resist. At all events, the progressive addition of interest is lost during the period of accumulation, and it even frequently happens that the chest of the servant or labourer is not safe from the depredations of the dishonest; while the very feeling of insecurity which such a circumstance inspires must operate as a fatal check to habits of saving." A similar effect results from the instances that have often occurred, where those poor persons, who had in despite of every discouragement accumulated a little capital, have been tempted, by the offer of a high rate of interest, to lend it to persons of doubtful characters, whose bankruptcy has involved them in irremediable ruin. It is plain, therefore, that few things are likely to be of greater advantage, with a view to the formation of those new and improved habits which must necessarily result from the diffusion of a spirit of frugality and forethought among the poor, than the institution of savings-banks, or places of safe, convenient, and advantageous deposit for their smallest savings. They no longer can plead the want of facility of investment, in excuse for their wasting what little they can save from their wages in gin shops, or other idle or injurious gratifications. They may now feel assured, that their savings, if they carry them to a savings-bank, and the interest accumulated upon them, will be faithfully preserved to meet their future wants. And those only who are so thoughtless or so degraded as to prefer idleness and dissipation to industry and economy, will decline availing themselves of whatever means of accumulation may be in their power. The habit, once contracted, of carrying their surplus earnings to a savings-bank, they will find that it involves no privation; and that the consciousness of having improved their position, and provided some security against unlooked-for evils, is in itself a high enjoyment. It may be said, perhaps, that these statements apply rather to what savings-banks should be than to what they are; and 1 Duncan on Parish Banks, p. 3. 2 it must be confessed that instances have occurred in which these establishments have been grossly mismanaged, and the funds of the contributors been wasted and embezzled. Luckily, however, these instances bear but a small proportion to the entire number of savings-banks. And it is to be hoped that means may be devised to prevent their recurrence; and to afford to the depositors that perfect security which is so desirable, and so essential to the completeness of the system. The deposits in savings-banks are very large, having amounted in Great Britain, on the 20th Nov. 1850, to the immense sum of £31,208,322. But the practical value of the system must not, we are sorry to say, be measured by the magnitude of the deposits. Advantage has not, in truth, been taken of it to nearly the same extent by those work-people for whose use it was mainly intended, as by the classes immediately above them. Tradesmen and farmers, and their families, and many individuals belonging to the middle classes, have not been slow to avail themselves of the advantages of savings-banks; and they have been a good deal resorted to by domestic servants, especially by females. But ordinary labourers, and particularly those working by the day, have been seldom found, at least compared with those now referred to, carrying their surplus earnings to savings-banks. This is much to be regretted; for they are the very class to which these institutions would be of the greatest service. Perhaps something might be done to overcome or lessen this culpable neglect of their own obvious interests on the part of work-people. A man who will not avail himself of the means in his power for securing himself against want, has but slender claims on the bounty of others. And it were well, perhaps, if the treatment of the poor applying for relief were made materially to depend on the extent to which they had availed themselves, when in health and in employment, of these and similar institutions. It is unnecessary to engage in this place in any discussion with respect to the comparative merits of friendly so cieties and savings-banks. Both are excellent, and well fitted to promote the advantage of the labouring-classes. The promotion of habits of accumulation is but a secondary object in the formation of a friendly society; and though it certainly has that effect, it has it, generally speaking, in a less degree than a savings bank. Its grand object is to provide a security against future want to guard against those accidents and casualties to which all are liable, and against which no individual efforts can ever afford an effectual protection. A savings-bank is unquestionably also a most valuable institution; but it does not supersede the other. It does not give the poor man that security which is given him by his becoming a member of a well-constituted friendly insurance society. Nothing, therefore, can be more unreasonable and ill-founded, than the hostility to friendly societies manifested by many patrons of savings-banks. Both institutions are intended to promote the improvement of the poor, and to enable them to support themselves. And being equally well calculated to effect these desirable objects, it is, to say the least, not a little inconsequential and absurd for those who are the friends of the one, to labour to misrepresent the other, and to bring it into disrepute. It would, however, be unjust not to mention, that though some of the patrons and supporters of savings banks are opposed to friendly societies, there are many amongst them who take a more correct and comprehensive view of the subject, and who are equally friendly to both. The advantages of friendly societies are nowhere better stated than in the tract, to which we have already referred, of the late Dr Duncan of Ruthwell, who was one of the first to promote the foundation of savings-banks, and to whose philanthropy and intelligence these institutions have been largely indebted. "There is one point of view," says he, "in which the friendly society scheme can claim a decided advantage. An individual belonging to the labouring part of the community cannot expect, by making the most assiduous use of the provisions of a savings-bank, to arrive at sudden independence; on the contrary, it is only by many years of industry and economy that the flattering prospects held out by that system can be realised. But health is precarious, and accident or disease may in a moment put an end to all the efforts of the most active and expert. It is under such circumstances that a very striking difference appears in favour of the friendly society scheme. He who should trust entirely to the progressive accumulation of his funds in a savings-bank, might now find himself fatally disappointed. If he had not been fortunate enough to realise a considerable capital before the sources of his subsistence were dried up, the illness of a few weeks or months might reduce him to a state of want and dependence, and cause him to experience the unhappiness of mourning over impotent efforts and abortive hopes. On the other hand, the man who has used the precaution to become a member of a friendly society has made a comfortable and permanent provision against the sudden attack of disease and accident. The moment he comes to acquire the privilege of a free member, which, by the rules of most of those institutions, is at the end of the third year after he began to contribute, he is safe from absolute want, and the regular manner in which his weekly allowance is paid him enhances its value. Nor is this provision liable to any of these objections, which have been so strongly urged against the system of poor rates. Instead of degrading and vitiating the mind, its tendency is directly the reverse. The poor man feels that he is reaping the fruit of his own industry and forethought. He has purchased, by his own prudent care, an honourable resource against the most common misfortunes of life; and even when deprived of the power to labour for a livelihood, an honest pride of independence remains to elevate and ennoble his character." 1 An Essay on the Nature and Advantages of Parish Banks, 2d Edition, p. 50. CHAPTER X. Influence of the Poor-Laws over the condition of the It would be foreign to the purposes of this treatise to enter into any lengthened inquiries in regard to the principles and practical operation of the poor-laws. They were instituted principally with a view to the advantage of the poor. But by providing a refuge and a support to the latter in periods of revulsion and distress, they powerfully contribute to maintain the public tranquillity, and consequently conduce to the prosperity of the other classes. Practically, however, their influence is of a mixed description, and is in part at least unfavourable. It would be easy to show that in countries like this, a compulsory provision for the maintenance of those who are unable to maintain themselves, is not only a most valuable, but an indispensable institution. Yet it is plain that such provision being independent of their own industry and thrift, will in some degree detract from that sense of selfreliance on which the well-being of every man must always mainly depend. And it is farther plain, that if you make the provision equal and indiscriminate-if you place the industrious and the lazy, the frugal and the thriftless, on the same footing, you can hardly fail to weaken some of the most powerful motives to good conduct in the virtuous part of the community, and to strengthen the vicious propensities in those that are bad. And hence it is, that much of the real effect of a compulsory provision for the poor depends on the mode in which it is administered. law says that no man in England shall be allowed to suffer the extremity of want, and in so far it treats all classes alike. This equality does not, however, go for much. Her peculiar rewards still remain to industry. The labourer who has saved some little property by contributing to a savings-bank The |