Thrift

We often hear of men who have been diligent and useful members of society, dying and leaving their wives and families in absolute poverty. They…

Conduct such as this is not only thoughtless and improvident, but heartless and cruel in the last degree. To bring a family into the world, give them…

It will be admitted, that the number of men who can lay by a sufficient store of capital for the benefit of their families, is, in these times of…

Take the case of a married man with a family. He has begun business, and thinks that if his life were spared, he might in course of years be able…

Now, if he had deposited this twelve or thirteen pounds yearly in a bank, or employed it at interest, it would have taken about twenty years before…

In this way, life assurance may be regarded in the light of a contract, by which the inequalities of life are to a certain extent averaged and…

The Friendly or Benefit Societies of the working classes are also Co-operative Societies under another form. They cultivate the habit of prudent self…

English benefit societies, notwithstanding their great uses and benefits, have numerous defects. There are faults in the details of their…

To quote the words of the Registrar of Friendly Societies, in a recent report: "Though the information thus far obtained is not very encouraging as…

The workmen's societies originated for the most part in a common want, felt by persons of small means, unable to accumulate any considerable store of…

Many persons object to Friendly Societies because they are conducted at public-houses; because many of them are got up by the keepers of…

It so happens that the world cannot be conducted on superfine principles. To most men, and especially to the men we are speaking of, it is a rough,…

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…

Attempts have been recently made--more especially by the officers of the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows--to improve the financial condition of their…

We believe that time and experience will enable the leaders of Friendly Societies generally to improve them, and introduce new ameliorations. The…

Friendly Societies began their operations before there was any science of vital statistics to guide them; and if they have made mistakes in mutual…

In a country such as this, where business is often brought to a standstill by over-trading and over-speculation, many masters, clerks, and workpeople…

Even the Co-operative Cotton-mills, or Co-operative Banks, which are nothing more than Joint-stock Companies, Limited,[1] may become bankrupt. They…

Mr. Bright stated in the House of Commons, in 1860,[2] that the income of the working classes was "understated at three hundred and twelve millions a…

Surely, out of this large fund of earnings, the working classes might easily save from thirty to forty millions yearly. At all events, they might…

The instances which we have already cited of persons in the humbler ranks of life having by prudential forethought accumulated a considerable store…

It often happens that workmen lose their employment in "bad times." Mercantile concerns become bankrupt, clerks are paid off, and servants are…

With ten pounds a workman might remove from one district to another where employment is more abundant. With ten pounds, he might emigrate to Canada…

We do not value money for its own sake, and we should be the last to encourage a miserly desire to hoard amongst any class; but we cannot help…

The first savings bank was started by Miss Priscilla Wakefield, in the parish of Tottenham, Middlesex, towards the close of last century,--her object…

It was not until the Rev. Henry Duncan, the minister of Ruthwell, a poor parish in Dumfriesshire, took up the subject, that the savings-bank system…

Not many labouring men may apprehend the deep arguments of the religious teacher, but the least intelligent can appreciate a bit of practical…

Hence originated the parish savings bank of Ruthwell, the first self-supporting institution of the kind established in this country. That the…

The example set by Dr. Duncan was followed in many towns and districts in England and Scotland. In every instance the model of the Ruthwell parish…

The establishment of savings banks with these objects, at length began to be recognized as a matter of national concern; and in 1817 an Act was…

It is not the highly-paid class of working men and women who invest money in the savings banks; but those who earn comparatively moderate incomes.…

There is another fact that is remarkable. The habit of saving does not so much prevail in those counties where wages are the highest, as in those…

Private soldiers are paid much less wages per week than the lowest-paid workmen, and yet they put more money in the savings banks than workmen who…

Wonderful is the magic of Drill! Drill means discipline, training, education. The first drill of every people is military. It has been the first…

Nations, as they become civilized, adopt other methods of discipline. The drill becomes industrial. Conquest and destruction give place to production…

On efficient drilling and discipline, men's success as individuals, and as societies entirely depends. The most self-dependent man is under…

One dare scarcely hint, in these days, at the necessity for compulsory conscription; and yet, were the people at large compelled to pass through…

Military savings banks were first suggested by Paymaster Fairfowl in 1816; and about ten years later the question was again raised by Colonel…

The idea, however, seems to have occurred to the Duke, that the proposal to facilitate the saving of money by private soldiers might be turned to…

But this is not all. Private soldiers, out of their small earnings, are accustomed to remit considerable sums through the post office, to their…

Soldiers serving abroad during arduous campaigns have proved themselves to be equally thoughtful and provident. During the war in the Crimea, the…

And yet the private soldiers do not deposit all their savings in the military savings banks,--especially when they can obtain access to an ordinary…

The same feeling of suspicion frequently prevents workmen depositing money in the ordinary savings bank. They do not like it to be known to their…

The miners at Bilston, at least such of them as put money in the savings bank, were accustomed to deposit it in other names than their own. Nor…

A magistrate at Bilston, not connected with the employment of workmen, has mentioned the following case. "I prevailed," he says, "upon a workman to…

From what we have said, it will be obvious that there can be no doubt as to the ability of a large proportion of the better-paid classes of working…

A respectably dressed working man, when making a payment one day at the Bradford savings bank, which brought his account up to nearly eighty pounds,…

When well-paid workmen such as these are able to accumulate a sufficient store of savings, they ought gradually to give up hard work, and remove from…

"Some save for their rent," said Mr. Queckett, "others for clothes and apprenticing their children; and various are the little objects to which the…

A powerful influence was next given to the movement by Mr. Charles W. Sikes, cashier of the Huddersfield Banking Company, who advocated their…

"If a committee at each institution," he said, "were to adopt this course, taking an interest in their humble circumstances, and in a sympathizing…

This admirable advice was not lost. One institution after another embraced the plan, and preliminary savings banks were, shortly established in…

Thirty-six Penny Banks were established in and around Glasgow. The committee, in their Report, stated they were calculated "to check that reckless…

Thus the Penny Bank is emphatically the poor man's purse. The great mass of the deposits are paid in sums not exceeding sixpence, and the average…

It is clear, therefore, that the Penny Bank reaches a class of persons of very small means, whose ability to save is much less than that of the…

At one of the Penny Banks in Yorkshire, an old man in receipt of parish outdoor relief was found using the Penny Bank as a place of deposit for his…

But the principal supporters of the Penny Banks are boys, and this is their most hopeful feature; for it is out of boys that men are made. At…

One evening a boy presented himself to draw £l 10. According to the rules of the Penny Bank a week's notice must be given before any sum exceeding…

Thus these institutions give help and strength in many ways, and, besides enabling young people to keep out of debt and honestly to pay their way,…

But another capital feature in the working of Penny Banks, as regards the cultivation of prudent habits among the people, is the circumstance that…