Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-25
APLEA FOR THE POOR.
Congress to be Urged to Adopt a Pos
tai Savings Bank System.
MR.. WANAMAKER IS INTERESTED.
The Great Contest for the Location Of the
Worlds Fair.
ONE MAGNIFICENT DISPLAY PROMISED
rCoRRrsroNDExcE OF THE D1sFAToH.! !!

Savings Bank scheme is again to be brought
to the attention of Congress, and strong
movement in its favor will be Inaugurated
almost with the opening of the Congress
sional session. 1t may be that the Post
master General will make a recommenda-
tion on the subject in his forthcoming an
nual report. This is not at all assured,
however, as the matter was not brought
strongly TO Mr.. Wanamaker's attention until
a few days ago.
The Knights of Labor and the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union are being in.
terested in the matter and it is thought they
will make a strong appeal to Congress
The prime worker in the movement is
Horace j. Smith, of Philadelphia, who
called on the Postmaster General recently
and laid the matter before him. Mr.. Smith
is an enthusiast on the subject. Ee has
been an enthusiast for many years; IN fact,
ever since he investigated the system in
operation in England, in Italy and in other
parts of the old world.
But while be admires the systems in
vogue abroad, he recognizes the fact that
conditions here are different, and that the
| English system, for example, would not at
present be successful here. He argues,
though. that the principle is right, and that
it should be adopted by our Congress in
some modified form.
THE ENGLISH SYSTEM.
Many of the features of the English sys-
tenn are most admirable. Deposits of one
shilling or any multiple of a shilling are re-
ceived at any postal savings bank Office
| from any person seven years OF age or older,
or in the name of any child of less than
seven years. The deposit is entered in a
book, which Is given to the depositor free of
charge. Within four days the depositor re-
ceives by mail from the Savings Bank De-
partment in London an acknowledgment of
the deposit. This is a guarantee that the
deposit has been forwarded to the bank.
erred when said a minute ago that
'fany person" of or over a certain age could
make deposit There are some excep-
tions No person can have an account in a
| Trustee Savings Bank and in the Postofhce
| Savings Bank too. The Postofice Bank is
| intended to benefit only the poor or those
who cannot make large deposits. To these
interest at ~ per cent per annum is paid
on every pound or multiple of pourd from
| the first day of the month next following
the date Of the deposit TIL December 81,
when the interest is added to the principal
and begins to carry interest. The maxi
mum limit of deposit is e30 year (end-
! ing December 81 and e150 in all. When
| a depositor accumulates ESQ he can make
| no more deposits. He is capitalist then.
But there is another field than that of de-
posit opened to him. He can purchase an
| immediate or deferred annuity not exceed
| ing e100, or he can insure his life In an
amount not less than e5 and not more than
e100. For the payment of the annuity or
the insurance, he has Government security.
Or. if the depositor does not wish to pur-
chase an annuity or insure himself, he can
purchase Government stock bearing 2M per
cent or 21% per cent interest. A child above
! years Of age may make investments and
sell stock as if he we're of full age.
A PECULIAR DEVICE.
But the most interesting of the Postoffce
Bank system and the one whose Importance
Mr.. Smith is endeavoring to impress on the
Postmaster General, is the stamp-card for
the saving of money in very small sums.
Henry Fawcett, the blind Postmaster Gen
eral of Great Britain, devised the stamp
card. It is an oblong card on which are II
spaces, each large enough to contain a stamp.
These cards are issued usually to children.
The child, when it gets a penny which it
wishes to save, buys penny stamp and
affixes it to one of the blanks. When all of
the blanks are filled the card is taken to the
Postofice Savings Bank and is there received
as q deposit of shilling.
1t was thought at one time that this sys-
tenn might encourage children to steal
stamps. but no such evil result has been OBJ
served vet at Baden-Baden the stamp
card is in use, but there the stamp used is
issued by the City Savings Bank for this
especial service. We have In this country
local system somewhat similar. 1t was es-
tablished by the Charity Organization So
ciety of New York under the name of the
Penny Provident Fund. Stamps are issued
and are for sale now at 80 stamp stations
Cards are issued in the name of the stamp
purchaser and are not transferable. There
are Sc spaces on each card.
When the card is full or the sum of all
the stamps attached amounts to 81 or more,
the card NAV be delivered at the central de-
posit station, where the amount will be
transferred to bank book or ''pass book"
as the society chooses to call it. If the
stamp collector desires, the money can be
withdrawn on presentation and surrender of
the stamp card at the station where the de-
post was made. The Penny Proyident
Fund Committee has among its members
Abram S. Hewitt, ex-Congressman and re-
Gently Mayor of New York City, and
Charles S. Fairchild, ex-Secretary of the
Treasury.
A NEGATIVE ARGUMENT.
Mr.. Fsirchild has taken great interest
in the question of penny savings, and he has
discussed with Mr.. Smith the feasibility of
establishing postal savings bank in this
country. But in these discussions Mr.. Fair
child has always taken the negative side.
His argument against the postal bank is
that the Public Treasury is already bur-
dened with an awkward surplus; and that
if. to this surplus, the savings of the people
should be added, it would be impossible 70
find a means of putting all this hisaccumulated
wealth in circulation.
1t is because of this objection that Mr..
Smith has proposed to the Postmaster Gen.
eral modification of the English system.
He suggests two plans, neither of which, he
thinks, is open to the objection raised by
Mr.. Fairchild. The first is that the money
deposited be turned over to corporate
savings banks, which shall be under such
strict Government surveillance as to render
loss through fraud or failure almost impos-
sibIe. One objection raised to this system
is that many towns where postofhces exist
cannot support savings banks. But Mr.. |
Smith proposes that the postoffice facilities
be used for the transmission of deposits from
those towns and villages to other towns
where duly authorized banks exist.
The second plan suggested by Mr.. Smith |
is that the deposits be turned over to the !
States in which they originate. The money |
could be used by the State for internal i'm
provements or following the English plan)
could be loaned to municipalities. An in
tegral part of either of these systems as sug-
gested by Mr.. Smith is to be the use of the |
Il.