The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-04-26
FAVOR STRICT RULEIsAVlNG MORE MONEY
Trusts Aren't Getting All the In
crement in Wages.
TRUE. II COSTS MORE TO LIVE
hut the Average savings Bank De-
post Has Increased In
Five Years.

4 s /,
Despite the high prices which now pre-
vail Minneapolis laboring men are making
money. This is shown by largely in
creased deposits in the savings banks, by
the ready market for homes in the less
fashionable and expensive districts of the
city, and in numerous other ways. The
most accurate baromet er, however, is the
savings bank. In the nature Of things a
man cannot add K, his bank account unless
ne is making money, and when that ac-
count grows steadily, during a period OF
five years 1t is only fair to suppose that
the banks deposition is prosperous.
Ihere has not been "a time in years
when the necessities Of. life cost as much
as they do to-day. The trend has been
steadily upward for the past five years,
and yet, during that same period, work
1nsmen's accounts in the savings banks
nave largely increased. both in the ,ag
gregate, the number of accounts and the
average deposit. An estimate on the in;
crease in the cost Of food SUITS, made
this morning by Ira H. shattuck, who
buys all the foods used in the Hotel Mic
ollet, and who has becn5f familiar with the
market for the past decade or more,
places the rise within the last year at;
fully Is per cent, while the rise in five
years is said to have been 80 per cent II
On April 1, 1898, when the necessities
\
day, the Farmers e Mechanics savings
bank had upon its books 28,586 deposit
tors, with accounts amounting to- $6,351,;-
S31, or an average Of 1922 apiece. On
April of the present year the number
of depositors was 40,363, with accounts
aggregating $10235,190, or an average Of
1858 apiece. 5{
Depositors have recorded uniform gains
during the past five years with the single
nv kt,s s1I-rI y I,
an average loss of IL cents. On April l.,
1901, the average deposit was $25369. On
April l, 1902 it had dropped to $253.57;
while during that time provisions were
advanced fully 25 per cent. This shows a
gain Of 13 per cent in the individual de-
posit despite the Is per cent increase in
cost of living. In other words the living
expenses aren't eating up all the pros
perity.
The figures for the other years are:
1899, 30,357 depositors, s6,962,76 average
$269; 1900, 1878 depositors, $s,2O6, 1872,
average $242; 1901, 1898 depositors,
SO, 131,270, average $25369
An analysts of these figures shows that
Minneapolis working men have put away
IN this one bank almost $4,000000 within
the past five years, and that the number
able to establish bank accounts has in
creased from 1856, in 1893, to 40,363 in
1902.
Figures obtained from the Hennepin
County Savings bank show an even more
prosperous condition of affairs. The
amount of savings deposited in this
institution has more than doubled during
the last five years. Moreover, the aver.
age amount to the credit OF each deposition
increased from 1924 on JAN, l of 1901, to
$500 on Jan. 1 of 1902 Prior to 1901 the
bank kept no reckoning of the number of
its depositors, and averages for the
earlier years are, therefore, unobtainable.
The totals, however, are as follows:
1898, $1O37, 434; 1899, S1,223,S71; 1900,
81, 696,244: 1902, 81, 0S0,060. diEss =