The Sun.
London, England, 1826-07-07 00:00:00

BENEFIT SOCIETIES, No. 2,

The chief object of our former article on this sub-
ject, was to shew that although Friendly. Institutions
were fraught with evils, ancd had been in many in-
stances rendered mischievous by error, they were
nevertheless highly useful to the working clasaes,.and
of a perfectly efficient nature to Savings BankS. The
impropriety, therefore, of bringing forward the latter as
a substitute fOr- the former, is conspicuous enough to
a very superficial observer, and • the more, we enter
into the merits of each, the more we are impressed
With the necessity of their separate' application to the
purposes for which they have originally, been designed.
The Vriendly Society is at Once a Health Insurance, a
Life Iniurance, and an Anquity Fund, Intended for
the deposits of persons in middle or humble
life. It is calculated to meet those exigencies,
which more or lesS conic upon all men at va-
rious periods, aiid independently ,* its tendency
to encourage the best. feeW4, provides a cer-
tap .and adequate assistance wiih-out the slightest de-
gradation to the receiver. - The Savingst.Bank will do
done of this. - It is only a place of safe "deposit, in
which any body may lay up money for accumulation
until it is wanted for some emergency or whim. .No
one can question the value of such an Institution—
no one can dispute its utility ; but asserting it to be a
substitute for a Benefit Society argues an ignorance of
the subject, ,which is unpardonable from those who
pretend to any knowledge of political economy,
The following remarks are so applicable, that we
cannot forbear to quote them from an anonymous
pamphlet.

" Will the advocates for Savings Banks be easily persuaded to
save their annual premiums instead of insuring their houses
against fire? certainly not : yet they recommend the mechanic to
place his money in the bank, to provide against sickness and old
age, whilst they know thatiiekness, like tire, !though somewhat
slower in its operations, may in a short time exhaust the savings
of fifty years, and, like fire too, may come suddenly before the
first year expires. _

" The belt friends of the working classes will always entreat
them to provide against the manifold wants of sickness and of old
age, by means of respected and well-conducted Benefit Societies,
the payments to which ought to form a part of their current and
positive expellees ; to those who have any thing to spare after this,
a Savings' Bank may be useful, the necessities of old age being
first provided for by their club, the mechanic and,labourer,
through the medium of the Bank, may be able to add comforts;
but no individual, either befriend. hie neighbour or hie country by
enjoining a reliance upon individual savings as a security against
casualty, which may overtake a man in an. hour, and in a few
months sweep away the savings of is whole life."
It mat not be inferred from these remarks that we
arc hostile to Savings Banks, we are only desirous
to show that they are not capable of doing that which
can be accomplished by Friendly Societies, and that
any attemptito encourage them at the expenee of those
highly useful Institutions is perfectly .unjustifiable. Iu
some future articles on this subject we shall notice the
chief errors which operate.against Benefit Societies,
and sugest improvements which may be easily and
successfully adopted. ,