The Washington weekly post., 1899-10-24
$4,000 EXTRA FOR SOLDIERS.
That Amount Paid Every Year as Interest
on Undrawa Pay.

From the Philadelphia Tines
II is not well known, perhaps, yet a
faet nevertheless, that Uncle Sam is pay
ing higher rate of inteSsst 10 his solder
| boys than on the last bond issue. And
! how many have an idea to what this In
terest amounted the past year? Almost
&0.e0O
This Interest," per eent.-is paid on de-
pos1ts, and only To enlisted men. Officers
With straps are excluded. Any soldier, not
p, Retired, may deposit his savings with any
| Iaymdster in sums not less than - This
he may do at any time. but once deposit
ing II must remain until expiration of his
enlistment. Each depostOr is furnished a
book, IN which each deposit, with the
names Of depositor, date, place. and
amount, in form OF a certificate, is entered
at time of deposit. and signed by the pay
master and company commander. Com
pany commanders are required to keep
a record OF every deposit, and on the
same day deposit is made must report the
same to the Office of the paymaster gen
eral, Washington. The paymaster each
month sends 10 the same Office an alb
stract Of deposits, where comparisons are
made and discrepancies corrected.
This privilege has proven a veritable
boon 10 the soldier boys, for it not only
provides an admirable means of security
for their surplus money, but is profitable.
Besloes, II encourages them to save their
earnings.
During the past year the record OF de-
posting has been remarkable, but ii is
plain that the high-water mark has been
far from reached. For the fiscal year
ending June 30 over $4,000 Was deposited
Dy the troops al Manila alone. This
amount has aStounded the War Depart
ment. Indeed, with The increase OF the
army this feature OF soldiers deposits has
caused the department to open us eyes iE
wonder. for the great record of last year
promises to be vastly eclipsed. EXpecta-
tons for Manila alone Iun as high as
N,5uOVO0, which will mean $4,000 interest:
ana many expect the amour. ef deposits
10 reach nearly 100000 One reason for
thls anticipated increase is that there are
Elore soldiers OF the depositing class than
last year That is, there are more "regu-
IarS And even the new volunteers may
almost be included in the same category |
iof they reallze that they are in for at |
least two yeats, while the volunteers last |
year knew their term OF service would be |
Dret, consequently had no desire or in /
centive TO deposit. For this reason the /
deposits Were almost exclusively confined |
10 regulars Therefore, under the new |
status. 1t is not difficult to perceive that |
the amount OF deposits will increase to a
great degree In some companies over
nan the members are now depoSiting. and |
II is believed the fever Will spread. at
least In the Philippines and ether distan;
possessions, until n the near future al
IECst every member will be a depositor
i ne Deaehs OF this 10 the soldier can read
lly De seen, but IL means a heap of inter |
eSt; Yet there will hardly be any COM
plants on that score
There is a new condition of things, how
ever, winch may have tendency to de-
dse cIedse the amount of deposits. Last Con-
SresS provided for what are known as AL
lotments, which will enable a soldier TO
arrange so that a certain amount of his
pay each month can be paid TO his wife.
OF parents, or WhOmsOeVer he may nom
mate 1hls Will prove a great convenience
TO soldiers, especially those having de-
ptndentS al nome, and may, 5 intimated !
lessen the amount of deposits.
Ihe records of deposits are kept in the
)fhce or the paymaster general, and entail
more labor than can be fully realized. In
TACT the limited number of clerks i'm
charge are literally swamped. Said a
,lerk engaged on this work: You have no
de2 10 what extent this feature of SOL
Hers deposits has grown Before the |
ate war 1t was almost insignificant, but It |
has swollen with such tremendous strides
nat We are away behind, notwithstand-
nS increased force and extra hours and !
[ is getting worse every day If they
iont give US further help / don't know
what we will do. Why, We have lust -
,eived paymaster'S abstract from Ma
lila containing the names of almost / 400 | I
leposltors, amounting in all to over So ,
&c 1t may seem Ike fiction" the clerk
'ositing more than their whole months .
laV" Il