Daily Arizona silver belt., 1908-12-16

Congress has up for consideration Q postal savings bank bill that seems to meet with the approval of few enthu- siastic men like Postmaster General Meyer and few congressman who ap- parently have not given the subject but little thought other than absolute safe ty for the small savings of the people throughout the land.
 They apparently have not considered the question as to the effect of the bill on the wages of the wage earner. There are 10000 banks scattered throughout the United States, and every one of these institutions are in some way or another giving employment to labor through the moneys deposited with them.
 The savings banks are large purchas- CTS of bonds and mortgages that are is- sued by the numerous factories and mills all over the country that give em- ployment to the thousands and millions of laborers employed in them The country bank that receives all classes of deposits, both commercial and saving, reloans the funds thus received to the person who wants to improve his farm; to the one who wants to build new him a home, or to the merchant who needs little more capital temporarily in his business; to the man everywhere and in every line of business who has to borrow from time to time. If this mon ey is withdrawn from legitimate chan nels of trade and deposited with the government, who is going to suffer by it? It will retard trade and the devel- opment of the resources of the country in just the proportion in which it is withdrawn.
 The small depositor, the one who brings the best business to the banks, is the one whe is now aiding in building up the community in which he lives. If these deposits are withdrawn from the banks and tied up in postal savings banks, the money thus withdrawn is lost to the community and benefits no person, not even the government, as it will be source of expense rather than profit to it.
 We hold that the history of the finan- cial institutions of the United States demonstrates that in safety and in adap- liability these institutions are develop ing as the country develops, through a process of evolution, and that the record of the past is sufficient guarantee for the future that our present banking fa- cilities will steadily grow to meet all the requirements of the country.
 While we believe the basic objections we have urged against postal savings system are unanswerable, we further submit that the bills now pending in congress for the creation of that system should not be enacted into law, because specifically wrong in the following par ticulars, to which many others could be added:
 1. The exemption of deposits from legal process is vicious, as 1t would pro vide depositary for funds of the dis honest and the fraudulent, where they could place their money, draw interest on it, and be free from attachment, which would prove serious menace to the business interests of the country
 9. In the use made by the govern ment of the funds coming into it's pos session through the postal savings de- positories, the provisions of the bills do not assure wide and equitable distri- button of the funds deposited nor pre- vent the centralization of the people, g money, which belong to and should be retained in their respective communi- ties.
 3. No provision being made for a time notice for withdrawals, the gov ernment might at times be seriously em- barrassed, to the great detriment of the general business interests of the people
 Moreover, we believe 1t to be of the utmost importance to have you use your