Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-07-05
GROWTH OF SAVINGS BANKS.
Daniel Defoe First Suggested the Idea
and People Laughed.

When YOU proudly open yout III :"
savings bank account at the hea'e'
nostoffice you do not think OF hopih'
con crusoe," yet Daniel Defoe' VINO
wrote that famous romance, was the
FIRST 70 suggest the establishment VI
such institutions. u aaot
Rut his excellent idea fell on deai
ears, and people continued 10 keet
n,t.c savings III thelI 81
after he was dead. III
fact. it was in Brunswick, Germany
that the first savings bank was s,aI',
ed, in 1865, and a 1eW years e.
another. solely for the use Oh ser'-
ants was opened in Switzerland.
The fame of these places spreaG
onroad and other banks were started
in various parts of the continent pu
England Jagged behind until a prlgh. ,
LADY of Tottenham, Mrs. PriScllla
Wakefield by name, opened a pam
for children at the end of the eigh-
teenth century. ,,,,
About the same time Rev. Joseph
Smith of Wendover, Buckingham
shire. started a "Frugality' bank, SC
called after the suggestion of the Well
known political writer, Jeremy Bent
ham. who had been advocating the
foundation of savings banks unuel
that title. This Wendover bank Was
for the use of the parishloners, ano
Rev. Mr.. Smith and his assistants
undertook to return all money re-
ceived during the summer, with
honus of one-third of this sum, a,
Christmas. 49,,
such favorable conditions were con-
ducive to thrift, and every sunday
evening, which was the time appointed
for the receiving of money, the careIu
inhabitants of the place took theii
scanty savings to the bank.
After all, however, Rev. H. Duncan
of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, is gener-
ally recognized as the father or saw,
ings banks, as they are at preseh'
understood and managed. 1t Is tne
centenary of the foundation OF tne
bank at this little Scottish town tha'
is being celebrated at Edinburg on the
eighth of this month.
The little whitcwashed cottage III
which the Ruthwell bank started
NAV still be seen by the curious wnc
visit the place. but the institution
has long Outgrown its original, hum
BILE home.
As is usually the case with new in
siitutionS. the Ruthwen Savings
bank did not succeed without a strug-
gle. The parish was a very poor one
and people were suspicious. They
feared that the good parson had some
designs on their money, and they were
slow to avail themselves of the op'
portunity of saving.
But Mr.. Duncan was not easily
daunted, and he persevered, until al
length he overcame prejudice sum
ciently To persuade the people &c
~, OF, a.
cured by three locks. the three keys
being held by three different gentle
men. one man might be dishonest
the people thought, but surely three
would not cOnspire to rob US of ouI
nard-earued savings. so they began
to withdraw their money from its
hiding places and put it in the bank
At the end of the first year de-
posits to the amount Of f151 were
received. the second year saw a slight
increase, while afterward p2opis
flocked TO the bank, and at the end
of the fourth year there was getting
on fer a thousand pounds in hand
Mr.. Duncan's fame spread from one
end of the country to the other, hun
dredS of people from England writing
to ask him how he managed his in
stitution, so he was finally obliged to
write pamphlet explaining his meth
DDS.
And from this time onward .'dv-
ingS banks gradually grew I'm num-
Der. until now there are considerably
over 200 i'm the kingdom, the savings
of the deposi:ors amounting To nearly
f52 100000. The POStofiicc savings
bank was not started until 1861, but
being government concern it is
now easily the largest of all.
And that is why y0u ought in think
of Robinson Crusoe" and Daniel De-
foe when you put your money in the
bank, as he was The fist TO suggest
such a useful institution. OTllrrwis@
we might still he hiding our slIl!linSS
and pence in Old stockings or shoes
i'm the wall.-Pea sons Magazine.