The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-26
SAVINGS ACCOUNTS. HAVE NOT AS YET. BEEN TOUCH ).
Farmer Not So Well HeeIed as in Past, But Man With Money in Bank Has
 More Than Ever
Fly HARDEN CoLFAX Special Correspondent of Tihe AEe-Herald Copyright, 1921, by The Age e-Elerald)

(Copyright, 1921. by The Age Herald)
 Washington. June Especially America has not touched her savings bank account during the period of industrial stress except Co increase 1t. The business mans bank balance is reduced somewhat from the fat figures of last year and the farmer can't sign his check for what he used to, but the man who has money in the saving bank has more there today than he ever had before. Al! of which goes to show, according to the federal reserve boards presenta- ton of the facts, that while we've been tightening our belt andi con suming less during the past six months. we haven't drawn on our reserves, but have strengthened them.
 The figures upon which this analysis Is made are admittedly incomplete but they form the soundest sort Of promise upon which to base the col lection, throughout the country, Of data to show just where the savings bank despositor stands, as compared with where he stood a year ago. As fast as the information is collected it will be forwarded to the controller  complete--perhaps three months hence-it will be in shape for publl- cation.
 In the Meantime
 In the meantime, the federal re- serve board has a good line on the situation through the figures sub nitted to it each week by large national banks and trust companies in more than 100 of the chief cities of the country. Nearly all of these institutions conduct savings depart ments and pay interest on time de- posits Steadily the amount of money thus on eposit-comparable with savings bank deposits--has been mounting during the past year, till at the close of business this week thes volume of savings in the Slf banks reporting to the board stands at $23S,00o.000 more than 1t stood year ago. And a year ago it stood at what was then record.
 The boards report shows that the S17 banks had on deposit this week the huge sum of s2,942,9o1,000 In savings. Six months ago, just before last Christmas, the same banks had on deposit $2,790197,0o0 in savings. A year ago their savings deposits totalled $2,6S4, ,497,0
 During the same period the busi- ness mans bank balance has dropped. A year ago these banks had on de- posit $1l, ,500, ,000,0 ,000 belonging to in- dividuals, firms and corporations in business. More than a billion dol lars has been clipped from the balance during the year.
 Savings Account
 And all this time the man with a savings bank account. on the average. has been steadily adding to his bal ance. True, there have been setbacks here and there, notably in the south and. west, where land values dropped and those who purchased on the crest of the wave lost a part of their saw ings, but the, country as whole has gone forwards Labor disoredrs. econo- mic readjustment, enforced idleness on the part of many workers--these haven't made dent in the balance. The family sock has no hole in 1t.
 There are, perhaps, 15,000,00o saw ings bank depositors in the United States, and the number is growing every month. according to all re- ports received here, notwithstanding the temptation and often the necess- ity to spend. The bulk of the savings is stored in mutual savings banks which last year numbered more than 9,5O0.- 00pTdepositors. Stock savings banks ndQ on SnGiE pOohS Acdiiyf NsVVv'VNN more names. The other 3,500.000, it is thought, are depositors in the na- tional banks and trust companies re- porting to the reserve board.
 Approximately one-t third of all the same deposits in the country were on the books of the reserve bank asys- tenn members cited above. The steady growth in the amount of their de- posits leads to the belief that the other two-thirds have acted smillarlJ and that when the controller gets ms figures as of next Thursday the saV- ings bank deposits will be the single item of expansion in year note worthy of drastic contraction in every other respect.