New French Laws Halt Race Suicide.

New York Times 100 years ago today, June 1, 1913:
They Enable Poor to Own Their Homes and Thus Encourage Large Families.
ALSO CHECK ALCOHOLISM
Men with Families, Not Burdened Down with Home Responsibilities, Leave Saloons Alone.
    France is now adopting two very effective measures for combating race suicide and alcoholism among the laboring classes, in the judgment of United States Consul John Ball Osborne, stationed at Havre. These are the provisions for acquisition of homes on easy terms by poor but industrious and steady men, and the cheap rental of sanitary tenements and lodgings by families in circumstances even too poor to permit of the purchase of property. It is Mr. Osborne's observation in France that race suicide and alcoholism have kept pace with the increase in the cost of living, and the consequent tenseness of the struggle for existence.
    The movement to extend a helping hand to the poor, and to encourage the rearing of large families, is at present, Mr. Osborne says, largely reflected in national legislation, but no laws he regards more effective in removing discontent than those framing a new and practicable system of facilitating complete ownership of homes. These laws regulating the acquirement of cheap dwellings, fields, and gardens by persons of limited means, were passed in April, 1906, April, 1908, and December, 1912.
    "The law of April 12, 1906," Mr. Osborne observes, "represented a decided step forward from the system provided by the old law of Nov. 30, 1894, while each of the two subsequent laws has marked some further advance. That of 1908, known as the Ribot law, extended to fields and gardens not exceeding 1 hectare (2.47 acres) in extent, nor 1,200 francs ($231.60) in value, the advantages formerly accorded only to cheap dwellings, and it made life insurance obligatory for the acquirer of the property. The law of Dec. 23, 1912, whose provisions are just beginning to be understood by the beneficiary class, raised the maxima of rental values and net cost of individual houses and the maximum rental values of collective or tenement houses, besides defining the conditions to be complied with in order to benefit by this special legislation. The new law also gives facilities to communal authorities to improve the lodging conditions of the poor by employing certain authorized companies to construct and operate sanitary tenements for them. This has already been done in Paris on a large scale.
    "Three classes of companies or associations approved by the Ministry of Labor of France exist under the legislation above cited, namely. (I) Sociétés de Crédit Immobilier. (2) Sociétés Anonymes d'Habitations à Bon Marché and (3) Sociétés Co-opératives d'Habitations à Bon Marché. All of these are stock companies, the third being co-operative. Comprising the first class are companies which receive from the State at the rate of 2 per cent. interest, capital which they must employ in making individual mortgage loans to acquirers of houses, fields, or gardens at an interest rate not exceeding 3.5 per cent., and in making advances to companies of the second category regulated by the laws of 1906 and 1912 at an interest rate which must not exceed 3 per cent. Some of these companies, however, confine their loans to companies of the second class, leaving it to the latter to make loans to private persons.
    "A Sociétés Anonyme d'Habitations à Bon Marché, (joint stock company for cheap dwellings,) is a company in which the shares are taken by persons who do not acquire houses, as in the case of cooperative associations under the law. Some of these companies are engaged in building individual dwellings for rent or sale, but, as a rule, they construct collective or tenement houses for the benefit of the working classes. In the operation of these companies it is the rule to have a uniform annual payment by the acquirer of property until his debt is paid off, while in the case of cooperative associations this annual charge may vary according to the rate of interest on the shares. The rate of interest on the shares of these corporations may not be higher than 4 per cent.
    "The organizations of the third category are the most interesting, since they are co-operative associations, approved by the Ministry of Labor, for the express purpose of operating under the legislation mentioned, particularly the new law. In these associations all acquirers of property are necessarily shareholders, with a voice and active part in the administration of the affairs of the association. As soon as a member of one of this class of building associations has made his last payment he becomes the owner of his home by 'attribution' (prerogative,) which method of transfer of realty involves a considerable economy in the contract expenses which, under ordinary conditions, amount to about 9 per cent. of the value of the property acquired. These cooperative, societies may also receive advances from the companies of the first category, which they are permitted to use in making mortgage loans to individuals under the Ribot law of 1908. The law of 1912 permits these co-operative organizations to borrow at the rate of 2 per cent. The interest on the shares of these associations may not, under the law, be higher than 4 per cent.
    "Summarized, the advantages offered by the laws include facilities for borrowing capital at reduced rates of interest; postponement of final settlement to a limit of twenty-five years; temporary exemption from imposts (contribution foncière and door-and-window taxes) for a period of twelve years following the completion of the house; life insurance on easy terms; facilities for remodeling or enlarging the house, and certain important succession privileges, for the heirs in case of death. Under all three laws — 1906, 1908, and 1912 — the house must be entirely paid for by the time the acquirer reaches the age of 65 years.
    "In order to benefit by the Ribot law he must first take out an insurance on his life, but for those who cannot pass the medical examination 'insurance without medical examination' is made possible by compliance with certain conditions. Under the law of 1908 life insurance is obligatory in the form of insurance with a single premium, which is paid by the acquirer if his means permit; otherwise the loaning company advances it to him and adds the amount to the mortgage loan. Under the laws of 1906 and 1912 life insurance is optional. If the company has sufficient funds it may advance the premiums to its clients; otherwise the borrower must pay them.
    "The net cost of an individual house acquired under this system may not exceed the figures fixed for the commune in which it is located. These figures are in proportion to population, and the houses must comply with strict hygienic requirements.
    "The law of 1912 provides that the rental value both of individual and of tenement houses shall be fixed at 4.75 per cent, of the net cost of the building. All outside plumbing expenses are excluded from this net cost. Under this law collective houses or tenements are constructed by Sociétés Anonymes d'Habitations à Bon Marché, which rent them to persons in poor circumstances. This plan permits workmen who do not earn enough to acquire ownership of individual homes to secure sanitary lodgings at reduced rates. The authorized annual rental of such lodgings ranges from $42.46 for a three-room apartment in a commune with less than 2,000 population to $115.80 for similar quarters in the City of Paris. Rents of smaller lodgings are proportionately lower."