The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-02-06
POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS.
There Are 10000 "Money Order'' Post Offices in the United States and ,415 Savings Banks-The Advan- tages of Making the Federal Offices Repositories for Small Savings
MARCUS M. MARKS.


 MARCUS M. MARKS.
 (Exclusive Service Charities and The
 Commons Press Bureau.)
 (Mr. Marks is one of New York S
 leading clothing manufacturers. He
 Is a leader in movements for city bet
 torment, a magazine writer and a lec-
 turer on labor questions, business eth-
 les and philanthropy)
 i The United States is now about the
 only civilized country in the world
 that has not yet established a system
 of postal savings Repositories. Eng land, France, Austria, Russia. Italy, Belgium, Holland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, New South Wales, lCape Colony, New Zealand Hawaii,
 Bulgaria, Egypt, Canada and other
 countries have such systems in sue cessful operation. Germany has no government service of this kind, but instead, the municipalities conduct pos tai savings banks.
 1 In England and Wales there are g. 672,200 depositors in postal savings
 hanks (over a quarter of the whole population) and their balances average H0.72 each.
 Tn Japan there are over eight mill lion depOsitorS with balances amount ing to over forty-six million dollars, or $5.77 each.
 { Since 1871 our various postmaster generals have uniformly recommended the adoption of a similar system in the I United States. Our present efficient ] poctr ester-general, George von L. Meyer, Is with exceptional enthusiasm and vfgor. urging the passage of Sen i ate bill 6,4S4. Quoting it's exact lan- guage, this gdll provides for the estab ! m ax1ir 1QnnSttQr- les for depost1ng savings at interest with the security of the government i for payment thereof and for other pur- poses.''
 Its provisions, in brief, are as fol- lows:
 l. Each United States post office which is authorized to issue money orders becomes g. postal savings de- pository.
 2. The post1naster-general may, at first establish these Repositories only in the money-order offices of the first, l second and third classes and extend the system from time to time.
 3. Accounts may be opened for any person over ten years of age by depos- 1ting at least one dollar, after which amounts as small as ten cents will be accepted The limit of deposits ac- cepted on any account in any one month is $10O
 4. Not over $500 in all will be &C., cepted on any one account and inter est at two per cent. a year will be paid.
 5. The postmaster-general deposits these funds in national banks nearest the point of their receipt, at the rate of not less than two and one-quarter per cent. interest
 There are over 65,o00 post offices in this country; 10000 of these have the authority to issue money orders and ,Hro iv1 icfn of bill s 6,4S4. There are 6,821 Presi- dential post offices to which the post master general may at first restrict the savings feature. Even this num- Der is five times as great as the num- Der of savings banks in the United States, which is 1,415 The post of 'fices have the advantage of being dis tributed fairly well throughout the country, whereas, on the contrary, | about three-Quarters of the savings banks of the United States are in the | eastern and middle States. It is a | rather striking fact that ninety-eight | and four-tenths per cent. of the de- l posits. in our savings banks are in | fourteen States Cthe six New England | States, New York, New Jersey, Penn | sylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and California;, whereas in the re- maintng tkdrty-two States and all Ter rftorfes there are only one and six tenths per cent. of the deposits of all the savings banks of the country.
 This is conclusive evidence that the | highly prosperous Western and South ern States have, at present, compara- lively little opportunity to reach sav- ings banks and thus they lose an in centave to economy which the proposed postal savings system would supply. The experience of other countries has proven that it is beneficial to the peo- pie to have postal savings Repositories 1, ~s,. ings may earn interest and be abso- 1utely secure. In times of prosper fty this plan, by encouraging saving, helps to make better men and more substantial citizens, the stimulus to habits of economy and thrift, reducing the tendency to dissipation and vice. Again, in times of business depression, the faith of the people in their govern Inent tends to prevent panic which would be more likely to seize them if their money were deposited elsewhere; for many have an undefined feeling of distrust of banks, which they view in the light of private enterprises, liable to be mismanaged or to fail.
 The report of the postmaster-ge general for 1907 says:
 More than seven millions of immi grants landed in this country during the past ten years, and it has been demonstrated that in the aggregate immense sums of money have been hoarded or sent away by these peo- cde.''
 The easy reach of government sav- sngs Repositories will empty the prov erbial stocking, where, for lack of such banks, money is hidden at a loss of interest and at the risk of theft or fire. Taking another view of postal there is no easier, safer or more Independent provision for old age, sickness or the ever threatening rainy day. than the gradual accumu- iation of savings.
 The opposition to the postal savings comes principally from the officials of savings Ssoanks on the ground that they should not be ham I1ered by the competitions of the United :