dates and consequently of different encashment values is settled
by the committee of each association. Members can withdraw
before reaching the full 153. 6d. and the amount deposited is repaid,
but without interest. The advantage of the scheme lies in this, that
if 31 people individually save 6d. a week for 31 weeks, they will
each have a certificate at the end of 31 weeks, but if they join an
association to which they pay 6d. a week, the association is able to
buy one certificate each week, and at the end of 31 weeks it will
have 31 certificates. The first of these certificates is dated 30 weeks
earlier than a certificate bought by any member acting alone. On
the average, they will be dated 15 weeks earlier and consequently
will mature 15 weeks earlier. The books are provided free of cost
by the National Committee. The book-keeping is necessarily some-
what detailed, but it is essential for the protection of members.
This scheme was probably the most widely adopted.
Scheme zB is similar to Scheme 2A, but the certificates are
not distributed until one year after the subscriptions of any mem-
ber amount to 153. 6d. The scheme was not widely adopted, people
preferring to get their certificates immediately they had made up
their 153. 6d.
Scheme j is in essence a savings bank all the money received
being invested in War Savings certificates. The minimum sub-
scription is one penny. Any number of pennies are accepted. Sub-
scriptions are withdrawable at 14 days' notice, or without notice in
urgent cases. Each member has a book in which subscriptions are
entered. On the completion of the payment of 153. 6d. the member
is registered as being entitled to the payment of l at the end of
five years. The certificates are not distributed but are held by the
association until they mature. A few associations in schools adopted
this scheme, but after a time the majority ended by distributing the
certificates to their members and adopting Scheme 2A.
Scheme 4 was a scheme for investment by instalments in Ex-
chequer bonds and War Savings certificates, the Treasury pay-
ing interest on the amounts received at 5% per annum. During
the war no part of the amounts paid into the Treasury, were with-
drawable in cash. When an Exchequer bond or certificate was
fully paid for the Treasury issued the security to the association for
delivery to the member entitled to it, the cost of the securities
being charged to the amount standing to the credit of the assocja-
tjon with the Treasury. Cash was to be returned to the associa-
tion three months after the end of the war. This scheme was not
found satisfactory and was little adopted.
Scheme 5 is a scheme similar in principle to Scheme aA, but sub-
scriptions are paid by buying from the association sixpenny coupons.
The coupons are of a special " Swastika " design and can only be
used for subscribing to associations by whom they are issued. The
association is supplied on credit with coupons issued by the Cen-
tral Committee and these have to be accounted for. The associa-
tion overprints its coupons with its own serial number. Members
get a coupon for_each 6d. and place the coupon on a card. When
the card is full it is exchanged for one of the certificates already pur-
chased by the combined subscriptions of the members. As full
cards of coupons come in they are sent to the Central Office in
reduction of the association's liability for those supplied on credit.
(At a later date the coupons were issued to the associations in the
standing imprest system.) This scheme involved little or no ordi-
nary book-keeping. A register of the issue of certificates was kept.
The only clerical work involved of necessity was the keeping of a
careful stock of the coupons. The scheme was adopted on a large
scale and by some of the largest associations. As a general rule,
local committees handled the distribution of the coupons in their
districts. This threw a heavy burden on the local secretaries. Con-
siderable difficulty was experienced in many instances in clearing
coupon stock accounts, and the distribution of coupons on an enor-
mous scale threw a large amount of work on the head office. The
scheme is gradually being replaced by a more simple system of
cards and sayings stamps procurable from any post-office.
Scheme 6 is a. special scheme under which employers purchase
certificates in advance for employees with their own funds. The
certificates are purchased in blank, that is to say, unregistered, and
sold to" the employees by any form of instalment system pre-
ferred. The employer in effect makes a free grant to his employees
of the interest accruing on the money between the date of purchase
and the date of sale.
Scheme 7 is a development of an earlier system under which the
Post Office issued cards upon which 31 ordinary sixpenny postage
stamps could be affixed by anyone. A card when filled with stamps
was exchangeable at any money order office for a War Savings
certificate. There was no advantage from cooperation. It was
merely a simple device to enable people to save the money for a
certificate by instalments of 6d. each.
When the Armistice was signed the National Committee gave
careful consideration to devise some alternative scheme to avoid
the heavy clerical labour entailed in the working of Schemes 2A,
28, 3 and 5. This labour had been obtainable during the war on a
voluntary basis and it is possible that the very labour itself indirectly
assisted the movement in its early days in that it gave the officials
of associations the knowledge that they were doing something
definite for the benefit of the country in wartime. In 1918, the Post
Office agreed to the issue of a distinctive adhesive war savings stamp
with the Britannia head design. This stamp was placed on sale at
all post-offices. Special savings cards containing 31 spaces were
issued to savings associations. Treasurers and secretaries of asso-
ciations provided themselves with stocks of the stamps, which they
were authorized to procure as credit stocks, and they issued these to
their members for cash. With the cash they purchased more stamps.
The cards when filled were exchangeable for certificates at any money
order office, and savings stamps purchased at any post-office or
through any agency could be used. The scheme possessed consider-
able elasticity, as it enabled members of one association on trans-
ferring their residence to join another association and complete
their subscriptions, or they could fill their cards with stamps pur-
chased anywhere and exchange them for certificates anywhere.
The disadvantage lay in the absence of the benefit of the early dating
of certificates which was given by the other schemes an advantage
which, it was found in practice, was so generally appreciated that the
new scheme, in spite of the saving of labour to the officials of asso-
ciations, was not widely adopted. After considerable thought the
scheme was revised and early in 1921 a system was introduced
which, while maintaining the simplicity of Scheme 7, also gave the
benefit of the early dating of certificates. The predating of certifi-
cates is secured by the use of date labels. The date labels (printed
in pairs) are supplied by the National Savings Committee to the
association officials. Whenever the official purchases Britannia
head savings stamps, he can present at the post-office one pair of
these date labels for every 31 sixpenny stamps purchased. The
post-office official stamps the labels with a date stamp of that day.
When a member of the association presents a card filled up with
savings stamps all of which have been purchased from the associa-
tion, the secretary affixes to the certificate which is issued in exchange
for the card one of the officially dated date labels one date label is
affixed to the signature portion of the certificate and its fellow or
counterpart is fixed on the counterpart of the certificate in the cer-
tificate book. This scheme therefore preserves the full benefit of
early dating due to cooperative purchase and yet reduces the clerical
work of the association official to the smallest compass. The only
book which it is thought advisable for the official to keep is a con-
trol receipt book for acknowledging receipt of members' completed
cards given in exchange for certificates, this serving also as a register
of certificates, in case the member loses his certificate book.
The value of savings stamps sold to Nov. 30 1920 was 1,739,000,
of which approximately 1,464,000 had been exchanged for savings
certificates.
Municipal Savings Banks. The Municipal Savings Bank
(War Loan Investment) Act, 1916, authorized the establishment,
subject to certain restrictions, of municipal savings banks in
municipal boroughs with populations exceeding 250,000. The
only municipality to adopt this Act was Birmingham, where a
bank was started at the end of Sept. 1916. The " Birmingham
Corporation Act, 1919 " extended the powers of the Corporation
and authorized it to establish a savings and housing bank.
Navy, Army and Air Services. Although military savings
banks and facilities for saving in the army had existed since 1859,
with the recruiting of large numbers of civilians for the new
armies it was found that the normal methods of saving were
insufficient to attract very large sums of money.
On the issue of the 4^% War Loan in June 1915 it was felt
right that due facilities should be afforded the men in the army
for making their investments through the Post Office issue of
the Loan. Arrangements were accordingly made for any soldier
whose pay account was sufficiently in credit to invest by instal-
ments of 55., ios., i or 5, the amount being debited to his
account and transferred to the Post Office through the regi-
mental paymaster. Similar arrangements were made for the
navy and the scheme was found to work so smoothly that it
was eventually extended to Exchequer bonds and War Savings
certificates as they became available, and ultimately for deposits
SAVINGS MOVEMENT
367
in the Post Office Savings Bank. The Post Office undertook the
safe custody of the War Savings certificates and bonds for the
investors. Later in 1916, by arrangement with the War Office,
a special officer was entrusted with the work of establishing war
savings associations in the army, with very satisfactory results.
In 1917, 186,682 was saved through the army associations; in
1918, 3,162,975; in 1919, 1,804,380; and in 1920, over i, ooo,-
ooo, making a grand total of 6,000,000. In June 1920 the
Army Council, finding the savings associations had such a
beneficial effect, made an order that all units both at home and
abroad should form savings associations, and arrangements were
made for command paymasters stationed abroad to hold stocks
of certificates. The Air Ministry at the same time issued an
order on similar lines. The War Savings movement was also
carried into the navy and merchant service, suitable arrange-
ments being made for remittance of monies through the pay-
masters and pay offices.
Schools. It would be impossible to give even the briefest
summary of the War Savings movement without reference to
the work done by the savings associations in the schools of the
country. Thanks to the influence of the Board of Education,
and, particularly, to the efforts of a number of inspectors of the
Board who were lent for service with the National Committee
and who acted as the secretaries of the county committees and
as local representatives of the Committee in the provinces, but,
above all, thanks to the whole-hearted efforts of thousands of
schoolmasters and mistresses throughout the country, there was
scarcely an elementary school in the United Kingdom without
an efficient and vigorous association. Before the war a very large
number of schools had their penny banks. No attempt was
made to supplant these. With the cooperation of the savings
banks in connexion with which these penny banks were operated,
arrangements were made to continue the penny bank system
with the savings association methods, and often the two systems
were carried on in the same school side by side. The old penny
bank system as a " short term " saving machinery had a value
which it would have been undesirable to destroy, while it
naturally led by stages to the " long term " saving by means
of the certificate. Most of the schools continued their banks
and associations after the Armistice, and in no section of the
community is the movement more alive and progressive to-day.
It is impossible to say what proportion of the savings of the
country stand in the names of the children, but it must amount
to many millions sterling and this alone must have an incalcu-
lable effect on the future.
Propaganda. The human machine created by the National
Savings Committee was stimulated, from time to time, by every
kind of publicity method. Thousands of public meetings were
held and lectures given; educational pamphlets and leaflets
dealing with the elements of economics were distributed; special
campaigns with such stimulating machinery as " tank banks "
were inaugurated; a system of commissioners and organizers
in touch with headquarters kept closely in touch with the local
committees; special organizations dealt with the army and the
navy, munition works and other factories. The local authorities
rendered invaluable assistance to the local committees by the
loan of staff, the provision of office accommodation and in many
other ways. The London and provincial press were consistently
sympathetic to the movement and gave freely of their space to
record its activities and assist its campaigns. During the war
the organization was, from time to time, utilized by the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer to assist in the public issues of War
Bonds and War Loans. During these periods invaluable help
was given by leading press experts, who, in cooperation with the
National War Savings Committee, undertook the control of
special publicity campaigns (see WAR LOAN PUBLICITY CAM-
PAIGNS). These campaigns for the special issues greatly stim-
ulated the small investor. On each occasion of the issue of a
great public loan numbers of new associations came into being
and the weekly purchases of certificates were very much increased.
One of the most significant results of the adoption of these
methods of publicity and propaganda was the great extension
of the numbers of individual citizens holding Government secu-
rities. Whereas before the war it was estimated that there were
some 345,000 holders of Government securities, it is calculated
that no less than 1 7 million people have to-day a holding in some
form of State loan; while the aggregate amount subscribed
by small investors through the Post Office for War Loans and
other Government securities, including savings certificates,
was nearly 500,000,000 at the end of 1920.
Withdrawals. The Montagu Committee laid emphasis on the
fact that the small investor wishes to be able to withdraw his
savings at short notice without loss of capital. " The financial
emergencies of life come upon the working man with startling
suddenness. He may be thrown out of employment, or an illness
or death in the family may result in an immediate call. He has
not the facilities for credit which the wealthy or even the middle
classes enjoy and money only obtainable at six or twelve months'
notice is of little use to him." There is no doubt that the losses
sustained by the working-classes from their investments through
the Post Office in Consols and other similar long-dated securities
through the automatic fall in capital value due to the rise in the
general rate of interest has had in the past an adverse influence
on thrift. Hence the arrangements that War Savings certificates
should be repayable at a definite value which is never less than
the amount invested, and within two or three days of demand,
that is to say, allowing time for identification of the registered
holder to avoid payment to a wrongful possessor.
An analysis of the withdrawals of savings certificates is inter-
esting. The total number of certificates sold in the United King-
dom from Feb. 16 1916 to the end of Dec. 1920, was 440,076,000 in
i units, of a total value at 153. 6d. each of 343,259,000. The total
repayments due to withdrawals, including interest, amounted to
61,404,089, of which 3,521,948 8s. yd. represented interest. The
percentage of the value of certificates repaid (excluding interest)
to total value of certificates issued was 18-01 per cent. This per-
centage may be considered satisfactory when one considers the calls
upon the small investor and the fact that the current rate of inter-
est on the shares of well-established commercial and industrial
concerns since the Armistice has been very attractive. Much money
has been withdrawn for housing, as is evidenced by the case of
Higham Ferrers in Northants, a town of 2,500 people, where no less
than 50 men have bought their houses through investments in
savings certificates;
Post- Armistice Period. In 1917 a committee was appointed
by the National Committee to consider what facilities for saving
should be provided for the small investor after the war. The
committee in their report stated that the habit of saving had,
as a result of the War Savings movement, been formed by many
people of all classes who had not previously acquired it, and that
this habit ought not to be allowed to lapse and that the State
should continue to encourage saving after the war by continuing
to offer special facilities to the small investor. They saw no
reason to suppose that the State would at any time be unable to
use profitably the money of the small investor. They pointed
out that the ordinary borrowing capacity of the State would be
severely taxed by the necessity for renewing and, when possible,
consolidating the floating debt, and they considered it worthy
of serious consideration whether a plan might not be adopted
for applying the proceeds of post-war borrowing from the small
investor in order to secure funds for public utility services, such
as the housing of the working-classes and other projects of
social urgency, the funds for which it might be difficult, if not
impossible, to raise otherwise for a considerable period. The
committee strongly advised the preservation of the savings
machinery established during the war and recommended the
permanent continuance, subject to modifications, of the War
Savings certificate. The continuance of the savings organiza-
tion was also recommended by the " Committee on Financial
Facilities " appointed in 1917. In their report, dated Nov. 21
1918, they said:
" We are impressed by the enormous potential increase In the
number of the small investors. The continuance on the part of the
people of this country of the habit of investing their savings consti-
tutes a most important factor in the provision of the capital Acces-
sary for the rapid reconversion of trade and industry. It is impos-
sible to over-estimate the value of the work done by the war savings
associations throughout the country, in encouraging habits of thrift
368
SAVINGS MOVEMENT
BRITISH SAVINGS ASSOCIATIONS AFFILIATED AT DEC. 31 1919
County
Population
Business
Firms
Churches
Schools
Friendly
Societies
Clubs and
Institutes
Miscel-
laneous
Totals
England:
Beds .
194,588
73
27
92
3
6
59
260
Berks .
271,009
76
21
116
4
130
347
Bucks.
2i9,55i
50
16
68
2
124
260
Cambs
198,074
22
21
97
i
2
91
234
Ches. .
954,779
248
82
364
8
38
179
919
Corn. .
328,098
31
16
243
3
10
in
414
Cumb.
265,746
33
27
194
7
23
91
375
Derby.
683,423
182
37
345
6
23
106
699
Devon
699,703 ,
127
26
250
8
40
253
704
Dorset
223,266 '
21
23
85
14
109
252
Dur. .
1,369,860
324
74
236
2
75
174
885
Ess.
1,350,881
I 7 8
52
265
37
255
787
Glos. .
736,097
243
70
126
6
26
219
690
Hants.
950,579
274
72
404
19
52
225
1,046
Hereford .
114,269
3
n
89
5
7
57
172
Herts. . .
311,284
56
22
52
3
21
116
270
Hunts.
55-577
12
15
37
6
46
116
Kent .
1,045,591
223
77
293
ii
57
303
964
Lanes.
4,767,832
1,147
330
1,167
30
176
343
3,193
Leics. .
476,553
335
29
218
i
17
100
700
Lines. .
563,960
152
37
250
9
36
217
701
Lond. .
4,521,685
1,607
163
254
79
85
526
2,714
Middlesex .
1,126,465
190
60
240
9
40
IOO
639
Norf. .
499,116
58
18
79
3
8
225
39'
Northants .
348,515
166
18
163
10
18
106
481
Northumb.
696,893
198
41
IOI
15
36
164
555
Notts .
604,098
184
3
334
3
28
108
687
Oxon .
199,269
24
15
39
i
7
103
189
Rutl. .
20,346
16
2
23
41
Salop .
246,307
46
20
116
5
7
122
316
Som. .
458,025
109
39
168
2
H
260
592
Staffs .
1.348,259
508
63
478
9
27
154
1,239
Suff. .
394,060
85
18
209
3
19
236
570
Sur. .
845,578
156
55
233
n
47
2OO
702
Sus.
663,378
68
63
134
18
34
226
543
Warwick .
1,040,409
3ii
55
264
8
40
166
844
Westm.
63,575
12
8
43
3
5
58
129
Wilts .
286,822
82
19
64
13
153
S3 2
Worcs.
526,087
138
23
265
5
19
97
547
Yorks, E. R. .
432,759
112
3
85
10
22
87
346
Yorks, N. R. .
419,546
42
13
103
7
130
295
Yorks, W. R. .
3-045-377
I,l6o
294
1-235
52
166
313
3,220
Wales:
Anglesey
50,928
6
10
22
4
19
61
Brecknock .
59,287
4
ii
32
ii
58
Cardigan .
59,879
3
H
IOI
i
17
136
Carmarthen
160,406
21
28
158
2
2
24
235
Carnarvon.
125,043
12
7
19
7
45
90
Denbigh
144,783
14
35
55
I
2
53
160
Flint .
92,705
4
9
18
2
2
16
51
Glamorgan
1,120,910
285
146
386
7
42
IOI
967
Merioneth .
45,565
I
34
i
19
55
Monmouth
395,719
III
41
261
3
4
58
478
Montgomery
53,H6
9
3
37
i
i
23
74
Pembroke .
89,960
4
10
99
2
H
129
Radnor
22,590
4
30
I
I
21
57
Overseas
. .
. .
. ,
. .
. .
20
20
Army A ssocia-
tions
936
936
Totals .
9,540
2,452
10,866
392
1,379
8,242
32,967
In addition the undermentioned Savings Associations were affiliated under special schemes:
Employers 1,721
School Post Office 587
Government Offices . . 121
SALES AND REPAYMENTS OF NATIONAL WAR SAVINGS CERTIFICATES (Feb. iQi6-Dec. 1020)
Period
Certificates
l units
Purchase Price
Repayments includ-
ing exchange for
War Loan, etc.
Interest paid
1916 Feb.-Dec.
1917 6 months ended June
Dec
1918 June
Dec
54,430,604
56,381,849
30,083,722
74,210,407
6^ ^Qd. d.72
42,183,718
43.695,933
23,314,884
57,513,066
en 8l5 7l6
287,448
1,294,750
1,840,983
2,372,099
492
10,972
36,524
85 216
e-3 171 87A
272 760
" Dec.
1920 June
Dec
32,741,850
25,045,649
25,374,933
19,410,378
17,096,541
14.733.338
1,202,495
I,3l6,38l
Totals Feb. igi6-Dec. 1920 ...
440,441,390
341,342,077
61,404.660
3,522,817
SAVINGS MOVEMENT
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE BRITISH SMALL INVESTOR, 1914-9
(Decreases are printed in italics)
369
Date
Post Office
and Trustee
Savings
Bank Depos-
its (Net
Receipts)
Post Office Issues
War
Savings
Certificates
Purchase
Price
Certificate
Repayments
including
Exchanges
for War
Loans, etc.
Net
Cash
Total
4l*and 5 %t
War Loans
5 and 6 %
Exchequer
Bonds
5 % National
War Bonds
4 % Victory
Bonds J
4 % Funding
Loan **
Total for five months 1914
1,152,000
1 ...
137 138
139 ...
459