OCR Text |
Show MAKES GOOD CITIZENS SAVINGS BANK FULFILLS PUR-, PUR-, POSE OF ITS CREATION. Need of Developing Institution to Enable En-able Poor Men to Accumulate Money Long Recognized. The rich were getting richer and tha poor wore getting poorer a century ao Juat as It Ih today. Students and Btatenmen maidenly came to the realization reali-zation of (ho horrors of poverty and the results of concentrating wealth In the hands of the rew. Tliia all followed fol-lowed in the wake of the French revolution. revo-lution. A study was made of the primal causes for such a condition. The conclusions reached were that the possession of property by a citizen Kave him a certain degree of respect toward the property belonging to others, oth-ers, ranking him generally as a peaceful, peace-ful, contented, and happy because prosperous citi.i-n, a unit of power and strength to the commonwealth. Thus the germ of the idea of the savings sav-ings hank fell upon fertile field. Many plans tor savings were conceived, con-ceived, some practical and others visionary. It remained, however, for Kov. Floury Duncan of Dumbriosshire, Scotland, to hit upon the lirst practical Heliomn fur a savings bank and to put it into execution. This first savings hank, organized In ISIO, was afterwards after-wards merged Into what is today the IOdinhurgh Sacings bank, one of the foremost savings hanks in Croat nrltain. The idea spread throughout Europe, and soon came across the Atlantic. At-lantic. Simultaneously In Boston, Now York and In Philadelphia copies of a pamphlet fell into the hands of prominent citizens. It was the plan of a savings bank then being formed In London. The fl 1st meeting to organize a sav-Ii.gs sav-Ii.gs bank was held In Now York city. The lirst bank to be Incorporated was In Boston and Philadelphia holds the honor of opening the first savings account ac-count In the United States on December Decem-ber 2, 1816. As In religion, so it Is in the field of savings banking. Certain prominent promi-nent citizens believed that the habit of thrift could be more successfully Inoculated through systematic payments pay-ments for home ownership and the building and loan associations and sayings say-ings und loan associations were created. cre-ated. It was not long before the people peo-ple saw the advantage of laying a little aside for a rainy day, which necessitated the establishment of more banks for savings. Up until this time the mutual type of savings bank predominated. This type of bank had no capital stock and was fu ulamentally a philanthropic, not charitable, institution, based upon the object of encouraging thrift. The second type of bank for savings was more of a business bank and was called a capital stock savings bank. It supplied the need. Money deposited with it was just as safe as with the mutual type. ! few years thereafter the ordinary commercial banks, which include the national banks, state banks and trust companies, opened up savings departments, so that the people peo-ple had no cause to complain that there were not convenient places to put their savings. Today each one of these agencies of thrift is actively encouraging en-couraging the eople to save and conserve con-serve so that this will he a nation of happy and prosperous citizens. |