The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-12-07
THE SAVINGS or THE PEOPLE.

"a The total deposits IN all the odNAAiS
! banks of the world, according TO lates
: official information received by the De
nartment of Commerce and Labo
: through its Bureau of Statistics
amounted to over s1o,5oO.OO0. 900, con
tr:buted by s., $4,000 depositors. o
this total the United States shows ag
gregate deposits of 49, 6o,17s,oo0, credit
8 ed to :. 300. coo depositors. AS the figure:
g used in arriving at the grand total:
h cover about one-haIf of the population
e of the world, viz, over $77O,0O0,000, il
E appears that the United States, with
2 less than nine and one-half per cent OF
the total population considered, con-
tributes over twenty-nine per cent OF
the total savings deposits recorded. OF
the total number of depositors, or rath-
er deposit accounts, the share of the
, United States is somewhat less than
nine per cent, while the average de-
post per account is more than four
times and the average savings per in
habitant more than three and one-haf
times the corresponding averages for
the rest of the world.
1t is interesting to note that in
Europe and even in Canada the func-
tons of the government in this field
are larger than in this country, where
! the state restricts itself merely to for
mulating the general legislation per-
tanning to the subject, sanctioning spe-
cial charters for the creation of saw
ings banks, and controlling through
special officers the proper workings OF
said banks. The European govern
r7ents in many cases have shown great
er interest in this mode of popular saw
ing, either by guaranteeing the safety
Of deposits or by instituting government
institutions, chiefly postal savings
banks, for the receiving and managing
of savings deposits. In some countries,
such as Russia, Bulgaria, and Rouma-
MA, the lack of private initiative and
the preponderating influence of the
State in the entire economic life of the
nation have caused the development of
public savings banks TO an almost ex-
elusive extent: in other countries, such
as Germany, Switzerland, and France,
munes or cantons, from the very outset
invited and fostered the deposits of
small savings by establishing municipal
savings institutions. Wherever the
central government is in immediate,
though not exclusive, charge of the saw
ings service, as In the United Kingdom,
and Russia, parts of the de-
posts are invested in government secu-
situations there serve the double pur-
pose of providing a safe investment for
the capital of the less well-to-do and
inexperienced class of the
population, as we'll as of strengthening
the public credit of the country by at
tracing investments on the part of
such classes, which, left to their own
might not choose this, or for
that matter any other mode of invest
ment.
The common feature of all savings
banks, no matter how organized, is that
they are not working for profit, the I'M
DERIVING idea being rather to make the
deposits as secure as possible. This re-
suits naturally in an interest rate on
deposits considerably below the normal
commercial rate prevailing in the re-
spective countries. The figures as
shown in the table below reveal diff
ferent degrees of what might be termed
the saving capacity of the different
nations, though it should always be
borne in mind that the amounts de-
posted with savings banks by no means
the only savings of a nation.
factor which makes COMPARE
sons difficult is the fact that apart from
in legislation, leaving to
these institutions a greater or smaller
latitude of freedom of investment, the
amounts which may be credited to one
individual vary according to country,
and that therefore the averag e size of
the savings deposit casts but little light
on the general prosperity of the people
and the more or less equitable distribu-
ton of wealth among them.
The general social conditions of a
the spread of general education
and banking habits among the
masses. existing facilities of communi-
cation, the ease and lack of formalities
but not least the use made by the pop
ulation OF other modes of saving-an
these factors have to be considered
when international comparisons of saw
ings statistics are attempted. To give
hut a few examples: The total savings