SAVINGS

BANKS (Fr. caisses d'epargne; Ger. Sparkassen)  , institutions for the purpose of receiving small deposits of money and investing them for the benefit of the depositors at compound interest . They originated in the latter part of the 18th century-a period marked by a great advance in the organization of provident habits in general (see FRIENDLY SOCIETIES) . They seem, however, to have been first suggested by Daniel Defoe in 1697 . The earliest institution of the kind in Europe was one established at Brunswick in 1765; it was followed in 1778 by that of Ham-burg, which still exists, in 1786 by one at Oldenburg, in 1790 by one at Loire, in 1792 by that of Basel, in 1794 by one at Geneva, which had but a short existence, and in 1796 by one at Kiel in Holstein . In Great Britain, in 1797, Jeremy Bentham revived Defoe's suggestion under the name of " Frugality Banks," and in 1799 the Rev . Joseph Smith put it in action at Wendover .