Slater Area Historical Association

A memoir submitted by member Paul Hermann….
SAVINGS ACCOUNT LOST IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Late in the 1920’s or early 1930’s my parents decided that we two boys, brother John B. and myself, should learn a little about savings and utilizing a bank with a savings account. Each of us boys had a little money from birthday monies and such and we opened our savings accounts with just a few dollars. The bank was the Farmers Savings Bank of Slater and the man behind the counter and the little gate that seemed to be a standard feature of banks in those days was Miller Heggen.
The time was that of the Great Depression. The economic situation was relatively disastrous and very especially on banks. Banks had loans out that they couldn’t collect on because the borrowers didn’t have the money to make payments on their loans. It was a serious time for all folks and the banks were especially hit. So our little savings accounts were seriously at risk.
At some time in the period of 1929-31, Dad bought a little calf from Henry Sampson. (I’m not sure of that name but it’s the best that I can recall these days.) The calf was to be ‘owned’ by Johnny and me. So, we had to give our new calf a name. Henry we called it, after Henry Sampson from whom it was bought. The Sampsons were an elderly couple who lived on the south edge of Slater. They had a small acreage consisting of pasture land that is now the park, pool, and baseball diamond in Slater.
The calf was neutered and it grew to be a marketable steer. Then, probably in 1931, Henry was sold. Johnny and I split the sale price and we entered our monies in our respective savings accounts. I recall that my account ended up with something like $37-plus in it.
But then the problems for banks in the country reached a very critical state. It was so bad that very shortly after being inaugurated as president Franklin Roosevelt ordered all banks to be closed. That included the Farmers Savings Bank of Slater and, of course, our little savings accounts. Not so very long later the bank opened up primarily, I think, to clean up the mess that had been created. We could go to the bank and take out of our savings accounts what little was left of them. I recall that I recovered about $2.75. That’s all that was left of my $37.
Shortly thereafter, as I recall, the Farmers Savings Bank went out of business and its assets were purchased by the College Savings Bank of Ames. The bank in Slater was opened as the Slater branch of the College Savings Bank. Miller Heggen was retained as the teller in the Slater Branch. How long the branch of the College Savings Bank survived in Slater I don’t recall. I’m sure that it was still in operation when I started college at Iowa State in 1941. So the Depression and its effects got something like $35 of my savings.
Incidentally along about the time of the sale of Henry we bought another calf from Henry Sampson, this time a little heifer. Since this calf was to be a replacement for our Henry we boys should name it. We chose Bega after Mrs. Henry Sampson. Our Bega was not sold until much later. She became a member of the small group of milk cows that we always had on our farm.