University Daily Kansan
Page 3
Thursday, Dec. 13, 1951
Savings Club Santa Helps 11 Million
New York—(U.P.)—E d w a r d Dorset hardly looks the Santa Claus type. He's too tall and rangy. He doesn't wear a beard. He isn't plump in the right places.
Yet in a way, Dorset is Santa Claus to nearly 11,000,000 people. Because of him and the organization he heads, it will be a much merrier Christmas, financially speaking.
Dorset, from Richmond, Va., is president of Christmas Club, a corporation responsible for the system whereby you can save ahead for the holiday drain on your finances.
Maybe you're a club member. If so, through your bank each week for the last year, you've been setting aside a dollar, two, or even $5 for your Christmas fund. Between now and Dec. 25, the bank will be sending you a check for the total saved.
The idea of putting money aside for the one big day of giving was started in 1910 in Carlisle, Pa., by Herbert F. Rawl. then a salesman.
Rawll looked at the banker's messy desk and decided he could work out a less confused system of handling small deposits. So the club was born.
As Dorset tells it, Rawl walked into a bank one day to find a banker poring over a confusion of papers. The banker explained it was a group of small deposits by customers saving just for Christmas.
Now the corporation supplies the materials and promotion needed to start and operate clubs in local banks, and also has a sales force touring the nation to sell more banks on the idea.
This year, Dorset said, payments total $52,000,000 distributed to 10-875,000 members. The average per member is $87.50.
Dorset said the unusual thing
about club savings was the way people use them.
It is not so much for Christmas spending as for other things, he said. Only 38 per cent goes for holiday gifts. Some of it is used for regular bills, some for education of the youngsters, and a big chunk -36 per cent—goes back into some form of savings.
They didn't have enough capital to start a big business but, the club money was enough to underwrite a small project—stationery with desert scenes painted at the top, and for sale to tourists.
Many a member has used the savings to help start a business. Dorset heard of one woman whose husband became ill and the couple had to move to the warm, dry climate of the southwest.
Dorset said one widow, living on the east coast, used club money to buy one fishing boat, and now operates a fleet of vessels.
Club savings are used to finance babies, for donations to the church, to pay for new homes, or to meet income tax payments.
Chicago U. Professor To Be Guest Speaker
Dr. Marshall Stone, professor and chairman of the mathematics department at the University of Chicago, will be guest lecturer at the University, Friday, Saturday and Dec. 17.
Dr. Stone, son of the late Harlan Stone, chief justice of the U.S. supreme court, will come as visiting lecturer of the American Mathematics society.
At 5 p.m. Friday he will speak on "Convex Sets"; at 5 p.m. Saturday on "The Spectral Theorem in Hilbert Space"; and at 5 p.m. Dec. 17 on "General Topological Spaces." Each lecture will be in 203 Strong hall.
Come In After Class
Enjoy a break from studying. The Chateau's sandwiches and fountain specials will pep you up.
Open
11 a.m.
Curb
Service
After 4 p.m.
"These discussions concerning university policy get rather violent at times!"
CHRISTMAS GIFT Ideas
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NEW Parker "51"
PEN NAME FOR THE PERFECT GIFT
Magnificent "51" Pen and Pencil set. Plathemium-
tipped 14K gold point, special ink flow meter assure
flawless writing. 8 colors.
Pen $13.50 Set $19.75
K.U. RECORDS
8 Popular K.U. Songs on 78 r.p.m.
Non-breakable R.C.A. Records.
Album — $4.90
SEMI-PORCELAIN PLATES
10 $ \frac{1}{2} " $ , Depicting Campus Scenes.
Available in blue, maroon, or brown. $ 1.50
STUDENT UNION BOOK STORE