PREFATORY  NOTE

The  financial  uncertainties  growing  out  of  the
European  War,  the  widespread  thrift  campaign
which  has  been  undertaken  under  the  pressure  of
war  conditions,  and  the  resulting  great  increase
in  the  public’s  patronage  of  the  postal  savings
banks  have  given  rise  to  an  unusual  public  interest ­
  in  our  American  postal  savings  system.  This
unusual  public  interest  and  the  fact  that  there
exists  nowhere  a  comprehensive  account  of  the
development  and  present  day  workings  of  our
American  postal  savings  system  furnish  the  excuse ­
  for  this  volume.
The  material  here  presented  is  to  a  substantial
extent  a  revision  and  integration  of  material  contained ­
  in  two  magazine  articles  previously  published ­
  by  the  author.  It  is  used  here  with  the
consent  of  the  magazines’  publishers,  for  which
grateful  acknowledgment  is  made.  The  articles
were:  "The  United  States  Postal  Savings
Bank,”  published  in  the  Political  Science  Quarterly, ­
  volume  XXVI  (1911)  ;  and  "Six  Years  of
Postal  Savings  in  the  United  States,”  published
in  the  American  Economic  Review,  volume  VII
(1917).