The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1912-10-06
EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD MAY BECOME
HOLDER OF UNITED STATES SECURITIES
Depositors in Postal Savings Bank May Buy
Bonds of Government Which Will Net
$3.50 Year, or Days Wages
for the Average Man.

changed their minds and are helping in
stead of hindering US. A flood of money
has come out Of hiding-money the banks
would not have obtained-and is now cir
culating in the country and performing
its desired and necessary functions. Some
Of the money, / might say in qualifica-
ton Of my statement, would. perhaps.
have found its way into the banks, but
most of II was boarded money and would
have remained In tin cans. old stockings.
and other supposedly secret places. Our
deposits to-day amount to SIS, oo000o. The
active circulating medium with which
business is done in the United States,
think I am safe In saying. has been in
creased, In the rough, to that extent.
Much as We believed In the theory of
the savings system. still 1t was an ex-
pertinent and was to be tried on entirely
new lines, on plan that was wholly
unlike the system worked out in other
countries. The originality of our meth
DDS, accordingly. also tended TO make us
cautious. We decided to test and develop
the system at a single post-office In each
Of the States. choosing Offices that were
especially well managed. and located in
regions containing large foreign popu-
lation. We supposed that government de-
positories of money would be popular with
and assuring to those persons who had
come from countries having institutions
VI u CndrdcttT- we were SurprlScu
to learn. in course of time. that only
about one-fourth Of our depositors were
Of foreign birth.
Most Dcpositors Are Americans.
And that is the proportion to-day.
While the amount of money sent to Eu-
rope by means Of international postal or
ders has decreased about 100000 a
month, the native Americans themselves
the farmers, the villagers, and the
workingmen-are the principal patrons of
the system. 1t seemed. indeed, as though
a great many of our people had been
waiting for a chance to lend their money
to the government. Twelve millions of
dollars were deposited the first year-a
million a month. on an average. A wom-
an deposited $50 in dimes Two Mary
land farmers brought their money to the
postmaster in canvas bags. One man. a
Southern farmer. had $4,000 in a stocking,
and was much disappointed to learn that
no one can deposit more than 500 during
a calendar month, or $500 In all. More
than three hundred discolored silver dol
lars were offered to a postmaster in Cali
fornia- They were the savings of many
years.
"A widow in Kentucky pleaded for the
privilege of depositing 5000. The money
had been put away. a few pennies at a
time and was to pay her funeral ex-
mitted that she was threescore and ten,
had lost all she had twenty-five years
ago by the breaking of a bank In Mis-
souri, After that she had trusted neither
banks nor men. Her little surplus was
joyfully given to the postmaster in her
town. Strange human experiences were
told by many persons. Musty bills, idle
for years, came forth and once again got
busy.
We'll. as I said, We put the system to
a test in one post-office in each of the
States. from Maine to Oregon, and from
the Canadian frontier to the boundary
line OF Mexico. first calling the postmas-
tiers to Washington and giving them a
thorough course of primary instruction.
The experimental offices were immed.-
ately successful. There wasn't a halt
or a hitch anywhere across or up and
down the continent.
Million Each Month.
Money, naturally, hesitated a little at
first. Nor were the people informed con-
corning the workings Of the system. Ad-
ditiQnal offices. ranking high up in ef-
ficiency of management, were authorized
to accept deposits, and the total for the
country Of sSso,oo0 at the end of the first
six month grew to be 81. o00. 600 by the end
of the year. We had 13ST0 depositors. of
whom only $3.50 were foreigners. To-day.
a year and nine months after the sys-
tenn was inaugurated, 1900 offices are
taking the money of the people, paying |
them per cent interest, and giving them
the right to turn the money so deposited
into bonds that bear ~ per cent inter-
est.
while the law says that deposits can
not exceed 800 month. or $500 in all,
there is practically no limit to the small
and steady accumulation Of savings in
trusted TO the government. Deposits, you !
see. can be converted twice a year into
bonds. Savings put into bonds on Janu-
airy l, for instance, leave the depositor
without deposits and he is permitted to
exchange his money for new certificates
against the day when he hopes to buy
more bonds Indeed. any man can de-
pcsit 1000 a year with his postmaster