB REAL BATTLE ATTLE P operative cooperative co bakeries and dairies ae soon oon to be erected erected community club house and operative cooperative co restaurant big success new york in these hectic beetle flays days of 0 frenzied family finance when tile the life of the lie average new yorker Is just one moving van after another envious attention Is directed toward a certain group of thrifty citizens who are residing calmly comfortably and cheaply in their own apartment houses their leisure hours are never invaded by landlords and real estate agents their sleep Is undisturbed by nightmares of sudden evictions and their eyesight Is unhurt by constant contact with the daily to let columns they live in attractive sunny homes containing the latest inspirations in plumbing the newest styles in w windows ni and the of heat beat for all of these luxuries they pay about 30 per family per month with the pleasant knowledge that the rent niver tan an be raised unless they permit it are not plutocrats either they are not wealthy they ure are hardworking hard working people carpenters c arp enters paint painters erg paperhangers tal tailors lors type setters fetters and shop keepers and their families who are not often round found dwelling in luxury when the rest of the world Is putting up tip with nil all sorts of how do they ilo do it well weil in the farst place they live in brooklyn rooklyn IS but that does not explain it brooklyn brooken Is iq not immune froni from the high cost of living iv any more than any ober town tonn but they are finns and that explains a great deal for the finns are an extremely thrifty lot so it happen thai while most native americans have been sitting around deploring the high cost of living but weekly meekly paying exorbitant prices for food ant and r rents aits nits the finns of brooklin Cro oklin have been forming en co opera tive live societies leg and forcing down their living costs to the lowest possible minimum resides besides two operative cooperative co apartment houses they own a community club house a operative cooperative co restaurant and plots of ground upon which operative cooperative co bakeries and dal dai rapo soon are to be erl eted first came the club house alch Is always the first social move of the he finns wherever they go it Is an attractive building with coffee and game rooms smoking parlors club rooms and an auditorium where public meetings dances and theatricals are held to the finn drama Is almost almose as essential as food zo so that the people do not consider it an extravagance ance to employ a dramatic coach for their young people across from the club house boue is the co CD operative restaurant arid and nearby Is a lot which some day when building conditions become a trifle more stable Is to support a cooperative moving picture house the chief activity of the lie club house soon became the voicing of discontent with living conditions the finns having III come to america tile the land of opportunity port unity alty seeking relief from a stern and exacting environment were frankly disappointed they found themselves crowded into grimy tenements ts with wilh insufficient heat and water an and light and air and unable to earn enough to obtain anything better the wages which had appeared so high to them from froin the other side of the ocean seemed to shrink visibly as they were doled out for food and rent ewt and clothes Ar america worse than finland after all declared one of the finnish apartment house dwellers the oilier day it was just as bad as in finland only in some ways it was as a little worse because it was wag all strung strange e the country the language and the ways of the people in some of the tenement flats the kitchen kitchell was the only room that hint was heated ant and it was not dot large enough to hold all of the family at once the children caught colds going from heated rooms to unheated ones one and balf the time in those old liou e the water failed to nin from tile spigot so BO that it was hard for us to keep clean it Is still so when you tell the llie landlords they say they cannot afford to make repairs hut but the hie finns were not satie fled merely to discuss conditions they decided to change them the carpenters and tin the paint painters erg and plasterers and the paperhangers among them knew a rood good leal deal about building and ami they finally suggested the idea of a cooperatively owned apartment house they realized reali sed that it would he be a huge undertaking for families with so little capital but experience in finland had inight thein tile the value of operation cooperation co in the beg beginning ki ning 20 fa families were interested te la in the project but when hen it actually came to the stage of signing contracts and buying ground and building materials all but bue six became discouraged and dropped out six families however refused to relinquish the project and saw it through to the bitter end they proposed to build a IG 16 famely apartment house and found them themselves selveR vei facing the problem of raising A treasurer was appointed and each family paid weekly installments to the communal treasury until they had in a box with this they bought n building plot the rest ot of the money they obtained from a operative cooperative co so cietus bank in the form of first and second mortgages much of the bullying bui bul luing laing was done by the men of 0 the six families famili eq all of whom hom took a special pride in their hork ant and strove frantically to outrival one another in painting and pla plastering various rooms their task tak completed the operators cooperators co moved in heavily in debt as it might seem to the unco mico opera the actually however they were paying interest on their own debts and not on the debts of some landlord that interest together with substantial monthly payments tin on arin CIPRI taxes general upkeep and other expenses amounted to considerably less le than they would have paid in rent for apartments of the rame size each family had it a light five room apartment with all modern improvements including telephone hot and cold water a bath room and a kitchen not a kiteli kitchenette enette and for these accommodations they paid into the mon moil building fund 2635 i a month then came the rush As it became kron kro n that buch leomea could bo be oata obtained ned at stich a bly low price the first six operators cooperators co were overwhelmed with applications from other families atho wished to join the movement the house was soon full of le nants ants but so great wa 4 demand for similar eions tint flint another operative cooperative co group was ins organized to build a second apartment house this time the cooperii co tors ors were not so lidid in risking their money and decided that their howe house should be even bigger with even greater rent conveniences incidentally it nag na to cost more mere due not to the added improve ments but to tile the increased cost building materials the alie cost of the latter ruse rose so rapidly ni idly that a third group which was on the point of organization decided to defer until conditions ns became a trifle le less 4 chaotic and the cost of bricks want a en I 1 do down n envy of less enterprising this MUS two bears ago bodaj these alic ie progressive co operable finn are the eny enny of all their less enterprise lug neighbors they are enjo yiu biami comfortable and convenient homes at a small cost fit at a time lian hen ninny many individuals are reduced to uncomfortable makeshifts und and all are d pendent on oil tc lic nona noi too tender mercies cies i of their landlords each family Is permitted lo 10 alopay pay on off Us its share of the principal as rapidly as ai possible and several of thoin heme have pearly achieved complete kofl of apartments others Ot liers moving to in other oilier cities have been coal coni belled r to part biti it onty duty out one Is place A 1 oa 01 the sale nale of an n and nd that Is the sima that only may W b owned by each family in order to maintain the true operative cooperative co nature of the colony i bur the finns have sho shown n us how to make inake the most of tl it e motto on stir conr national currency in union there Is strength frostye J ikiri iaan in Q chicago bows sows owa |