Show the r first arst savings bank dep lix about saco flint tor T or ose reame in t 1 i t by S W STRAUS ri nent now mew york lad chisato banita one hundred and ton ten years OK ago there were no bi ivings banks banki tho the st strivings ivIngs bank Is tin institution which wits founded lit in the year 1810 by rev henry dunean duncan in the little scottish village of before that time poverty seemed to bo be the normal cou of half tho the population of tho the isles pauperism was so KO common os as to cause no hundreds duds or of tit in scotland uil alone lived on ch arity anti it wits geul rally accepted us as a hopeless fact that tile poor wo we have always with us ua doctor duncan was ans of sturdy scotch coven covenantor blood lie iio wits i a wrin of unusual of 0 character origin bilty and resource and eilent for making friends friend tile distress of its ills preyed heavily on oil doctor Dunc duncens uns mind and tio lie felt it if there wits na some soine way any of teaching them to be thrifty lie ho would have an remedy for the lie poverty lie saw all around film the chief trouble wits s that this the small est buirt the public banks would nc lie capt was ais 10 and comparatively few of tile scottish villagers imd had so large it sum about 1870 lit in american coin ko go doctor duncan conceived tile idoa idea of a poor innes blink na as lio lie called it abich would receive deposits of ally amount nino however after studying tho the subject long and carefully lie published a pamphlet to call attention to ills his project so us its lio ns to render tills measure suitable 0 not ot for ono one locality only but for scotland and tho the world 11 ula be only ly banes tile tho poor lind in yi days were it stocking a chink in tiie the wall or ft a loose board in the floor they were often robbed and tho the temptation to use a portion of tills precious nest egg was often too strong doc cpr oi duncan argued shrewdly that it 1 heir funds were cio transferred to it bank wey they not only would bo be safe front from theft nit but pic lio owners would hesitate to break into them except in cases of urgent need in ills pamphlet lio lie says it if any method then could be devised for giving to tho the artisan a place of security free of expense for that part of his gains which tho the immediate bonts of ills family ao zot till tile he power to reclaim nil all or port part of f it tit nt pleasure it would bo be a most tiling even it if no interest should ila bo received recal ed of courso course there were pessimists out and suspicion ail ciul prejudice to overcome but sit lit lust last it 1810 file lie bank i ans as opened in III n little cottage there were no vil but it 11 larg lion iron strong box too envy to moved move by land 11 nn the purpose in ili lew of ian lie 11 1 shiell liu lie says was uns enter wiled by many jnnny doctor provided three loika locks for ill alir strong ax box uc lie hell held onu one key art aind two eldera of its church each held tile others ot of c concho the alio box tax could not lie opened without lt bont nil all three kois keys la in tin tile presence of till nil three hrco trustees rus toca in ili ilia alio list first year the deposits to ciril in ill tile second your year lita was fth deposited this grew to in the third und and ED OK I 1 or more than lit in the fourth for it poverty port stricken village deposits deposit aggregating more alyin were ro carded na its remarkable since it must bo be remembered that till nil deposits were MIO in fc infill sums tho effect of lie opening of the st ivings bank on the was at till nil that doctor duncan hoped for within n year cur there was it remarkable de clenso in ili tho ilia number of those w who ho sought charity thrift und happl tiem replace poverty tin and discontent with in fit it few yeura years there wits was scarcely ri fi pauper lit in tile village as doctor dun call ann records lit in tile meanwhile the fame of remarkable kuhlo little institution began to spread and doctor duncan soon found bilat ills his indora ns as it in InIster were swallowed up tip by those of it 11 banker ills 1114 correspond correspondence enco increased day by lilly letters poured in from all over gland and the continent of europe and from america asking tor for information in ili 1814 lie ho published it look book on oil siev sa and st savings ivIngs banks began tr tf spread throughout the british isles it seems strange lit at tills this time to rend read that savings banks could have aroused op position tills this however was a fact there was a bitter light in parliament before tile first savings bank net wn wits passed in it 1817 cobbett OL ibbett tho the beef known editor of his day used hili powerful influence against the plan but doctor duncan wits was a t fighter as well ns its it philanthropist lie went before the committee of parliament himself und and so impressed both lords and commons with ills sincerity tile force of lita ills personality and tile justice of ills his cause that the bill was wag passed tills was in ili 1817 savings banks sproul spread rapidly over gren great britain and ail then over till nil the rest or of tho tha world |