The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-01-04


1faSESAzlAmEN How many OF you young ner
Is=sGYl have savings bank accounts?"
Only one replied that he had
I'll take you," said the merchant
When some one asked the employer why his choice
had been influenced he answered: "A boy who saves
and has savings bank account is sure TO have some
other good quality At any rate he has early seen the
advantage of thrift
Few people stop to realize the value and significance
OF saving and the part plays in the whole big scheme
OF success do they appreciate the fact that the first
aid to saving at their very doorstep in the shape of
savings bank. Saving is the instrument of mans
independence and by saving alone the workngman
for example, ever become rich.
Russell Sage used to say that it was easy to make
money after you had the first thousand But the first
thousand looms up big and forbdding TO many per
sons and for this they make start to get
1t. he simple formula for this thousand is to save
and to begin at Behind the matter of saving is
larger meaning because all investment begins with
saving, and thus the savings bank is the first step
towards comfort and competency in old age. Invest
mcnt is putting your money out work so that it will
earn moro money. The investing power of any nation
is the aggregate of small savings, for this is its real
financial strength Despite the fact that our resources
of every kind greater France has wider investing
power than the United States. The explanation is
not difficult. The French people are thrifty and eco
nomcal; they aspire ownership of their government
bonds which are issued in very small denominations.
They know that they cannot these bonds without
saving The result that they the best savers in
the world
What Saving Means
When you stop to realize the extcnts to which small
sums, put aside Systematically, grow, YOU get a new
appreciation Of the value of money. One dollar dc
posted in savings bank which pays four per cent
interest will amount to $a.Io in twenty years This is
L. 4 II.
cveryyear will amount to S3o.o7 in twenty years. Most
people can save one dollar a week This sum- depos-
tied in savings bank each week, will aggregate SIoI2
in twenty years. man who has deposited S. week
IN savings bank can after twenty years. draw six
dollars week and still leave to his wife and children at
his death all the money that he originally deposited and
quite little surplus besides.
Take another phase of this same kind of saving
The price of hve-cent cigar, put into savings bank
every day. will amount to sISa so in ten wears. At
four per cent it will earn $40 interest Thus the total
amount represented by this simply putting aside of
nickel day is S222.56 Ten cents day. put aside
in this way and employed in savings bank will mean
S445.S6 in ten years, while fifteen cents day will
reach total of S66S.1S Twenty-ivescents day will
anass the somewhat imposing sum of SIII3.75 while
one dollar day will mean S4,4s57s
There is eloquent speech in these figures and it con
veys message to every man and woman. Summed
up, it means just what is expressed in very te and
old adage it is not what you earn, but what you save
that makes you wealthy.
What Savings Banks Accomplish
The savings banks the first and best buwarks of
the peoples money and a knowledge of what they
accomplish is liberal education in thrift. You can
start an account in any of the great savings banks of
New York city with one dollar and no sum is too insig-
nihcant to be enrolled the books. 1t costs nothing
to become depositor For the convenience of those
who may live in sections remote from savings bank
centers system OF entering deposits by mail has been
perfected Thus the bank is brought to the doors of
the depostor Hence there is excuse for the aver
age citizen not to have savings bank account
The growth of the American savings bank furnishes
an impressive lesson The total deposits TO-DAY aggre
gate $1,000, o7S,o45, which is divided among lax
banks These institutions have host of 1888. 900
deposltors. These the cohorts of the thrifty The
average deposit OF each depositor S $4,000
len years ago the savings bank deposits were $40
per capita of the population of the United States
To-day they are SAL per capita OF the population which
is larger even than the per capita circulation of the
general money of the country
The geographical distribution OF savings deposits is
interesting for it shows that the center Of economy and
thrift is still near its very foundation-New England
The total number of savings banks in the New England
States is 46s and they have nearly three million depos
itors Yet the State of New York with I "a banks has
practically as many depositors. The farther westyougo
the smaller becomes the number Of savings banks Like
wise the rgor OF the laws governing them diminishes
Since return or yield is highly essential feature of
any kind OF employment of money it helpful 10 see
just what savings banks pay. Taking all the savings
banks OF the country into consideration you find that
the maximum rate Of interest paid to depostors is a.
per cent; the minimum is o72. The average rate is
sos per cent 1t is safe thing to set down that four
per cent is usually the average savings bank rate com
patiple with the utmost safety. This is what the New
York banks pay and they are managed with the utmost
conservatism and under what might be called ideal
conditions both as regards conduct and supervision
What Ne7o York Saye,s Could Do
It IS interesting in this connection to see just what