The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-11-19
POSTS IN THE
SAVINGS BANKS
Grand Total Reaches More Than
Ten and Onc-Half Billion
Dollars.
rom our Regular Correspondent

(F>rom Our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, y. c.. November Is
The total dcpos.:s IN ali the SAVINGS banks
Of the world. according to latest official
Information received by the Department
of Commerce and Labor through It's Bill
reau of Statistics, amounted to over ten
and one-half billion dollars. contributed
by $3.50, 900 depositors. or this total the
Unated States shows aggregate deposits
of $1,000, $4,000, credited to 7.305. 0oo deposit
ora. AS the figures used In arriving At
the grand totals cover about one-half OF
the population OF the world, viz, over
TO million, it appears that the United
States, with less than l.? Per cent. Of
the total population considered contrl-
butes over 20 per cent. of the total say
ings deposits recorded. OF the total num-
her Of depositors or rather deposit ac-
counts, the share Of the United States
is somewhat less than . per cent, while
the average. deposit per account is more
than four times and tho average saw
ings per inhabiant more than three and
one-half times the corresponding aver
ages for the rest of the world.
Larger Than Here.
It is interesting to note that In Europe
and even In Canada the functions OF the
government In this field are larger than
In this country whcro the state restricts
itself merely to formulating the general
legislation pertaining to the subject. sane
tioning special charters for the creation
of savings banks, and controlling through
special officers the proper workings OF
said banks. The European governments
in many cases have shown greater inter-
est In this mode of popular saving. either
by guaranteeing the safety Of deposits
or by institutlng government institutions,
chiefly postal savings banks, for the re-
ceiving and managing Of savings de-
nOsirs. In some countries. such MS RUS
STA Bulgaria.. and Roumanln, the lack
Of private Initiative and tire rrepOndcrat-
ing Influence of the State In the entire
economic lifo Of the nation have caused
the development Of public savings banks
to an almost exclusive extent; In other
countries, such rs Germany. Switzerland
and France, tho local public bodies. such
as the communes or cantons, from the
very outset invited and fnstered the de-
posits of small savings by establishing
municipal savings Institutions Wherever
tho central government Is In Immediate
though not exclusive charge OF the saw
ings service MS in the United Kingdom,
Belgium and Russia, parts Of the de-
posts are invested In government securi-
ties, so that the public savings inst!tu-
tions there serve the double purpose Of
providing n safe Investment for the capt.
tail of the less well-to-do and commercial
fly inexperienced class of the population,
as we'll as Of strengthening tho public
credit of tho country by attracting In
vestmems on the part of such classes
which, left to their own initiative, might
not choose, this, or for that matter any
other mode of investment
The common feature Of all savings
banks, no matter how organized, Is that
they are not working for profit, the un-
derlying idea being rather to make tho
deposits as secure as possible This res
suits naturally An an3interest rate, on de-
posts considerably below the normal
commercial rate prevailing In the respeo-