The Louisiana populist., 1896-12-04
POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS.
Some of the Advantages to Be Secured
by Its Adoptson.

measures for the relief Of the govern
ment as we'll as the prevailing strin-
gency in the money market, so little
has been said of the postal savings
bank system. Perhaps 1t is from lack
OF definite information on the subject
by the public. And yet such informa-
tion is at hand. The broad and far
reaching possibilities of the system
may well challenge attention, both as
TO its benefits to the government and
to the depositors and borrowers.
The authority of the statistics about
to be quoted Is the official report for
1895 of the general government
through the comptroller of the cur
rency, whose duty requires him to
make known the financial resources OF
the country. 1t appears that there are
in several states of the union 1,017 saw
ings banks. The number Of deposit
tors in each state. the aggregate
amount of deposits and the per capita
Of the depositors, with much other
valuable information. may be found in
this report. For the present purpose it
Is only necessary to deal with the
totals.
The total number of depositors in
these 1.017 private savings banks is
given at 4,S75.519; the total amount of
deposits at 81, $40, ,597 .02S, and the aver
age per capita Of the depositors at
s371.6S. It may be worth while to note
in passing that there are only four
states in the union-New York, Massa-
chussets, Pennsylvania and Connecti-
cut-that have as large a number Of
depositors or as large a sum deposit
ed as our state of California. New
York leads with 1.615,17S depositors.
the sum of s643, ,S7S.574, and an average
per capita of depositors of $39S.63:
Massachusetts, comes next with 1.247,-
090 depositors, s416.77S,01S in deposits,
with $224.20 per capita: and Connecti-
cut has 337.254 depositors. with $780,
92S,S5S in deposits, and $406.01 per cap
ita; then follows Pennsylvania with
264,642 depositors, $6S,522,217 in de-
posits and s25S.92 per capita; while
California shows 16S,63S depositors.
S126. $780, SIS in deposits and $752.OS per
capita New Hampshire follows Cali
fornia with 163, ,702 depositors, $66, 49,
7O3 in deposits and $4O7.73 per capita.
No other state shows so large a per
capita-$752.0S-as California Rhode
Island comes next with $512.40, then
New Hampshire with s4O77S, Con-
necticut with $4O6.O1, Ohio with s403.25,
the lowest being North Carolina, with
only $4S.31.
In its present financial embarrass-
ment the government is borrowing
$1O0,000.o00 at per cent interest in
gold for term of thirty years, dur
ing which long period the interest Will
amount to s120, ,000, 900 with an annual
tax of $4,000, 900, and then the princi-
pal, $100,000,0 900, will still have to be
paid. However. the premiums paid for
the bonds may reduce the interest, II
we reckon nothing for the use of the
$4,000, 900 paid in annually for thirty
years, to be about the same sum as the
principal. Now, II the administration
had proposed and secured the estab-
lishment Of postal savings bank sys-
tenn and had offered per cent inter-
est on deposits, with absolute security
to the depositors. this rate of interest
to run for one year or more, as the
needs of the treasury might Justify,
and thereafter at per cent interest.
does any sane man suppose that, with
over Is times the 500, ,000,0 900 Just bor-
rowed in the private savings banks
and over five times the 500, ,0O0, 900
subscribed for, the government could
not have obtained deposits to double
the amount of the loan, or 5000, 600, 900,
which is less than one-tenth of the
money in the savings banks and that
offered for the bonds which are now to
be issued?
There is every reason to suppose that
with a postal savings bank system In
full operation all over the country,
with 3 per cent interest paid on depos-
it's, the government would speedily
have on hand not less than 81, ,000, ,000,-
900 Zone thousand million dollars) and
could loan the whole sum at per cent,
the one per cent paying all the ex-
penses of making the loans and con-
Quoting the business. This would fix
the rate of interest so low that private
savings banks could not afford to pay
per cent interest on deposits, and de-
clare large dividends, and hence in due
time the government would have
nearly two thousand millions in de-
posit to loan to the people at 4 per
cent. As the capital Of private savings
banks is a mere tride compared with
the amount of the deposits, the bank
ers would employ their capital in use
| full industries and become producers,
while the revenue from the postal saw
ings banks would greatly tighten the
burden of the national expenses.
The growth Of the private savings
banks system is an evidence Of its
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