The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-05
From the Washington Post.
 Emma Lawrence!"

Emma Lawrence"
 "Yes'm."
 How much for the bank this week?'
 Five cents"
 "Why, Emma That makes your bank account s5. You will get interest on your savings from today on"
 In more than a thousand schoolhouses, in more than thousand cities, in more than a score of States, dialogues of this kind go on every Monday morning be- tween teachers and nearly 100000 scholars who are the thrifty owners of accounts Tn the School Savings Banks, amounting to nearly $1,O0O000.
 Within generation, children by the hundreds of thousands have been launch- ed from the public schools into the world of hard reality and the priceiess habit of regular saving instilled into their minds. And an old gentleman-a very kindly old gentleman-who is still living and laboring for the advancement of this simple and wonderfully efficient training of American youth in the principles of economy, is responsible for it all. His name is J. H. Thiry, and his home is in Long Island City, Long Island, where. twenty-three years ago-on March 16, 1SS5-he succeeded in establishing in the city schools the first School Savings Bank in the United States, says the Phil adelphia North American
 1t Is the most interesting development of the savings bank idea since, in the first grapple with the incubus of poverty that weighed down upon England and the continent, Mrs. Priscilla Wakefield. of Tottenham High Cross, in Middlesex, .in- augurated. in 1901, her especial Friendly Society for the benefit of Women and Children
 Mir Thiry, who is vergng now upon fourscore years and ten, is the father of a brand new baby, whom he hopes to live l tc see depositor in one of the banks he
 founded in Long Island City's schools l long after he was old enough to have been a grandfather. If any man ever de- served such reward it is MT. Thiry. i He was some sixty-five years old when 1 lis unselfsh efforts to accomplish some ] thing for his country in manner that l should have permanent value after he ] should pass away came to their first ] modest fruition. A great many persons thought him a crank then, just as many good persons l have discerned only cranks in other men
 devoted to one big idea. because they felt i it's successful advocacy would use up all ! their energies
 ] Very simple is the plan he evolved. 1 leacDerS Tn the puDllc SCHOOiS 5lVe OulJ ] ten minutes of tho Monday morning ses-
 sion to collecting the savings of the chil-
 dren. The deposits. recorded in the or
 dinary roll books, are turned over to the
 principal, who places them with a bank
 or trust company.
 ] The child's weekly deposit may be cent; 1t may be 10-whatever sum has ! been saved during the week. When the i pupils savings amount to si. bank book ! is given.
 Except in cases of sickness or of re-
 moval from the city, deposits cannot be 1 withdrawn until the amount reaches s3. ] and then only on the second Monday of ! every month. Deposits of $5 or more bear
 regular interest.
 ] Withdrawal of money from an account 1 can be effected when it Is indorsed by 1 the presence of the child's father or i mother, and the signature of the school I principal. During the summer vacation ! the cashier of the funding bank is em- 1 powered to receive or pay moneys in ac- 1 cordance with the rules, requiring identi-
 flcation where the child depositor is not l personally known to him, precisely as he
 does with the grown-ups.' 1 Extensive as has been the growth 1 of MT. Thiry's idea. it has not been all l plain sailing. Changing school Of 1 fcials have exposed 1t to set 1 backs in various localities. The in 1 troduction of manual training. gym I ma sium work, and other features that l draw upon the time and energy ot teachers has caused suspension of the l School Savings bank, until It was