Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-11
TO ENCOURAGE THRIFT
Establishment of Savings
Banks in the Past Century.
DR.. DUNCAN'S ENTERPRISE
First Recognition by Government
Taken in 1917.
WHAT GLADSTONE ACHIEVED
New Story Told of Abraham Lincoln.
Horse Maintaining Its Position
Against the Automobile.
RI WILLIAM Z. CEEIlS.

In connection with the agitation in Con-
gress for postal savings banks it is inter-
esting to know that the centennial ami
verSary of the Oldest savings bank in the
world will occur May. 1910. and will be
properly celebrated in Scotland, where the
first institution on the present system was
esta blished by Rev. Henry Duncan, DID,
minister of the Presbyterian Church at
Ruthwell. Dunfriesshire. His was the
first regular banking institution to accept
deposits and pay interest upon them. He
got the idea from the writings of John
Bone, a Scotch social economist. and sew
eral years later he himself wrote IAN
Essay on Parish Savings Banks" in
which he presented arguments in favor of
the present system, and described the sue
cess of his own endeavors to benefit the
working people of his parish by offering
them per cent interest upon all the
money they would save from their wages.
He demonstrated the moral as we'll as the
material advantages of promoting thrift
and economy in that way. Less money
was wasted at the public houses and less
was needed to support the INDECENT poor.
The citizens Of Dumfries erected a monu-
ment to the memory of DR.. Duncan after
his death In. 1916.
The second savings bank upon the
cember !, 1913. by James III. Forbes Of
the local banking house Of Sir William
Forbes & Co, who paid interest on the
deposits Of the working people at the
rate of 4 per cent per annum for one
year, after which the rate was increased
to 5 per cent.
Following this. savings banks on the
Duncan plan were started In nearly all
the manufacturing cities of the United
Kingdom for the benefit Of wage earners
y,v1f tn, <h~. f%,,r In,
Great Britain and four in Ireland.
Recognition by Government.
The first recognition OF savings banks
by any government was the passage by
the British parliament in 1917 of AN act
to encourage the establishment of banks
for savings" which empowered the man.
ayers of the Bank Of England to receive
and pay interest upon the funds of saw
ings banks and also authorized their in
vestment In debentures bearing interest
at the rate of e. lis Sd per c1OO which
is shade under per cent per annum.
DR.. Duncan was by no means the first
man to propose such a bank. In 1171
Francis Maseres published pamphlet
recommending that the vestrymen Of each
parish in England take charge of the
savings of the people. but said nothing
about paying interest upon them. A bill
passed the house of commons to this eff
feet. but it failed to secure the approval
of the lords.
In 177S benevolent enterprise was
started at Hamburg. Germany; in 1877 a
similar one at Berne. and in 1875 at
Zurich, to guarantee the safety OF the
earnings Of factory operatives. but the
plan was more like that OF our mutual
benefits societies than our savings banks.
In 1897 Jeremy Bentham published a
pamphlet advocating 'frugality banks"
under the supervision of the government.
In 1898 The Friendly Society for the
Benefit of the Women and Children of
MiddleseX" was organized by Mrs. Pricilla
Wakefield, which. among other things re-
ceived deposits from working people in
safe keeping, and in 1904 began to loan
the money at per cent interest under the
Squirting. two Quaker gentlemen. 1t is not
positively known, but it is believed that
Mrs. Wakefield was also Quaker.
In 1893 Rev Joseph Smith. rector Of the
parish church at Wendover, Bucks county,
England, offered to take charge of the
terest upon them the following Christ
mas day. Many farmers and working
people in the parish took advantage of
the offer. and Mr.. Smith had several hun
dred pounds in his charge for years there
after. 1t is not known how he recouped
himself. but it is assumed that he loaned
the money on his own responsibility.
In 1906 The Provident Institution" Of
London was established. and offered the
public form of annuities similar to the
present endowment policies of our insur-
ance companies, and it is still doing the
same business. A wage-earner can dc.
post his savings, which are allowed to
accumulate at compound interest, and
after a certain period can draw the inter-
est in the form OF an annuity, but the
principal must remain undisturoed.
In 1908 a benevolent society of women
at Bath. England, began to pay interest
upon the savings Of domestic servants
which were deposited with them.
First in This Country.
The first savings bank in the United
States was THE Philadelphia Savings
Fund Society,"" organized in 1916 and still
in existence. The second was esta blished
in Boston the same year, and the third
in New York in 1919 The first savings
bank in France was established in Paris
in 1918. and the first in Germany at Ber-
lin i'll the same year
Mr.. Whitehead, London merchant
celebrated for his philanthropy, was the
first to propose postal savings banks, and
as early as 1906, four years previous TO
the establishment of Mr.. Duncan's bank
at Rushwell, he laid before a committee
of the British parliament the ADVANTAGES
of permitting working people to deposit
their savings for safekeepIng with the
government through the post offices: but
he did not so SO far as to advocate the
payment of interest. 1t remained for tine
great Gladstone to carry Mr.. White
breads plan into effect. forty-five years
later, with an amendment providing for
the payment of interest on deposits Nav
II, 1861, parliament passed the Gladstone
act, which went into effect the September
following. and at the end of the first
year the deposits amounted to E1,6A, 137,
which is equivalent to nearly Ss.JOO,OOo
Growth of Postal Banks.
The latest report Of the controller Of
the currency for 1908 gives a very inter-
esting table showing the postal savings
banks of the world, and we find that 30
266. 922 persons awaited themselves of the
privilege offered by postal savings banks
in tWenty-seven countries. depositing a
total of 92.O24, SO7, 1871, which is an aver
age of $!1.57 per depositor
Another table shows that 1O1 ,231 647 in
dividuals out of a total population of
92.275.O00. representing thirty-six differ
ent nations, have intrusted the enormous
sum of S12.9oS, 1855, 7O7 of their savings to
all kinds Of savings banks, and that the
average amount on deposit Is $40. 81, and
that the average deposit per inhabitant
Of those thirty-six countries is Sl1.35
The largest deposits are in the United
States, where we have $3.50, 553 ,945 In
our savings banks. belonging to S,7O5. S4S
depositors. Germany comes next. with
So DIG, 1852, belonging to nearly eight
cen million depositOrs. and the United
Kingdom. with 81 .O3O. 272 1913. belonging to
twelve and half million depositors. The