El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-01-05
GENERAL GARY'S PROPOSITION
He Endorses Postal Savings Bank
That is Practical,

WASHINGTON, January "A great
deal of interest is manifested h re
over Postmaster-General Gary's postal
savings banks proposition, and con-
siderable is being said pro and con on
the subject. Several strong objections
are made to the scheme, and opposi-
ton will doubtless come from various
quarters. the claim being made that
the establishment of the system would
drive private savings banks out of ex-
istence: that the government could not
find q suitable investment for the de-
posits, and that the whole thing is too
paternalistic to be considered. The
general opinion is, however, that the
establishment of postal savings banks
would be of great benefit to the COM
mon people, the farmers, the mocha
MICS, and the artisans, who do not
have opportunity to look about for
safe, profitable, and satisfactory in
vestmepts, but who would gladly and
confidently deposit their savings with
the government. 1t is not thought
that the establishment of the project
would prejudice the interests of the
private savings banks. In many Sec
tions of the west, and in rural districts
generally, money is kept in hiding and
distrust of banks in general, and will
not deposit their savings in
private concerns, but hoard it IN old
stockings and bury it in the earth
Congressman G. w. Stone, of Penn
sylvania, believes that he has q solu-
tion of the problem as to the proper in
vestment to be made with the deposits
Of the postal banks; His proposition is
that the pOstoffice department shall in
vest the deposits in county bonds, the
proceeds of which shall be used in the
improvement of country roads, the
government seeing to it that th e money
is used for this pOrpose. He emhOdies
this in proposed amendment to the
postal savings bill, which is as follows:
preference shall at all times be
given to such investment of the postal
savings as will put them into active cir
culation in the rural districts, and for
that purpose the department. may pur-
chase bonds issued exclusively for the
building and improvement of country
roads, subject only to such limitations
and restrictions and such provisions for
the security of the United States as
may be agreed upon and prescribed,
from time to time, by the secretary of
the treasury, the attorney general, the
postmaster general, ard the secretary
of agriculture"
The, simple proposition is that The
coun ties shall! issue bonds and pay the
same interest on them that the govern
ment mus pay to the depOsitors in the
postal banks. This interest would be
more than met by the money which is
annually expended throughout the
country in the improvement of roads. |
or rather in keeping roads from de- |
teriorating into an impossible condi- |
tion.
General Roy Stone, the acting presi- |
dent of the National League for Good |
Roads, has been making q careful study |
~ 10 If
and believes that no other possible use |
of money on large scale can result to |
such advantage to the people. The |
benefits to be derived from good roads |
are acknowledged to be among the |
greatest which can accrue to the coun- |
try. 1.-THE commercial benefits of good |
roads," declares General Stone, "are |
well indicated by the New York Cham
Der OF Commerce" This body assert
ed that 1--WE are handicapped in all the
markets of the world by an enormous
waste of labor in the primary trans
portation of our products"
The immediate advantage which
would be apparent from the purchase
of local bonds and the commencement
of work on country roads would be in
putting the postal savings into active
circulation in the country districts
from which they would mainly be
drawn. The great objection mad e
against the postal savings scheme
has been: what will the government
do with the savings? Where will it
invest them proftably, so as to be able
to pay it's depositors interest?'' Gov
eminent bonds have been suggested as
the safest means of investment, but
this process would carry the money
to the great commercial and money
centers for the purchases OF. existing
bonds, or to the treasury at Washing
ton for new issues. This would be the
result OF all investments which have
been suggested the money would
leave the communities where it was
deposited. But the purchase of road
im provement bonds would insure the
employment OF every dollar in payment