and they have managed to find some ways or means of getting to the bank during banking hours.

It is the pick swinger, the worker with the shovel, the "coal heaver," and the like, who are most enthusiastic about the "Save at the Shop Plan." It opens to them a door of opportunity which has seemed to them to have been closed in the past.

Before the "Save at the Shop Plan" is installed, on an average, 33 3/10 per cent. of all workers in any plant are saving money in some form, either through bank accounts, saving and loan companies, or through payments upon a home. Upon the first solicitation by a Union Trust representative, upon an average, 31 4/10 per cent. of all employees at the plant sign up for the "Save at the Shop Plan." Upon further solicitation, this percentage is increased to 56 4/10 per cent. Besides this number, of course, there are still remaining the men who continue to make payments upon homes, so that the results of the "Save at the Shop Plan" may be summed up in the statement that it more than doubles the number of savers in any factory in which it is installed.

High Percentage of Savers

In some of the factories where the "Save at the Shop Plan" has been in operation for about two years, as high as 80 per cent. of the employees are using the "Save at the Shop Plan."

Now, of course, the success of the plan is due largely to the fact that it provides a convenient and easy opportunity for the workman to save his money. But it seems doubtful as to whether the opportunity alone would account for the success of the plan. Personal contact is a powerful influence. The one or two minutes of intimate conversation which The Union Trust Company representative has with every worker in the plant is perhaps the most powerful urge which is given the worker to adopt the "Save

It

at the Shop Plan." It shows him that the bank thinks of him in terms of an individual, instead of thinking of him as a member of a class. It brings the problem of saving money home to him as a person, rather than presenting it to him in an abstract manner as a general principle. gives him an opportunity to think of his bank in terms of a human being-the bank man who has talked to him in his own shop -instead of thinking of the bank as a cold, hard, financial institution away downtown inside of its massive stone banking structure.

In short, it is this human element that has gone far to make the "Save at the Shop Plan" a continuing success-and from results obtained at The Union Trust Company by the use of the "Save at the Shop Plan," it would seem to indicate that from the bank's standpoint, it is very much worth while to exert the time and effort necessary to interview individually each prospective savings customer, and to obtain an intimate, personal contact between the bank and the man who saves.

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EXTRA DIVIDEND BY TITLE GUARANTEE & TRUST

In addition to the last regular quarterly disbursement of 3 per cent. the directors of the Title Guarantee & Trust Company of New York declared an extra dividend of 4 per cent. to stockholders on the $10,000,000 capital stock. The June 30th financial statement shows surplus fund of $11,000,000 and undivided profits of $1,725,680. Resources total $66,347,000 and deposits, $42,536,000.

There is unclaimed interest of $58,000,000 awaiting Liberty bond owners in the U. S. Treasury and there are many temporary bondcertificates in the hands of the people which have not yet been exchanged for the bonds and attached interest coupons.

"If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh! If you poison us do we not die?"

A

Merchant of Venice.

LMOST any statement if repeated

often enough and with the proper degree of solemnity, will, in time, come to be accepted as the truth even by many who cannot be charged as being unthinking. So the oft-repeated phrase "Corporations Have No Souls" has been rung in our ears with such frequency that we have altogether overlooked the fact that corporations are after all officered and manned by individuals who, to quote Shylock again, are "fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer," and whose emotions of sympathy are moved in like manner with other members of mankind and womankind.

The personnel of a trust department of a trust company far from being an exception to the general run of mankind must, if possible, be even more in sympathy, more in touch with those with whom they come in contact in their business relations, than the average human being if for no other reason than that conditions require it. So many occasions arise that demand all of the courtesy, firmness, tact, diplomacy and with it. all, sympathy and the milk of human kind

ness.

Those who conduct the department are far, very far, from being machines such as the typewriters or the adding machines whose only requisite is accuracy and inflexibility, but no heart, which applies to every member of the department each of whom is selected with that thought in mind and whose tenure depends on the fulfilment of the promise. To their attention, come so many matters widely differening one from the other, each of which must receive consideration, each of which must be viewed

from an angle all its own. For example, by no possible means can the subject of the giving of fatherly advice to a boy who is not doing very well in school or who is growing beyond his mother's control, have any relation whatever to the subject of proper fertilizers for a farm; yet these are but two of the subjects that must be considered.

Guardianships

One of the functions of a trust department that engages greatly the interest of the department is one that is not particularly profitable, namely, the guardianship of minor children.

Under the State Law the Orphans' Court may appoint one guardian for the person and another for the property of the minor. in such cases the former is usually a near relative and the latter a corporation. In confirmation, however, of the claim that the officers of the department are really human, it follows again and again that they are consulted about many matters that have nothing whatever to do with the handling

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BELFAST BANKING CO. LTD.

OVER 110 OFFICES IN IRELAND

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please have a talk with R. It seems as though he won't listen to me," has come from the lips of a woman who for a time considered it unreasonable that the guardian declined to draw upon the ward's capital without an order from the court.

Men will more quickly recognize the value of the trained efficiency of a department organized for the especial purpose of caring for trusts, but, women being farther removed from the business world frequently are fearful of the unknown and will at first object to dealing with a "cold corporation." However, once their confidence is won by humaa, or may we say by humane treatment, they become our strongest adherents and our best advertisers. For example, a woman client complained on several occasions that the income from her trust account was not large enough; that her sister's money which was being handled by a personal friend, produced a much larger return. This continued for several years until one day she came to the office in great excitement and burst out with, "What do you think, my sister has lost every cent she owned. Oh I'm so glad that my money is in trust." Since which we have

had no complaint, but only the best of relations.

Wide Range of Service

In the preparation of wills; in the creation of trusts; in the making out of income tax returns and in the settlement of estates we believe we come nearer to seeing the human side of life than do the members of any other profession save possibly, the doctors or the ministers.

The care, the consideration and the affection, yes and sad to say, at times the malice and the bitterness that are displayed by those who are planning the disposal of their estates are most interesting. Happily in the majority of such cases it is the finer side of human nature that is uppermost and again and again it is clear that the controlling impulse is affection for those nearest and dear

est.

Quite as a matter of course the strictest confidence enters into the relations between the trust department and its clients. One of our most useful directors who has but recently closed a long and useful career made this statement about a mutual friend whose statements always were conservative. "He won't tell you any more than he knows." The officers and employees of the trust department must tell but little of what they know and then with the names deleted, there

fore unlike most business men and women they may not talk shop except in the most general way. Naturally then we do not consider at all unusual such a remark as this in connection with the preparation of an income tax report, "Now this is all in the strictest confidence." "Of course you will not let this go any farther," or "Not even my wife knows what my income is." Perhaps she would be even more interested than we are, but if she learns, it is from her husband.

Human Nature Revealed

In the settlement of estates we see the human side of life perhaps more clearly than in some other lines. Too often, alas, cupidity becomes evident as the ruling passion and the breath is not out of the body before the scramble begins. Greed is as old as history itself and in this respect human nature is very much the same. Relatives and friends of the decedent, disappointed in not receiving what they consider a proper distribution by the will of the decedent, will put in claims for services that they never would have dreamed of presenting had he or she recovered, and the squabbles, the tales of woe, the recriminations to which we must listen, bring before us not the most pleasant phase of human life. On the other hand in such matters it is our good fortune to meet with the highest types of nobility of character, of generosity and of correct dealing that are inspirations in themselves as much as their acquaintances are pleasing and helpful. In fact not the least pleasure of the work is in the acquaintanceship and in the fiendship of the high-minded men and women that is gendered thereby.

Safeguarding Estates

A large part of our work consists in saving people from themselves. It is well known that the safeguarding of money presents a much more difficult problem than the earning of it. Some years ago a man died leaving quite a large amount of insurance. This was before the day of insurance trusts that are becoming so increasingly popular nowadays. The widow was persuaded by a director of our company to create a trust out of the proceeds of the life insurance, which fund has produced her a regular income ever since without the loss of a dollar. fact the principal has slightly increased, although this is not one of the points particularly aimed for in the conduct of trust estates. We can mention facts sometimes, though we must suppress the names and in discussing insurance trusts with an acquaint

In

ance recently this particular trust was mentioned adding that, in the opinion of the writer, a large portion of the fund would have been dissipated years ago if she had not been so well advised. Quick as a flash came the answer, "I know the case to which you refer and I know that she would not have a dollar today if the fund had not been placed in your hands." This is only one of the many cases where money has been saved through the creation of trust estates, either by will or by what are known as trust agreements or declarations of trust either for the benefit of the creator of the trust himself or for some other person.

In conclusion, if sometimes like other human folks we become a bit discouraged or pessimistic, and everyone does become so at times, we have but to recall the following incident that happened several years ago. We had occasion to send to California three minor children, whose history would make a most interesting story, and entrusted them to the care of a most excellent aunt who is of middle age. From somewhere in the West, either Chicago or Kansas City, she wrote us a postcard giving the place, day and hour, adding these words, "My reward will be in heaven."

UNION TRUST CO. OF CLEVELAND An increase of $14,104,000 in deposits is shown in the June 30th statement of the Union Trust Company of Cleveland as compared with the statement of March 31st last. Deposits now aggregate $237,131,000. Capital is $22,250,000; surplus and current earnings, $12,320.083. Resources total $284,085,000.

EQUITABLE TRUST OPENS NEW OFFICES IN LONDON

The Equitable Trust Company of New York announces that the London office of the company has been moved from 3 King William street, E. C. 4 to new and larger quarters at 10 Moorgate, E. C. 2, in the heart of the business and financial district of London. At the same time a second London office has been opened in the Bush House which has entrances on the Strand and Aldwych, which is convenient to the shopping and theatre districts as well as to leading hotels frequented by American tourists. In Paris the Equitable Trust Company has also increased the accommodations of its offices at 23 Rue de la Paix, in the Avenue de l'Opera.