90

POSTAL  SAVINGS

000,000  in  postal  savings  deposits  had  been
turned  away  because  of  the  $500  limit.  "Sums
as  large  as  $25,000,”  said  he,  "have  been  brought
to  us  in  old  tea  kettles,  stockings,  and  what  not
else  in  the  way  of  queer  receptacles,  and  when  we
had  to  refuse  to  receive  more  than  $500  it  went
back  into  the  nooks  and  corners,  cellars,  and  underground, ­
  where  it  came  from.” 29  Third  Assistant ­
  Postmaster-General  Dockery  told  the
writer  that  it  was  the  testimony  of  postmasters
throughout  the  country,  over  and  over  again,
that  if  a  foreigner  could  not  deposit  his  entire
savings  at  once  he  commonly  refused  to  deposit
any. 30
3.  A  third  argument  related  to  the  expenses
of  administering  the  system.  During  the  first
two  years  the  postal  savings  system  was  run  at  a
heavy  loss  to  the  Government—a  loss  computed
at  about  $1,000,000  down  to  December,  1913  ; 31
but  since  that  time  the  records  of  the  system  have
shown  a  net  profit  for  each  year.  The  Post  Office ­
  Department  took  the  position  that  if  the
limitations  on  deposits  could  be  removed  or
greatly  lightened,  and  particularly  if  non-interest
bearing  deposits  could  be  authorized,  the  deposits
29  Quoted  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  Feb.  18,  1913.
30  Cf.  on  this  subject  The  U.  S.  Post.  Savs.  Sys.,  pp.
41-51.
81  Cong.  Rec.,  Dec.  15,  1913,  p.  923.