Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/290

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276 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

upon advancement made in the subjects taught. Two of the juvenile citizens act as schoolmasters.

These children of the slums are rapidly assimilated by the spirit of industry and good order that pervades the republic. This is due to the responsibility placed upon them and the confidence manifested toward them; but also, and chiefly, to the whole- some influence of Mr. George and his wife. WILLIAM I. HULL, Annals of the American Academy, July 1897.

11 Homewood" A Model Suburban Settlement. Mr. M. Koechlin, an enlightened Alsatian, in 1835 came to the conclusion that the most effective method of combating the moral and social evils of congested populations lay in the individualiza- tion of the home. New York has at present more densely populated districts than any other city in the world. Model tenements are an intermediate stage between the pro- miscuous and common life of the ordinary tenement and the well-ordered life of the detached home.

" Homewood " is a tract of land that has been divided into about 350 lots for model homes, and is situated within the six-mile limit of the New York City Hall.

\damized streets, granite block gutters, bluestone curbs, well-laid "sidewalks,

lines of shade trees, terraced sites, and a perspective of fifteen feet of lawn in front of the houses on each side of the various streets and the avenues have been provided for." Colonel Waring's invention for the purification of sewage by forced aeration will be temporarily used until the large main becomes available. Gas and water connections Will be provided.

The houses will be pleasing architecturally and are to be solidly built with first- class material and appurtenances. They are to be available for wage-earners receiving from $800 to $1500 a year. Landscape and house architecture have counted for a great deal in making suburban sites popular, and so the houses are to be built artistic- ally. " It is not expected that a house built entirely of wood will be erected within the limits of ' Homewood.' Brick or cement, with a combination [of both, with chestnut beams or brick first story, with shingle upper story, represent the types of construc- tion." The houses will have from five to eight rooms, excluding bathroom and pantry, and in fittings and workmanship will be first class. The houses are either detached, semi-detached, or four in a row.

These dwellings are built upon order, but only when 100 have been called for. The City and Suburban Homes Company bought a large tract of land, and builds so as to get the material at wholesale prices. This saves very considerable sums to pur- chasers. Life insurance is required of clients, and 10 per cent, of cost of home must t>e paid in cash. Payment for the home can be made on either ten, fifteen, or twenty year installment plan. Title is not given until the home has been fully paid for, and only genuine home seekers need apply. E. R. L. GOULD, Review of Reviews, July 1897

Cooperative Stores in the United States. The cooperative store, a com- paratively simple business enterprise, has persistently failed. Farmers have succeeded in the management of cooperative creameries, and fire and tornado insurance com- panies. The large fraternal life-insurance companies testify to cooperative capacity, and building and loan associations have met with a large measure of success.

Five cooperative movements have been started within the last fifty years in the United States. In the first or 1847 period 769 union stores were started, and during the year 1857 the 350 reporting conducted an annual trade of $2,000,000. In 1866 the Patrons of Husbandry started the grange or second union-store movement. The Sovereigns of Industry started the third wave of enthusiasm in 1874. The Knights of Labor are responsible for the fourth general crop of attempts and failures. About the same time a farmers' association of the South known as "The Wheel and Alliance" made unsuccessful efforts to establish cooperative stores. Some stores survive the wreckage of the past fifty years. Their annual trade is about $900,000 outside of New England and $1,200,000 in New England. Some of these stores are doomed to failure, while others are successful on account of a man or a few men of business capacity.

The movement for cooperative stores has suffered on account of entangling