The Penn's Grove record., 1910-08-05
MANY Communities ASK FOR POSTAL SAYINGS BANKS,
BUT SOUTH and WEST FAIL TO ENTHUSE over them
Postmasters Report Savings Seek Place of Deposit interesting Pleas
From Many Communities for Designation of Branch Banks
Foreigners and People in Moderate Circumstances the
Most Insstent--A Help to Young Men.

Washington.-Perhaps the most in
teresting documents now coming into
Washington have to do with the ap-
plications of postmasters who want
their postof fices designated as branch
postal savings banks. Practically all
of these letters, more than 200 of
which have now been received by
the postmaster general, have been
written in answer to a demand by the
patrons of the p~ostoffices, and in
many instances the postmaster gives
the reasons advanced by his patrons
for asking for a postal bank in the
community. 1t is already evident
that the country at large is taking a
healthy interest in the new institu-
ton created by law of the last con-
gress, and about to be created in fact
by the board of trustees, composed of
Postmaster General Hitchcock, Secre-
tary MacVeagh and Attorney General
Wickersham.
The pleas on hand to date indicate
that those communities where a large
part of the population is composed of
wage earners, foreigners or people in
moderate circumstances, are those
most insistent for postal banks. Ru-
raj communities somewhat removed
from banking facilities are also de-
handing the new banks, and the pre-
diction is freely made by postmasters
that the result of their establishment
will be to bring new money into cir
culation, increase thrift in the COM
munity, and inspire a patriotic inter-
est in the affairs of the government.
Among the interesting letters re-
ceived, none has been of greater sig
nificance than that written by the
postmaster at Pueblo, Col. After
pointing out that this community is
mostly a wage earning community, in
which foreigners play no small part
in the mining and smelling industry,
the postmaster cites actual figures
from his records to show that there
has been sent from Pueblo to foreign
countries in international money or
ders during the last five years more
than $1,000 900, which might well
have been retained at home. These
disbursements, by years, were as fol-
lows: 1905, $198,O00; 1906, 1884,
600; 1907, $4,000; 1908, $780,
900; 1909, $4,000.
From Jackson, Tenn, comes a re-
QuGSL lOI d GUSTAV Ud1h, UdoCQ III thO
ground that most of the inhabitants
of that city are persons in medium
circumstances, who would like to de-
post their small savings in a govern
ment bank.
The postmaster at B~ellingham,
Wash, a city of 10000 Inhabitants,
writes to the postmaster general that
he has a large number of poor for
eigners as patrons of his office, who
will welcome a postal bank. He
writes that, in his opinion, the depos-
its in postal banks in that community
will increase the money in circulation
%perceptibly, encourage thrift and
help put a stop to extravaganza and
poverty The postmaster at Everett,
Wash, a city of equal size, has also
reported that, in his opinion, a postal
bank at that place will bring out not
less than s150,000. He bases his es-
innate on the banking already being
done with him in the shape of money
orders made out in favor of the pur-
chaser.
At Madison, Wis, the postmaster
thinks he has found an ideal place
in which to try out the postal bank
system. He points out that he has a
diversified population to serve, rang
ing from university professors down
to foreign laborers, and he believes
an intimate study of the relation of
each of these classes to the postal
bank system will be highly instruc-
tive.
From North Adams, Mass, comes
a plaintive tale that the cotton and
wooden workers in the textile mills,
most of whom are foreigners, want a
postal bank in which to place their
savings.
There is much human interest in
the plea of the postmaster at Brock
enridge, Col. He says the town is
small in comparison with many other
applicants, but a postal bank is need
ed to .'help the young men who are