INVESTMENT  OF  FUNDS

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United  States  so  require.”  Aside  from  this,  the
only  provisions  in  the  present  law  for  the  investment ­
  of  postal  savings  funds  in  United  States
securities  are  :  (  1  )  That  the  trustees  may  so  invest ­
  any  funds  which  in  any  State  or  Territory
“shall  exceed  the  amount  which  the  qualified
banks  therein  are  willing  to  receive  under  the
terms  of  this  act,  and  [when]  such  excess  amount
is  not  required  to  make  up  the  reserve  fund  of
5  per  centum.”  This  is  a  contingency  which  has
not  yet  been  met  and  is  not  likely  to  occur.  (2)
That  the  Board  of  Trustees  may  in  its  discretion
purchase  from  the  holders  2J  per  cent  postal  savings ­
  bonds.  As  previously  noted,  up  to  June  30,
1916,  the  trustees  had  purchased  about  a  million
and  a  half  dollars  worth  of  these  bonds.  If  the
market  rate  of  interest  goes  up  materially  in  the
near  future,  and  the  prospects  are  that  it  will,  the
trustees  are  likely  to  be  called  upon  to  purchase
them  in  substantial  quantities.
Deposit  of  Postal  Savings  Funds  in  Banks
Soon  after  the  act  of  1910  was  passed  the  Post
Office  Department  received  applications  from  all
kinds  of  banks  scattered  throughout  the  country
for  the  privilege  of  becoming  depositories  of  postal ­
  savings  funds.  On  December  31,  1910,  the
Board  of  Trustees  issued  its  first  series  of  “regu-