78

POSTAL  SAVINGS

Mr.  Carter  B.  Keene,  Director  of  Postal  Savings, ­
  informs  me  that  the  opinion  of  postmasters
throughout  the  country,  as  revealed  by  their  letters ­
  and  reports,  is  almost  unanimous  in  the  conclusion ­
  that  the  great  bulk  of  the  deposits  come
from  hoards,  and  from  funds  that  formerly  were
sent  abroad  for  deposit  in  the  postal  savings
banks  and  other  banks  of  Europe.  The  tarnished
condition  of  much  of  the  coin  deposited,  and  the
receptacles  in  which  the  money  is  brought  for  deposit, ­
  show  that  much  of  it  has  been  buried  or
otherwise  hoarded  for  long  periods.  Director
Keene  said  in  an  address  before  the  American
Bankers  Association  Convention  in  Boston  in
October,  1913:  “A  systematic  canvass  was  once
made  by  the  Department  to  ascertain  where  the
postal  savings  deposits  were  coming  from,  and  no
depositor  was  found  who  had  transferred  his  account ­
  under  normal  conditions  from  a  bank  to
the  post  office.  On  the  contrary  our  files  are  full
of  reports  from  postmasters  who  explain  the  falling ­
  off  of  deposits  by  the  fact  that  accounts  are
being  transferred  to  local  banks,  and  letters  from
bankers  urging  the  extension  of  the  service  to
points  where  they  are  unable  to  reach  hoarded
savings  are  now  too  frequent  to  occasion  comment. ­
  The  postal  savings  system  is  a  fitting
school  for  other  savings  institutions.  Our  de-