No. of order. Cities and schools which have adopted the system. Number of school houses. Banks (each class one bank). Table showing the operations of school savings banks in the United States in 1890-Continued. Principal Miss S. P. Claflin Cheltenham, Pa............. 1 ..do. Principal Miss C. V. Spickernacle........ Mar. 1, 1890 Apr. 28, 1890 26 Chester, Pa.... 13 56 Feb. 24, 1890 27 West Chester, Pa 3 16 Feb. 24, 1890 Conshohocken, Pa..... 1 12 Apr. 7, 1890 Dr. D. W. Jefferis, president of the school board.. Mar. 18, 1890 Mr. J. A. Rupert, secretary of the school board........do. The school board 2,764 1,351 1,090.62 818 456 544.07 1,090, 62 544,07 ......do 601 231 298.94 298.94 29 West Grove, Pa.. 1 1 .do Miss L. Jennie Coates, principal. Apr. 28, 1890 121 48 19.95 18.95 30 Wilkes Barre, Pa.... 4 35 May 5, 1890 Superintendent A. W. Potter May 6, 1890 1,784 521 174.69 174.69 31 Juniata, Nebr.... 2 10 Sept. 22, 1890 32 Omaha, Nebr.............. 40 267 May 20, 1890 Principal W. S. Webster, formerly of MeCook.. Board of education, Superintendents H. M. James and A. Monroe. Nov. 10, 1890 169 66 31.32 31.32 Oct. 31, 1890 12,000 2,600 3, 411. 10 3,240.27 Recapitulation: One hundred and fifty-eight schools; 1,065 school savings banks; from 51,757 pupils, 29,974 are depositors of $69,957.76. LONG ISLAND CITY, N. Y., November 15, 1890. II. THE BROOKLINE (MASS.) SYSTEM. In a communication to the Bureau under date of April 10, 1890, Mrs. Edith Cabot describes the Brookline system of penny savings as follows: ** * "Our experience has been short, as we only began the work in January, but thus far the results have been most encouraging. "At first the teachers were doubtful about it, though with one exception they were all willing to give the necessary time and thought to it, showing themselves, as teachers almost always do, thoroughly unselfish in the matter. Now even the one who held back is convinced, for the savings in her room have become large and regular. "We made our system as simple as possible. The teacher in each room collects the savings in that room and records them for each child on a large card containing the names of all the children in her room, and also on small cards belonging to each child, which the child keeps and carries home. The under teacher deposits the money at once with the head teacher of the building, who gets a receipt for the amount. The head teacher deposits weekly in the savings bank. Where it is inconvenient for the head teacher to take charge of the money, in consequence of distance from the bank or her living out of town, a lady is appointed trustee for that school and takes the money every week from the head teacher, giving a receipt. As soon as any child has accumulated $2 he is advised to open a bank book of his own. In that case either his own father or mother or the trustee of the school becomes trustee for him. "We have already a large number of bank books opened for the children. It has not required as much of the teachers' time as we feared. I have inquired of a considerable number and find the average time required for the whole business twenty minutes. We collect always and in all the schools on Tuesday, as Monday is pay day in Brookline. The teachers attend to it as soon as the school opens, or sometimes in the few minutes before school. This is left to their preference, the committee only fixing the day and requesting that it be done early. We feared that the children would be anxious to draw their money out almost as soon as they had put it in, and asked the teachers to use their influence against that. The result is that, I believe, none has yet been drawn out, except where a child was leaving town. The amount collected has been much larger than we expected. In the school of which I am trustee, where there is an average of 142 children, I have collected $42.54 up to this time, beginning January 14. These children are all Irish and their fathers workingmen, most of them day laborers. The difficulty that you speak of, that the children do not earn the money, is an obvious one, but on the other hand they have the money, and use it for candy, cakes, etc. It is surely better to teach them to use it. The mere saving teaches them forethought and self-control and involves a good deal of care. "We find that they no longer need to be reminded that Tuesday is approaching, and the teachers carefully avoid it, and without diminution in the amount collected. I find that in this town the parents are much in the habit of paying their children for little services rendered to themselves, and this money is now brought to the penny savings instead of going to the candy shop. Of course this is an unsatisfactory method on the part of the parents, but I am sorry to say it is not confined to the poor, and certainly not brought about by the penny savings. "It was suggested that some of the children might be dishonest and would not deposit with the teacher all that was given him for the purpose by his parent. I have only known of one such case, and that was brought to light at once by the sending home of the child's card. The parent detected the discrepancy, but did not suspect the teacher in the least, and it resulted in an excellent lesson for the child. * * * "Our plan was founded on what I could learn of the French, Flemish, and Scotch system. I am quite sure that thus far it has done well for the parents as well as the children. Many of them will save for their children when they would not for themselves, and we reach in this way a good deal of money that would be wasted in little driblets which come to nothing, a fruitful source of want among the poor." UNIV. OF MICHIGAN, FEB 261914 |