The Irish standard., 1911-12-02
Post Office Savings Bank Report
Shows That One Irishman in
Ten is a Depositor.
This is a Record Which Surpasses
That Made by the English and
the Scotch
If the People Could Finance New
Industries Ireland Would
be Prosperous.

If the Irish people are poor 1t is not
because they lack initiative or thrift.
1t is rather because the opportunities
which they have are SO meager that
zeal and energy are helpless to accu-
nulate wealth.
Tho report of the postottice savings
bank. which has just been issued by
the postmaster general, seems at first
to bear out the popular idea, that the
Irish arc thriftless. for ii shows that
while at the end of 1908 there were
54G,560 Irish depositors, the number
had been reduced by the end of 1909
/, to 4OS,53S.
But an analysis of the report shows
that this reduction in the number of
depos!tors Is not due to any falling off
in thrift, but to the action of the post
Office authorities in clearing out all
Inactive accounts in which the balance
amounted to less than SIS.
In spite of this clearance. the amount
standing to the credit of Irish deposit
tors at the beginning of this year.
which is the latest date covered by
the report amounted to the huge to-
| tai of $57,o7o,ooo.
Thriftiest of tho Three Kingdoms.
The report further shows that the.
Irish are the thriftiest of the inhabi-
tants of the three Kingdoms. One
Irishmun in every ten is II depositor
, In the postotlicc savings bank, and the
average deposit is nearly $140. Only
one Scotsman In every thirteen Is a
depositor, and the Scottish average Is
only $95, while the English average is
500.
/ But this does not exhaust the tale
of Irish thrift The Irish Joint stock
banks at the beginning of this year
held deposits to the amount of over
$500 800, 900, the trustee savings banks
held $12,5O0,OO0 and over s1?3,50o,OO0
was invested in government securi-
, ties.
Any one would think that n coun-
try able to hand over this vast sum to
the keeping of the banks ought to be
teeminG with prosperity. In any other
country in the world the money would
be doing it's share of financing new
Industries and helping old ones to ex-
pand. But in ireland this is not the
case, and that is why Irish thrift is
largely responsible for her poverty.
Savings Go to England.
! Every penny that is intrustcd to
the postofl1ce savings banks goes to
England and is there invested in Eng
l!sh government securities. All that
Ireland gets out of 1t Is 2k per cent
interest. The same is true Of most Of
the money deposited in the joint stock
i banks nearly all of which is sent
/ to finance British industry.
| An Irish manufacturer who wants
accommodation from the banks for
new enterprise has an uncommonly
hard time in getting it. A good deal
! Of the trustee savings bank money Is
invested in loans on Irish real estate,
but that can hardly be classcd as pro-
ductive. The money in government
funds of course. brings no return to
Ireland except the interest.
1t is estimated that $2,500 invested
ir productive industry provides work
for one man. On this basis the money
or deposit in the postoffice savings
bank alone should keep $4,000 Irish
men at work, and, estimating the av-
erage Irish family at five persons, 1t
would provide Il comfortable living at
home for 100000 persons. Moreover,
this money, circulating as it would in
the form Of wages and payment for
raw material, would increase the gen.
eraI prosperity of Irish merchants
while at the same time it would bring
4 or 5 per cent to its owners instead
OF the 2h per cent now earned.
i The same circulation applied to the
deposits in the joint stock banks and
the investments in government securi-
ties shows that if all Ircland's surplus
cash were actively employed in Ireland
. there would be work for 10000 more
:, Irishmen, and a living for more than