Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-11-19
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|. TO CHRISTMAS
CLUB MEMBERS

Members Of Christmas Clubs IN
Augusta and vicinity will share In
the nearly $40O,00O,000 that will be
distributed In the United States this
year. To be exact the amount that
will be sent out to members oil
Christmas clubs all over the country
will be $39S,26S,000 and checks viii
be sent to 100000 members. This
figure represents an increase In
Christmas Club savings over 1925 OF
about $85,000,000, or u percent.
while the increase in the number OF
members over 1924 is IL 1-2 percent.
The average distribution per mem
Der amounts to $5132. This Is an
increase of about II percent. over
1925, when per member distribution
5 was SASS.
In addition to being record dis
tribution for the Christmas Club 10
a. record membership, more banks
participated in the movement during
1926 than ever before. This is the
result of q growing number of bank
ing institutions in the United States
realizing the benefits to be derived
from making the Christmas Club
plan available to their depositors.
On the basis Of calculations made
by II. F. Rawll, President Of the
Christmas Club, something like S179,-
42l.3So will be placed Immediately
into the stores of the country in the
rush Of Christmas buying; $l1o.146,--
400 will be deposited in permanent
savings and thrift accounts; s47,-
1882 will go for insurance prem
iums and mortgage interests; s42,-
76l,190 will go for taxes and Sl8,7o2.-
e48 will go to fixed charges maturing
in the holiday season.
Banks all over the country will be-
gin the distribution of this money
within the next few days. The
Christmas Club, organized sixteen
years ago by Mr.. Rawll, is designed
to promote systematic weekly saw
ing plan, for a fifty week period. for
the purpose of accommodating at the
end of the year a certain fixed
amount that can be used for any
anticipated purpose. Seven thousand
six hundred banks are participating
in the undertaking. While. consid-
cradle percentage of the accumula-
ton Is used for holiday purposes,
there has been an increasing percent
age of this sum redeposited in per
manent savings in each year the plan
has been operative.
Massachusetts leads the states in
per capita savings in this movement
with New York and Pennsylvania
not far behind. The largest Christ
mas Club in the United States is
operated by The Bank of the Man
haitian Company in its So branches
in Queens and Brooklyn. The club
numbers $4,000 members with an
aggregate deposit of s3,500,000.
oil. ,,NiIdlo Of nn-
cember and before the middle of jan
uary enrolment for the Christmas
Club for next year will be under
taken. These accounts are opened
at the bank, trust company or finan-
cial institution, and the members
select the class of payments best
suited to their individual require
ments, varying in amounts from CSC
a week, to $4,000 a week. and con-
tinue the payments in the classes
| selected for a period Of fifty weeks.
There are no fines, no dues and all
the money is returned by the bank
in one lump sum just before Christ
mas. 1t has been conseryatively es-
| timated that over two million new
permanent savings accounts have
been opened as a direct result of the
Christmas Club plan. The plan en-
courages saving on systematic
basis through the unique method
that it offers, and while in its early
stages it met with considerable criti-
cism on the part of many bankers.
there are few. If any. today that do
not admit it has been the means of
encouraging thrift on a tremendous
scale, principally by creating a point
of contact between the individual and
the bank and breaking down a GER
tain resistance that so many people
had with reference to the size of a
deposit acceptable in the savings or
thrift departments of banking insti-
tutions
In the five Liberty Loan Cam
paigns over 100000, 900 in Liberty
and Victory Bonds were sold to
twenty million investors on partial
payments through The Christmas
Club plan, which Mr.. Rawll. at that
time. adapted to the installment pur-
chase of government securities.
The distribution in New England
for the year 1926 viii be:
Maine .......... S1,794,S 500
New Hampshire -. 5S1,570
Vermont .......... 100000
Massachusetts :. 42,073,000
Rhode Island ...... 7S6,400
Connecticut 60n