Norwich bulletin., 1914-10-30
WAR MEANS BOOM
 TO POSTAL SAVINGS
Savings That Once Went Abroad Now Kept Here-confidenoe in the Government.

The war in Europe is proving a
 big boom to postal savings in this country From the very day hostilities opened across the seas postal-savings
 began by leaps and bounds and with
 drawals fell off, result contrary to the predictions of many well Uniformed
 persons who, in their ina agination, saw
 lines of feyerish depositors at post
 office pay windows anxious to again
 return their savings to the bootleg and body-belt Repositories whence they
 came before intrusted to Uncle Sam. But the forecasters failed to reckon on
 the absolute confidence of the Amer ican citizen, regardless of the flag that
 first met his eyes, in the ability and purpose of the government to carry out
 its obligations, not only among the
 nations of the earth, but with the hun-
 b1est citizen of our land.
 Two important results have follow
 ed; thousands of people, largely of for
 eign birth, accustomed to- send their savings abroad, are now patrons or our postal-savings system; and enor- moyIs sums of actual cash have been released for commercial uses among our own people at a time when the reed for every available dollar is press ing Sfoo0o,oo0 Added Since July 1st.
 The growth of postal savings in the United States has been steady and healthy and the system has filled an important gap between the tin-can de- pository and the factory paynaster. On July l, when affairs were running l smoothly here and abroad and the 1 transmission of money across the Allan
 tic was safe and expeditions, there was
 approximately $43,000,000 of postal 1 savings standing to the credit of about | 3Ss,e00 depositors. Since then over | $10 ,000 of deposits have been add | at><-. f.zf1 1Ara haG | increased enormously. This unpre-
 cedented gain is the more striking when 1 it is considered that the net gain in l the last three months is larger than | the gain for the entire fiscal year 1914. Scores of offices have done more postal | savings business since the war has been going on than was done by them l during the pervious existence of the lseryice. The increases are confined to
 no special localities, but have been tfelt in every nook and corner of the l country New York City alone made gain in September q. more than a mill l lion, while Brooklyn showed rela- lively big increase. Chicago reported | a larger gain in the past three months ] than for the previous twelve months. | More than 1000 new accounts were op- ened during the period, bringing the | number of depositors in that city up j to over 21,000.
 Banks Apply as Depositors.
 | The unexpected increase in postal savings business has not only added l greatly to the general administrative duties of the system, but has brought up many new and interesting problems II which have called for the careful per
 sonal consideration of Postmaster Gen II eral Burleson and Governor Cookery. II Third Assistant Postmaster General: But their task has been frightened II somewhat by the promptness of de
 pository banks in furnishing additional security to meet the abnormal depos- II it's number of the very largest banks in the country; which have here | tofore declined to qualify as depositors lfor postal-savings funds, are now among the eager applicants for them.