The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1895-05-10
SMALL SAVINGS.
The Old Proverb MANY a Little
Makes q Mode ExsmplIasd.
The Thrifty Frsachmaa = a saving.
hank Hook foe BriEht Pupil. ~
scheel--A sakEestIea ~ "a
fAuPer Relief

Many little makes mickle?r II
is so true in its teaching Of thrift
that 1t ought to be impressed upon
every person, young and old, for no
one is too old 10 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 small
sum to the credit of the owner, is a
prize commonly given to a bright
pupil, in cases when an American
school would give the money out
right, or book, or u 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
community is doubly beneficial.
The person who saves has some.
thing laid by for rainy day, and.
the community has fund which can
be lent at home. When savings
banks exist aud are generally pat
ronized it is not necessary for the
people to look to capitalists in other
states for money TO be borrowed on
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-
tablished, and where a vast majority
of the depositors are the hands"
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 endeayor is more
common than we suppose it to be-
there is a systematic effort to teach
the poorest people to save. We
have in minda friendly society made
up of ladies', each one of whom has
taken under her oversight three or
four families III 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, aud encourages them to
save something aud intrust it to
her Ten cents, or a 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 70 pay for
it.
We knowof an Irish family. con-
sistiug 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
aud 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 10 ascribe their difficult
ties to any cause rather than to the
real one. For the first class we can
have nothing but sympathy, and a
wish for better times and circum-
stances.
II all who can save were to do so,
and were to mass their savings for
the common good, they would deal
the most effective blow possible ut
the power Of the great capitalists,
whose accommodations Of wealth are
believed by many persons TO be one
of the great dangers of the time.
Not Made Up.