In some instances young married people also used apartments in these buildings if they had no children.
One large public parlor for both men and women was on the lower floor and was used at first for entertainments. All the parlors were furnished with good, comfortable chairs, rugs, pictures, draperies, etc., not necessarily new, but in as good order. The main object being to have them homelike and cozy.
The society was able to reach a larger number by practicing these economies and it helped these old members to dispose of their things when they first joined the society. Five hundred dollars enabled one person to secure one room and a small pension for life after they were sixty-five years of age with all privileges allowed in the apartment buildings. This did not include their board, but gave them more freedom in their choice of food and besides they could use the scrip issued for clothing or any purpose. They could cook their own food if they wished or buy it already cooked.
As the aged had no social homes provided for them the society found it could supply that difficulty by accepting members over 65 years of age for not less than $300. This amount would allow them one room, heat, light and their laundry done, or where two occupied one room it was $500 for their lifetime. This included their board. They were expected to find their own furniture, bedding, etc., and attend to their own rooms and wait upon themselves unless they were ill. After their demise if any means was left it went to the society.
Five hundred dollars was the lowest sum accepted where a pension was granted, and that only secured a small room. One thousand dollars secured a larger and better room and a larger pension. The age of the person made a difference also and these figures are only given to indicate possibilities that would suit all kinds of people. The apartments were also arranged so that the people could be classified. They could change their apartments if they wished also. This low amount is stated to encourage those of small means and help all to secure homes.
The society’s apartment hotels were built to accommodate not only wealthy people but those of refinement, who had only a small amount of money. Small rooms could be found in all the buildings as well as large. They were built in different localities to suit the habits and tastes of all. The main idea being to secure the people against fraud and robbery by the failing of so many insurance companies, banks, and mortgages or where their savings had been placed, and to secure all from poverty, from the infant to the aged person.
Men and women who had been accustomed to give a percentage of their wages each week in times of strikes, found that it was as easy to pay the same amount into the society for shares, for the money that secured shares was not lost even though the depositor failed to keep it up. It was safer than in a bank also and drew a better interest even than if it was on a mortgage. The small amount accepted (twenty-five cents per week) brought it within the reach of all industrious people. The advantage of free burial in case of death, besides their being able to sell the whole amount of shares in case of sickness, or disaster, was appreciated. The money so invested could not be lost to the depositor, because it was either invested in land, buildings, or other valuable properties that secured it. Never before in history had the people’s savings been so perfectly secured to them; no matter how large or small the amount. People gave up their life insurances and when they lived in the Colony even their fire insurance, because the society was sufficient assurance for everything connected with their lives. Those who were saving money to buy homes invested it in permanent shares because the shares earned for them $1.20 each year, per share, which amounted to $6.00 each single share in five years. In this way two shares bought one more in five years with its interest alone. (As it had to stand five years before being added to the principal it did not earn compound interest.) Those who wished to secure homes within a limited time and whose income was small could do so with less money than in any other way. For they could secure shares entitling them to use one room or as many as they could afford. Inexpensive apartment houses were built first so as to meet the demand of the majority who would be employed. The members lived in the apartments and paid rent for them when they couldn’t pay for them in shares; but if they lived there five years that rent was allowed on the shares.
Apartment houses were built instead of cottages, for many reasons. They were cooler in summer, and could be heated better and with less expense in winter. They also afforded protection to lone women, as night and day watchmen kept guard in the halls.
Some apartments had small kitchens so as to meet the demands of all the people, but many used the public ones, for each could have their own stoves, etc., and the persons in charge kept them clean. The majority, however, bought their food already cooked or left their orders each day with the cooks in charge. All apartments had large windows and porches. They were built the length of the street, the streets being shorter than usual, so as to make the gates that opened into the houses on the ground floor convenient to go through with the steam wagons or automobiles.
This track was used to bring everything into the building, the main doors being kept in better order by this method. The kitchens and dining-rooms were on the lower floor or basement as they were called and were on one side of the track, the other side being used for store rooms. This arrangement kept everything unsightly (such as many back dooryards are) from the gaze of the curious and enabled the apartment windows to face the street with its flowers and trees on each side in summer.