The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-04
POSTAL SAVINGS
 BILL HELD OVER Senate Recesses and Will Fin ish Matter Probably Today DISCUSSION IS SHARP Senator Cummins Attacks the Proposed Reserve Provision and 1t Is Knocked Out-Grcst Many Weaknesses
 Are Pointed Out
DISCUSSION IS SHARP

Washington. March s.-Taking advan- ment concerning the vote on the admins tration postal savings bank bill. the Sen ate at 5:so D. m. today took a recess until II 80 a. m. tomorrow without disposing of the measure
 The agreement for a vote during the day was qualified by the use of the word legislative before the word day
 The taking of a recess prolongs the day in a legislative sense and at the same time leaves the agreement inviolate.
 There is every reason to believe that the bill will be disposed of before the close of the calendar day tomorrow.
 The bill today was under general dis cussion under the guise of considering amendments, and 1t was sharply criticised by many senators. A large number of amendments was adopted. Most of them were along lines hitherto agreed upon, but there was one innovation. Senator Page had offered an amendment embodying a provision looking to the establishment of reserve fund in connection with the pos tai savings.
 Mir. Cummins attacked this provision and procured the elimination of the re- serve provision. His reason for this was the fear that the provision would tend to concentrate the funds His modification was adopted.
 Among the amendments adopted was one suggested by Senator Shoot in ac- cordance with last Saturdays confer ence of republican leaders regulating withdrawals of postal funds and limiting the power of the trustees in the matter of making investments to the authorities ex- plicitly granted in the bill itself.
 The smoot amendment and the Cum mins' modification led to much general debate. which will be continued to- morrow
 Senator smith of South Carolina found in the bill -an adroitly framed forerun- ner of central bank" and opposed it as undemocratic and unrepublican. and Sem ator Simmons of North Carolina was afraid it would so operate as to deprive the various communities of their own funds
 Senator Gallinger thought that in case of war the bank depositors would make a dead rush to withdraw their funds.
 MT Beveridge believed the government would take care of it's own credit when the emergency arrived. Senator Bailey expressed the opinion that the money of the poor should not be the first to be called for in time of war.
 The poor do the fighting: they should not be asked to buy guns" said the speaker
 During the debate edng the vote on the Cummins amendment Mir. Burton sharply criticised the effort to eliminate the reserve and made a general assauIt upon the pill. He thought there should he provision for the investment of the postal funds in government securities and suggested that in the absence of such pro- vision the government is committed to q course or action which is beyond it's province
 Calling attention to the fact that fhere were more than eo,0G0 banks in the United States, he said there would be great op- portunity for mistakes and that adeouate supervision would be very difficult He apprehended serious loss in time of finan- cial distress.
 hepiylng to Mir Burton Mir. Carter said the postal officials were handling s700 Ocp,- oo annually: he did not, therefore, think it likely they could not properly take care of the s2o0,03o.oo5 which probably would be received through postal savings banks.
 The Cummins amendment received the votes of all the democrats and of Messrs Beveridge, Borah, Brown, Burkett, Bur rows. Clapp, Crawford Curnmns Dixon, Deliver Gamble. Jones, LaFollette, Mo Cumber, Sutherland and Warner, .epuD- licans
 The debate continued upon minor amendments. Mir. Bailey criticised the general provisions of the bill. He as- serted that the employment of a book sary and said the cost would be not less than S45.00o,0a0 annually. MT. Deliver declared himself in favor of the system of dopositing in loca banks of the money col lected by the postofrices. If different system was to be pursued he said, he preferred to leave the banking system of the country as 1t is.
 Mir Deliver discussed the per cent government bonds, saying that instead of the banks having been buncoed, as had been asserted, they had profted im- mensely through this issue.
 MT. Owen. himself banker, inter- rupted to say that the per cent bonds had been so distributed as to give the national banks s12, ,oo0,Oo0 to $14,0c0006 with out requiring any outlay from them,