, 1874-11-22
.W0RKINGMEN AND THE SAVINGS BANKS.
4 wo1kingman sends us communication,

from which Nc mako the following extract:
AS vorkingmau aud lover Of your paper, may. I
aay that days ago read article in The Ta1B
uEE urging the workingznen 70 Invest their surp1us
earnings In saviugHbanks7 At the time Of the panic
The TRIBUNE and other city papers pointed out the
great defects In tho saviugsBank Aw In not holding
the stockholders responsihe to the depoators for the
amount deposited in the banks which has made the
worldn8men have no confidence in the banks- In
stead OF placing their money In them, they keep 1t
about them, and otlers spend It. can assure you
hare hnd $500 IN my pocket tor the Last tweYo month";
and I have not confidence enough In the banks to
place It there, and know many similarly situated
May respectfully ask you to give your honest on-
lon about the safety Of tho banks = Why cannot the
State make law to hold the banks respouabls to the
State aud the State to the deposjtor7
This workipgman asks = question which has
probably been asked by numerous others. He
has had $500 lying idle in his pocket whole year.
when it might have been earning per cent in
the bank. It has been uuproducti.e capital, Of
naturally enough has tired Of being his own
banker, without the ability to pay Dividends. He
might have invested his money otherwise in
cheap lots for Instance but it is possible he has
no more confidence in lots than he has in banks.
What shall he do with it
In answer, We return to our first position
put it In the sAvings-bank II there is no other
use for it. It Is not difficult to find banks that
alludes to the fact that the stockholders Of ths
banks are not responsible to the depositors.
Tho savings-banks. thus fur, have not been
organized under general law, but under special
charters. Nevertheless, some of them have
voluntarily announced their liability to the
amount Of double their capital stock. But even
in this case our correspondent will see that the
line Of deposits may be immense and the capital
stock small, 80 TINT this would not BE- CON-
p1ete guarantee. The only perfect guarantee
be has is in the reputation OF the bank
aud the integrity Of its officers. There are many
banks in this city, like the State Savings. the Fl
Company. the Merchants, Farmers, and MechAn-
ica Savings Bank, the German Savings Bank,
the Chicago Savings Institution, and others
which have proved themselves worthy Of the
confidence of tho workingmen. They are Off
cored by honest and capable men, who have
proved their ability to manage their banks by
carrying them through the recent severe inan-
cial panic With SUCCESS, and are to-day as sound
and powerful as the National Banks.
In mentioning the above banks, we
do not intend to throw any discredit
upon the others, but we select them
only As prominent instances Of hanks which
Workingmen can trust, and in which, in our
opinion, their deposits will be safe. With re-
spect to the second point made BY our corre-
spondent, that the banks should be made re-
sponsible to the State and the State to the de-
positor,-this is not practicable. Such an Ar
rangement could only be effected With the Cen
eral Government, as is the case OF tho British
Postal Savings-Danks. This is not. however.
novel suggestion. It has been made many times,
but has never been received with great favor,
either by the Government OF the people.
Our correspondent, therefore, who has the idle
$500 in his pocket, should place it in good
savings-bauk, and he should choose his bank by
the experience it has had in the past, and the
prudence, and skill, and integrity Of its officers
II this is not sufficient guarantee for him, it is all
he can get Rather than let his $500 lie idle in
his pockets. however, another year, he had bet
ter put it in lot, or in mortgage, or Govern-
else in bis pocket.