Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-12-30 | Page 44 | 1000 Tire Workers Receive Bank Books

11 IE WORKERS iffilOif BOOKS Firestone Rubber Company Starts Thrift Campaign for All Employees. "Only a saving people can ultimately be successful, either individually or as a nation," declared President tj. K. Firestone Fire-stone of the Firestone Tire and Rubber company, in announcing the Christinas gift bv the company to each employee at Akron, Ohio, of a bank book with a credit of $1 deposited in a local bank. More than 10,000 people, ranging from department depart-ment heads to the newest office boys, shared in this distribution. 10a rh employee in the fifty branches outside of Akron was given a $1 thrift stamp. "We, as a country, are just beginning to appreciate, the value of thrift," continued con-tinued Mr. Firestone. "We have been so prosperous that Ben Franklin's advice, 'tave tlie pennies and the pounds Will take care of themselves,' has been unheeded. un-heeded. "The thrift of the individual German has aided that nation a great deal in the world war. Before the beginning of the war she had 23,S"1,657 savings bank depositors, de-positors, out of a total population of 67,-810.000. 67,-810.000. The United States, with a population popu-lation Of .101.SS2.479, lias but 11.2S5r755 depositors. Thus, 35 per cent of Germany's Ger-many's people are thrifty, as compared with only 10 per cent in this country. "Again, the average amount deposited per inhabitant is, in Germany, S70.26, as against only $49.05 in this country. "So it can be plainly seen that the saving habit must be inculcated in the minds of the American people to hasten the successful end of the war. , "But with our nation involved in this war. witii every man, woman and child enlisted in the right, with hundreds of thousands of our boys in the trenches, with food conservation an immediate need; with the Red Cross, the Y. M. C A. and other valuable organizations needing funds and supplies, it is necessary to save save save! "The company's one underlying thought in putting these books in the hands of our employees is that the original orig-inal deposit may swell many fold, that every employee will realize more than ever the value of saving, thus becoming a better American. "The bank book is the seed of all thrift. From this source have come the mighty billions of the Liberty loans, the mercy millions of the Red Cross, the man-making millions of the Y. M. C. A. "It is my hope that every book of the thousands given today sht.J N. a mighty help to the spirit of saving and the practice prac-tice of thrift."