The San Francisco call., 1908-12-19
Junior Bankine

tVTIHLE children should not be
w taught TO hoard money for it's
own sake, and thereby develop into
sirable that they should receive lessons
in thrift, and in the self-controI neces-
sarily exercised when the sticks OF
gum OF bags of candy SO badly wanted
at the instant are foregone for the
sake Of some larger or worthier OBJ
ject in the future.
Each child should have a little bank
of his own in which the extra pennies
and nickels are dropped, the amount
when it reaches 81 to be transferred
to real savings bank and an account
started in the name of the child.
AS an instance OF what children's
small savings may amount to. it is a
little startling to be told that in the
public school penny banks of Toledo,
o., the deposits at the end of the first
year amounted to about $4,000, and
that in the same city, after four years,
during which the young financiers
have been depositing pennies and draw
ing out dollars for all kinds of small
purposes. there is now about $4,000
on deposit
Some of the special purposes for
which the money was withdrawn are
interesting. Besides the purchase of
coveted baseball outfits and expensive
athletic goods or tools and such things
by the boys. and various objects of use
or ornament, not otherwise obtainable
by girls, there were trips and yaca-
tions saved for and enjoyed, school
books independently purchased, "a
new dress for mother presents and
treats for brothers and sisters, and
one sad little item, for the doctor, and
baby's funeral"
1t is almost incredible how much
money is spent weekly by children for
candy gum and Shows all of which
they would be far better without. That
does not mean that there should bet'.no
more cakes and aIe,'' but that a better
and more wholesome quality of cakes
and ale" can be obtained on occasion.
Working parents often give their
children many more dimes and nickels
than many much more we'll TO do par
ents are in the habit of bestowing-in
some cases because Of feeling that
since It is not possible to give the child
the larger good things of life, a short
sighted love endeavors to bestow as
many small pleasures as possible, re-
gardIess of the wholesomeness of these
pleasures. Sometimes the giving of
money is the only known means of dis
cipIine-the regular do this and I'll
give you a nickel system of child
training, always disastrous in effect,
and unfortunately so widely used by
parents both rich and poor. Sometimes,
again, imperfectly nourished children
crave the gum and candy and mothers
who lack knowledge of how to feed
them let them have such things in
stead of the nourishing food they really
need.
But whatever the source of the pen
nies, there is no doubt as to the de-
STABILITY of getting young people who
have them to see the difference be-
tween "stinginess' and "thriftiness'.
and to form the habit and recognize
the necessity of systematic and pur-
poseful saving.
Some years ago a farmer in Massa-
chusetts made up his mind to buy a
certain farm in his vicinity, and to
that end he began to save all the 10
cent pieces which came into his pos
session. Recently he secured the farm
: for $1,000, paying for it $4,000 dimes.
which IL took seven hours to count.
Certainly this goes to show that many
a little makes a. mickle," and also the
benefit of persistence in any given plan
of action.