The Sun.
London, England, 1837-11-06 00:00:00

Mr. T. LAMIE MURRAY, at the request of the Chair-
man, came forward to explain the objects of the Society,
and was received in the most enthusiastic manner by the
entire meeting. After expressing the pleasure he felt in
being afforded an opportunity of stating, briefly as pos-
sible, the views that he, in common with the gentlemen
who acted with him, entertained as regarded the ques-
tion he was about to submit, he proceeded to say, that
the intention he had in view, and which he always enter-
tained, was, to unite together the various classes and
branches of society in bonds more closely than it was
hitherto attempted to provide for, and to enquire what
were the obstructions preventing that union amongst all
parties, in the necessity of which he was sure the meet-
ing concurred.—( Hear, hear.) He found upon investiga-
tion, that the poor man, or in other words, the small
capitalist was prevented by various contrivances of so-
ciety, carried into the spirit of legal enactments from
participating in the advantages arising from capital ; that
great undertakings were left to men of greater means,
and that the poor man was thus excluded from an asso-
ciation with them, which would make him more inde-
pendent, and render his moral character superior to what
it was.—( Hear, hear.) He might be borne out in observing,
that, previous to the institution of the National and Agricul-
tural Banks, it was a novelty to hear of a poor man enter-
ing into an Association of capital for promoting his own ad-
vantage. The Agricultural Bank instituted a system of
small shares, but in so doing it fell into a great mistake—
not a mistake of theory, but a mistake—because so long
as the law of the land, in relation to Banking, made per-
sons instead of the funds responsible, so long were men of
large individual capital better security, and Banking was
thus necessarily based on the contributions of the few, in-
stead of the many. His own opinion was, that the law
should insist on ample capital being provided in the first
instance, and that there should be no personal responsibility
beyond the amount subscribed, as in the Chartered Banks,
and then, besides admitting no invidious distinctions, the
public would look to funds and not to individuals. The
plan of the National Bank was different. It first formed
a nucleus of large capitalists, and then a junction with smaller
local capitalists, in shares of 10/. each. Ho believed the
fall of the Agricultural Bank, or its discredit, for its stop-
page could not be called a failure, might be owing to the
belief of no party being made sufficiently responsible in
the undertaking : but that might not be altogether correct,
because there were and did exist persons of sufficient pro-
perty to sustain its credit.—(Hear, hear.) He was happy
to see the Agricultural Bank revived, because he was as-
sured it must do good if conducted on correct principles.
He might, indeed, claim to be the first in England who in-
stituted small shares. The first attempt in local shares of
101. each was made in the National Provincial Bank of
England in 1833. Now, if we looked to other great
undertakings, previously requiring a vast outlay of capital,
small capitalists were not recognised, the shares in such
undertaking being 100/. each, and of course the poor man
was excluded from the advantages arising from these un-
dertakings. It was a necessary point to show in the first
instance that the poor man was excluded. And who were
the great producers, but the masses ?—were they to be
excluded from any advantage in the very thing which they
continued to make profitable ?—(Hear.) The poor capi
talists, in the aggregate, were richer than all the ether
classes put together— possessed of a wealth within them-
selves labour, without which all society would go to
pieces.—( Hear.) He was most anxious to draw public
attention to the inequalities in the division and distribution
of capital. If we took two men, he supposed, who start
in life with equal education and intelligence, the one pos-
sessing capital, the other not, the man of capital did suc-
ceed, and made more by the opportunities it afforded,
whilst the poor man laboured under the privations or
obstacles affecting his state, and not only supported the
the very capitalist with whom he started in life, by his la-
bour, while with old age he himself grew worse and worse.
(Cheers.) But it was necessary to show how capital might
be acquired by the poor man, with the best means of lay-
ing out that capital, and if a Society were established
to point out the most economical outlay of it, and
make it reproductive to themselves, he thought they might
go farther to do away with the necessity of poor-laws,
and in extending the benefits of industry through all
ranks, together with inducing men who had a large stake in
society to take a lively interest in promoting the public
good, than all the institutions at present in existence.—
(Hear, hear.) Where were the institutions at the present
moment, in which a poor man might embark capital? He
was excluded by not being able to furnish a larger amount
in his individual capacity. But though he (Mr. Murray)
thought that much might be done with respect to legisla-
tion in this matter, still it was a more easy task, by means
available to society itself, to devise sound principles for the
benefit of society than to obtain co-operation of the legiila-
ture.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") Now, Saving Banks
afforded to a poor man the means of protection against
misfortune, to the extent of his saving ; but they afforded
him no protection against that, more certain to occur—
death.—(Hear. Savings Banks, his only present resource,
afforded the poor man a very deficient system of accumula-
tion ; because if a man were suddenly taken away by death,
he only left to his family a sum equal to his individual
ac-
cumulation during life. But he (Mr. M.) endeavoured to
connect with a protection to family, a Savings Bank for
individual accumulation, for the Society he was about to
introduce contained those two principles. To show the ad-
vantages accruable to society from his system, lie here re-
ferred to the prospectus, according to the tables of which,
a man at the age of twenty, taking the average of life
would only have to pay up in yearly instalments, 290/., to
be insured 500/. for the use of his family at his death. A
man at 30, for 500/. payable at his dead), would be required
to pay 300/. ;at 40 years, 3501., and at 50, 3311/. The
sums payable were then spread over a surface of years ;
but that was not all, provided death took place, even in
one year after a man had obtained his policy, his family
would be entitled to receive the five hundred pounis.—
(Hear, hear.) This, of course, resulted from the opara-
ti.ons of compound interest, and the Society undertook to
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a .third per cent. Notwithstanding the defects he had
pointed out, as other Assurance Societies were constituted
at present, if he were asked whether he would recommend
a man of uncertain income, depending on labour, and sub-
ject to the vicissitudes of life to resort to such institutions,
he would recommend the Savings' Bank ; and it was to
remedy their deficiencies that he had instituted the present
Society, which combined both a Savings' Bank and a Life
Assurance.—(Hear.) Saving Banks, as far as they went,
provided a security against misfortune, and the first prin-
ciple of human nature was to seek that security, which
could not only be better provided for by the Society, but
by it, also, a provision in case of death superadded. lie
would not recommend the principle of this institution of
which he was the author, unless he was sure that, by its
adoption, a man could put up his money profitably, and
secure to his family and himself a protection against the
probability of misfortune, and certainty of death.—(Hear.)
A large capital might be accumulated by individual co-
operation.—(H„) r..
So much money foolishly spent by the
:irtizan in whiskey, weekly, might be made available in se-
curing a family from distress, when the head of that family
should be taken away. There are very few who could not
afford to lay by Is. a week, and when a portion of the sum
paid up might be withdrawn by the poor man, re-employing
himself, and every year increasing his own means of forming
a barrier against misfortune, a proper incentive was held
out to frugality and industry. How many persons in this
country, with such an opportunity open to them, would
gladly employ themselves, instead of having recourse to