The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-07
NEED OF POSTAL
 SAVINGS BANKS There Are 10000 Money Dr.
 der PostofficeS IN THE UNITED STATES There Are 1415 Savings Banks. The Advantages of Making Fed
 eral Offices Depositories
 For Small Savings.
 
IN THE UNITED STATES
By MARCUS M. MARKS.

mons HTeSS 6uT6aQ.)
 CMr. Marks is one of New Yorks lead ing clothing manufacturers. He is leader in movements for city betterment, a magazine writer and a lecturer on la bor questions business ethics and philan- thropy)
 The United States is now about the only civilized country in the world that has not yet established a system of post al savings Repositories. England, France, Austria, Russia, Italy. Belgium Holland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, New South Wales, Cape Colony, New Zealand, Hawaii, Bulgaria, Egypt, Canada and other countries have such systems in sue cessful operation. Germany has no gov ernment service of this kind, but instead, the municipalities conduct postal savings banks.
 In England and Wales there are 9,672,- 200 depositors in postal savings banks lover a quarter of the whole population) and their balances average s7O.72 each. ]. In Japan there are over eight million depositors with balances amounting to over forty-clx million dollars, or $5.77 each.
  erals have uniformly recommended the adoption of a similar system in the United States Our present efficient post master general. George von L. Meyer, is with exceptional enthusiasm and vigor urging the passage of Senate bill CASA Quoting it's exact language, this bill pro- vides for the establishment of postal savings Repositories for depositing saw ings at interest with the security of the government for the payment thereof and for other purposes"
 Its provisions, in brief, are as follows:
 l. Each United States postoffice which is authorized to issue money orders becomes a postal savings depository.
 2. The postmaster general may, at first, establish these Repositories only in the money order offices of the first, second and third classes and extend the system from time to time.
 B. Accounts may be opened for any per son over ten years of age by depositing at least one dollar after which, amounts small as ten cents will be accepted. The limit of deposits accepted on any account in any one month is S1O0.
 4. Not over $500 in all will be accepted on any one account and interest at two per cent year will be paid. l 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 inter est.
 There are over 65,0OO postoffices in this country; 10000 of these have the authori- l ty to issue money orders and are there fore, embraced in provisions of bill s 61S4 There are 6SH presidential postoff1ces to which the Postmaster General may at first restrict the savings feature. Even ] this number Is five times as great as the number of savings banks in the United States, which is 1,415. The postoffices have the advantage of being distributed fairly well throughout the country, where as, on the contrary, about three-quar- ters of the savings banks in 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 deposits in our savings banks are in fourteen states (the six New England states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and i California;, whereas, in the remaining thirty-two states and all territories there
 
 the deposits of all the savings banks of | the country.
 | This is conclusive evidence that the | highly prosperous western and southern | states have, at present, comparatively | little opportunity to reach savings banks 1 and thus they lose an incentive to econ omy which the proposed postal savings | system would supply The experience of | all other countries has proven that 1t is l beneficial to the people to have postal savings Repositories within easy access so that their savings may earn interest and l be absolutely secure. In times of pros l perity this plan, by encouraging saving, | helps to make better men and more sub stantial citizens, the stimulus to habits | of economy and thrift, reducing the ten- l dency to dissipation and vice. Again, in times of business depression, the faith of 1 the people in their government tends to l prevent panic which would be more like | ly to seize them if their money were de- i posted elsewhere; for many have an un- defined feeling of distrust for banks which they view in the light of private enterprises, liable to be mismanaged or to fail.
 The report of the postmaster general | for 1907 says:
 More than seven millions of immi- grants landed in this country during the past ten years, and it has been demon strated that in the aggregate immense sums of money have been hoarded or sent away by these people,"
 i The easy reach of government savings l Repositories will empty the proverbal stocking, where, for lack of such banks money Is hidden at a loss of interest and 1 at the risk of theft and fire Taking another view of postal repositories there l is no easier, safer or more independent provision for old age, sickness or even the threatening rainy day than the grad ual accumulation of savings.
 The opposition to the postal savings measure comes principally from the offic- 1 ials of savings banks on the ground that they should not be hampered by the com Let us consider whether this is fair argument. In the first place these sav- ings bank officials do not deny that the great mass of our people will receive a substantial benefit by having the pro- posed additional facility for saving small 1 sums placed within their easy reach. 1 How can they then reconcile their oppo- sition with the benevolent character of their own institutions? These savings banks are conducted, in most part, by l directors who serve without pay ard entirely for the benefit of the public. How can there be a logical objection on their part on the ground of government competition, to greater extension of fa- cllities bound to bring further benefits to l the self-same public? Setting aside the attitude of benevolence, we feel that the fear of competition of the postal savings Repositories is unfounded for practical reasons for as soon as the amount of l his savings in the postal depOsitOry be-