Middletown transcript., 1915-05-29
ACCOUNT WITH UNCLE SAM

Every person in the United States
ten years old or over may open an ac-
count IN a postal savings bank after
July 1st. according to an instructive
leaflet on the Postal Savings System
just issued by Postmaster General
Burleson. This important extension OF
the service will be made possible by
permitting persons living in commun-
tiles so sparsely settled as not to justify
the designation of their local post Offices
as regular postal savings banks to open
accounts by mail
Governor Dockery, Third Assistant
Postmaster General, who has direct
supervision of postal savings, was so
impressed by appeals from all over the
country to open postal savings accounts
by mail that he took up the task some
weeks ago of working out a feasible
and safe method for meeting & demand
we'll illustrated in letter from Saline
County Missourian, who resides many
miles from postal savings bank.
Having a few hundred dollars saved
from fifty years of hard and assiduous
labor and skimping economy on the
part of my wife and myself, we con-
cluded to deposit it in the Postal Savings
Bank of ---. We wrote to the post
master at that place and received reply
to the effect that none but patrons of
that Office could deposit in that office
which is very disappointing news to u.s.
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. residing
where there is no regularly designated
postal savings bank, will apply to his
local postmaster who will see that ne
cessary Identification data is prepared
and forwarded to nearby post office
authorized to accept deposits. The in
tending depositor will then be given
permission to forward his first and sub
sequent deposits by money order or reg
! istered mail direct to the postmaster st
the banking point for which receipts
or certificates will be issued He may
withdraw all or any part of his postal
savings by mail and on demand together
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 a married
woman free from any control or inter
ference by her husband; that post office
officials are forbidden to disclose to any
person, except the depositor, the
amount of any deposits; that with
drawals may be made without previous
notice; and that the Government guar
antees to repay all deposits on demand
with accrued interest.
The leafiet will soon be printed in %
foreign languages for distribution
through local post offices. The foreign
born citizen has taken very kindly to
postal savings, and literature in his own
language will be of great assistance
to him In a recent article, Postmaster
General Burleson commented on the
foreign-born depositor as follows:
Upwards of 10000 depositors now
have accounts in the Postal Savings
System and they represent every ma
tionality on the earth. They also rep
resent almost every known occupation
professional men, theatrical people,
mechanics, laborers, fishermen. pack
peddlers, etc. But the majority are
wage-earners, and of this class the
foreign-born largely predominate. A
census of depositors taken by the Post
Office Department shows that approx.
imately 40 per cent (200,000) of the
depositors are foreign-bor citizens anC
they own more than so per cent of the
deposits splendid evidence of the con.
fidence of our newly acquired citizens
In the ability and good faith of their
adopted country to fulfill its obligations.
'There is another reason which lee
immigrants, unfamiliar with our lang.
uage and business methods, to turn tc
the Government to safeguard their hum.
Bile savings and that reason is the dis.
astrous experiences many of them have
had by the failures of bogus "private
banks" officered by swindlers of theil
own tongue who have preyed mercilesss.
ly upon their loneliness and credulity.'
Postal savings receipts have broken
all records the past year. During the
eight months prior to April 1st there
was net gain in deposits of $19, 900, 900,
as against gain of $4,000, 900 for the
same months the year before.
Thousands of new accounts have beer
opened and the millions made up largel,
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