Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-08-22

80
' est village in New York state, has nc
I, bank of any kind and o a money
I. order business of 81, 200 a month. An.
other in Colorado writes hat his town
has n population of between 1900 and
} 1900 coal miners, who desire some
; safe depository in which to place
their earnings. A postmaster In a
! large place in Illinois writes: "Our
people are without any bank, and they
are a~nxiously awaiting the establish
/, ment of a postal savings bank here"
A postmaster in q big western city
wants to know if his bond will be in
creased in the event of the establish
ment of a postal bank in his city,
He is q presidential postmaster and
will not get additional cor@rer "'ion
for the increased work anC rc"9onsi-
bility. and he wants to know il he is
going to be burdened with additional
expense.
An interesting situation has de-
veloped in the state of Washington in
connection with the postal savings
bank law. A postmaster at one of the
large offices in the state has written
to the postmaster general to know if
state, county or municipal warrants
and street Improvement bonds, both
regarded in the far west as gilt
edged" securities, will be accepted by
the trustees as security from banks in
the state of Washington designated as
repositories under the law. He states
that it is difficult to secure bonds, az
there are few in existence in the state,
and they will be found in the hands OF
investors. Nearly all the Indebtedness
of the state, counties or municipalities,
he writes, Is represented by outstand-
ing warrants issued within the legal
limit provided by law, The issue of
such warrants, he states, is made ac-
cording to q system generally adopt
ed in the far west. which corresponds
to the system of issuing bonds in the
eastern cities. They are JUST as good
as any bond, he declares, and are alb
solutely safe. being an absolute lien
on all the taxable property in the
state, county and municipality.
Another class Of securities to which
he refers as being "as good as the
warrants consists of street improves
ment bonds Of any city regularly is
ohNA l1AOi AAlS " Jaw NV q VI N'hS
state provides that no improvements
shall be made wherein the assessment
exceeds so per cent of the taxable
value OF the property. The form of
such assessments prohibits taxation
assessment to exceed 60 per cent of
the actual selling value of the prop
erty, If put up at public auction. AS
a general rule, 1t Is explained, proper
ty is not assessed for taxation for
more than 80 or 40 per cent of its true
value, and most of it at not more than
20 per cent Of that value. street inn
proVement bonds, he says, run from
five to ten years, and draw from 6 to
s per cent interest. If bonds run for
five years, one-fifth of the principal,
with interest on the whole sum, must
be paid annually; If they run for ten
years, one-tenth of the principal and
the accumulated interest on the
whole must be paid annually. These
annual payments, he states, are asses
sed the same as taxes. The bonds are
in lien on abutting property not to
exceed from one-tenth To one-twen-
tieth OF its actual value. They are in
active demand, he writes. in all banks,
top-notch securities, n are generally
regarded as good as government
bonds.
The postal savings banks law re-
quires the securities to be given by
bank depositors to be public bonds, or
other securities, supported by the
taxing power" and sufficient to in
sure the safety and prompt payment
of deposits on demand.
The question raised by the postmas-
ter will be considered at the proper
time by the postmaster general, the
attorney general. and the secretary of
the treasury, who are the trustees un-
der the postal savings banks bill.
on July is, the treasury department
forwarded to the postoffice depart
ment one hundred and forty letters
from banks, making application for
postal savings deposits. These were
classified among the different states
follows:
Alabama. 2; Arkansas, I; Colorado,
3; Florida, /; Georgia, 1; Indiana, 2;
Illinois, 20, COT which 6 were i'm Chi
cago); Iowa, 3; Kansas, 4; Kentucky,
2; Louisiana, 2; Maine. 3; Massachus-
etts, 3; Missouri, z; Maryland, 3; Min
%nesota. 3; Mississippi. 2; N%evada.1;
Nebraska, z; Now Hampshire, /; New
Jersey. 2; New York, 10 (of which
are in New York city)s North Caro-
lima, 1; North Dakota, 1; Ohio, S;I,
6; Pennsylvania, IS; South
Dakota, /; Tennessee, 3; Texas, Q;
Virginia. /; Vermont, /; Washington,
2, and Wisconsin, 9. :
The indications are that the board s
Of trustees will be unable to designate !
postoffices that are to receive =
postal savings for many months to |
come. The system is not to be gem
orally introduced. 1t will be tried In r
experimental form at first. Under !
The law postoffices Of all classes may
be designated as postal banks.
1t is known to be the purpose OF
board of trustees to limit desig-
1ations at the beginning to offices OF
he first-class, such as New YORK b,
Philadelphia and Boston in the east ,
st. Louis. Chicago. st. Paul and IN !
Annapolis in the west, n few offices :
n the intermountain region, n a
on the Pacific coast. Y
A committee named by the board of I
rustees, composed of postal experts, a
S now figuring on a plan of organ a