The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1888-10-04

Bank business may be judged by the
fact stated by the Postmaster-General
that one in eight of the entire popula-
ton of England and Wales were de-
positors during the year 1856. In the
little village of Horley, in Surrey,
where this is written, the depositors
number 4577, or nearly one-fourth of the
whole population. The facts reported
from the Postal Savings Banks of
France, Austria and Italy, are equally
emphatic as proof OF the popularity and
utility of the system. The number of
depositors and the amount of the de-
posts in all the countries in which the
system has been introduced are steadily
and rapidly increasing, the facility CT
making deposits and the absolute Sc
curity felt by the depositors serving as
powerful indictments to the spirit of
saving.
These facts, interesting IS they are in
themselves, picturing to US the patient
toll and the often heroic self-denial Of
millions of the thoughtful poor seeking
to lay up something against the sure
coming day of need, would nevertheless
lose their profoundest significance if
taken apart from the industrial and
social conditions which have rendered
habits of economy and saving doubly
important to the laboring classes.
Modern industrialism has made the
periods of unemployment frequent
and certain. The enormous productive
power of men massed in armies of la
Dor, furnished with machinery which
makes one man equal to ten (often a
hundred), with the division of labor
carried to its utmost, has rendered the
periodic glut of goods and failure of
work inevitable. and the idle times
more frequent and protracted. The
futile attempts Of manufacturers to
overcome the effects Of this OVERRIDING
by cheapening goods through reduc-
tions of wages, and the frequently vain
efforts of the men to recoil from the
gulf by striking" to force wages up
again-the burning contentious of
Capital and Labor out of which revo-
lutionary Socialism has taken its rise
havemade only more apparent the in
dispensable need of savings for the
rainy day" Whatever other remedies
society may ultimately find for the
miseries and perils of its most numer-
Gus class from the overwork Of to-day
and the enforced idleness of tomorrow,
it is clear that at present the hope of
the poor must rest either on begging or
on saving; on the charity which
weakens and degrades, or on the pru-
dence which elevates and strengthens.
And hence the Postal Savings Bank, a
savings bank convenient to all and Sc
cure beyond question, instead of being,
as it might once have been considered,
a doubtful stretch of governmental
power, ought to be counted as part Of
governmental duty-a measure of wise
public precaution and of national Sc
curity. If the "Red Terror" which
many predict and all thoughtful men
more or less fear, is to be lessened or
avoided, the millions must be saved
from the starvation which makes the
gentlest men savage, and forces the
most peaceful into revolution.
It is obvious that the great and now
necessary work of stimulating and pro-
tecting the peoples savings cannot be
done by corporations. If they would
they cannot give the depositors absolute
security for their savings, and cannot
therefore inspire the confidence which
the Postal Savings Bank so fully gives.
This then is one of those great public
works which only the Government can
can do, and which Government of the
people, by the people and for the peo-
pie" may wisely undertake..
These banks are not panacea. No
one claims that they will cure all social
evils; tho in stimulating the sense of
prudence and the desire for gain as we'll
as by awakening the feelings of pro-
prietorship and independence, they
check extravaganza and diminish in
temperance. The Bank Account starts
the feeling of personal dignity, and
gives the man stronger interest in the
Government to which he has intrusted
his money. But while thus benefting
many, the institution, it is true, Injuries
some by over-stimulating the love Of
gain, and making them 1nisers. My
friend tells me of cases Of persons who
have large sumsin the savings bank and
who still resort to begging or the work
house rather than touch their savings.
In one case man and bis wife went
into the workhouse for the winter, and
lived at the expense of the rate payers,
while the man had e190 and his wife
ESQ in the Post-office Savings Bank.
When the Relieving Officer has reason
to suspect such frauds hehas the right
to ask information of the bank authori-
ties, and if the parties have money on
deposit, todemand of the bank the pay
ment of their board bills. Except when
thus asked for by public authority for
the purposes of justice, every deposi-
tors account is kept secret, to save the
poor and inexperienced from impor-
tunity and fraud.
Barring these cases of miserly abuse,
there can be no doubt that the entire
influence of the Postal Savings Bank is
wholesome and good. The four mil
L.. y L,