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472 The Leader and Saturday Analyst. [Ma...
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SAVINGS BANKS.* RETIRED leisuro is, afte...
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* A Practical Treatise on, 8avintja Bank...
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MODEIIN CARICATtHlti.* [CONHNUBD.] /^RUI...
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* Xtmohk VoL XXXIX. Bradbury and Evans, ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Tiu-: Rostmax'6 Kxock. R At-Tat ! What A...
domestic happiness . The postman alone is our friend and faithful ally . And how does a grateful country requite him ? With nineteen shillings a week , and a new red coat once a year . Let us not understate his advantages ; he is also thj & recipient of an annual hat . It may be said that we cannot always measure out our rewards according to our love . But , at least , let the postman have a . wage m some degree proportionate to his labour , his capacity , and his responsibility . , A meeting 1 of Xiondon postmen was held the other day at St . Murtin ' s Hall , for the purpose of agitating for an increase of pay . One thousand two hundred members of the body were present , and Ihuir spokesman stated their grievances with temperance and moderation . Mr . Charles Cooper said that he was appointed
a letter carrier in 1854 . He began at the low scale of nineteen shillings a week . He was told that there should be a rise ot a shilling a year until he reached twenty-three shillings . That , then , seems to be the maximum pay of a letter carrier—a man who works from five o ' clock in the morning till ten at night ; who must possess a fair education ; who must trudge the streets m all weathers and who is expected to be honest , with every temptation and every facility to be otherwise . A large proportion of the letter carriers , ' however , receive only nineteen shillings a week ; and promotion does not seem to go by merit at St . Martm ' s-Ie-Grand . The veteran Havelock complained of boys being constantly put over his head in India . Merit has the same struggle under the administration of Sir Rowland Hill . Mr . Shaw , a letter carrier ,
states that he knew a man who was made a first class sorter who could not spell words of three syllables . Before he could spell the word " honour , " he had to buy a dictionary . He could not do the simplest sum in arithmetic , and yet he was passed over the heads of men to whom multiplication was no vexation whatever , and who could do fractions , and still preserve their sanity . We are not told whether this man ' s name was Grey or Elliot , but we will say Grey . Now f . r ' Elliot . He had been passed over the heads of older and better qualified men , arid lie was obliged to buy a dictionary before he knew the difference between "to" and " too . " There was another case within the experience of Mr . Shaw . / It was that of a picture-frame maker who did some private business for the authorities , and was promoted . If this statement is true—and
the speaker openly challenges contradiction—it is quite clear that the motto . upon which the authorities of the Post-office act is not that which country gentlemen are so fond of quoting at cattle show < ft \ mw *^ l ? almam qidmeruitferat . But that is not the whole of the postman ' s grievance . He must actually "give an account of the ¦ Christinas boxes ~ he " receives . And this adds hypocrisy to the other crimes of the Postmaster-General , or whoever the person is who does this nigger driving . An order was issued some two years ago forbidding the postmen to ask for Christinas boxes , and yet the authorities require each man , as a , matter of course , to give in an account of what he gets in gratuities . What does this mean ? Clearly . that the authorities look upon these Christmas boxes as part of the postman ' s pay . We have evidence enough here to show that the Post-office authorities are neither very liberal nor very
just to their men . ~ - ^ sfnwpa ^ eward ^^ in the metropolis , we cannot by any means say ' God bless his grace . ' It is not , a counter-irritant which at all tends to allay our itchiug for something like a perfect system . The business of the establishment has outgrown the establishment itself . Mr . Gladstone was never lesH 4 Iogical than when lie argued the other evening in the House , that tho only remedy for this was to reduce our postal business . The riyht honourable gentleman was for excluding newspapers from tho letter post , and placing them in the category of " other printed matter . " Does a merchant or manufacturer decline orders when he finds Ids business increasing beyond the capability of his premises
or machinery P Does he not rather build new warehouses , and set up now steam engines ? But who is it that fails us here P Is it the letter carrier , who brings round our letters for ninetoen shillings a week , and an annual coat and hat P Certainly not . He is hero every hour of the day almost , with our letters and papers ; and on the whole he is rarely late , and rarely disappoints us of the missivo that has been duly posted . Considering the . nineteen shillings a week , it is very rarely indeed that ho feels called upon to appropriate our remittances , or , being wet through and wearied out with his day ' s labour , feels it convenient to go homo an hour or two before his time , and boil 1 mb kettle , with our " important and immediate " advices . If a delay occurs , in nine cases out of ten it is not his fault , but the fault of the mail trains , or the defective organization
at the offices . The poatman now appeals to us , the public . Ho has appealed to his masters in vain . They have offered to hoar him , and they have heard him ; but they vouchsafe no reply . Ho now knocks at our doors for justice . Let us bo ns ready to answer the summons as when ho brings us that post-office order , that invitation to dinner , — •—^ those ticketafor the oporiv—that tinted , sconted , wanYily-6 xpressod assurance that Matilda is ours till death , and that melancholy , but on the whole satisfactory , communication , to the effect that the cousin seven times removed hnn gone to another and better world , leaving us comfortably provided for in this .
472 The Leader And Saturday Analyst. [Ma...
472 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ May 19 , I 860 ,
Savings Banks.* Retired Leisuro Is, Afte...
SAVINGS BANKS . * RETIRED leisuro is , after all , not so much to be envied by the workorn as some of hh fancy . lietirement is a sorry existence
without a round sum in the Three per Cents . But , although the « elegant simplicity" of our stocks is most desirable , the interest they bear is too low to afford anything like an adequate income , Sss a large amount is invested . What we want for our savmgr Boor are sound and liberal investments for them . Moreover , every facility and inducement should be allowed them to put by their hard-earned shillings and pounds . The pence ^ should not be foreotten , and we hail the instituting of Penny Banks as one of the wost hopeful signs of the times . Savings will grow , however small may be the original " nest-egg . " A thousand careful proverbs are ready on the lips of those who seek to ameliorate the condition ot the poor by making them help themselves .
The most simple mode of putting by small sums for future use is afforded by the Savings Bank . No expense is incurred by depositors ;} and , viewed in their integrity , the security they aflord is unquestionable . A depositor is , in fact , a creditor of the nation . He has a stake in the country . The defalcations which take place from time to time in these banks , though they affect the progress of savings among the poor—thus doing incalculable harm—are not to be taken as a radical defect in their organization , but as mishaps common to all human institutions . Savings banks areunquestionably , in a flourishing state at the
, present time . In 1 S 28 , the deposits amounted to fourteen millions ; in 1860 , they stand at forty millions . The increase is immense , and most encouraging . The more independent working men become , the better it will be , in the long run , for the " Upper Ten Thousand . " The way to make the employers truly great is by raising the character of the employed . And there is only one way by which this can be done . It is an old saying , that your democrat softens wonderfully under the influence of ah improved exchequer . Why should not the remark hold good in the lower ranks of life ? Alarmists used to shudder at the idea of educating the masses . " What
do operatives and ploughmen want with learning ? U \ f gentlemen used to joke about the " great unwashed , " but they had every desire to deny all helps to amendment . The filthy should remain filthy , was their argument fifty years ago . Now , thpugh their language is less violent , it is nevertheless determined . " Investments for the million , " they tell us , will never do . " Our workmen , & c , will be able to stand out for higher wages , whenever they choose , and where shall we be P" - We argue that by giving * each man , let us say , a deposit of some thirty pounds in the savings bank , he will be far more disposed to work more steadily on , in order tokeep it there , and even to increaseit . There is an honest dignity likelto make and
in self-dependance which is far more y men frugal hard-worlmig , " To maintain their position , than a wretched hand-to mouth way of living , when , in a niomenU of frenzy , men will combine and starve rather than give in to their masters . Feeling this , we most strongly urge on Government to take the matter of savings banks into their earnest consideration . Indi' vidual Members of Parliament treat us to excellent speeches on the subject . Personally , they will do anything to improve their stability and working . They are persuaded that they cannot be made too secure , and that it is the best thing in the world for poor men to have . a pass-book , if only in a penny bank . But , as for legislating for them , that is out of the question .
It is , we think , much to be regretted that the admirable worlc the appearance of which has caused these remarks was not published earlier . Mr . Scratchley has proved himself an authority on the matter , by his able treatise on Industrial Investments His present book , on savings banks , is , in every respect , worthy of his experienced pen . Prom it we may glean many useful facts and much in formation respecting these banks . Their history is minutely sketched , and a thorough exposition of the working of them is given . Mr . Scratchley strongly urges our own view of the in the matterand he
necessity of Government legislating , very justly observes that were Government inspectors employed and . auditors changed every ten years , there would be a far loss chance for misappropriation and swindling . It is no use urging people to pinch themselves , in order to put by against " a rainy day , " if , when they present their bethumbed pass-books " no assets " meets their ears . When the Bochdalo Savings Bank was found minus to the extent of upwards of £ 70 , 000 through the rascality of its late manager , the people declared that they would rather spend their money in future than save it fov anothor George Huwarth .
It is , undoubtedly , the duty of Governments to encourage frugality in their people , and they are also bound to find securo investments for their savings . Tho allurements held out by hungry adventurers in the shape of mines , & c . should not bo allowed to attract , for the artisan should be convinced of tho extent to which interest and deposits can securely bo granted ; and ho should also feel that , in putting his sovereigns into tho savings bunk , he was in nil respects justified in doing so . This book of Mr . Semtchley ' s should bo attentively studied by all who ( whether from reading- ¦? . ' . Mury Barton " or any othoi cause ) , take mi interest in the condition of Iho poorer classes . To them , we cordially recommend it .
* A Practical Treatise On, 8avintja Bank...
* A Practical Treatise on , 8 avintja Banks , ko . By ARTHUnSottATOliLEY , M . A . London : Longmans . 1860 .
Modeiin Caricatthlti.* [Conhnubd.] /^Rui...
MODEIIN CARICATtHlti . * [ CONHNUBD . ] /^ RUIKSHANK , when a young man i abandoned tho path of a ppli-^ tical caricaturist , and engaged in the safer and more profitable occupation of a book illustrator , but ore ho abandoned it ho threw groat force into his pictures of social life . It does him honour , however , to
* Xtmohk Vol Xxxix. Bradbury And Evans, ...
* Xtmohk VoL XXXIX . Bradbury and Evans , WMtefrloya .,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 19, 1860, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19051860/page/12/
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