Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-01

speaking. a,success. He has not been TAX
ing care of himself long enough. It is not
so long ago that he held nothing and was
chattel himself Now, we want to snow
him what industry, accompanied by econ
omy and business methods will do. we
can establish these postofice banks wnere.
ever IL may be deemed proper. we mu:s
Let the negro know that the Government Is
Dehlnd them. do not believe 1t Will De very
hard to make MIN understand this' anu
when he does, he will, in my opinion. DC as
quick to take advantage OF the dement's e4-
tended to him as any one."
You consider, then, that once the col
ored man begins to enjoy material prosper
lty, there is no more lear for hlmF
THAT is about it. It is not alone MS
material prosperity that I am considering,
however. This is very broad and many
sided question; but of this am conVlnceo'
once the negro begins to acquire property,
10 own his own home, to understand busl-
ness methods and practice them, to apprecl-
ate the value of money and the means by
which it may be accumulated, the negro
problem will to large extent have been
settled. Now, the system OF banks nave
referred to will go large way toward teach
Ing him these things. It will bring ABOUT
an educational process, and it Will teach
more than the mere accumulation OF money.
You see, the colored man will commence to
deposit money in these banks. In the frst
place, he will find that the more steadily he
works and the more carefully he saves the
more money he will have, and in this way
the benefits arising out of industry and
economy will be impressed upon him, which
is important.
SEVERAL PUZZLES TO SOLVE
"Then, the matter of interest will puzzle
him, and if l mistake not he will set himself
the task OF studying out that question.
Guarding money. at first, sights seems work
for which the Government might charge.
Instead, the Government pays him to be al
lowed to take care of his monev. There is
another problem for solution, and unless I
am very much mistaken, the average negro
will not rest until he has solved it. AS his
money accumulates, he hears OF investments
and of mortgages, ii not OF bonds. Here is
more matter for study. If he arises to the
dignity OF becoming property owner he is
soon brought into contact with the question
OF taxation, of assessments, of valuations
and the like, and for self protection it is
necessary for him to know something of
these things, and so he must study them.
well, this study brings him to greater
one, that OF studying government itself, and
in the course OF it he is called upon TO con-
slider the men who make laws and the men
who execute them and he comes to know
more and more of his duties, his rights and
privileges as citizen and as taxpayer. So
you see from the time he deposits his first
dollar in the bank he is constantly meeting
with something calculated to quicken his
intellectual faculties and stimulate his de-
sire for knowledge.
NO GREAT RISK INVOLVED.
"The experiment OF postoffice banks Is
not one that involves any great risk, or any
startling amount of expense, and the good
results that would result from it would, in
my mind, amply repay the Government in
the end, as it has done in other countries,
notably in England and in Canada. The
main thing to be done, I presume, would be
to put the management OF the banks into the
hands OF the Postmaster General. Consider
able discrimination would have to be used
in establishing the banks, or rather in the
selection of the points where they would be
located, and in the appointing of officials to
conduct them. But these would be matters
of detail.
'I suppose, on the whole, that the system
that has been successful in Canada would be
successful here. Establish the postoffice
banks at any and all points where they may
be needed, have proper facilities for for
warding the money to Washington, pay on
the money a small but fair interest, and
limit the deposits, just as it has been found
necessary to do in other countries where the
system has been tried. am of the opinion
that it would succeed from the start. At
any rate, it would be worth trying"
S. S.M.