The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1910-01-14

The directors and stockholders of
the One-Cent Savings Bank of this
city met in their seventh annual
meeting on Monday night, December
10, in the directors room of the bank
at Ali Fourth avenue, North. The
greatest, and by far the most pros
porous year of the institution was the
declaration of the officers, the cash
ier's report showing a clearance Of
nearly 100000 for the fiscal
year. The meeting was called to or
der by R. H. Boyd, who has served
as president since the organization.
He announced after roll-call by Teller
Langston, that a majority of all the
stock purchased was represented. Rev.
G. H. Clark offered prayer. The pres
ident, after calling the vice-president,
Mr.. j. w. Bostick, to the chair, de-
livered his annual address. He said:
"To the Stockholders and officers Of
the One-Cent Savings Bank
Gentlemen and Ladies:-I come be-
fore YOU this evening to give an account
of another years stewardship as your
servant. For seven years you have in
trusted to me the Executive depart
ment of your financial undertaking or
financial experiment I want to re-
peat again at this anniversary what l
have said from year to year in these
annual meetings,-that from the begin
ming up to and including the present,
l hardly think there is a stockholder
of this institution that entered it with
view of making money, or speculat-
ing think each stockholder invested
his or her money in this institution
more as an experiment than as a mon
ey-making investment.
Nashville like other southern
towns where the Negro population
makes up considerable amount
of the citizenship, has individual
members of this Negro citizen
ship who have become factors in the
business professional and industrial
pursuits. They are both property
holders and wage-earners. Every in
telligent wage-earner or business man
desires to lay aside a few pennies for
what we might call a ''rainy day." This
our people, not as whole, but larger
percentage of them than is generally
known, have adopted this method or
habit of saving. 1t was the belief of
the founders of the One-Cent Savings
Bank that if encouraged, this percent
age would grow larger. But for time
there was little encouragement held out
to this class of persons to help them
to become active in the pursuit of
saving or banking small earnings, for
many reasons. First among these was
the large banking business: our large
banks and trust companies found it |
very much to their disadvantage to |
handle these small deposits, especially |
the deposits subject to checks 1t is true
that for a great many years we have
had in the city among cur white
neighbors savings banks and trust
companies, some of which were will
ing to deal on small SCALE but there
was considerable disadvantage in this
1t was possibly to their disadvantage
to encourage or cater for Negro
small depositors such as come under the
class of working people. For in many
instances where large numbers of these
Negro depositors gathered to make
their deposits, or at many times to
cash their checks it caused the white
depositors, especially the large ones,
to seek their accommodations else !
where. This state of affairs made a
clear opening for a savings bank and
trust company to do business. But