DEPOSITORS AND DEPOSITS 
99 
Table 4 
Growth of Postal Savings Deposits, 1911-1917 
Fiscal year ending 
June 30 
Amount 
Percentage increase 
over preceding date 
1911 
1919 
1913 
1914 
1915 
1916 
June 1, 1917 
(000 omitted) 
677 
90,937 
33,819 
43,444 
65,685 
86,090 
131,500 
9900 
67 
98 
51 
31 
96 
Interest Paid on Postal Savings Deposits 
The act of 1910 provided that “interest at the 
rate of 2 per centum per annum shall be allowed 
and entered to the credit of each depositor once 
in each year, the same to be computed on such 
basis and under such rules and regulations as the 
Board of Trustees may prescribe; but interest 
shall not be computed or allowed on fractions of 
a dollar.” 44 Although interest rates prior to the 
European War ruled higher in the United States 
than in most advanced countries, this rate of 2 
per cent is the lowest one to be found in any 
postal savings system in the world. 
In framing rules and regulations concerning 
the payment of interest to depositors the Board 
of Trustees has been very exacting. It early 
44 Sec. 7.