ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SYSTEM 11 
Comparison of Bank Facilities for Savings Deposits and of 
standpoint of area or that of population, was the 
Southern States. 
The case in favor of the post offices was in re 
ality much stronger than the table shows. In the 
first place, the banks receiving savings are largely 
massed in the cities, each city of importance hav 
ing a number of such institutions, while the post 
offices are widely scattered, no city having more 
than one independent post office. In the second 
place postal savings banks would presumably be 
opened at numerous sub-stations, not included in 
the above figures, while mail carriers on rural 
free delivery routes would probably be author 
ized to receive deposits for the postal savings 
banks, as in Holland, Belgium and France. 
19 Exclusive of island possessions. 
Table 1 
Post Office Facilities in 1909 
Geographic 
Section 
Square miles to each Population to each 
Bank Post office p,* 
Population 
Bank Post office 
Southern States 
Middle Western Stat’s 
Western States . . 
Pacific States . . . 
New England States 
Eastern States . . . 
95 19 10,100 2,040 4.9 
67 14 10,700 2,560 4.2 
418 35 13,600 1,120 12.1 
113 85 6,500 2,040 8.2 
504 111 4,390 967 4.5 
883 146 6,470 1,070 6.0 
270 50 8,370 1,642 6.4 
United States 19 . . .