8

POSTAL  SAVINGS

the  Territories.  These  figures  were  severely
criticized  by  the  banking  fraternity  on  the  ground
that  they  referred  only  to  mutual  and  stock  savings ­
  banks,  whereas  the  savings  deposits  of  the
country  included  also  amounts  deposited  in  the
savings  departments  of  other  kinds  of  banks.  A
report  was  prepared  for  the  Committee  on  Postal ­
  Savings  Banks  of  the  Savings  Bank  Section
of  the  American  Bankers  Association,  under  date
of  May  3,  1909,  criticizing  the  official  statistics
and  offering  supplementary  figures  showing  that
the  savings  of  the  American  people  amounted  to
about  nine  and  a  half  billion  dollars,  exclusive  of
deposits  in  school  savings  banks,  “private  investments ­
  of  small  savings  in  bonds”  and  “the  savings ­
  invested  in  homes  and  homesteads.”  The
bankers’  figures  included  the  accumulations  of
building  and  loan  associations  ($745,993,000)
and  the  assets  of  life  insurance  companies  ($3,-159,581,000).
  Obviously  the  term  “savings”  is
very  elastic,  and  when  it  is  carried  beyond  the
field  of  small  and  relatively  permanent  deposits
in  banking  institutions,  and  into  the  field  of  investments, ­
  it  is  given  an  extension  difficult  to
limit  and  of  little  use  in  a  study  of  savings  bank
facilities.
In  December,  1909,  the  National  Monetary
Commission  published  its  special  report  giving