Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1895-05-14
SMALL SAVINGS.
The Old Proverb "Many a Little
Makes a Mickle" Exemplified-
The Thrifty Frenchman = A SAVINGS
Bank Roos for Bright Pupils at
School--A Suggestion as ."
Pauper Reflex


the old Scottish proverb that:
Many little makes mickle?" 1t
is SO true in its teaching of thrift
that it ought to be impressed upon
every person, young and old, for no
one is too old to begin to save.
The basis of the prosperity of the
French people is their thrift. OF
course, says the Youths Companion,
not every French man and woman
saves and puts by something, but
the practice is nearly universal. 1t
seems true, also, that those who
earn the least, and who are forced
to pinch and screw the hardest to
give themselves food, shelter and
clothing of some sort, form the great
saving class.
At the end of 1898, the public and
private savings banks of France had
more than eight million depositors,
and the amount standing to their
credit was three and three-quarters
billion francs. Yet this vast sum
about equal to the net public debt
of the United States-was made up
of little accounts which average but
four hundred and sixty francs, or
ninety-two dollars each.
To save money is one of the les
sons taught in French schools. A
savings bank book, with a small
sum to the credit of the owner, is a
prize commonly given to bright
pupil, in cases when an American
school would give the money out
right, or book, or bicycle.
Moreover, millions of French people
who do not trust the banks have
money saved in old stockings and in
discarded tcapots.
The accumulation of savings by a
community is doubly beneficial.
The person who saves has some
thing laid by ''for rainy day." and
the community has fund which car
be lent at home. When saving:
banks exist and are generally pat
ronized it is not necessary for the
people to look to capitalists in Other
states for money to be borrowed or
mortgages at exorbitant rates
They can borrow of the local bank,
and can have the satisfaction Of
feeling that the interest they pay
goes to their own neighbors.
This has been the experience not
only in the large cities of the east.
ern states, but also in the factory
towns where savings banks are es-
tabIished, and where q vast majority
of the depositors are the hands, u
who work for an average wage OF
not much more than dollar a
day.
In some parts of the country-pos-
sibly the form of endeavor is more
common than we suppose it to be-
there is a systematic effort to teach
the poorest people to save. We
have in mind friendly society made
up of ladies', each one of whom has
taken under her oversight three or
four families in which the father is
a drunkard, or the mother a widow,
or where there are many young
children.
The lady visits each family once a
week, makes all the members her
friends, and encourages them to
save something and intrust it to
her. Ten cents, or quarter, any
thing which the family can spare, is
accepted. A careful account is kept,
and when the coal supply runs short
there is money on hand to pay for
1t.
We know of an Irish family, con-
sisting of widow and FIVE or six
very young children, who were
receiving pauper relief at the
time this system was applied
to their case, and who are now
almost Independent. The boys are
doing well, earn their own living
and support their mother. More
over, they have learned to save.
The mother no longer needs the
weekly visit, but she still sends her
savings to the lady who first had
charge of her case.
OF course, there are many people
who cannot save, but there are more
who do not save because they think
they cannot. What we have said is
for the benefit of the second class
who are apt to ascribe their Difficult
ties to any cause rather than to the
real one. For the first class we car
have nothing but sympathy, and a
wish for better times and circum
stances.
If all who can save were to do so
and were to mass their savings fol