92

POSTAL  SAVINGS

the  savings  bank  business. 33  Senator  Gallinger,
of  New  Hampshire,  had  received  letters  from  officials ­
  of  the  savings  banks  in  his  State  making  a
very  earnest  protest  against  the  House  proposal
that  there  should  be  no  limit  on  non-interest  bearing ­
  deposits. 34
2.  A  second  objection  was  the  claim  that  the
raising  of  the  deposit  limit  and  particularly  the
allowance  of  large  or  unlimited  non-interest
bearing  deposits  would  open  the  door  to  the
fraudulent  evasion  of  debts  and  taxes.  According ­
  to  a  decision  of  the  Attorney-General’s  office,
deposits  in  postal  savings  banks  are  exempt  from
attachment  and  execution  for  debt.  In  December, ­
  1915,  and  during  the  consideration  of  the
bill  to  raise  the  limit  of  interest  bearing  deposits
to  $1,000  and  to  authorize  non-interest  bearing
deposits  up  to  another  thousand  dollars,  Representative ­
  Steenerson,  of  Minnesota,  drew  a
picture  of  a  man  with  a  wife  and  five  or  six  children ­
  over  ten  years  of  age,  each  depositing
$2,000  in  the  postal  savings  bank,  and  escaping
creditors  to  the  total  amount  deposited. 35  He
raised  the  question  whether  a  lower  limit  than
the  one  proposed  should  not  be  fixed  for  minors,
S3  Ibid.,  April  15,  1914,  p.  6727.
34  Ibid.,  April  14,  p.  6670;  and  April  15,  p.  6725.
35  Cong.  Rec.,  Dec.  17,  1915,  p.  433;  and  Jan.  6,  1916,