The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1915-11-25

pay more interest than the govern.
ment. Perhaps it might also be as
sumed that the government, with its
advantages, does not show efficient
methods for getting business, when
placed in the competitive class.
1t also appears that these govern
ment banks have failed to meet re-
quirements Of the depositing public.
Just how far this ineficiency may
have been shaped in generalization as
a result Of the energetic lobbying in
f~uences of the great banking interests
of the country must be left to c~onjec-
ture. However, 1t is we'll known that
the banking interests fought the pos
tai savings act for many years, assert
ing that it would work a hardship on
them. That the government did not
properly install this banking system,
and has not brought it to any degree
Of success, presents indisputable EVIL
dence that the creative power-congress
mas " OCSh SQudl W lie JoU, anu
therefore rave additional proof of its
inefficiency. The report of the post
office department for 1914 seeks to
convey the impression that postal saw
ings banks are a success.
The official report shows that there
were 10,347 postal repositories June
80, 1914, a decrease of 2,475 in a year.
All Of these agencies of the govern
ment combined induced 3SS.511 mis-
guided depositors to leave $43,444,271
on deposit. and the government in turn
merely distributes all but three and a
half million dollars of the above among
6,715 banks.
One-fourth of the entire postal saw
ings bank deposits are in six Ameri-
can cities, and approximately "a per
cent are held at so large post offices.
There are many private savings
banks in New York and other cities
with deposits in excess of all this vast
government machinery Of postal sav-
ings banks. The Emigrant Industrial
of New York had $%137,491,4S on the
same day that the postal savings bank
account was made up-more than three
times the entire deposits Of the govern
ment banks. And against the meagre
forty-three million dollars Of deposits
in postal banks stands $4,727, 403, 951 in
the private savings banks Of the u
try.
The fact hat 2.473 repositories were
discontinued, IS of which were presi-
Dental post Offices, shows that there
never has been a universal public de-
mand for postal savings banks.
Follow the comparison through the
different processes OF its operation,
and the conclusion is inevitable that
the postal savings bank serves only a
class who do not have sufficient con-
idence in the stability of national
and state chartered banks, or in the in
tegrity of their fellow-men, or the
power and bounty of our private insti-
~tutions to handle their money accord
ing to customs established in this
country.
Then, again, the postal savings
banks, after picking up the soiled cur
rency that has been hiding in tin cans
and other divers repositories, turns the
deposits over to the private bankers.
The postal savings bank thus becomes
only a sort Of clearing house, 1t is
likewise the governments endorse
ment of the methods of a certain small
class of people who do nothing toward
building up commercial and financial
plans and institutions. The govern
ment's postal savings banks serve to
demonstrate that the government Is a
weak competitor when put up against
private enterprise, such as is found be-
hind our banking and financial institu-
tons.
Since the outbreak of the European
war, foreigners in the United States
have deposited more heavily than be-
fore in government banks, but there is
nothing in the history of this innova-
ton in the postofice department to in
dictate that it supplies any public de-
mand.
Passing on the report Of the secre-
tary of m for 1913: For ex-
ample" says the secretary of com
merce, "the fcrty-four lighthouse ten
ders are, with n exception, without
wireless apparatus. Most of them are
sea-going vessels, constantly patrolling
our coast, and the nature of their
duties makes them peculiarly familiar
with it's dangers. Loss of life and
property may at any time occur be-
cause there are no means of summon
ing these efficient vessels to the help
of the distressed"
Would one think it possible in this