LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington, August 31, 1914. SIR: Education for life must include much more than the conning and reciting of lessons in textbooks and the working out of assigned tasks in the laboratory. Among other things in a country and a civilization like ours, it must include some instruction in the simple principles of economics and some training in the use of money and in habits of thrift. The increasing use of the school savings bank indicates one simple, easy, and practical method of making this a part of the education of the schools. The general adoption of the school savings banks by the schools of the country would, I believe, result in much good. To give information about the origin and growth of the school savings banks and the methods of conducting them, I recommend that the accompanying manuscript, prepared by Mrs. Sara Louise Oberholtzer in cooperation with this bureau, be published as a bulletin of the Bureau of Education. Respectfully submitted. The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. P. P. CLAXTON, 5 SCHOOL SAVINGS BANKS. I. INTRODUCTION-THE VALUE OF SCHOOL SAVINGS BANKS. The value of school savings banks is widely recognized. School saving develops the child's individuality and self-responsibility, causing him to consider the earning value of money, and to understand it as a comfort factor and a power for good. If the proper idea is imparted in the teaching, the saving of pennies becomes an incentive to industry, honesty, and generosity; the child learns that only by owning will he have the power to expend and distribute. Realization of the accumulative force and interest-bearing ability of small sums of money becomes an incentive to save from waste. As a nation we need to develop the sense of economy and thrift. In general, Americans know better how to earn than how to save. We need to be constantly reminded that it is not so much the lack of ability to acquire money as lack of judgment in expending it wisely that occasions penury. A large amount of practical education-moral, industrial, and economic-would undoubtedly lessen the proportion of crime and pauperism. The nonproducing classes, when educated and trained, become producers, thereby improving the community at large. If the paupers and criminals, who are a drain on society and a menace to civilization, had been given instruction in moral and practical economy when young, few, if any, of them would have become what they are. It is very difficult to teach thrift to men and women who have grown up ignorant of its first essentials. In children, however, we have unwrought material to work with, and we can as readily impress them with the habit of economy as we can teach them arithmetic and geography. Frugality is one of the most important factors of citizenship. When every boy and girl in the country has a bank account of from $100 to $400 at the time of graduation from the elementary school course-an achievement possible in any community where school savings banks are in operation-the future will be far more secure. An accumulated fund of this sort makes it possible for the boy or girl to engage in a small business, go on with higher study, or do whatever most appeals to him or her. It is of great economic value to a nation to have a frugal, understanding people, and if for no other reason than that of national well-being, practical thrift should be taught in the schools. Recently many prominent schoolmen have come to realize the fundamental importance of thrift-teaching. Thus Dr. Nathan C. Schaeffer, superintendent of public instruction for Pennsylvania, writes: It affords me pleasure to bear testimony to the value of thrift-teaching in connection with school savings banks as they have been introduced into some schools in Pennsylvania. Careful management of these savings and the teaching of thrift by this means will prepare the pupils for their future duties as citizens and the makers of homes. I wish school savings banks abundant success. Mr. Charles D. Hine, secretary of the State Board of Education of Connecticut, is active in his advocacy of school savings banks. He has mailed pamphlets on school savings to his superintendents, and says, "I think practical thrift should be taught in all public schools." State Supt. Hyatt, of California, writes: "I should be glad to see school savings banks in all the schools of California. They are worthy of high commendation." Superintendent of Schools W. J. McKone, of Albion, Mich., where school savings have been collected since 1901, says: "Our experience with the school savings bank has been exceedingly satisfactory. I become more and more convinced of its educational value to our young people;" and the secretary of the board of education in the same city adds: "As a department of our public schools for the teaching of economy, thrift, and business habits, I consider the school savings bank of great value; any system of education is incomplete without it." The report of the public schools of Augusta, Me., where the school savings system was taken up in 1900 and has been actively popular ever since, declares: It is an institution to be heartily encouraged. While the deposits of the pupils frequently reach surprisingly high figures, and have been known to make possible college education, the chief value of this banking lies in its power as a developer of character. The value of the deposit is not at all commensurate with the worth of the habit encouraged thereby-power of self-denial, prudence, thrift, and economy. Gum and candy are sacrificed, while pennies, teeth, and health are saved. Supt. Marshall, of Augusta, adds his personal word: The thrift-teaching is invaluable here. The habits of self-denial, industry, thoughtfulness, and frugality encouraged and acquired by the children in the school savings work are beyond compute. Augusta gives it unqualified approval. Mr. Addison L. Jones, superintendent of the West Chester (Pa.) public schools, where the school savings banks system was adopted in 1890 and has been in continuous successful use, said recently: It has almost weeded the cigarette habit out of our school. It is the making of our boys. One of our pupils saved $750, and is putting himself through college. Another boy used his school savings to start a little business, and he is now partner in a good grocery store here. I believe that the thrift habit is of more practical value than anything we teach. A number of the public school scholars of Atlantic City, N. J., were able to take a course in the State normal school by means of their school savings, and from Norristown, Pa., comes this word: A whole book of incidents could be readily collected of the help and advantage the thrift habit has been to our former pupils, who are now men and women. and a good bank account are fine assets. Good habits Mr. A. D. Call, former principal of the Henry Barnard school, in Hartford, said of the work there: It has decreased the use of cheap candy and things that are hurtful to children. A candy shop near the entrance of the school building has been closed for lack of trade. The attention of the scholars is more carefully on their studies. Seventy-five per cent of them are depositors. I believe fully in the efficiency and the efficacy of school banking. Mrs. A. R. Cowles, of Barton, Vt., for 10 years W. C. T. U. superintendent of school savings banks in that State, where the work has been successful in Newport, Middlebury, Barton, Brattleboro, and St. Johnsbury public schools, writes under date of March 8, 1914: Our State superintendent of education very much approves of school savings banks. At the teachers convention just held in Barton the teachers were anxious to get school savings literature, and the system has been taken up in Newport Center, Westfield, and North Troy schools and in one school in Montpelier. Our people now see the value of training boys and girls to good habits and frugality. Interesting evidence as to the economic and educational value of thrift-teaching in small country schools comes from Miss Helen Garrett, secretary of the Edgemoor (Del.) Iron Works, who established the school savings system as an economic help to the 50 scholars in the public school there in 1898. The children were chiefly those of the employees of the iron works and have deposited since that time $5,533.64, as their school savings. Several people who started saving in the school have moved to other places, but a great many of these continue to make deposits in the savings bank, though independent of any school records. Through the school work some of the parents have started accounts, influenced by the children's example, and now one of the mothers in our village has over $600 deposited in her own name. From Birmingham and Leeds, England, where school savings are collected in all the public schools, comes this: Bits of money and bits of time are put to better uses. Boys and girls are learning the bearing thrift has on cleanliness and industrious habits. These opinions of educators and others from different points where school savings banks have been long in use may give some idea of the general estimate of thrift-teaching where it has been tested. Mr. John Henry Thiry, who was so deeply impressed with the economic and educational value of the work to which he devoted himself, said, in one of his many prints on the subject: If school savings banks were generally established and well managed, there would be fewer mendicants on the streets asking for alms, fewer aged and infirm people in 65756°-15-2 |