APPENDIX.

A.

THE Constitution of a Co-operative Society for Building, which has worked well in Philadelphia, is explained in the following letters from Mr. Quincy and Mr. Davis.

MODERATE HOUSES FOR MODERATE MEANS.

I would now call your attention to a communication sent to me by Edward M. Davis, of Philadelphia, describing the workings of an association of which he is president, calculated to aid the frugal and industrious in securing homes now payable out of future earnings:

It is called a Building Association, but should be called a "Co-operative Deposit and Loan Company," as it does not have homes built, but does receive and loan money.

There are 74 members and 1,000 shares. None of the officers receive pay, except the secretary, and he only $2 a month. The treasurer gives bonds for $ 1,000, but seldom has over $50 to $100 on hand, as the money is generally loaned the same night it is paid in to the association. We meet in a schoolhouse and have no rent to pay. Fuel and a janitor costs us about $15 a year. It is conducted for the benefit of the members, and not for the benefit of the officers, as is the case with many loan associations.

The receipts of the association are:

1st. "Dues" of members, consisting of fifty cents a share, payable monthly.

M

2d. Fines of five cents a share each month as penalty for failure to pay punctually.

3d. Premiums on money loaned paid by members who borrow. 4th. Interest received monthly at the rate of six per cent per annum on money loaned. When from these sources the shares are worth $100 each, a distribution is made in the proportion in which the stock is held, and the association comes to an end.

Only members can borrow money. Each one can borrow $100 for each and every share, but not over $ 1,500 at one time. The borrower must give to the association as security a first mortgage on real estate for the amount borrowed, and if there are buildings, they must be insured and the policy transferred to the association. The borrower must also transfer the stock on which he borrows; must pay the premium cash; pay his dues and interest punctually, and all expenses of conveyancing.

Our association was started twenty-two months since. As fifty cents each month has been paid on each share, the amount paid in is $11, but the shares are worth $14.10; the difference has been made out of premium, interest, and fines. Judging from the operations of other similar associations, by the time $60 has been paid in by members as "monthly dues," the shares will be worth $100 each; that is, the association will hold claims on the real estate of the members, and cash on hand, amounting to $100,000.

The loans are made by the president, stating that there are say $500 in the treasury, but that he will sell $ 1,500 if it is wanted, payable out of the first money in the treasury. Some one is willing to pay five per cent premium for it, another eight per cent, others more, and so on until it reaches say twenty per cent. The buyer has fifteen shares, and says he will take the $ 1,500. He gives security for $ 1,500, and pays interest monthly on the $1,500, but the premium of $ 300 is deducted and he gets only $1,200 in money. His monthly dues are $7.50 and his inter

est $7.50. He therefore pays $15 a month until the shares are worth on the books $ 100; then his mortgage is handed back, marked paid, his policy retransferred, and his home is clear. This occurs at the same time necessarily with every borrower, for it is not regulated by what he pays for his money, or when he gets it, but by the period when the shares amount to $100. When they do all the borrowers are out of debt. If there is cash on hand it belongs to those who have not borrowed, and will be just $ 100 a share for them.

The time that it takes for a society to "run out," as it is called, depends mainly on the premiums paid. If they are low the period is over ten years. If they could average twenty per cent the period would be much shorter. Money borrowed in the first year of the association at twenty-five per cent premium does not cost the borrower quite eight per cent per annum. Then he has these great advantages; he can borrow an amount almost equal to the cost of his property; can return it in small sums, and in addition participate in the profits made by the association. It is the true mode of getting a home out of future earnings. Being the prospective owner of the place occupied, all the improvements inure to him. This system makes our small houses more tastily and insures their being kept in better order, because a home that is owned is more cared for than one that is rented. I think that what are called building associations contribute much more towards securing homes to our mechanics and laboring people than our ground-rent system.

A person paying $15 a month by this system at the end of about ten years has his house clear, but if he pays the $ 15 as rent, at the end of the ten years the landlord has the rent and the house too.

To carry out a plan like this it is necessary at first that some philanthropic persons in whom the people have confidence should, like Mr. Davis, be willing gratuitously to

devote a few hours every month to the management of such an organization. As in the case of savings-banks, the success of one might lead to results in the highest degree beneficial both to the public and individuals.

JOSIAH QUINCY.

B.

LAW FOR REGULATION OF TENEMENT-HOUSES.

When the sketch of Life in Boston was published in the Boston Advertiser, I was sorry to find that some of the readers supposed the allusion to the Tenement Law was ironical; and that I only suggested what law there should be.

Our Tenement Law is very well drawn up, based on the Law of the State of New York, which was suggested by the experience of the Board of Health of the city of New York. In the hope that it may be of use to persons interested in this subject in other cities, I copy it in full here.

[CHAP. 281.]

AN ACT for the regulation of Tenement and Lodging Houses in the City of Boston.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. From and after the first day of July, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, no house, building, or portion thereof, in the City of Boston, then used, occupied, leased, or rented for a tenement or lodging house, shall continue to be so used, occupied, leased, or rented, unless the same, on the requisition of the Board of Health, shall conform in its construction and appurtenances to the provisions of this act.

SECT. 2. Every house, building, or portion thereof, in the City of Boston, designed to be used, occupied, leased, or rented, or which is used, occupied, leased, or rented for a tenement or lodging house, shall have in every room which is occupied as a sleeping-room, and which does not communicate directly with the external air, a ventilating or transom window, having an opening or area of three square feet, over the door leading into and connected with the adjoining room, if such adjoining room communicates with the external air; and also a ventilating or transom window, of the same opening or area, communicating with the entry or hall of the house, or where this is, from the relative situations of the rooms, impracticable, such last-mentioned ventilating or transom window shall communicate with an adjoining room that itself communicates with the entry or hall. Every such house or building shall have in the roof, at the top of the hall, an adequate and proper ventilator, of a form approved by the Board of Health or the superintendent.

SECT. 3. Every such house shall be provided with a proper fire-escape, or means of escape in case of fire, to be approved by the superintendent of the Board of Health.

SECT. 4. The roof of every such house shall be kept in good repair and so as not to leak, and all rain-water shall be so drained or conveyed therefrom as to prevent its dripping on the ground or causing dampness in the walls, yard, or area. All stairs shall be provided with proper balusters or railings, and shall be kept in good repair.

SECT. 5. Every such building shall be provided with good and sufficient water-closets or privies, of a construction approved by the Board of Health, and shall have proper