The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-11-07
POSTAL BANK
IS MAIN ISSUE
RAYMOND OF CHICAGO TRIBUNE
ANALYZES THE IMPERATIVE
NEED FOR REPUBLICAN PARTY
TO ACT PROMPTLY.

| Chicago, Nov. 6.-RaymOnd, the
| Washington correspondents of the Tri-
| bune, says: One OF the most per
picking political questions president
| Taft will be called upon to meet dur
ing the whole of his first adminis5ra-
ton Will be the proposition for the
| establishment OF postal savings banks.
The Republican platform of 1908. on
| which the president made his success
full campaign, contained Two cIean-Cut
promises. One was tariff revision on
q just basis, presumably downward,
! and the other was the establishment
OF a postal savings bank. No date
! was set for the redemption of either
pledge, but the Republican candidate
| repeatedly declared for immediate
action, and both before and after his
! election announced himself in favor
| of these two great economic reforms
/ and pledged himself TO urge their
| speedy passage by congress.
/ True to his personal pledges, the
! president called congress into extra
/ session TO pass a tariff bill. The re-
/ suit OF that extra session was WOefulIy
| disappointing to a great many people
/ particularly in the west, and some of
| them have been disposed TO blame the
/ president for letting congress alone
until the tariff bill was in conference
/
/ the things left in dispute between the
/ two standpat branches of congress.
| Whatever may be thought as to the
! responsibility for the fiascO, the grave
political fact remains that the tarin
| legislation has left many thousands of
normal republicans Chagrined, unset
tied, and all but rebelIiOus.
The Question Arises.
Now comes the question of the
Z
on its merits. Now it is tangled I'D
with the failure to satisfy the people
on the tariff. Politicians are begin
ming TO ask what will happen in the
congressional elections OF 1910 if they
go before the people, and after ad-I
hitting failure on the tariff try TO ex-
plain why a republican president, a
republican house, and a republican
senate have failed after long session
OF congress to redeem the further
pledge of the establishment of postal
savings banks. Moreover. what would
happen il democratic house, elected
in 1910, should pass a postal savings
bank bill which subsequently should
be defeated by a republican senate.
Certain congressman in the middle
west who oppose the Cannon-ALdrich
element, but who do not believe the
creation Of postal savings banks is |
wise, have been compelled to bow be
fore the unreasOning luminosity Of the
people to everything the controlling |
element in congress favors. Reports !
from the interior indicate that loyalty |
to the postal savings bank is being
made the test in d great many con-
gressional districts, along with Oppo- |
sitiOn to Aldrich and Cannon. |
Many country republicans, especial /
ly in sections remote from banks, are !
saying that Wall street is opposing |
the postal bank as the New England /
and Pennsylvania manufacturers are |
held responsible for the failure to OBJ
tain adequate tariff reform. The fact
that many of the little country banks !
also are opposed to the postal savings
system seems to be overlooked, and a |
condition is rapidly developing where
political leaders are saying that the
postal bank must be established as a /
political necessity and entirely with
out regard to its economic value to-
the community
The postal savings bank is becom-
ing a political issue for reasons not
hard TO find if We go back q year and
a half In the first place it is a
Roosevelt policy. 1t was passed orig
inally by Postmaster General Never
who is retained in the Taft cabinet
as the only one of the Roosevelt ad-
visers. He pressed the postal bank
with rare ability upon the attention
of congress. II was one of the dis
tinct Roosevelt policies which bv tacit
consent were left to the succeeding
administration.
Onset Guarantee Plan.
To Offset the Bryan bank guarantee
plan, the postal savings bank was
given undue prominence. It was made
an important feature Of the Chicago
platform. and in a way ranked next
in Importance to the pledge for tariff
revision. During the campaign it was
pointed out to the peOpIe
that the postal savings bank fur
nished the means Of having deposits
in small amounts guaranteed nv the
United States government itself. Thel
republicans rallied around the DosfsII
bank just as the democrats did about
the guarantee of deposits.
Even the republicans in Minnesota
Kansas. and other states who had
been tainted with the BRYAN theory
made much Of the postal bank as a
means of letting themselves down
easily The result was that next toI
tariff revision the postal SAVINGS hank
became the most concrete pledge
made by the Republicans and bv Mr.
TAFT TO the people in the camnaig7, Of