The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1915-05-20
CHILD MAY HAVE
POSTAL BANK
DEPOSITS MAY BE MADE WITH
GOVERNMENT BY ANY PER.
SONS TEN YEARS OF
AGE.

n4N->SilItNl IN ANY FER.
SONS TEN YEARS OF
AGE.
Every person in the United States
ten years old or over may open an
account in a postal savings bank af-
ter July !, according te word lust
received from the department by
Postmaster T. J.. Ball. This extern
sion of the service win be made pos
slble by permitting persons living in
communities SO sparsely settled as to-
not justify the designation OF their
local p~ostoffices as postal savings
banks to open accounts by mail.
Governor Dockery, third assistant
postmaster general, who has direct
supervision of postal savings, was
50 impressed by appeals from all
over the country to open postal saw
ings accounts by mail that he took up
the task some weeks ago of working
out a feasible and safe method for
meeting a demand we'll illustrated
i n a letter from a Saline county, Mis-
sourian, who resides many miles
from a postal savings bank.
Having Il few hundred dollars
ia " my ScuIS Ol l1TU ana
%assiduous labor and skimping econ
omy on the part OF my wife and my
self, we concluded to deposit it in
the Postal Savings Bank OIL.
We wrote to the postmaster at that
place received reply to the effect that
none but patrons 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 i'm
possible 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
Gecency.'
Under the plan adopted by the
postmaster general for opening ac-
counts by mail an intending depos-
itor, residing where there is no reg
ularly designated savings bank, will
apply to his local postmaster who
will see that necessary identification
data is prepared and forwarded to n
nearby %postoffice authorized to ac-
cept deposits. The intending depos-
itor will then be given permission to
forward his first and subsequent de-
posts by money order or registered
mail direct to the postmaster at the
banking point for which receipts or
certificates will be issued. He may
withdraw all or any part of his pos
tai savings by mail and on demand
together with any interest that may
be due him.
The new leaflet points out that any
nnYcnn TON vnarc old or NDor ~ "
open an account in his or her own
ed by a married m free from any
control or interference by her hus-
band; hat post Office officials are
forbidden to disclose to any person,
except the depositor the amount of
any deposits; that Withdrawals may
be made without previous notice; and
that the government guarantees to
repay all deposits on demand with
accrued interest.
The leaflet will soon be printed in
% foreign languages for distribution
through local post offices. The for
eign-born citizen has taken very kind
ly to postal savings. and literature in
his own language will be OF great
assistance to him. In a recent ar
j, ticle, Postmaster General Burleson
commented on the foreign-born de-
positor as follows:
Upwards of 500, 200 depositors
now have accounts in the Postal Saw
ings System and they represent every
nationality on the earth. They also
represent almost every known occu-
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. men, theatrical
people, mechanics. laborers, fisher
men, pack peddlers, etc. But the ma
jority are wage-earners, and of this
class the foreign-born largely pre-
dominate. A ensus of depositors TAX
en- by the Post Office Department
shows that approximately 40 per
cent Goo, O00) of the depositors are
foreign born citizens and they own
more than so per cen of the deposits
splendid evidence of the confidence
of our newly acquired citizens in the
ability and good faith OF their adopt
ed country to fulfill its obligations.
"There is another reason which
led Immigrants, unfamiliar with u
Language and business methods, to
turn to the Government to safeguard
their humble. savings and that reason
is the disastrous experiences many
of them have had by the failures of
| bogus private banks" Differed by
swindlers of their own tongue who
have preyed mercilessly upon their
Loneliness and credulity."
Postal savings receipts have brok-
en- all records the past year. During
the eight months prior to April
there was a net gain in deposits OF
s19, 900. 900, as against a gain of S.
0OO, 900 for the same months the
year before. Thouands of new ac-
counts have been opened and mil
lions made up largely of hidden saw
ings have been turned back into the
channels of trade just at a time when
there was pressing demand for every
dollar.