ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  SYSTEM

7

the  part  of  the  public,  nor  was  there  any  question ­
  that  adequate  savings  bank  facilities  should
be  provided  for  this  purpose.  The  debate  hinged
very  largely  upon  the  question  whether  adequate
savings  facilities  were  not  already  provided  by
private  initiative.
Question  of  the  Adequacy  of  Eæisting  Savings
Facilities  Offered  by  Banks
The  advocates  of  a  postal  savings  bank  claimed
that  adequate  savings  facilities  were  not  being
provided  by  private  enterprise,  and  could  not  be
so  provided,  because  of  the  expense  of  operating
savings  banks  in  small  communities,  and  also  in
larger  ones  where  the  people  were  not  yet  educated ­
  to  the  saving  habit;  and  they  pointed  particularly ­
  to  the  lack  of  savings  facilities  in  the
Southern  and  Western  States.
Postmaster-General  George  von  L.  Meyer  in
his  report  for  1908 10  cited  figures  from  the
Comptroller  of  the  Currency,  showing  that  the
deposits  in  savings  banks  in  the  United  States  at
that  time  amounted  to  $3,660,553,945;  that  72
per  cent  of  this  amount  belonged  to  the  New
England  States  and  New  York;  and  that  98.4
per  cent  belonged  to  fourteen  States,  leaving
only  1.6  per  cent  to  the  remaining  States  and  all
10  Pp.  12-13.