Women and War Work by Helen Fraser
page 103 of 190 (54%)
page 103 of 190 (54%)
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member receives one of these.
This works out quite fairly if one rule is observed--never give any one a Certificate dated earlier than the first week they started paying for it. The people of England needed a great deal of education in war saving. We had to fight the strongly held conviction that of all sins the most despicable is "meanness," and that too much saving may seem mean. No Englishman will ever really admit he has any money, and he was inclined to question your right to talk about the possibility of his having some--and your right to tell him what to do with it, supposing he had any. Some of them were a little suspicious that it was the workers we were talking to most--it was not--and some of them were not quite sure they wanted their employers to know how much they saved. That is entirely obviated by the men running their own associations. Other people told you the people in their District never did, could, or would save and were spending their big wages in the most extravagant way--that pianos and fur coats appealed far more than war savings certificates. The official people in the towns when we approached them about conferences said much the same in some cases, but, yes, of course, you could come and have a conference and the Mayor would preside and you could try. And you did, and in six months they had dozens of associations and thousands of members and had sold some thousands of certificates. We sell about one and a half million certificates a week and have sold about 140 millions since March, 1916. The appeal that won them was not only the practical appeal of the value of the money after the war for themselves, to buy a house, to provide for old age, to educate the children. The strongest appeal |
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