... the savings banks was sensitive to the interest paid by the joint stock banks and improvements in their facilities. In the United States, where the savings banks came closest to meeting their ... where they were most needed. In Ireland they had even less success in getting the poor to save than across the Irish Sea. In the United States, where living standards were highest, the savings ... would otherwise have been deposited in joint-stock or country banks was diverted into the savings banks. 42 Scotland’s savings banks came closest to fulfilling their founders’ mission. The occupational...