38 CHII,E - INSURANCE AND THRIFT 



The development realized in spite of their youth b}^ the Chilian sav- 

 ings banks, and their wish to j ustify as completely as possible the coun-~ 

 try's confidence and esteem, caused a meeting or congress of representa- 

 tives of all such banks in the republic to be held at »Santiago towards the 

 end of 1915. Its labours lasted into the first week of 1916. In this First 

 Thrift Conference the work of recapitulating the results obtained by the 

 various banks, from a historical and an economic point of view, was under- 

 taken ; and the method by which their development and progress could be 

 facilitated, allowing for increasing public support, was studied. With 

 this object the meeting approved the formation of new services especially 

 beneficial to small saving and therefore to the working classes. vSome 

 of them have already been at work in the banks since the last months 

 of 1916. We will explain their organization Vv'hen we have briefly re- 

 produced some of the data as to the activity and evolution of Chilian 

 savings banks which v*^ere placed before the meeting. 



§ I. Development and evolution of savings banks. 



In the article to which we have already referred the origin and orga- 

 nization of Chilian savings banks are explained (i). We will here give 

 some data as to their activit}' and their character. 



We would recall that the pioneer savings bank of Chile was that of 

 Santiago, founded on 6 vSeptember 1884 on the initiative of the Mortgage 

 Credit Bank. The law constituting the latter provides (art. 126) that 

 " when the reserve fund is sufficient to fulfil the objects specified by the 

 law the council will assign its receipts in delayed interest to the assistance 

 and encouragement of the savings banks which are founded an-l which, 

 by the terms of their by-laws, must invest their funds in letters of credit ". 



There had, it is true, already been attempts to institute savings banks 

 in Chile ; but these attempts had failed, and it may be stated that hitherto 

 their sole result had been to provoke the suspicion of the mass of the peo- 

 ple. To this fact must be ascribed the prudence with which the organiza- 

 tion of the new institution was undertaken, and the measures of foresight 

 and guarantee b}^ which it was safeguarded. 



1'he Savings Bank of Santiago was placed under the auspices of the 

 Mortgage Credit Bank, the latter's managing council being responsible 

 for its administration and superintendence. The Mortgage Credit Banks 

 placed at the disposal of the savings bank the Tiecessary capital (50,000 

 pesos) (2) for the constitution of its reserve fund and its guarantee fund, 

 and further allotted to it an annual grant with which to meet all costs 

 of management. On these terms the Savings Bank of Santiago was orga- 



(i) See the article, already cited, in our issue for April 191 3. 

 (2) I peso of gold = 1. 512 5 at par. 



