The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1899-06-17
SUCCESS OF PENNY SA VINGS

Llcuidrly among scDOOl cnllureu. lue
scheme provided for camp cards, upon
which anybody could be given credit
for every small coin which he desired
to save. When a sufficient number of
these coins were accumulated, an &C.
count could be opened at regular
savings bank. The schema added a
total of SIG, $3.50 to the savings tank
deposits of Chicago in the first four
months of the current year. The
amount was made up of exceedingly
small sums. The average was about
cents apiece for the school children
of the city, though, of course, very
many of the 100000 pupils of the
schools made no contribution to the
fund. The manufacturers of chewing
gum. the purveyors of penny grab-bags
and dealers in catch-penny devices
generally are among those who are
opposed to the scheme as conducive
to juvenile parsimony. --Oregonian.
In the above the Oregonian has un-
Willingly produced most forcible
argument in favor of a proposition it
has ever declared imDracticable and
illogical-the postal savings bank
system. What has been accomplished
by the savings societies of Chicago
would have been multiplied many
times had there been a postal savings
bank system in that city. If the oper-
alton of the savings society in Chi
cago, in the brief space of four months,
will encourage the school children OF
that city to lay aside $16,5SS 70, or a
little more than 8 cents for each OF
the 100000 school children, many OF
whom we are told made no deposits,
what would be the result if postal
savings banks were opened that
would receive on deposit the savings
of all?
The institution of the savings So
ciety in Chicago has reused the op-
position OF chewing gum manufac-
turers and other catch penny pur-
veyors, because it instills into the
children a desire to save and to put
their odd pennies away where they
will accumulate. The proposition to
establish postal savings banks meets
the opposition not only of the same
class of people, but also that of the
more dangerous class. the usurers and
the people who live off the govern
ment-those who speculate in govern
ment bonds and who control the
finances of the nation through the
leverage which the improvidence of
the masses makes possible.
This class well knows that when
ever thorough postal savings banks
system is instituted their trade will
be gone, for the credits of the nation
will no longer be carried by the mil
but by the wage earners and
thee hildren of the country. Whenever
means are afforded for receiving small
deposits where the security is abso-
Iutely safe, the wage Garner, when he
receives his salary, will. after deduct
ing his expenses, deposit the re-
mainder with the government banks:
and the little children will, instead of
spending the few cents occasionally
bestowed upon them for useless tribes,
take them to the postoffice and receive
their certificates of deposit. The
being compelled to pay
interest upon such deposits will fDd
IL necessary to invest them in some-
thing earning an interest, and being
an interest payer will take up its own
credits-the outstanding interest
bearing bonds-retaining of the de-
posits only, enough to constitute a
reasonable reserve sufficient to meet
liable immediate demands.
With such prospect in sight, it is
little wonder that the bond buyers and
also the press which repre-
sents them, should denounce the postal
savings banks proposition as heresy,
an illogical scheme of fanatics. For
they well know that the 100000
people of the United States would in
Dne year deposit enough of their
savings to take up all of the outstand-
ing interest bearing debt of the ma
tion. When this were done, the
speculators in government necessities
would haYe to seek market for their
and would come in competi
tion with the usurer who speculates
off the needs of the common people.
More than this, the usurer views the
situation with alarm, because he
knows if a spirit of economy is instilled
into the masses, they will, instead of
wasting their surplus, lay it away for
future use, hence in times of depres-
sion no longer need to borrow, his |
money. will go begging. or will COM
nand greatly reduced rate of in
;esest.
Statisticians estimate that each |
year wage earners spend double the |
AMOUNT of the national debt for drink.
Were.they encouragec by institution
,f postal savings banks to deposit half
his amount, there would be less want
n the country, and in times of de.
,ressiou there would be little need of
to bridge over until times
improve. The ordinary wage Garner
3 not naturally prohigate, but he
cquires wasteful habits from force of
circumstances. When at the end of
be week or month he receives his
alary, after paying his expenses, there
} little surplus left, so little that he
onsiders it of small value, and know
ng the instability OF private savings
anks, he feels little encourageme Mt
D deposit his surplus there, possibly
} be squandered by dishonest bank
ficials, hence he squanders the linn
ed surplus himself. Then the saw
,gs bank is not within reach of all
age earners. There being business
,r them only in the larger cities,
,ere they are only to be found; but
ith a system of postal savings banks,
ley would be opened in every hamlet
I'D country postoffice to receive the
sposits of all. They too would haYe
le confidence of the people, for no.
,dy ever lost a cent by loaning
oney to the United States and the
ct that government is the creditor,
Ould serve as an incentive to place
vi N oc in ito keapinO