BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS 227 



cent profit, judged l)y the history of well conducted iMiildin^ 

 and loan companies. 



In the briefest and most pointed English the buildinji; 

 and loan association is the gatherini;- of the 100 men most of 

 whom would like to borrow $1,000. There is a total of $1,000 

 in the pockets of the whole crowd. They agree and dump the 

 money into a hat. Then the man who will bid the highest 

 premium for the loan, or who is lucky enough to draw the 

 deciding number by lot, takes the pile, paying interest at a 

 fixed rate to all the other ninety nine contributors. Next 

 month the 100 men meet again, dump another $1,000 in the 

 hat, and the ninety nine contest for the privilege of the loan. 



But not all building and loan members desire to borrow 

 money. It is desirable that not all of them should, and for 

 this reason the man who doesn't want a loan finds some con- 

 cessions made him to enter. 



In the first place this small investor has been up against 

 the savings bank proposition, perhaps in an unexpected light. 

 Perhaps he once deposited $200 in a savings bank on Jan. 5 of 

 some new year. He left it there till July 1 and got his interest, 

 amounting to about $3. He left it in the bank perhaps till 

 Dec. 27 of that year, when he went to draw it out. Then he 

 discovered that instead of his having within a few cents of $6 

 for the use of his money the bank tells him that nothing is due 

 him for the reason that he is taking the money out just five 

 days too soon for the interest credit. 



This man becomes the best kind of investing member in 

 the Ijuilding and loan association. He is a careful, saving 

 type. He is punctual and businesslike in his small dealings. 

 He may shy at first when he discovers that a membership fee 

 is exacted of him before he can deposit his $1 a month on his 

 block of shares, but he is comforted when it is explained that 

 ever>' other member of the institution must do the same thing. 



It is just in his line when he is told further that every 

 man must come up to the scratch with his dues before a cer- 

 tain date early in the month or pay a fine into the treasury-. 

 It is no shock to his sense of business to discover that a member 

 can draw out only 95 per cent of his total interests in the asso- 

 ciation previous to the maturity of his stock. He is satisfied, 



