FIRST  ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC BY THE BANK FOR SAVINGS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK






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Continuation from <a href="/Business/BankSavings.NYC.html"><font color="red">Bank of Savings..Pt1</font></a>

                                     June, 1819

      Explaining the objects of the above bank, which is now ready to
receive deposits every Monday, from 11 A.M.to 2 P.M., and every Saturday
evening, from 6 to 9 o'clock, in the New York Institution (formerly the
Alms-House), in Chambers Street.
      The Legislature of the State having at their last session incorporated
this institution, the Directors now offer its advantages to all classes of
their fellow-citizens.
      It is generally known that in Great Britain institutions of this kind
have produced the most beneficial effects, and in this country circumstances
seem still more favorable to their utility. Several of them are known in
successful operation in our sister States.
      It is a common remark, that the unconditional and indiscriminate
relief of the indigent increases the amount of poverty. It is often an
injury to the poor themselves. By inducing them to rely on gratuitous and
undeserved assistance, it destroys their sense of dignity and self-respect,
degrades them in their own estimation, and reduces them to the abject
condition of idle indifference and daily dependence.
      This institution is liable to no such objections. It is not a common
charitable institution, although it will prove emphatically charitable in
its ultimate effects. It will help none but those who are willing to help
themselves.
      The Act of Incorporation, and the regulations for the government of th
is bank, will so fully explain its design that little more need be said
respecting it. Its object is as plain as it is useful and salutary.
      It is intended to furnish a secure place of deposit for the savings of
Mechanics, Manufacturers, Mantua-makers, Cartmen, Seamen, Laborers; in
short, of all who wish to lay up a fund for sickness, for the wants of a
family or for old age.
      To many industrious persons, who have saved a little property and who
do not wish to employ it in trade, this bank will also be a desirable
institution. The risk of loaning their money to individuals and the losses
which frequently result from it, will here be entirely avoided.
      The utmost facility will be given to the receiving and paying moneys
at the bank; and the amount deposited will be invested in such funds as the
Directors may deem perfectly secure. They will not in any case whatsoever
loan any part of the money to individuals.
      It is thought expedient that no sum less than a dollar be received,
nor any part of a dollar in larger sums. It is desirable that all drafts on
the bank should be in even sums. The intention of this regulation is to
lessen the labor of the bookkeeper, and consequently to diminish the expense
of the institution.
      When the deposits of any individual amount to five dollars, they will
begin to draw interest in the manner directed and explained in the by-laws;
and the interest, if not called for, will be added to the principal, and be
itself productive of interest.
      The immense profit which arises from a rigid system of economy, and
from depositing even small savings at interest, probably exceeds the most
sanguine expectations; the sum of one dollar deposited weekly for a period
of sixty years would amount at the end of that time, with its accumulation
of interest, to upward of twenty thousand dollars.
      The Directors owe it both to the public and themselves distinctly to
declare, that they entirely disclaim the idea of receiving any personal
emolument or advantage in any shape whatever. It is equally their intention
that the bank itself shall not be a gaining concern. In case the little
savings arising from the reduction of interest, and all other sources, shall
be more than sufficient to defray the necessary expenses of the institution,
they will advance the rate of interest paid to the depositors. They are only
desirous of making the bank support itself.
      From this brief statement of the principles of the institution its
object will be fully understood, and the Directors cannot but hope that it
will meet the approbation and encouragement of every member of the
community. They are persuaded that its natural effects will be to increase
the happiness and comfort of the poor.
      A pecuniary gain to the indigent is not the only advantage to be
expected from this institution. Their moral feelings it is hoped will be
greatly benefited. It must have a direct tendency to induce habits of
frugality, forethought, of self-assistance and self-respect.
      There are few spectacles more truly gratifying, or more honorable to
human nature, than a poor man surmounting, by his own exertions, the
difficulties of his situation, and training up his family in the ways of
honor and virtue, of industry and independence.
      To encourage the exertions, and to animate the hopes of such as these,
this institution has been formed; and the Directors have now only to express
the wish that all classes of their fellow-citizens may be induced to
promote, by their influence and example, its progress and success.
      Signed in behalf of the Board of Directors,

                                WILLIAM BAYARD, President
                                 JOHN MURRAY, JUN.,  Treasurer
NEW YORK, June, 1819


Source:  History of the Bank for Savings in the City of New York 1819-1929
Author:   Charles E. Knowles
Copyright:  The Bank for Savings in the City of New York
First Edition, 1929 and Second Edition, 1936.
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          Researched, Prepared and Transcribed by Miriam Medina
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