Middletown transcript., 1915-05-22
POSTAL SAVINGS By MAIL


Every persons in the United States
ten years old or over may open an ac-
count in postal savings bank after
July l, according to an instructive
leafet on the Postal Savings System
just issued by Postmaster General Bur
Lesson. This important extension of the
service will be made possible by per-
mitting persons living in communities
so sparsely settled as not to justify the
designation of their local post offices as
regular postal saving banks to open ac-
counts by mail.
Governor Dockery, Third Assistant
Postmaster General. who has direct su-
pervision of postal savings. was so i'm
pressed by appeals from all over the
country to open postal savings accoonts
by mail that he took up the task some
weeks ago of working out feasible
and safe method for meeting demand
well illustrated from a Saline County
Mis- 'ourian, who resided many miles
from postal savings bank:
Having few hundred dollars saved
from fifty years of hard and assiduous
labor and skimping ceremony on the
part of my wife and myself, we con-
clnded to deposit in the Postal Savings
Bank of --. We wrote to the post
master at that place and received reply
| to the effect that none but pa .rons of
that office could deposit in that Office
which is very disappointing news to us.
Our little farm is not large enough to
support us and land is so high that it is
| impossible for us to buy more with
what little we have saved and we are
so old that we can't labor much now
and we would be so glad to lay by at
least enough to put us away in de-
cency."
Under the plan adopted by the Post
master General for opening accounts
by mail an intending depositor, resid-
ing where there is no regular designa-
ted postal savings bank, will apply to
his local postmaster who will see that
necessary Identification data is prepar-
ed and forwarded to a nearby post
office authorized to accept deposit The
intending depositor will then be given
permission to forward his first and sub
sequent deposits by money order or re-
gistered mail direct to the postmaster
at the banking point for which receipts
or certificates will be issued. He may
withdraw all or any part at the postal
savings by mil and on demand to-
gether with any interest that may be
due him.
The new leafet points out that any
person ten years old or over may open
an account in his or her own name; that
an account may be opened by married
woman free fsom any control or inter
ference from her husband; that post
officials are forbidden to disclose tC
any one, except the depositor, the
amount of any deposits; that with
drawals may be made without pre-
vi3us notice; and that the Govern
: ment guarantees to repay all de
positson demand with aC crued interest
The leafet will soon be printed in q
foreign languages for distribution
through local post Offices. The foreign
born citizen has taken very kindly tt
postal savings, and htera ure in his
own language will be of great assis
tance to him. In recent article Post
master General Burleson commented
on the foreign born depositor as fol
, lows:
t Upwards of 100000 depositors now
have accounts in the Postal Saving!
t System and they represent every ma
! tionaity on the earth. They also re
n present almost every known occupation
0 professional men, theatrical people
= mechanics, laborers, fishermen, pacl
i peddlers, etc. But the majority arr
: wage-earners and of this class the for
s eignborn largely predominant. A censu
S of depositors taken by the Post Offic'
d Department shows that approximate.
t 40 per cent 600, ,OOO) of the depositor
are foreign born citizens and they owl
a more than so per cent. of the depesit
d splendid evidence of the confidenc
: of our newly acquired citizens in tn
v ability and good faith of their adopte
n country to fulfill its obligations.
T. "There is another reason which le
/? immigrants, unfamiliar with our lar
e guage and business methods to turn
e the Government to safeguard thei
n humble savings and that reason is tn
i di trous experiences many of thel
i have had by the failure of bogus pr
r vate banks" oflicered by swindlers O
their own tongue who have preye
! mercilessly upon their loneliness an
If cre1ulity"
II Postal savings Re ceipts have broke
ID all records the past year. During tt
lie eight months prior to April there wi
le a net gain in denosits of $40, 600, 900, ;
ie against a gain of $1,000, 600 for tt
s same months theagear before. Thou
sands of new accounts have been opel
ed and the millions made up largely {
hidden savings have been turned baC
into the channels of trade just at