12

POSTAL  SAVINGS

Conclusions  based  upon  averages  of  the  kind
above  given  must  of  course  be  drawn  cautiously,
for  the  figures  are  not  complete  and  the  possible
“fallacy  of  averages”  is  well  known.  The  figures,
however,  are  sufficiently  complete,  and  the  “story
of  the  averages”  is  sufficiently  truthful,  to  justify
the  conclusion  that  the  country  was  many  times
over  better  provided  with  post  office  facilities
than  with  savings  bank  facilities,  and  that  this
was  particularly  true  of  the  Southern  States.
Fear  of  Competition  with  Existing  Banks
An  objection  strongly  urged  against  the  establishment ­
  of  a  postal  savings  system  was  that
it  would  prove  a  competitor  to  existing  banks.
Opponents  of  a  postal  savings  system  argued
that  postal  savings  banks  would  have  an  undue
advantage  over  private  institutions  because  of  the
great  confidence  in  the  Government  held  by
working  people;  and  they  said  that  funds  would
be  withdrawn  from  existing  banks  and  deposited
in  the  postal  savings  banks.  In  support  of  this
contention  the  experience  of  England  was  repeatedly ­
  cited,  where,  in  the  early  days  of  postal
savings,  there  had  been  a  “marked  tendency”  for
the  postal  savings  banks  “to  absorb  the  patronage ­
  built  up  by  the  trustee  banks.” 20
20  j  H.  Hamilton,  Savings  and  Savings  Institutions,