The farmer and mechanic., 1911-07-18

/ =.
could be taken per month one olu
woman called at the Postofhce Depart
IN ent here in Washington. she ndo
a big fat pocketbook with her Wnich
contained the savings or years. one
said taht she had lost her money
n private bank failure twenty-five
years ago and that since that Tune
she had been praying Tor a Gov
eulment bank where her fundS Woulu
be safe.
At one Of the other stations two
farmers brought in two cavas bags
of coins which together held more
than $4,000 and asked to deposit II,
while at Dubois Pa, a German miner
offered s1,700 and was surprised Wnen
the postmaster would arcept only
S100. At Ashta bula. Ohio. one lady
deposited 500, and said she would re-
turn monthly until her account had
reached the limit: While at the same
office a man who was refused the
chance to put in $500 at a lump said
he did not care to open an account
where the money went in on such
small installm ents.
Chance For Women and Children.
These banks will be patroniZed by
the women and children. The laws
provide that a husband has no con-
troll Of the deposits made by his wife,
nor guardians any control over those
dren can deposit. and their parents
cannot get the money except by their
consent consent and BY by their signs{ures n in hne, the
who has a dime may begin an &C
count by buying a postal savings card,
upon which he can paste nine other
10-cent postal sayings stamps, which
he may buy as he gets the money.
When the ninety cents worth of
stamps have been stuck on hte card.
it represents a dollar, and may be ex-
changed for dollar deposit draft at
the postotfice. His name then goes
into manila jacket, and he is one
Of the patrons of Uncle Sans great
banking system.
Suggestion For the Benevolent.
In all places where the banks have
been established many children are
among the depOsitors. In some in
stances postmaSters have been asked
to address the public school children
on the system, and school teachers
from all parts Of the country are
writing the department for informa-
ton concerning it. At one of the
Pennsylvania offices boy has opened
an account in order that he may haveEi
a start in life when he Is through
school, and in other places men are
opening accounts for children and
starting them on the way to save. One j
has purchased postal savings cards
for all the public school children of
that town, his idea being to encourage
thrift through the use of this Gov
ernment system. This seems to be an
excellent idea, and I suggest it to
such Of you as have a charitable dol
lar to put where it will bring big
results. Take a village or town which
has thousand school children. An
investment of 500 in these ten-cent
postal savings cards would start the
children of that whole town to saving
and would be better charity than the
pauperiNng, indiscriminate gift-giving
which is SO common today One
might take the children of single
school or class and do the same In
deed, this system of giving is subject
to countless variations.
Government Bonds For Savings Bank
DepOsitOrs
Connected with the postal savings
bank act is a provision by which the
certificates Of deposit may be used
to buy Government bonds. This went
into effect the 1st Of July, and many
bonds have already been purchased.
The law provides that postal savings
in the sums Of $40, $40. $50, $50 and
800, and multiples of s1Oo and $500
may be turned in for bonds which
shall he in the above denomination |
and shall bear interest a the rate /
Of IL per cent per annum, payable |
semi annually. These bonds cannot |
be bought except by postal savings
bank depositors but they are so ar |
ranged that any one can have a part |
in the Government debt Of the United /
States, and can own Government I
bond. They will be sold to such de- /
pOSitOrs at par. They are exempt !
from taxation, and they will probably /
have a market value somewhat higher I
tina nat the rate they are sold to /
depositors. This, it is thought, will /
add to the stability of our Govern |
ment. Every man who owns such a |
bond will want to support the Gov /
ernment and will feel that he has a ,
part in it. It will probably result /
in a great part of our bonds which
are now held by the rich here and |