Page:EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/390

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372
SAXONY

tificate Stamp. Succeeding issues of War Savings Certificate Stamps were on Jan. i 1919, Jan. i 1920 and Jan. i 1921.

In addition to the original securities there were offered in July 1919 Treasury Savings Certificates, one of $100 and the other $1,000 maturity value. Treasury Savings Certificates were registered at the Treasury Department at the time of pur- chase and increased in redemption value monthly on the same interest basis as War Savings Certificate Stamps. In Jan. 1921 there were offered for sale $i non-interest-bearing Treasury Sayings Stamps and $25 Treasury Savings Certificates, in addi- tion to the other Treasury Savings Securities.

Following the working out of the types of securities in 1917, an organization for their sale was effected. In addition to the- National War Savings Committee, consisting of the chairman and four members, the Secretary of the Treasury appointed six Federal directors, each having general supervision over approx- imately two Federal Reserve Districts; and 52 state directors, each of whom had complete charge of War Savings activities in his state or part thereof. The National War Savings Committee and the six Federal directors functioned at the National War Savings Committee headquarters in Washington. It was the duty of this sales organization to obtain cooperation from the heads of all enterprises operating nationally and then to decen- tralize the work through the Federal directors to the respective state directors coming under their jurisdiction, the ultimate goal being to offer every man, woman and child in the United States the privilege of aiding the Government by investing in Government securities, and at the same time to develop habits of thrift. The War Savings securities were put on sale at every post-office, at banks and in thousands of voluntary agencies. House-to-house canvass for their sale was made by postmen, boy scouts, representatives of insurance companies and mem- bers of women's organizations. In the autumn of 1918 the Treasury Department created a Savings Division of the War Loan Organization, which took over the work previously carried on by the National War Savings Committee, so that the people of the country might be taught for their peace-time value the lessons of thrift and saving learned during the war. The specific ends sought were: (i) to develop and protect all war issues of Government securities; (2) to sell Treasury Savings securities; (3) to make permanent the habits of regular saving and investment in U.S. Government securities. The Savings Division was placed in charge of a Director of Savings, with an organization in Washington, and one in each of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts.

School Government Savings systems were established. In- struction in thrift, saving and the principles of sound finance was introduced in schools throughout the nation. At the annual convention of the National Education Association in July 1920 a committee of state superintendents was appointed to work out with the Savings Division the best plans for placing the savings movement permanently in the American school system. The American Federation of Labor and various labour bodies passed resolutions commending the work of the Savings Division and calling on the Government to make permanent the policy of issuing small securities. Many local labour organizations invested their reserve funds in Government securities. In indus- trial plants throughout the country Government Savings Asso- ciations were established and the employees put aside small amounts regularly each week in Government Savings securities. Women's organizations of the country during the years 1919 and 1920 created the office of thrift chairman in their boards of officials. They took up the study of finance at club meetings, promoted the use of the household budget and with the savings thus effected purchased Government securities.

The total sale of War Savings securities from Dec. 3 1917 to Jan. i 1921 amounted in round figures to $1,176,111,000. The total redemption of War Savings securities for the same period amounted to $41 5,174,000. (W. M. LE.)


SAXONY (see 24.265). The pop. of the Territory and Free State of Saxony, according to the census of 1919, was 4,663,298; in 1910 it was 4,806,661.

During the last few years before the World War political life in the German kingdom of Saxony was dominated by a conflict about the constitution. The parties of the Left had for years demanded a reform of the First Chamber, the Upper House, by which the pre- dominance of the Agrarians in that House should be broken, and commerce, industry, and handicrafts should obtain greater influence. In Jan. 1910 the National Liberals, the Liberals (Freisinnige) and the Social Democrats once more introduced resolutions with this object in the Second Chamber, the Lower House, but these proposals met with the keenest opposition from Government, which shared the opinions of the Right. Notwithstanding the majority in the Lower House for the Reform, it was defeated by the refusal of the Upper House to accept it. It was only in Dec. 1917, that the Government introduced a bill for the reform of the Upper House, which again led to fierce conflicts between the Right and Left parties in Parliament, but the advent of the Revolution put an end to these conflicts. Simultaneously controversy concerning a new Electoral Law for the Lower House had constantly been going on since 1910. In Nov. 1911 a Social Democrat was for the first time elected Vice- President of the Diet. With the outbreak of war these questions fell into the background. In the educational sphere the reform of the National Schools System, which was especially advocated by the teaching profession in Saxony, aroused sharp conflicts of opinion among almost all classes of the people. The teachers were fighting for a development of the school system on lines of greater liberty and particularly desired that religious instruction should be regarded in a more liberal light. In 1912 the Government introduced a bill, which did not fully meet the wishes of the school teachers. After some elaborate debates in the Lower House, which produced great excitement throughout Saxony, the bill was rejected in Dec. 1912.

On Nov. 30 1910, Dr. von Riiger, who had been Minister of Finance for many years and at the same time had presided over the Ministry, retired, his successor as Finance Minister being von Sey- dewitz, while the minister of Justice, von Otto, took over the presi- dency of the Ministry and was in turn succeeded by the Minister of War, Freiherr von Hausen, in Sept. 1912, who on May 21 1914 gave place to von Carlowitz. The latter resigned his office to Lt.-Gen. von Wilsdorf on Oct. 27 1915 on taking a command in the field.

The year 1913 saw the opening in June of an airship base at Leipzig, the largest in Germany at that date.

On Oct. 18 1913 the unveiling of the monument commemorating the Volkerschlacht (the great victory of the continental Allies over Napoleon Oct. 16-18 1813) took place in Leipzig, a celebration at which the Emperor William II. and all the German sovereigns were present. After the ceremony the foundation stone of the German Library was laid, an institution which has since been completed and put in working order. All German publishers have undertaken to place a free copy of every work published by them at the disposal of this library, so that it already possesses more than a hundred thousand volumes. On July 29 1916 the Technical School of Mining at Freiberg, the oldest institution of its kind in Germany, celebrated the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its foundation.

Saxony, which is chiefly an industrial country and cannot boast of much agriculture, suffered more under war conditions than most other German states. As a country which had been hitherto provisioned from outside, it found the problem of sup- plying food to its population extremely difficult. There was in many places a real dearth in the most important foodstuffs, such as corn and potatoes, so that the population was frequently obliged to have recourse to substitutes (Ersatzmittel).

Shortly before the outbreak of war, during the week July 17-24 1914, King Friedrich August of Saxony was on a visit to the Russian court at Petrograd; then on Aug. 2 the King's warlike appeal to the civilian and military population was published. At the beginning of the war the Saxon troops suffered heavy losses during their advance into the north of France. Already in 1917 the extreme Left in the Saxon Diet had begun an agitation, which never abated, for the early conclusion of peace; this demand led to violent debates between the Left and the Government, the latter being supported by the parties of the Right. On Oct. 26 1918 the Cabinet was forced to resign and to give place to a new Government of a more Liberal colour under Dr. Heinze. On Nov. 91918 the revolution broke out, and King Friedrich August abdicated on Nov. 13. A Cabinet of Commissaries of the People ( Volksbeauftragte) was formed and was entirely composed of members of the extremist section of the Social Democrats, the Independent Socialists. The revolutionary conflicts of Jan. 1919, which entailed sanguinary street fighting in Leipzig, Dresden and other Saxon cities, led to the resignation of the Cabinet, which was succeeded by a Government of the right wing of the Social Democratic party. The extreme Left instituted demonstrations against this Government through-