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1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Savings Movement

SAVINGS MOVEMENT. The origin and development of what became known in England as the “War Savings Movement” provides the subject-matter of one of the most interesting chapters in the economic history of the World War. In the United States, to which reference is made in a subsequent section, the Savings and Economy movement was no less remarkable.

Institutions for the normal encouragement of thrift on the part of the people of the United Kingdom were making steady progress up to the date of the outbreak of the war in 1914. From that date onwards the pace of their advance was materially accelerated. The amount due to depositors in the Post Office Savings Bank increased 28% in the decade 1903-13, while during the five years 1913-8 they increased by 42%. The amount due to depositors in the Trustee Savings Banks increased 3.2% in the decade 1903-13, while during the years 1913-20 it increased by 12.5%. These figures give a general indication of the growth of the savings of the people during the war period, but they do not tell the whole story. In the atmosphere created by the War Savings movement, and in the circumstances which for a time materially improved the financial position of the wage-earning classes, not only did existing savings institutions develop rapidly, but a new national thrift machinery was brought into being and its operations met with remarkable success.

Cost of the World War. — Within six months of the outbreak of hostilities in Aug. 1914, it became evident to those who were more closely in touch with realities that the World War would be a prolonged struggle, in which it would be necessary for the combatant nations to marshal their entire resources of production. Modern warfare was seen to demand not only that there should be a high percentage of the population in the fighting forces, but also large numbers of civilians producing on a huge scale military equipment of the most varied character. The enormous volume of goods and services which had to be requisitioned is best expressed in terms of the national expenditure. The largest amount spent by Great Britain in war in a single year before 1914 was £71,000,000. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars cost in the aggregate £831,000,000 spread

over 20 years, an average annual expenditure of £42,000,000; the Crimean War cost £675,000,000 in three financial years, or an average annual expenditure of £225,000,000; while the S. African War of 1899-1902 cost £211,000,000 spread over four years. In the face of the expenditure during the World War of 1914-9, these figures are insignificant. The money spent by the Government of Great Britain during the five financial years cannot be placed at less than from £8,000,000,000 to 9,000,000,000. At one period the average daily expenditure rose to the enormous figure of nearly 7,000,000 sterling.

It was not, however, till the year 1915 was well advanced that the full meaning of the cost of the World War in terms of goods and services began to be appreciated, even by those in high places. During the first few months of the war the inevitable dislocation of industry caused by the calling-up of men of military age and the interference with the normal markets led to a considerable amount of unemployment, and steps were taken by the Government and by the public for the relief of distress. This period of unemployment lasted but a short time and far less distress was caused than had been anticipated. The increased demand for men for the fighting forces and the rapid organization of special war work in many directions quickly absorbed the unemployed. Women were drafted into industry in ever-increasing numbers. In the meantime, the normal production of goods was reduced and stocks diminished. Prices rose rapidly owing to the excess of demand over supply and wages were raised sympathetically. Gradually a large amount of overtime became general, and, in many instances, owing to several members of the same family being in receipt of good wages and on account of overtime, the incomes of working-class families reached very substantial figures. By the summer of 1915 the purchasing power of the people of the country had been very considerably increased.

With the increased demand for goods which followed this rise of the purchasing power of the masses, prices mounted still higher; and with the growth of credit, which was required to cover the increased payments of wages, a dangerous situation was created. By the middle of 1915 it was obvious that it was of paramount importance that the personal expenditure of the people of the country should be checked, and that, in fact, the stopping of individual expenditure was quite as important as the raising of money for the war. It was seen that while from the financial point of view it was desirable that the expenditure on the war should be covered as far as possible by monies raised by taxation, and next by loans from money saved by the people of the country, it was equally important that the mass of the people should reduce their personal expenditure in order to release the resources of the country in capital and labour for the production of the essentials of war. The military advisers of the nation were calling for still larger numbers of men for the fighting forces. Recruiting became more and more urgent. The war factories were crying out for tens of thousands of hands for the production of the vast stores needed on all the fighting fronts. At the same time, the demand of the people through their daily expenditure, stimulated by high wages and big incomes, was automatically retaining labour in the production of things which were not only not necessary for their subsistence, but were often mere luxuries. Again, the expenditure of individuals tended to increase the purchase of imported goods, necessitating either increased exports demanding labour for their production, or adversely affecting the Exchanges and necessitating the export of gold or the sale of foreign securities. The real difficulty of the situation was seen to be the scarcity of human labour to produce the necessaries of war rather than the finding of money to pay for them. Thus the exigencies of the recruiting agencies and national factories led directly to the “goods and services” point of view and to an imperative demand for personal saving.

The dangers of the situation were emphasized by Mr. Lloyd George in May 1915, and it soon became evident that drastic steps would have to be taken to enforce economy throughout all ranks of the community and particularly among the wage-earners, whose aggregate purchasing power had reached

which made their personal expenditure the largest factor in the situation.

Early Efforts for Saving. — During the autumn of 1915, a vigorous mission was undertaken by a voluntary body known as the United Workers, who by the holding of lectures and meetings throughout the country did much to explain the facts to the people and prepared the ground for more concentrated effort later. About the same date a Parliamentary War Savings Committee was established, and through its efforts local war thrift committees were set up in a number of the larger towns of the country. All these efforts were, however, to a large extent ineffective, owing to the absence of any form of investment security specially adapted for persons of small means. The machinery of the Post Office Savings Bank and the Trustee Savings Banks, allowing for deposits at low interest, was inadequate to cope with the situation.

The history of the Post Office Savings Bank during the first year of the war fairly accurately indicates the trend of events. The outbreak of the war saw a sharp run on the Post Office Savings Bank deposits, a run accentuated by the actual shortage of coinage which persisted even up to the end of August. The net withdrawals from the Post Office Savings Bank Department from the declaration of war to the end of Aug. were £2,500,000 in excess of deposits. After Aug. 1914 confidence was quickly restored and deposits began to come in freely. Before the end of Sept. they had exceeded the withdrawals, and so completely did the tide turn that the deposits for the three months ended April 30 1915 exceeded the withdrawals by £4,400,000, or were £3,000,000 in excess of deposits in the corresponding quarter of 1914. For the five months from Jan. 1 1915 to May 31 1915, the balance due to depositors increased by over £6,500,000 as compared with an increase of £1,700,000 during the corresponding period of 1914.

Good as these results were in themselves, it became, however, increasingly clear that the Post Office Savings Bank alone, with the rate of interest on deposits at 2½%, was not sufficient to stimulate saving in the country to the extent that was necessary. Several times pressure was brought to bear on the Government with a view to getting the interest on the savings bank deposits increased, but this pressure was resisted. Other small attempts were made to attract saving. During the issue of the 4½% War Loan in June 1915, scrip vouchers of 5s. and 10s. and scrip certificates of £1 and £5 were issued by the Post Office. The scrip vouchers, when they amounted to £5 or a multiple of £5, and the scrip certificates could be exchanged at any money order post-office during the first fortnight of Dec. 1915, the owner being duly registered as a holder of a corresponding amount of War Loan and being given a stock certificate. Interest was allowed on the scrip vouchers according to the month of purchase and provision was made for repurchase by the Post Office at face value of any vouchers in excess of the £5 multiple. The aggregate result was that, between Nov. 1915 and Dec. 1920, scrip certificates amounting to £3,967,965 and scrip vouchers amounting to £1,049,838 were exchanged for 4½% or 5% War Loan or Exchequer bonds. The £5 scrip certificates were only exchangeable for 45 % War Loan, but the scrip vouchers could be held for subsequent loans. These were the chief official steps taken to facilitate saving by the people up to the end of 1915. In Nov. of that year the Government was pressed to increase the maximum sum which depositors might pay into the Post Office Savings Bank in any one year, but it was pointed out that this would require fresh legislation, the existing limits having been fixed by the Savings Bank Acts of 1891 and 1893.

Expression had been given to the need for action in a letter to The Times in the summer of 1915 from “A Banker.” The force of his contentions was widely recognized, and this letter may be regarded as the germ from which the War Savings movement was started. This was followed by an important manifesto signed by some of the foremost men in the world of business published in The Times in November. It was a

statement calling the nation to thrift and urging concentration on the production of essentials only, eschewing non-essentials by universal personal economy.

Montagu Report. — Finally, in Dec. 1915, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. R. M’Kenna) set up a Committee under the chairmanship of the financial secretary to the Treasury (Mr. E. S. Montagu) to consider the question of getting contributions to War Loans from the working-classes. The final report of this Committee (Cd. 8179), dated Jan. 26 1916, marked the birth of the War Savings movement as a national organization.

An interim report had been issued on Dec. 28 1915, recommending the removal for the period of the war and six months after of the restrictions which limited the amount deposited by any one depositor in the Post Office and Trustee Savings Banks to £50 in any one year and £200 in all. The Committee also recommended that Exchequer bonds of the denominations of £5, £20 and £50 should be placed on sale at all post-offices, provision being made for the deposit of the bonds at the post-office and the issue of books in which the deposit of the bonds would be recorded. The Chancellor of the Exchequer recommended the adoption of these proposals and they were concurred in by a Treasury minute of the same date. Two series of bonds, with interest at the rate of 5% per annum and 6% per annum respectively, were on sale in 1916 and brought into the Exchequer nearly £44,000,000.

The final report of the Committee pointed out that there were two separate objects to be attained by the successful solution of the problem of the small investor: (a) the reduction of general consumption, which would tend to check the rise in prices; and (b) the raising of a certain amount of money for the prosecution of the war. The needs of the small investor were described as being: (a) a simple method of investing savings; (b) a guarantee that the capital value of the investment will not depreciate; (c) the ability to withdraw savings at short notice; and (d) the knowledge that as high a rate of interest is paid on the money of the small investor as on that of the large. It was further pointed out that both propaganda and organization were essential to success in making any appeal for savings. The report recommended the appointment of two committees one to carry on propaganda and to establish on a large scale voluntary War Savings associations for coöperative saving, and the second to devise and approve various schemes of saving and to safeguard their financial soundness. In order to meet the needs of the small investor the Committee recommended the issue of a new form of Government security in the shape of “War Savings Deposits” of 15s. 6d. each, each deposit entitling the subscriber to receive £1 on the fifth anniversary of the date of the deposit.

National War Savings Committees. — The Chancellor of the Exchequer adopted the recommendations, and on Feb. 8 1916 the two committees were appointed. (These two committees were amalgamated in the following April under the title of the “National War Savings Committee,” separate committees being established for Scotland and Ireland.)

War Savings Certificates. — On Feb. 19 1916, the projected savings deposits were issued under the revised title of “War Savings Certificates.” The War Savings certificate must rank as one of the most ingenious and successful financial instruments ever conceived. For the first time in history a security was offered to the people which by its nature tended to concentrate the mind on the growth of capital value through the accumulation of interest, rather than on the annual return in the form of dividends. This feature of the “small investor's Treasury bill,” as it has been called, has had, undoubtedly, a far-reaching psychological effect. It may be said to have projected the mind of the investor towards an ultimate personal use of the accumulated proceeds of his investment after a considerable term of years, and to have reduced the motive of investment merely as a means of providing an annual sum to be spent on its arrival. To the intrinsic merits of the certificate the success of the War Savings movement is, to a great extent, attributable. The certificates were purchasable for 15s. 6d. and could be cashed at

any time. At the end of 12 months a certificate could be cashed for 15s. 9d. After this period its cash value increased by a penny a month, and at the end of five years it could be cashed for £1; that is to say, an additional 3d. was added to the value at the end of the fifth year beyond the increase of a penny a month. Subsequently, by Section 4 of the War Loans Act, 1919, the life of the certificates issued, or to be issued, was automatically increased to ten years, the value of the certificates rising after the end of the fifth year by a penny a month until the end of the tenth year, when a further 1s. would be added, making the final encashment value 26s. By the Finance Act, 1918, Section 41, and the War Loans Act, 1919, Section 4, it was provided that the encashment of certificates held by any individual owner could be postponed beyond the period of maturity until the maturity of the last-dated certificate in his possession, such certificates held over increasing in value at a flat rate of a penny a month. Section 42 of the Finance Act, 1916, provided that the accumulated interest payable in respect to any War Savings certificate issued by the Treasury through the Post Office, under which the purchaser by virtue of an immediate payment of 15s. 6d. became entitled after five years to receive the sum of £1, should not be liable to income tax so long as the amount of the certificates held by the purchaser did not exceed the amount for the time being authorized to be held under regulations made by the Treasury. To avoid the serious consequences which would result to the revenue if income taxpayers generally were to use this form of investment, it was originally arranged to confine the issue of War Savings certificates to persons whose total income from all sources did not exceed £300 a year. Experience, however, showed this limitation to be undesirable. The necessity for a declaration as to income at the time of the purchase of the certificates caused administrative difficulties, and by reason of the income limit many wage-earners who were temporarily drawing large wages were unable to buy certificates. In view of these facts, the Committee recommended the Treasury to abolish the income limit, and the restriction was removed on June 10 1916. All formalities in regard to deduction and recovery, proof of exemption or title to abatement from income tax were dispensed with, and a limit of 500 certificates was put on the number allowed to be held by any one person.

By the Finance Act of 1918, it was provided that if a person's holding was brought by inheritance above 500 £1 certificates or their equivalent, the excess might be held without liability to any penalty or to income tax, so long as the person did not purchase for his own benefit, or have purchased for him, any further certificates while holding more than 500 certificates in all.

The savings certificate formed the basis of the operations of the War Savings associations, which were established under the auspices of local War Savings committees and affiliated to the National War Savings Committee.

War Savings Associations. — Not less important than the War Savings certificate was the system of association, or club, proposed by the Montagu Committee. In their final report the Committee pointed out that the would-be investor should not, if it could be avoided, be left to himself to seek for an investment. Facilities for investment should be provided by agencies in close touch with him; and these agencies, having succeeded in inducing him to save, should endeavour by careful propaganda and by thorough organization to persuade him to make the continuance of saving a matter of habit. The Committee emphasized the advantages of placing an agency between the small investor and the State which could collect and manage the savings of the small investor. It was pointed out that the Government could enter into no contractual relationship with the individual investor, unless it assumed complete control over the schemes adopted and also supervised in detail the actual administration of the societies themselves. They added that the organization of such control and supervision would require the creation of a new Government department, which, apart from the question of the expense involved, it would have been impossible to staff during the war. Also, the rigidity of procedure which a State system would inevitably involve would be fatal to the free local initiative on which the success of such a scheme would depend. At the same time, if societies, many of which have at their command no expert financial knowledge, were left free to develop schemes without supervision or control, some of them would not unlikely become insolvent. The problem was to obtain the best safeguards which could be secured for the financial soundness and efficient administration of the different schemes, while leaving the responsibility for both administration and results with the societies themselves, and they recommended that the committee which should be appointed by the Government, and to which the various investment societies might be affiliated, should be regarded, not as representing the Government, but as an independent body of experts acting on behalf of the societies themselves. Its duties would be primarily of an advisory character, but it could properly refuse to recognize any society the constitution and rules of which it did not approve and withdraw recognition from any society which might fail to satisfy the committee that it was being properly administered. The committee could, if it saw fit, organize a system of inspection and audit of the operations and accounts of the affiliated societies and by these means secure a very substantial measure of control over their operations.

Local War Savings Committees. — In accordance with these views, the War Savings Committee embarked upon a widespread scheme for the promotion of savings associations, delegating the propagandist work in a large measure to local committees which were set up throughout the country. Before the war was over there were in existence in England and Wales 60 county committees and 1,840 local war savings committees acting as propagandist agencies under the general control of the central body, while the War Savings associations set up under their auspices numbered over 40,000 with a membership of approximately 4,000,000 people. (At the end of 1920 there were still 1,701 local committees and over 28,000 associations.) A savings association could be formed by any number of people who were willing to work together to secure the attainment of its objects. In practice it was found that an association could readily be formed by those who were already corporate in some way; for example, by those who were members of a trade union, a friendly society or a coöperative society, by fellow workers in a shop or factory, or by the members of a church, chapel or social club. Each association had its governing committee, secretary and treasurer.

Scotland and Ireland, with their separate organizations, developed the movement on similar lines. The total number of voluntary workers in the movement was estimated to be between 200,000 and 250,000.

Official Agents. — By the end of 1917, when nearly 30,000 War Savings associations had been affiliated, there had been established on an average one association for every 1,200 inhabitants in England and Wales. Most of the social and industrial groups were covered, but it was realized that a large section of the wage-earning population and, possibly, the most highly paid, did not readily join War Savings associations. Many employees objected to joining associations to whose books their employers might have access. They were of opinion that knowledge of the fact that they were saving money might tend to diminish the force of any claim they might make for enhanced wages on account of the increased cost of living. With a view to reaching the prospective small investors of this class, it was decided to add to the number of places where War Savings certificates and National War Bonds could be bought. Certificates were on sale at all money order offices and at most banks, but the majority of the class of persons under consideration had no banking account and had no reason to enter a bank. The Post Office staff was obviously unable to make any special effort to push the sale of Government securities, having regard to the heavy mortgage on their time caused by the manifold additional duties which the exigencies of the war period cast upon them. It was therefore arranged to license certain tradesmen and firms as official agents for the sale of certificates and bonds. These agents purchased the securities outright with their own funds and received the certificates and bonds dated, but unregistered. They then resold the certificates and bonds to their customers and others. By the end of the war, these securities were on sale at more than 14,000 shops and other establishments throughout the country. Very large numbers of certificates in the aggregate were sold in this way. The success of the system is noteworthy in that it involved the sacrifice by the official agents of the interest upon the capital used for the purchase of stocks of certificates between the dates of purchase and sale.

Savings Schemes. — The National Committee, following the guidance of the Montagu Committee, had also set itself the task of preparing various model schemes of coöperative saving to meet the requirements of the people. The following schemes were evolved at various times: —

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 4½% 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 instalments of 5s., 10s., £1 or £5, the amount being debited to his account and transferred to the Post Office through the regimental 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

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 £1,000,000, 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 arrangements being made for remittance of monies through the paymasters 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 coöperation 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 incalculable 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 Chancellor 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 ). These campaigns for the special issues greatly stimulated 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 securities. Whereas before the war it was estimated that there were some 345,000 holders of Government securities, it is calculated that no less than 17 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.

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 organization was also recommended by the “Committee on Financial Facilities” appointed in 1917. In their report, dated Nov. 21 1918, they said: —

In addition the undermentioned Savings Associations were affiliated under special schemes:—

N.B. — During the year ending Dec. 31 1920, 57, 787,499 certificates of a cash value of £44,785,311 were sold, and repayments, including exchange for War Loans, etc. (excluding interest), amounted to £31,829,879.

Immediately after the Armistice steps were taken to consolidate the position of the organization and to render permanent the machinery which had been set up during the previous three years. The county committees were disbanded, their work having been delegated to local committees which they had formed in practically every local area in the country. Steps were taken to devise a complete representative system throughout the organization. Adopting the association, or savings club, as the fundamental unit of the movement, steps were taken to ensure representation of the associations on the local committees. The local committees in their turn elected representatives on a new body called “The National Savings Assembly,” which was to meet twice a year to discuss questions relative to the movement and at one of these meetings to elect representatives on the National Savings Committee, which, by the authority of the Government, dropped the word “war” out of its title. At the same time the personnel of the National Committee was considerably strengthened. In 1921 it formed a powerful body composed of representatives of Government departments and corporations and interests connected with thrift, together with representatives of the savings organizations in London and the provinces elected ort a wide franchise, so that its continued influence could not fail to be beneficial to the community.

Savings and Local Government Finance. — In the summer of 1920 a step was taken which might well have far-reaching effects on the relations between local and Imperial finance.

The Finance Act 1920, Section 59, provided that 50% of the proceeds of the sales of savings certificates could be invested through the National Debt commissioners in local loans stock or bonds on the security of the local loans fund. Half the proceeds of the gross sales after Oct. 1 1920, in the area of each local authority, would be available, if required, for loans to meet authorized expenditure in connexion with the assisted housing scheme of that authority. These loans were to be made, irrespective of the ratable value of the local authority, by the Public Works Loan commissioners, on the terms in force for the time being for ordinary loans to local authorities from the local loans fund for subsidized housing schemes. In the first instance, such loans would be restricted to housing purposes, but it was hoped that, when the existing difficulties with regard to housing finance had been overcome, the scheme would be given a more general application and that the system would become a permanent feature of local finance, bringing to the aid of local authorities a new source of capital which many of them had long been seeking. The authorities derive the greater part of

the benefit under the scheme, since, although they receive only half the proceeds of the certificates sold, they are not responsible for finding any of the money required to meet withdrawals.

A critic of the ordinary savings bank in the last century said: “The savings bank is after all only a slot in the wall, with a sure grasp, but no tongue to advise it. Having no fructifying use for the money that comes to it from productive employment it closes over it like a grave and effectually sterilizes it”; and Sir E. Brabrook, Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies in 1897, said he “could look upon ordinary savings banks merely as infantile efforts in thrift.” He regarded “a person who deposited his money in a savings bank so that it should be kept safe for him by someone else as very much less worthy of encouragement than a person who used his savings in some way in coöperation with other people for his own benefit or the benefit of others.” He “did not look upon the progress of the savings bank with unalloyed satisfaction, but only as one step to self-help.”

The system of linking up National Savings certificates with local finance becomes, in effect, a national credit bank spread over the whole country. The credits of the small investor, even the half-pennies and pennies saved by the school-children, are rendered, through the machinery of the savings certificates, the Post Office, the National Debt commissioners, the Treasury, the local loans fund and the local authorities, available for investment in social and beneficial enterprise for the good of the people themselves. Owing to the widespread area from which the money is raised, short-term borrowing can be used for long-term loans with the minimum of risk, while saving is stimulated amongst the very class to whom in the past it has been most difficult to teach economy and saving. The linking-up of “saving” with the definite use of the money saved continues effectually the teaching of the war and inculcates the lessons of economy, and goes far to meet Sir E. Brabrook's criticism of the savings bank. The system is certain to stimulate the interest of the small investors in local finance generally. Not only will this be a source of financial strength to the local authorities, but educationally it will be a great advantage, and the active coöperation of the local authorities and the savings committee should do much to stimulate habits of thrift and saving.

(Author:Theodore Gervase Chambers)

Upon the declaration of war by the United States in April 1917 it became evident that the nation must practise strict economy if the huge war-time expenditures were to be successfully financed and material aid given to the Allies. Not merely in money, but in consumption (which means money), the resulting movement for economy among the American people was vigorously taken up. As a first step toward conservation, President Wilson on May 19 1917 outlined a food control programme and appointed Herbert Hoover Food Administrator, and Congress passed the law commonly known as the Lever Act, effective Aug. 10 1917 — “an Act to provide further for the national security and defence, by encouraging the production and conservation of supply and controlling the distribution of food products and fuel.” The administration of the Act was under the direction of a U.S. Food Administrator and a U.S. Fuel Administrator. The Food Administration summed up its purpose in the motto: “Food will win the war.” The following specific ends were sought: (1) to save food and eliminate waste; (2) to distribute food equitably and cheaply; (3) to stimulate production; (4) to prevent hoarding; (5) to save transportation; (6) to provide for the needs of the U.S. army and navy; (7) to secure the largest possible amount of food for the Allies.

The universal response by the people of the United States to the request that they lend money to the Government to provide necessary funds for the prosecution of the war was one of the most significant things of the war period. Millions of people purchased Liberty Bonds and Victory Notes in various denominations from $50 to $10,000 (see ), and other millions invested in the smaller War Savings securities. Early in the war President Wilson made the statement: “I doubt that many good by-products can come out of a war, but if our people learn from this war to save, then the war is worth all it has cost us in money and material.” This statement, together with the desirability of having the entire nation participate in financing the war, suggested the underlying purpose behind the war savings movement, which was put into operation in Dec. 1917. Section 6 of the Second Liberty Bond Act, approved Sept. 24 1917, authorized the Secretary of the Treasury “to borrow from time to time on the credit of the United States for the purpose of this Act and to meet public expenditures authorized by law, such sums as in his judgment may be necessary and to issue therefor at such price or prices and upon such terms and conditions as he may determine War Savings Certificates of the United States on which interest to maturity may be discounted in advance at such rate or rates and computed in such manner as he may prescribe.” The Act further provided that “each War Savings Certificate so issued shall be payable at such time, not exceeding five years from the date of its issue, and may be redeemable before maturity, upon such terms and conditions as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe.” A limitation of $2,000,000,000 was placed by the Act upon the amount of War Savings Certificates which might be outstanding at any one time; it also provided that no person should be sold at any one time certificates amounting to more than $100, and it also placed a $1,000 limitation upon the amount of certificates which might be held by any one person. The original Act was amended by the Act approved Sept. 24 1918, which increased the amount of certificates which might be issued from $2,000,000,000 to $4,000,000,000, removed the $100 limitation on the amount of certificates which might be sold to any one person at any one time, and also altered the previous Act by allowing persons to hold an amount not to exceed $1,000 worth of any series of certificates.

Pursuant to the authorization contained in the original Act, the Secretary of the Treasury appointed a committee of five, with Frank A. Vanderlip as chairman, to confer with him as to the form of security and the terms on which it should be issued. Following the recommendation of this committee, the Secretary of the Treasury offered for sale on Dec. 3 1917 an issue of War Savings Certificate Stamps, Series of 1918. Each certificate stamp when affixed to a War Savings Certificate (a folder with spaces for 20 stamps) would have a fixed maturity value of $5, with the date of maturity not to exceed five years, the purchase price to vary one cent each month throughout the year of issue, beginning in Jan. at $4.12, increasing to $4.23 in December. The stamps might be redeemed before maturity, their redemption value increasing one cent each month. There were also provided 25-cent Thrift Stamps, bearing no interest and not redeemable for cash, but to be accumulated on a Thrift Card until there were 16, when they could be exchanged for a War Savings Certificate Stamp by paying the additional odd cents necessary to cover the current price of the War Savings

Stamp. Succeeding issues of War Savings Certificate Stamps were on Jan. 1 1919, Jan. 1 1920 and Jan. 1 1921.

In addition to the original securities there were offered in July 1919 Treasury Savings Certificates, one of $100 and the other $1,000 maturity value. Treasury Savings Certificates were registered at the Treasury Department at the time of purchase and increased in redemption value monthly on the same interest basis as War Savings Certificate Stamps. In Jan. 1921 there were offered for sale $1 non-interest-bearing Treasury Savings Stamps and $25 Treasury Savings Certificates, in addition to the other Treasury Savings Securities.

Following the working out of the types of securities in 1917, an organization for their sale was effected. In addition to the- National War Savings Committee, consisting of the chairman and four members, the Secretary of the Treasury appointed six Federal directors, each having general supervision over approximately two Federal Reserve Districts; and 52 state directors, each of whom had complete charge of War Savings activities in his state or part thereof. The National War Savings Committee and the six Federal directors functioned at the National War Savings Committee headquarters in Washington. It was the duty of this sales organization to obtain coöperation from the heads of all enterprises operating nationally and then to decentralize the work through the Federal directors to the respective state directors coming under their jurisdiction, the ultimate goal being to offer every man, woman and child in the United States the privilege of aiding the Government by investing in Government securities, and at the same time to develop habits of thrift. The War Savings securities were put on sale at every post-office, at banks and in thousands of voluntary agencies. House-to-house canvass for their sale was made by postmen, boy scouts, representatives of insurance companies and members of women's organizations. In the autumn of 1918 the Treasury Department created a Savings Division of the War Loan Organization, which took over the work previously carried on by the National War Savings Committee, so that the people of the country might be taught for their peace-time value the lessons of thrift and saving learned during the war. The specific ends sought were: (1) to develop and protect all war issues of Government securities; (2) to sell Treasury Savings securities; (3) to make permanent the habits of regular saving and investment in U.S. Government securities. The Savings Division was placed in charge of a Director of Savings, with an organization in Washington, and one in each of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts.

School Government Savings systems were established. Instruction in thrift, saving and the principles of sound finance was introduced in schools throughout the nation. At the annual convention of the National Education Association in July 1920 a committee of state superintendents was appointed to work out with the Savings Division the best plans for placing the savings movement permanently in the American school system. The American Federation of Labor and various labour bodies passed resolutions commending the work of the Savings Division and calling on the Government to make permanent the policy of issuing small securities. Many local labour organizations invested their reserve funds in Government securities. In industrial plants throughout the country Government Savings Associations were established and the employees put aside small amounts regularly each week in Government Savings securities. Women's organizations of the country during the years 1919 and 1920 created the office of thrift chairman in their boards of officials. They took up the study of finance at club meetings, promoted the use of the household budget and with the savings thus effected purchased Government securities.

The total sale of War Savings securities from Dec. 3 1917 to Jan. 1 1921 amounted in round figures to $1,176,111,000. The total redemption of War Savings securities for the same period amounted to $415,174,000. (Author:William Mather Lewis)


text: Author:Theodore Gervase Chambers

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Author:Theodore Gervase Chambers


text: Author:William Mather Lewis

title: Author:William Mather Lewis


text: Author:James Strachey Barnes

title: Author:James Strachey Barnes


text:
Author:Woislav Maximus Petrovitch

Works

 * Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians
 * Servian Conversation-Grammar (1914)
 * Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians
 * Servian Conversation-Grammar (1914)

title: Author:Woislav Maximus Petrovitch


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2 Judea; next went forward into the wide world, publishing the same doctrine to the Gentiles, and establishing Churches in every city. From these in turn the faith has been, and still is, propagated continually for the creation of new churches, which, as well as the first founded, are called Apostolic, as being the offspring of those which were really such. Every family must be referred to its first original: therefore these Churches, many though they be and flourishing, yet are but one, that one original which the Apostles established, and from which they all spring. So they are all original, and all Apostolic, all being one. That oneness is evidenced by their loving inter-communion, and the name of brotherhood, and the interchange of hospitality; and these common rights are secured solely by their unanimous tradition of one and the same sacred covenant.

From this point, therefore, we begin our plea against all who preach a new doctrine. If the Lord Jesus Christ sent the Apostles to preach, it follows that no other preachers are to be received, but those whom Christ appointed, because "no one knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son hath revealed Him." And it seems that the Son has revealed Him to no others than the Apostles, whom He sent to preach that doctrine, of course, which He revealed to them. But what they preached, that is, what Christ revealed to them, I shall here also plead should be proved in no other way, than by means of those same Churches, which the Apostles themselves founded, by preaching to them, as well as by word of mouth, as afterwards by Epistles. If these things are so, it follows immediately that all doctrine that agrees with those Apostolical Churches, the depositaries and sources of the faith, is to be reckoned for truth, preserving, as they doubtless do, what they received from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ, Christ from God. But that every other doctrine is to be presumed false, that savours of contradiction to the truth of the Churches, and of the Apostles, and of Christ, and of God.

It only remains then to prove, whether this our doctrine, the rule of which we have given above, is to be considered of Apostolic tradition; and from this very fact, whether the rest come not of falsehood. Now our very inter-communion with the


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Rh Apostolical Churches, which is matter of fact, is an evidence that our doctrine does not differ from theirs. This is the witness of the truth.

[To get rid of the above plain argument, the Separatists used to urge that the Apostles had a private doctrine over and above that which they taught in open church; or again, that they were not fully instructed in Christian truth, alleging, e. g. St. Peter's error in conduct at Antioch, &c. The following passage is in answer to the former of these suppositions.]

Sometimes they maintain, not that the Apostles were ignorant or discordant in their preaching, but with a like wildness, that they did not reveal all things to all: for that they entrusted some truths openly to all, but some secretly to a few. Now St. Paul uses this expression to Timothy: "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thee;" and again, "keep the good thing committed to thee." What is this thing committed, so proper to be assigned to some different doctrine? Is it of that declaration, of which he says, "This charge I entrust with thee, son Timothy." Also of that precept of which he says, "I charge thee before God, who giveth life to all things, and Jesus Christ, who witnessed before Pontius Pilate a good confession, that thou keep the precept." But what precept, and what charge? It will be understood from what is written before and after, that there is not any thing secretly pointed out by this expression relating to more abstruse doctrine, but that rather a charge is given concerning, not admitting any besides that which he had heard from himself, and I think openly. He says, "Before many witnesses." Who these many witnesses were, supposing they do not choose to understand the Church, makes no difference; since nothing can have been secret that was brought out before many witnesses. As to his admonishing him to "commit these things to faithful men, who are fit to teach others also;" this is not to be interpreted as any proof of some hidden gospel. For when he says "these things," he says it of those of which he was at present writing; but concerning hidden things, as concerning things not mentioned, and but tacitly understood, he would have said not "these," but "those."


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4 His direction about committing "to faithful men," did not imply a secresy, but of course care to choose such men for the commission as would preach the Gospel with judgment and discrimination; not casting pearls to swine, or holy things to dogs, as the Lord speaks. Our Lord himself spoke forth openly, without the least hint of any hidden covenant. He himself had ordered, that if they had heard any thing in darkness and in secret, they should proclaim it in the light, and on the house-top.

If, then, it is incredible that the Apostles either were ignorant of the fulness of the Gospel message, or abstained from publishing it to all in its completeness, let us next see whether, though the Apostles spoke with plainness and fulness, yet the Churches, by their own fault, received otherwise than the Apostles declared. You may find all such means of exciting scruples put forward by heretics. They take hold of the correction of the Churches by the Apostles: "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?" and "Ye did well, who hath hindered you?" and the very beginning, "I wonder that ye are so soon departed from him, who called you into grace, to another gospel;" of that too written to the Corinthians, that they were yet carnal, who ought to be fed with milk, and not yet fit for meat, as they thought they knew something, when as yet they knew nothing as it ought to be known. But, surely, the fault found with the Churches, which is their very objection, is a ground for believing it was corrected. Besides, let them also recollect those in whose faith and knowledge and conversation the Apostle rejoices, and gives thanks to God; which, be it observed, to this day share the rights of the one instituted body with those that were then blamed. However, grant all have erred; grant even an Apostle has been so mistaken as to impart his message only to a few; grant that the Holy Spirit has not vouchsafed to lead any Church into the truth, though for this cause sent by Christ, and for this cause asked of the Father, that He might be a teacher of the truth; grant that the steward of God, the vicegerent of Christ, has neglected his office, suffering the Churches meanwhile to understand and to believe otherwise than He himself declared by the Apostles:—is it likely that so many and so large Churches


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Rh should have run by mistake into one belief? Different courses have different issues: the teaching of the Churches must then have varied in their form: but what we find the same throughout many, is not a mistake, but a tradition. Let a man then be bold, and say, that they erred who first delivered it. But, however the error arose, I suppose it reigned on as long as heresies were unknown. Truth awaited her release by some Marcionites and Valentinians; meanwhile the Gospel was preached amiss, men believed amiss, so many thousands were baptized amiss, so many works of faith were done amiss, so many miracles, so many spiritual gifts were wrought amiss, so many priesthoods, so many ministries discharged amiss; finally, so many martyrdoms crowned amiss. Or, if not altogether amiss, and in vain, what a thing is it, that the cause of God should be in progress before it was known of what God?—that there should have been Christians before Christ was found?—heresy before true doctrine? Nay, but in all things the truth precedes the image, the likeness comes after the reality; but it is absurd enough to suppose heresy to have come first in that teaching, even because it is that same teaching which foretold that there should be heresies. It was written to a Church holding that doctrine, yea, the doctrine itself writes to its Church: "And if an angel from heaven preach another Gospel to you, beside that we have preached, let him be accursed."

[He next proceeds to show more fully that Apostolicity is the test of truth.]

But if any heresies dare to place themselves in the Apostolic age, that they may seem therefore to have been delivered by the Apostles, because they existed under the Apostles; we may say, Let them then show the rise of their churches, let them unroll the line of their Bishops, so running down by successions from the beginning, that their first Bishop may have had for his authority and predecessor some one of the Apostles, or such Apostolic men, as continued to hold with the Apostles. For in this manner the Apostolic Churches deduce their lines; as the Church of the Smyrnæans produces Polycarp appointed by John; as that of the Romans, Clement in like manner ordained by Peter; and as the


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6 others, in like manner, point to those who were appointed as Bishops by the Apostles, to deliver down for them the Apostolic seed. Let the heretics forge any such records. For what is unlawful for them after blasphemy? But though they should have forged them they will gain nothing. For their doctrine itself compared with that of the Apostles, will declare by its own diversity and contrariety, that it has neither any Apostle nor any Apostolic man for its author: because as the Apostles would not have taught different things among themselves, so neither would the Apostolic men have put forth things contradictory to the Apostles, excepting such men as revolted from the Apostles, and preached otherwise. This is the challenge they will receive from those Churches, which though they can show none of the Apostles, or Apostolic men, for their authority, as being much later, those even that are rising every day; yet conspiring in the same faith, are held no less apostolical on account of their kindred doctrine. Thus let all heresies, challenged by our Churches to either trial, prove themselves Apostolic in whatever way they think right. However they are not so, nor can prove themselves what they are not, nor are they received into peace and communion by Churches in any sense Apostolical: forasmuch as for the difference of their faith, they are in no wise Apostolic……

Let all heresies, challenged and convicted by us on these terms, (whether such as are later than, or contemporary with the Apostles, so that they differ from them; whether generally or specially marked by them, so that they have been condemned beforehand by them,) dare to offer in answer any similar plea against our system. For if they deny the truth of it, they ought to convict it of heresy, by the same method by which themselves are convicted; and to show at the same time where that truth is to be sought, which is now sufficiently proved not to be with them. That which we maintain is not later: nay, it is before all others. This will be the testimony to the truth, as every where having the precedence in time. What, in fact, is not condemned, nay, is defended by the Apostles, this carries proof of its being theirs. For what they do not condemn, who condemn every alien system, they show to be their own, and, therefore, even maintain.

Come now, you that wish to turn this restlessness to profit in


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Rh the search after salvation; run over the Apostolic Churches, in which the very chairs of the Apostles still hold place of honour, in which the very letters they wrote are recited, echoing the voice, and imaging the person of each of them. Is Achaia nearest to you? You have Corinth. If you are not far from Macedonia, you have Philippi, you have the Thessalonians. If you can reach Asia, you have Ephesus. But if you are in the neighbourhood of Italy, you have Rome, whence we also draw our own authority. How happy is that Church! where the Apostles poured forth their whole doctrine together with their blood; where Peter is likened in suffering to the Lord; where Paul is crowned with an end like the Baptist's; where the Apostle John, having been plunged in heated oil and suffered nothing, was banished to his island. Let us see what this Church has learned, what she has taught, what tokens she has sent of doctrine to the African Churches. She knows One God, the Creator of the universe, and Christ Jesus of the Virgin Mary, the Son of the Creator, and the resurrection of the flesh: she unites the law and the prophets with the Evangelical and Apostolical writings, and thence brings her faith. This she signs with water, clothes with the Holy Spirit, feeds with the eucharist, encourages by martyrdom, and therefore will acknowledge no one who opposes it. This is the teaching, I say not now which foretold future heresies, but out of which heresies have arisen, though they ceased to be scions of it from the time that they opposed it. Even from the kernel of the mild rich and serviceable olive, a harsh wild olive springs; even from the seed of the most delicious and sweetest fig, a wayward and barren wild fig-tree arises. Thus, also, heresies are from us, not of us, degenerate from the stock of truth, and running into weeds of falsehood.


text: Tracts for the Times/Record XVIII

title: Tracts for the Times/Record XVIII


text: User:TalBot/soft redirect maintenance/February 2012


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 MAP OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE.


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 MAP OF THE EASTERN HEMISPHERE.


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 MAP OF NORTH AMERICA.


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20 Q. What large Gulf south of the Unites States? A. Gulf of Mexico.

Q. Where is the Gulf of Mexico? A. South of the United States.

Q. What two great rivers in the United States? A. Mississippi and Missouri.

First Lesson in Geography Image14.png Icebergs near Greenland.

Q. What Mountains in the western part of N. America? A. Rocky Mountains. Q. Where are the Rocky Mountains? A. In the western part of N. America

Q. What Island east of Greenland? A. Iceland. Q. Where is Iceland?


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Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Elias of Jerusalem

Elias of Jerusalem, d. 518, one of the two Catholic bishops (with Flavian of Antioch) who resisted the attempt of the Emperor Anastasius I (491-518) to abolish the Council of Chalcedon (451). Anastasius spent the greater part of his reign in a vain attempt to impose Monophysitism on his subjects. Unlike his predecessors, who favored Monophysitism merely as a political expedient whereby to conciliate Egypt and the great number of Monophysites in Syria, Anastasius carried on his propaganda apparently from religious conviction. His chief adviser, Marinus, a Syrian, was also a convinced Monophysite. At first the emperor tried to arrange a compromise. The population of Constantinople and nearly all the European provinces were too Chalcedonian for an open attack on that council to be safe. Macedonius II, Patriarch of Constantinople (469-511), submitted so far as to sign Zeno's Henotikon (482), but refused to condemn the council. Flavian of Antioch also for a time approved of a policy of compromise. The Acacian schism (484-519) still continued during the reign of Anastasius, but the emperor and his patriarch made advances to the Roman See—advances that came to nothing, since the pope always insisted on the removal of the names of former schismatics from the Byzantine diptychs. Gradually Anastasius went over completely to the Monophysites. Severus of Sozopolis, Xenaias of Tahal in Persia, and a great crowd of Syrian and Egyptian Monophysite monks overwhelmed him with petitions to have the courage of his convictions and to break openly with the Dyophysites. In the emperor's chapel the Trisagion was sung with the famous Monophysite addition ("who was crucified for us"). Macedonius of Constantinople was deposed (511), and an open Monophysite, Timothy I (511-518), took his place. Timothy began a fierce persecution of Catholics. Then the Government summoned a synod at Sidon in 512 that was to condemn the Council of Chalcedon. It was chiefly Elias of Jerusalem who prevented this result.

Elias was an Arab, by birth, who had been educated in a monastery in Egypt. In 457 he was driven out by the Monophysite Patriarch of Alexandria, Timothy the Cat. He then came to Palestine and founded a laura at Jericho. Anastasius of Jerusalem ordained him priest. In 494 Elias succeeded Sallustius as Bishop of Jerusalem and governed the see until 513. He acknowledged Euphemius of Constantinople and refused the communion of Macedonius, the intruder. About 509 the Monophysite Xenaias of Hierapolis tried to make Elias sign a Monophysite formula, and the emperor ordered him to summon a synod that should condemn the Council of Chalcedon. Instead, Elias sent the emperor a Catholic profession that his enemies seem to have falsified on the way. Evagrius says: "He when he had written it sent it to the Emperor by the hands of Dioscorus' followers" (Monophysites). "And the profession that they then showed contained an anathema against those who speak of two natures in Christ. But the Bishop of Jerusalem, saying that it had been tampered with, sent another without that anathema. Nor is this surprising. For they often corrupted works of the holy Fathers" (H. E., III, xxxi). The Synod of Sidon in 512 was to condemn Chalcedon and depose Elias and Flavian. But they succeeded in persuading the Fathers to do neither (Labbe, Concil., IV, 1414). The Monophysites went on accusing these two of Nestorianism, and Anastasius deposed them, in spite of the protest of Elias' legate, Sabas. Flavian was deposed first and Severus, an open Monophysite, was intruded in his place. With this person Elias and the monks of Palestine would have no communion (Evagr., H. E., III, xxxiii). Then the Count of Palestine, Olympus, arrived at Jerusalem and offered Elias his choice of signing a Monophysite formula or being deposed. Elias refused to sign and was banished to Aila on the Red Sea (513). His monks remained faithful to him to the end.

Elias of Jerusalem was the founder of many monasteries in his patriarchate. The common presentation of him as a compromiser is unjust. He was steadfastly Catholic throughout and protested at once against the heretical formula brought to the emperor in his name. The Syrian Uniat Church keeps his feast, with St. Flavian of Antioch, on February 18 (Nilles, Kalend. Man., I, 471). These two are named in the Roman Martyrology on July 4.

ADRIAN FORTESCUE


text: The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Clarke, Rev. William Branwhite


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Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Jean-Baptiste-Armand-Louis-Léonce Elie de Beaumont

Elie de Beaumont,, geologist, b. at Canon (Dep. Calvados), near Caen, France, September 25, 1798; d. at Canon, September 21, 1874. He made his preliminary studies at the Seminaire Henri IV in Paris, and after successfully completing the course at the Ecole Polytechnique devoted himself in 1819 to mineralogy at the Ecole des Mines. His professor of geology, Brochant de Villiers, in 1822, chose him and his fellow-student Dufrénoy as companions on a tour to England, to study the mines of the country and to become acquainted with the British methods of geological surveying. After their return, Elie de Beaumont published a series of papers in conjunction with Dufrénoy in the "Annales des Mines" (1824-1830) which were afterwards republished under the title "Voyage metallurgique en Angleterre", 2 vols. (Paris, 1837-39). In 1825 the two young geologists began the preparation of a geological map of France. This great work, carried on, first under the direction of de Villiers and afterwards independently, required eighteen years for its completion. Its publication was an event of much importance in the development of geology in France and established the reputation of its authors. Later and more complete editions were afterwards issued and Elie de Beaumont continued to direct the work of the special geological survey until his death.

In 1827 he was elected professor of geology at the Ecole des Mines and in 1832 was appointed to the same chair in the College de France. In 1833 he became chief engineer of mines and some years later succeeded de Villiers as general inspector of mines. He received many honors during his long career in recognition of his scientific achievements. He was admitted to the Academie des Sciences in 1835 and succeeded Arago in 1853 as its perpetual secretary. He served as President of the Geological Society of France and in 1861 became Vice-President of the Conseil General des Mines. He was made a Senator of France in 1852 and during the Second Empire a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor.

His fame extended throughout Europe. His extensive field observations, in connection with his surveys and his epoch-making work on the age and origin of mountain systems, constitute his chief contributions to geology. A paper published by him, as early as 1829, in the "Annales" of the Academy, may be regarded as the starting point of modern views on mountain structure. His observations and theories on the subject are developed in detail in his "Notice sur les systemes des montagnes", 3 vols. (1852). Elie de Beaumont was a man of ardent faith and great integrity of life. In all his official positions he was conspicuous for his fairness and consideration for his colleagues. He was also the author of "Observations sur les différentes formations dans le système des Vosges", Paris, 1829; "Mémoires pour servir à une description géologique de la France" (with Dufrenoy), 4 vols., Paris, 1830-38; "Recherches sur quelques-unes des révolutions de la surface du globe", Paris, 1834; "Explications de la carte geologique de la France", Paris, Part I, 1841; Part II-IV, 1848-78 (with Dufrénoy).


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Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Eligius

Eligius (Fr. ),, Bishop of Noyon-Tournai, b. at Chaptelat near Limoges, France, c. 590, of Roman parents, Eucherius and Terrigia; d. at Noyon, December 1, 660. His father, recognizing unusual talent in his son, sent him to the noted goldsmith Abbo, master of the mint at Limoges. Later Eligius went to Neustria, where he worked under Babo, the royal treasurer, on whose recommendation Clotaire II commissioned him to make a throne of gold adorned with precious stones. His honesty in this so pleased the king that he appointed him master of the mint at Marseilles, besides taking him into his household. After the death of Clotaire (629), Dagobert appointed his father's friend his chief councillor. The fame of Eligius spread rapidly, and ambassadors first paid their respects to him before going to the king. His success in inducing the Breton King, Judicail, to submit to Frankish authority (636-37) increased his influence. Eligius took advantage of this to obtain alms for the poor and to ransom Roman, Gallic, Breton, Saxon, and Moorish captives, who were arriving daily at Marseilles. He founded several monasteries, and with the king's consent sent his servants through towns and villages to take down the bodies of malefactors who had been executed, and give them decent burial. Eligius was a source of edification at court, where he and his friend Dado (Audoenus) lived according to the Irish monastic rule, introduced into Gaul by St. Columbanus. Eligius introduced this rule, either entirely or in part, into the monastery of Solignac which he founded in 632, and into the convent at Paris where three hundred virgins were under the guidance of the Abbess Aurea. He also built the basilica of St. Paul, and restored that of St. Martial in Paris. He erected several fine churches in honor of the relics of St. Martin of Tours, the national saint of the Franks, and St. Denis, who was chosen patron saint by the king. On the death of Dagobert (639), Queen Nanthilde took the reins of government, and Eligius and Dado left the court and entered the priesthood. On the death of Acarius, Bishop of Noyon-Tournai, May 13, 640, Eligius was made his successor with the unanimous approbation of clergy and people. The inhabitants of his diocese were pagans for the most part. He undertook the conversion of the Flemings, Antwerpians, Frisians, Suevi, and the barbarian tribes along the coast. In 654 he approved the famous privilege granted to the Abbey of Saint-Denis, Paris, exempting it from the jurisdiction of the ordinary. In his own episcopal city of Noyon he built and endowed a monastery for virgins. After the finding of the body of St. Quentin, Bishop Eligius erected in his honor a church to which was joined a monastery under the Irish rule. He also discovered the bodies of St. Piatus and companions, and in 654 removed the remains of St. Fursey, the celebrated Irish missionary (d. 650). Eligius was buried at Noyon. There is in existence a sermon written by Eligius, in which he combats the pagan practices of his time, a homily on the last judgment, also a letter written in 645, in which he begs for the prayers of Bishop Desiderius of Cahors. The fourteen other homilies attributed to him are of doubtful authenticity. His homilies have been edited by Krusch in "Mon. Germ. Hist." (loc. cit. infra).

St. Eligius is particularly honored in Flanders, in the province of Antwerp, and at Tournai, Courtrai of Ghent, Bruges, and Douai. During the Middle Ages his relics were the object of special veneration, and were often transferred to other resting-places, thus in 881, 1066, 1137, 1255, and 1306. He is the patron of goldsmiths, blacksmiths, and all workers in metal. Cabmen have also put themselves under his protection. He is generally represented in Christian art in the garb of a bishop, a crosier in his right hand, on the open palm of his left a miniature church of chased gold.

L. VAN DER ESSEN


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Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Elined

Elined, , virgin and martyr, flourished c. 490. According to Bishop Challoner (Britannia Sancta, London, 1745, II, 59), she was a daughter of Bragan (Brychan), a British prince, after whom the present province of Brecknock is named, and her memory was kept in Wales. Giraldus Cambrensis, in his "Itinerarium Cambs." (I, c. ii), the chief authority for Elined, speaks of the many churches throughout Wales named after the children of Bragan, and especially of one on the top of a hill, in the region of Brecknock, not far from the castle of Aberhodni, which is called the church of St. Almedha, "who, rejecting the marriage of an earthly prince, and espousing herself to the eternal King, consummated her course by a triumphant martyrdom". Her feast was celebrated August 1, on which day throngs of pilgrims visited the church, and many miracles were wrought. William of Worcester says that she was buried at Usk. The church mentioned by Giraldus was called, says Rees, Slwch chapel. The Bollandists (August 1) express themselves satisfied with the evidence of her cultus. This saint is the Luned of the "Mabinogion" (Lady Guest, I, 113-14, II, 164) and the Lynette of Tennyson's "Gareth and Lynette". She is also supposed to be identical with the Enid of the "Mabinogion" and Tennyson's "Idylls".

G. E. PHILLIPS

title: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Elined


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Rh .,

I WILL not even name to you the beautiful pictures past which we floated. Everything is here ready for the painter's hand. Oberwesel, with its Roman tower, its turreted walls and Gothic edifices; the old Castle of Schonberg, Anglice Beautiful Hill, where there are seven petrified maidens who were converted into these rocks for their stony-heartedness—fit retribution. Villages, vineyards, and ruins appeared and disappeared, as the mist, playing its fantastic tricks, veiled and unveiled them. As we drew near to Bingen the sun shone out, throwing his most beautifying horizontal beams on Rheinstein and other famed points of the landscape, while masses of black clouds, driven on by the gusty wind, threw their deep shadows now here, now there, as if (we flies on the wheel fancied) to enchant the senses of travellers for the picturesque.

After much discussion with a friendly Englishman (an old stager in these parts) as to the comparative advantage of landing at Bingen or Rudesheim, we followed his advice and went on shore at the former place, where we found a cheerful welcome in the face of mine host of the Weisse Rosse, but no room in his house. This man is quite my beau ideal of a German innkeeper, and, but that it would take too much space, I should like to tell you the pains he took to get us rooms in another inn, and how, after he did get them, we reconsidered our decision and determined to pass the night at Rudesheim, and


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Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Eliseus

Eliseus (Heb. ??yes45 t, God is salvation), a Prophet of Israel—After learning, on Mount Horeb, that Eliseus, the son of Saphat, had been selected by God as his successor in the prophetic office, Elias set out to make known the Divine will. This he did by casting his mantle over the shoulders of Eliseus, whom he found "one of them that were ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen". Eliseus delayed only long enough to kill the yoke of oxen, whose flesh he boiled with the very wood of his plough. After he had shared this farewell repast with his father, mother, and friends, the newly chosen Prophet "followed Elias, and ministered to him". (III Kings, xix, 8-21.) He went with his master from Galgal to Bethel, to Jericho, and thence to the eastern side of the Jordan, the waters of which, touched by the mantle, divided so as to permit both to pass over on dry ground. Eliseus then beheld Elias in a fiery chariot taken up by a whirlwind into heaven. By means of the mantle let fall from Elias, Eliseus miraculously recrossed the Jordan, and so won from the prophets at Jericho the recognition, that "the spirit of Elias hath rested upon Eliseus". (IV Kings, ii, 1-15.) He won the gratitude of the people of Jericho for healing with salt its barren ground and its waters. Eliseus also knew how to strike with salutary fear the adorers of the calf in Bethel, for forty-two little boys, probably encouraged to mock the Prophet, on being cursed in the name of the Lord, were torn by "two bears out of the forest". (IV Kings, ii, 19-24.) Before he settled in Samaria, the Prophet passed some time on Mount Carmel (IV Kings, ii, 25). When the armies of Juda, and Israel, and Edom, then allied against Mesa, the Moabite king, were being tortured by drought in the Idumaean desert, Eliseus consented to intervene. His double prediction regarding relief from drought and victory over the Moabites was fulfilled on the following morning. (IV Kings, iii, 4-24.)

That Eliseus inherited the wonderworking power of Elias is shown throughout the whole course of his life. To relieve the widow importuned by a hard creditor, Eliseus so multiplied a little oil as to enable her, not only to pay her indebtedness, but to provide for her family needs (IV Kings, iv, 1-7). To reward the rich lady of Sunam for her hospitality, he obtained for her from God, at first the birth of a son, and subsequently the resurrection of her child (IV Kings, iv, 8-37). To nourish the sons of the prophets pressed by famine, Eliseus changed into wholesome food the pottage made from poisonous gourds (IV Kings, iv, 38-41). By the cure of Naaman, who was afflicted with leprosy, Eliseus, little impressed by the possessions of the Syrian general, whilst willing to free King Joram from his perplexity, principally intended to show "that there is a prophet in Israel". Naaman, at first reluctant, obeyed the Prophet, and washed seven times in the Jordan. Finding his flesh "restored like the flesh of a little child", the general was so impressed by this evidence of God's power, and by the disinterestedness of His Prophet, as to express his deep conviction that "there is no other God in all the earth, but only in Israel". (IV Kings, v, 1-19.) It is to this Christ referred when He said: "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet: and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian" (Luke, iv, 27). In punishing the avarice of his servant Giezi (IV Kings, v, 20-27), in saving "not once nor twice" King Joram from the ambuscades planned by Benadad (IV Kings, vi, 8-12), in ordering the ancients to shut the door against the messenger of Israel's ungrateful king (IV Kings, vi, 25-32), in bewildering with a strange blindness the soldiers of the Syrian king (IV Kings, vi, 13-23), in making the iron swim to relieve from embarrassment a son of a prophet (IV Kings, vi, 1-7), in confidently predicting the sudden flight of the enemy and the consequent cessation of the famine (IV Kings, vii, 1-20), in unmasking the treachery of Hazael (IV Kings, viii, 7-15), Eliseus proved himself the Divinely appointed Prophet of the one true God, Whose knowledge and power he was privileged to share.

Mindful of the order given to Elias (III Kings, xix, 16), Eliseus delegated a son of one of the prophets to quietly anoint Jehu King of Israel, and to commission him to cut off the house of Achab (IV Kings, ix, 1-10). The death of Joram, pierced by an arrow from Jehu's bow, the ignominious end of Jezabel, the slaughter of Achab's seventy sons, proved how faithfully executed was the Divine command (IV Kings, ix, 11-x, 30). After predicting to Joas his victory over the Syrians at Aphec, as well as three other subsequent victories, ever bold before kings, ever kindly towards the lowly, "Eliseus died, and they buried him" (IV Kings, xiii, 14-20). The very touch of his corpse served to resuscitate a dead man (IV Kings, xiii, 20-21). "In his life he did great wonders, and in death he wrought miracles" (Ecclus., xlviii, 15).

DANIEL P. DUFFY

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196 how, when we came to him with our tongues faltering with some mere pretext for being off, he just good-humouredly brushed aside the flimsy veil, saying, "Never mind, you choose to go, and that is enough;" and proceeded to select boatmen for us, and to make them promise to take us down to Rheinstein and back again to Rudesheim at the lowest and a very moderate rate. Would not the world go on swimmingly if all strangers errant were dealt by as mine host of the Weisse Rosse dealt by us?

How would you like, dear C., to see us, your nearest and dearest relations, boating on the Rhine with men whose German even K. found it hard to comprehend? There would be no reason for anxiety; they took us in good faith in half an hour to Rheinstein, or, rather, the current took us. The Castle of Rheinstein has been restored by Prince Frederic of Prussia and refurnished, and is now supposed to represent the castles as they were when there was wassail in the hall and love in the bower. The castle itself is the most beautiful on the Rhine. It is planted on a projecting rock, half way to the summit of a steep, and set off by a dark, rich woodland. It is built of stone taken from the bed of rock that forms its foundation, and you can scarce tell where nature finishes and art begins. In truth, the art is so perfect that you forget it. Nature seems to have put forth her creative power, and to have spoken the word that called from its mother rock this its indescribably beautiful and graceful offspring.

We wound up a path of easy ascent, passed over


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Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Elishé

Elishé, a famous Armenian historian of the fifth century, place and date of birth unknown, d. 480. Some identify him with Elishé, Bishop of Amaduni, who took part in the Synod of Artashat (449). According to a different and more common tradition, he had been in his younger days a companion, as soldier or secretary, of the Armenian general Vartan, during the war of religious independence (449-451) against the Persian King, Yezdigerd II. Later he became a hermit and retired to the mountains, south of Lake Van, where he died. All ancient authorities speak of him as "vartabed" or "doctor". His most famous work is the "History of Vartan and of the wars of the Armenians [written] at the request of David the Mamigonian", in which he recounts the heroic struggle of the Armenians in union with the Iberians and the Albanians, for their common faith, against the Persians (449-451). It is considered one of the master-pieces of ancient Armenian literature and is almost entirely free from Greek words and expressions. A good edition of it was published at Venice (1826) by the Mechitarists of San Lazaro. One of the manuscripts on which it is based purports to be a faithful copy of another manuscript dated 616. The text of that edition was further improved in subsequent editions at the same place (1828, 1838, 1859, and 1864). Among other editions of value may be mentioned those of Theodosia (Crimea), 1861, and of Jerusalem, 1865. There is an English, but unfinished, translation by C. F. Neumann (London, 1830); one in Italian by G. Cappelletti (Venice, 1840); and one in French by V. Langlois in his "Collection des Historiens anciens et modernes de l'Armr nie" (Paris, 1869), II, 177 sqq. In addition to the seven chapters mentioned by Elishé himself in his introductory remarks, all the editions contain an eighth chapter referring to the so-called Leontian martyrs (454) and others. The genuineness of that chapter has been called in question. It has been also remarked that in all manuscripts the fifth chapter is missing, while in the editions the original sixth chapter is cut in two so as to make up for the missing chapter. On the first point see Langlois, op. cit., II, p. 180; on the second see C. F. Neumann, "Versuch einer Geschichte der armenischen Literatur, nach den Werken der Mechitaristen frei gearbeitet" (Leipzig, 1836), pp. 64 sqq. See also Ter-Minassiantz, "Die armenische Kirche in ihren Beziehungen zu der syrischen Kirche" (Leipzig, 1904), p. 37. Elishé is also the author of a commentary on Joshua and Judges, an explanation of the Our Father, a letter to the Armenian monks, etc., all found in the Venice editions of the "History of Vartan".

H. HYVERNAT

title: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Elishé


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Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Elizabeth

Elizabeth (God is an oath—Ex., vi, 23), Zachary's wife and John the Baptist's mother, was "of the daughters of Aaron" (Luke, i, 5), and, at the same time, Mary's kinswoman (Luke, i, 36), although what their actual relationship was, is unknown. St. Hippolytus (in Niceph. Call., Hist. Eccles., II, iii) explains that Sobe and Anna their mothers were sisters, and that Sobe had married a "son of Levi". Whether this indication, probably gathered from some apocryphal writings, and later on adopted by the compilers of the Greek Menologium, is correct, cannot be ascertained. Elizabeth, like Zachary, was "just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame" (Luke, i, 6). She had been deprived, however, of the blessings of motherhood until, at an advanced age, a son was promised her by the Angel Gabriel (Luke, i, 8-20). When, five months later, Elizabeth was visited in her home by the Virgin Mary, not only was her son sanctified in her womb, but she herself was enlightened from on high to salute her cousin as "the mother of my Lord" (Luke, i, 43). According to some modern critics, we should even attribute to her the canticle "Magnificat". After the birth and circumcision of John the Baptist, the Gospels do not mention Elizabeth any more. Her feast is celebrated on September 8 by the Greeks, and November 5 in the Latin Church.

CHARLES L. SOUVAY

title: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Elizabeth


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Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Sisters of Saint Elizabeth

Elizabeth,, generally styled "Grey Nuns". They sprang from an association of young ladies established by Dorothea Klara Wolff, in connection with the sisters, Mathilde and Maria Merkert, and Franziska Werner, 1842, in Neisse (Prussia), to tend in their own homes, without compensation, helpless sick persons who could not or would not be received into the hospitals. The members purposed to support the needy through the labor of their own hands. Without adopting any definite rule, they led a community life and wore a common dress, a brown woollen habit with a grey bonnet. For this reason they were soon called by the people the "Grey Nuns". As their work was soon recognized and praised everywhere, and as new members continually applied for admission, their spiritual advisers sought to give the association some sort of religious organization. They endeavored, wherever possible, to affiliate it with already established confraternities having similar purposes. But their foremost desire was to educate the members for the care of the sick in hospitals. Great difficulties arose, and the attempt failed, principally through the resistance of the foundresses, who did not wish to abandon their original plan of itinerant nursing. Thus the association which had justified such bright hopes was dissolved, and many of the newly admitted members joined the Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo, while the foundresses left the novitiate which they had already entered. Klara Wolff and Mathilde Merkert died shortly after, in the service of charity. The other two began their work anew in 1850 and placed it under the especial patronage of St. Elizabeth. They speedily gained the sympathy of the sick of all classes and creeds, and also that of the physicians. New candidates applied for admission, and the sisters were soon able to extend the sphere of their activity beyond Neisse. Of especial importance was the foundation made at Breslau, where the work of the sisters came under the direct observation of the episcopal authorities. Soon after, September 4, 1859, Prince-Bishop Heinrich Förster was prevailed upon by the favorable reports and testimonials to grant the association ecclesiastical approbation. As such a recognition presupposed a solid religious organization, novitiate was established according to the statutes submitted. In the following year the twenty-four eldest sisters made the three religious vows. State recognition, with the grant of a corporation charter, was obtained by the confraternity May 25,1864, under the title, "Catholic Charitable Institute of St. Elizabeth", through the mediation of the Prussian Crown-Prince Frederick William, subsequent Emperor of Germany, who had observed the beneficent activity of the sisters on the battlefields of Denmark. The approbation of the Holy See was granted for the congregation on January 26, 1887, and for its constitutions on April 26, 1898. The congregation has spread to Norway, Sweden, and Italy, and has (1908), dependent on the motherhouse at Breslau, 305 filial houses, with 2565 sisters and about 100 postulants.


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Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Elizabeth Associations

Elizabeth Associations (Elisabethenvereine), charitable associations of women in Germany which aim for the love of Christ to minister to the bodily and spiritual sufferings of the sick poor and of neglected children. On December 10, 1842, eight ladies of Munich formed a society, of which the Princess Leopoldine von Lowenstein was the head, for the purpose of visiting and aiding the sick poor in their homes. In 1851 it was made a religious congregation to which many indulgences were granted by the Holy Father. In order to carry on better the visiting of the sick the first branch or conference of the association was founded in 1870. According to its statutes the members are divided into two classes: associate members, or those who aid the organization by means of annual contributions, and active members who, besides contributing of their means, also visit the sick poor and perform other duties, as those of administration, at the direction of the president of the society. The branches are merely means of carrying on the affairs of the main society with which they are closely affiliated, but they are independent in administration. The Elizabeth Association of Munich, according to the financial report covering the year 1907, has 157 active and 3686 associate members; the receipts were 129,559.06 marks ($32,339.76), and disbursements, 123,422.77 marks ($30,855.69). During the year 1907 4345 poor persons were assisted, 195 children cared for in asylums and nurseries, and 18 old people were provided for in asylums and infirmaries.

Other Elizabeth Associations, although with some differences of organization, were formed on the model of that of Munich at Barmen and Trier in 1843, Collogne in 1848, etc. These societies are now found chiefly in the following sections of Germany: Bavaria, 36 societies, 24 of these being in the Palatinate; Diocese of Cologne, 110 societies with 1200 members, about 7000 contributors, and a total income of nearly 150,000 marks, families assisted 3500; Diocese of Paderborn, 120 societies with over 16,000 members and contributors, and an income of 175,000 marks, families assisted 3600. There are also Elizabeth Associations in the Dioceses of Freiburg, Münster, Trier, Limburg, Hildesheim, and the Vicariate Apostolic of Saxony; in the Diocese of Breslau, instead of Elizabeth Associations, there are about 130 women's conferences of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. In Germany the Elizabeth Associations number altogether some 550 branches or conferences which aid annually 10,000 to 12,000 families.

GREGOR REINHOLD