River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-10-08
POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS
Machinery of Congress Already
Started for Postal Savings
Bank Law.
A Safe and Sane Plan for the Cons
venience of the People and the
Encouragement of Thrift.

eve favor the establishment Of a
postal savings bank system for the con-
yenience of the people and the encour-
agement of thrift"
This is the declaration Of the Repub-
hcan national platform, and postal say
ings banks will without doubt be au-
thorized by law and established as a
part Of our financial system by the
action of Congress at its coming ses-
sion, which will be convened in Deem
Der. Indeed, much has already been
accomplished towards the enactment Of
this law At the last session of Con-
gress a bill was carefully prepared
which met with the approval of the
Postmaster General, and was reported
upon favorably by the Senate Commit
tee on Post Offices and Pest Roads.
This bill is now on the Senate calendar
and can be acted upon as soon as Con-
gress is convened.
The scope of the proposed law is set
forth in the committee report, which is
In part as follows:
Committee Report.
The purpose of this bill is to place
at the disposal of people of small
means the machinery of the PostOfiice
Department to aid and encourage them
to save their earnings. The subject Of
postal savings banks or repositories is
not new in this country and it may be
truly said to be quite familiar to the
people Of Europe and the British colon
les. The propriety of establishing
postal savings banks became the sub
ject of discussion in England as early
as 1907. Every objection to such use
of the postoffice facilities urged in this
country was vigorously pressed in the
lOng-continued discussion of the subject
in England.
Tor over fifty years private savings
institutions waged bitter opposition to
the growing sentiment In favor of postal
savings banks, but Notwithstanding
such opposition in 1861 an act of Par
lament was passed entitled "An. act
to grant additional facilities for de-
posting small savings with the security
of the government for the due repay
ment thereof" That the alarm Of pri-
vate institutions was ill founded is
amply proven by the recorded fact that
the private savings banks increased
their capital by more than ten millions
of dollars in the first fifteen years fol-
lowing the establishment of postal saw
ings institutions.
That the postal savings institutions
proved successful is satisfactorily at
tested by the fact that no backward
step has ever been taken in England on
this subject and by the further fact
that i'll rapid succession the lead of
England was taken by other countries.
The primary purpose of these insti-
tutions is to encourage thrift and a
saving disposition among the people OF
small means by placing at their dis
posal in every part of the country
ready facilities for the depositing Of
small sums, with absolute assurance of
repayment on demand with low rate
OF interest on a limited aggregate
amount
Postal Savings Banks Needed.
In certain parts of our country saw
ings institutions are sufficiently numer-
ous to accommodate the people, but
such areas are quite limited, being con-
fined to New England and New York
1t is alleged that by reason of the num-
Der and location of savings banks there
is one savings account to every two of
the population of New England, where
as in all the country outside New En-
gland and New York the average is
only one savings account to every 157
of the population. Taking such figures
to be approximately correct and, recog-
nizing the fact that the people of all
sections of this country are pretty
much the same in habits, inclinations,
and purposes, it must be obvious to the
most casual observer that the people
of the South, the Middle West, and the
West do not save their earnings as do
those of New England from the mere
want of secure places in which deposits
may be made.
To those who feel inclined to believe
that the establishment of postal saw
ings repositories will involve an ele-
ment of paternalism it seems quite suf-
ficient to suggest that the machinery of
the Postoffice Department is now in ex-
istence and will continue to exist with
out diminution Of expense whether
such repositories are created or not
and that the establishment of these
repositories for the benefit of the
people will not involve one farthing of
loss to the Post-Ofice Department, but
will probably, on the contrary, prove
more than self-sustaining. Very slight
computation will clearly demonstrate
that the postal savings depositors can
not burden the Post-Ofice Department
with any additional deficiency.