Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-04-07
The Wealth in the Savings Banks.

The Wealth in the Savings Banks.
In the latest number of Ainslee's
ma gaZine there is an interesting article
on the savings banks Of the CniteI
States which contains Some remarkable
hgures. According to those. it appears
that on June 80. last. the savings banks
Of the country, had an aggregate of
6,S13,01S dcpositors, with L total deposit
account of $500 49, 9l All of the
money IN the United States would not
be sufficient to pay this Indebtedness.
which is largely owed to the wage
carners. If for the present savings
banks there We're substituted Il system
of postal savings banks which would
attract al of the present clicntaSe, the
deposits would pay off all of the inter-
est bearing debt of the United States.
as it now stands, more Il an twice over.
or in other words would double the IN
tcrcst bearing debt. In Maine, our 81 saw
incs banks, according to The 19Cl report,
had total deposit of $7.i,G2-3 i'll, repre-
senting 1923 depositdrs, almost a
third of the people OF our State.
The average deposit in the savings
banks of III" country, reaches but
$iOS.3 80 The average deposit in our
Maine banks is smaller than this, being
$36O.62 The smallest Of this amount is
due to the fact that savings banks,
particularly the older ones, Seek 10 en-
courage small depositTs and consc-
quently limit the amount which they
will receive. The great majority of the
savings banks of the country will not
receive more than $4,000 from any sin
gle depositor, ard limit the amount
which they will accept in any one year
from dcpositor to $500. This is the
rule in New York. In Boston no de-
post account can exceed $1,000. In this
State the law limits the ordinary de-
rcsit in savings banks to $4,000, but
many banks place the limit much lower
than this.
amount of deposits in savings banks
aggregates more than one-fortieth of
the entire wealth of the country, while
the savings bank depoSitors number
substantially one-twelfth of the entire
population. In Maine, as stated above,
almost one-third of our people have de-
posits in savings banks, an excellent
showing for the prosperity of our State
and the industry and frugality of our
wage earning people.
The question as to the social status of
tlepositors in savings banks is a most
interesting one, but there is lack of
complete statistical information on the
subject. Such information as there is
at hand iustifies the conclusion that
| wage earners constitute by far the
| largest element among the depositors.
The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society
is one of the banks which keeps a rec
ord of the occupations Of it's depositors.
From one Of its reports the figures oh.
| tanned show that the males numbered
1928. OF these there were less than
2,000 who were not wage workers. The
smaller number includes over 500 boys,
who were either students or were with
out special employment, showing q
very small percentage of the depositors
who are not actually wage earners.
| OF recent years the amount of inter-
est paid to depositors in savings banks
steadily decreased, until at present the
ruling rate is but three and One-half
per cent. In Maine the average is a
| little lower than this. The reduction in
| the rate of interest has not been fol-
| lowed by any reduction in the amount
of deposits, nor has it affected the rate
at which the deposit accounts are
growing. 1t is apparent, therefore
that the deposits are not made so much
| for the sake of securing income from
the investment as for security and in
order to accumulate funds sufficient to
make permanent investments else
where. The point most prominently
brought out by these figures is that one
of the greatest accumulations of capital
in this country, an amount sufficient to
pay off the national debt and purchase
all of the stock and bonds of the steel
trust is the property of thrifty wage
earners, on temporary deposit merely
and in process of accumulation in order
to be withdrawn for more permanent
investments elsewhere.
Anyway, Cuba starts out with one
advantage over the United States. Its
in11plIr1 tioO date ic Inta eDouob Gu