Automatic Age

THE AUTOMATIC AGE
Vol. 1
C H ICA G O , JU LY , 1926
No. 12
PAINLESS BANKING’ AIDS TH R IFT
Slot Machine Device Eliminates Usual Clerical Work Attached to
School Savings.
(From New York Sun)
Within less than two years the
boys and girls attending P. S. 37,
the Bronx, have deposited to their
credit in the Dollar Savings Bank
more than $3,000, and the total is
going upward weekly. This enviable
record for thrift, in the opinion of
Dr. Gabriel Mason, principal, is due
in no small degree to the system of
banking adopted in the school, which
makes the very act of depositing a
fascinating experience for the young­
ster—fully as much so as the drop­
ping of a coin into a slot machine
for a stick o f chewing gum.
In truth the banking system at P.
S. 37 is a sort ’o f glorified slot ma­
chine. The device, besides making
thrift a painless process for the
youngsters has entirely done away
with the numerous annoyances which
accompany the usual school savings
system.
The time consuming counting by
busy teachers of innumerable pen­
nies, nickels and dimes; the compli­
cated bookkeeping entries necessary
to keep track of the deposits and the
frequent disruption of regular class­
room routine which the older type ox
school banking involved are all un­
known at P. S. 37. Instead, an effi­
cient and willing machine installed
by the Dollar Savings Bank; does the
work.
Banking Made Pleasant
Down in the main lobby of the
school stands a model in miniature
of a bank building, complete with
sloping roof, a row of windows and
doors. Closer inspection reveals that
the roof contains slot for nickels,
© International Arcade Museum
dimes, quarters, half dollars and $1
and $5 coins.
Tuesday is visiting day at this
“ House of Thrift," as the machine
has been labeled. Early in the morn­
ing a clerk from the savings bank
arrives with a batch of brightly col­
ored stamps marked 5c, 10c, 15c, 25c,
50c, $1 and $5, which are duly in­
serted into the machine. The “ House
of Thrift” is now open for business
and soon the depositors are on the
scene.
Every depositor holds a numbered
passbook containing perforated de­
posit slips, each numbered for identi­
fication, together with sheets for a
permanent record.
Nickels, dimes
and quarters, with an occasional dol­
lar, go clinking into the slots, and as
each coin descends an appropriate
double stamp, perforated and marked
with the correct amount, issues from
one of the windows. One-half of this
stamp is pasted onto the deposit slip,
which is then dropped back into a
receptacle and returned to the bank.
The other half, retained in the pass­
book,
constitutes the depositor’s
record.
School Free of Responsibility
At the end of the day the machine
is opened by the bank clerk and the
money and deposit slips taken to the
bank, where proper credit is given
to the individual accounts from the
identification number on the deposit
slips. There is thus no interruption
of the regular school schedule and
the teachers are freed from all detail
in connection with the school bank.
Moreover, the school is in no way
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