Hutchinson gazette., 1900-04-05
POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS


One of the most curious things about
congressional legislation is the slngu-
lar facility with which little joker
gets into any financial or currency bill
without being detected by any member
OF congress or the senate, and which
invariably rebounds to the good of the
capltaistlc classes,
II isn't necessary to hark back to
the "crime of 49," for we have a new
Illustration of the ease with which q
proyso Of something Of the same sort
slips through without attention. One
of the most widely intellgently ard
conseryatiyely urged extensions of the
federal power has been the establish
ment Of postal savings banks, The
popular demand for this reform has
been rapidly growing, writes Willis j.
Abbott, Newspapers OF unimpeach-
able conservatism have supported 1t,
Economists, public men, and even men
of large wealth, not directly attached
w lnt hu-IdlltN HuNlolul pHihlhb pJP7
TEN, which OF course, Is not national
at all, but simply device for personal
profit, have upheld It, The difficulty
which the poor have found in finding
absolutely safe repositories for their
sayings, particularly In the moro
sparsely settled regions stimulated the
demand for this system--a system, by
the way, very general abroad The
grave question which has been asked
by the opponents Of the plan has been,
How shall you invest your funds"
The natural response has been
that in the main they could
be invested in national socuri-
ties, as they are in Great Brit
ain, In due time, no doubt, with this
system established, these investments
can be safely extended to state and to
municipal bonds, and in some instances
to the real estate with the improve
ments necessary for the housing OF the
posto1lces. But 1t Is undoubtedly q
safe proposition that for the basis a
sufficiently large volume Of national
bonds would be necessary. Last week
there was a sufficient volume to supply
the necessary basis. Last Wednesday,
when the Republicans carried through
their plan to force their currency
measure to enactment by sheer power
of numbers, this volume began imme-
diately to decrease, because then by
the refunding feature of the measure
$3.50, LAG, 400 OF outstanding bonds soon
to mature are to be exchanged at once
for bonds that cannot be called In or
Cancelled for thirty years, These
bonds will pass at once into the hands
of the national banks which, using
them as basis for circulation, will
never give them UP as investments for
rival banks that exist not for profit,
but for public service. Critics Of the
pending currency bill, even non-parti-
san ones, have called attention to the
fact that the refundlng measure bears
no vital relation to the remainder OF
the bill Perhaps, in the heated con-
troversy that has been going on over
the relative merits of the metallic
standards, 1t may have been done sim
ply to give new strength to the domi-
nation Of gold. But this was sufii-
ciently accomplished by the declara-
tion in another section of the bill for
the gold standard and as certain men,
among them business partner and
close political associate Of Senator
Hanna, have been the most outspoken
opponents of postal savings banks, be-
ing himself national banker, there Is
reason to expect that 1t was slipped in
for the distinct purpose of defeating
such a reform in the future.