Samuel Smiles：Thrift, Excerpt 253

A vigorous effort was made by Mr. Akroyd of Halifax, in 1856, to establish a Provident Sick Society and Penny Savings Bank for the working men in the West Riding of Yorkshire. An organization was set on foot with these objects; and though the Penny Bank proved a complete success, the Provident Society proved a complete failure. Mr. Akroyd thus explains the causes of the failure: "We found the ground preoccupied," he says, "by Friendly Societies, especially by the Odd Fellows, Druids, Foresters, etc.; and against their principles of self-government, mutual check against fraud, and _brotherhood_, no new and independent society can compete. Our rates were also of necessity much higher than theirs, and this was perhaps one of the chief causes of our failure."

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14418
Locator：Excerpt 253 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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