Title: National Thrift Week Proclamation
Date: January 16, 1920
Location: Boston, MA
Context: Designation of a National Thrift Week by Calving Coolidge and his thoughts on the overall importance of thrift
(Original document available here)
Whereas, The seventeenth day of January marks the day that there was born in Boston, Mass., Benjamin Franklin, who by precept and example became a teacher of the virtue of thrift; and
Whereas, In recognition of the principle that thrift and economy lie at the basis of civilization, the Young Men’s Christian Association, with the support of the Treasury Department of the United States and many commercial and educational organizations, is planning a National Thrift Week, to extend from January 17 to January 24; and
Whereas, The time has arrived for saving by the people in order to discharge the obligations of the war, in order to provide additional capital with which to meet the demands for greater production, in order to strengthen the character of our citizenship by the exercise of self-control and self-denial, in order that the people of the Commonwealth may not be owned and controlled by the property of the Commonwealth, but that the people of the Commonwealth may own and control the property of the Commonwealth, in order that there may be a deeper realization that extravagance is wrong and that thrift is right;
Now, therefore, I, CALVIN COOLIDGE, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, hereby designate the week aforesaid to be National Thrift Week and earnestly recommend to all civil authorities the desirability of acting in co-operation with all private citizens and civic organizations in the making and perfecting of plans to encourage, promote and secure thrift and saving on the part of all citizens of this Commonwealth in the discharge of their paramount public duty.
Citation: Messages to the General Court, Official Addresses, Proclamations and State Papers of His Excellency Governor Calvin Coolidge
The Coolidge Foundation gratefully acknowledges the volunteer efforts of Craig Eyermann, who prepared this document for digital publication.