Evening star., 1915-02-01
TIE POSTAL SAYINGS
SYSTEM.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

The postal savings system is one OF the
few financial institutions in the world TO
which the war has brought growth ana
prosperity. The principal reason for the
of the system was that II
would bring into circulation savings that
would otherwise be boarded or sent to
foreign countries. Its strongest appeal is,
and always has been. to the foreign-born
citizen: for the bulk of his savings-and
in the aggregate, it is enormous-goes
either into the proverbial sock under the
hearthstone or back to the home country.
Last June the system was approximate
ly forty-three months old. and the de-
posits amounted to about s43,0o0,o0o. In
August, the month that the war broke out.
this average of a million month IN
creased to s4.00o.0oo, and by the end OF
December the total deposits had Increased
by nearly $10.o0o.o00.
This sudden growth was. Of course, ex-
planned by the fact that forefgn-born
Americans who had been sending their
savings back to Europe found it both dlf-
ficult and dangerous to do so because OF
the condition created by the war. Nearly
all OF the European countries had postal
saving systems fifty years before ours was
established, and the immigrant is accus-
such system in this country, he natural
ly turned to it in the emergency created
by the war, and millions of dollars which
would otherwise have been boarded were
kept in circulation by means of the de-
positS of postal savings in local banks at
time when money In circulation was
most urgently needed and the danger
from boarding was greatest
According to the postal savings law,
no one may have on deposit more than
$500 at one
Bill Before Congress time. and
to Change Restriction. no NJ . = 0mt united
to deposit more than 500 in any cal
endar month. This restriction. accord
ing to post Office officials. resulted in
the turning away of thousands of de-
positors. A bill, which has the sane
ton of the Post Office Department, has
been introduced in Congress to in
crease the amount which any person
may have on deposit at interest to
$1,000. with the privilege of depositing
an additional thousand upon which no
Interest is to be paid.
This measure, it is believed, will re-
suit in bringing millions Of dollars into
circulation that would otherwise be
boarded or sent abroad. Safety is what
the Immigrant wants for his savings,
and he seems comparatively Indifferent
to rates Of interest. He prefers to
send his savings back to Europe. be-
cause he knows that the institutions
of those countries are safe, while about
American banks he knows nothing. For
the American government, however. he
has the greatest respect and confidence,
and this he has shown by bringing his
savings to Uncle Sam, when he was un
able to send them home. These de-
posits by foreign-born wage-earners
mean more than money brought into
circulation and kept in the United
States. They mean tangible relations
established between the United States
government and hundreds of thousands
of new citizens, who thus learn to trust
the government Of their adopted coun-
try.
How strongly the postal savings sys-
tenn appeals to the foreign-born Ameri-
can is best shown by the fact that of
the 49,, 900 depositors in postal savings
banks at the end of December, 40 per
cent were foreign born, and that these
owned more than one-ha1f of the total
deposits.