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
