DEPOSITORS  AND  DEPOSITS

99

Table  4
Growth  of  Postal  Savings  Deposits,  1911-1917

Fiscal  year  ending
June  30

Amount

Percentage  increase
over  preceding  date

1911
1919
1913
1914
1915
1916
June  1,  1917

(000  omitted)
677
90,937
33,819
43,444
65,685
86,090
131,500

9900
67
98
51
31
96

Interest  Paid  on  Postal  Savings  Deposits
The  act  of  1910  provided  that  “interest  at  the
rate  of  2  per  centum  per  annum  shall  be  allowed
and  entered  to  the  credit  of  each  depositor  once
in  each  year,  the  same  to  be  computed  on  such
basis  and  under  such  rules  and  regulations  as  the
Board  of  Trustees  may  prescribe;  but  interest
shall  not  be  computed  or  allowed  on  fractions  of
a  dollar.” 44  Although  interest  rates  prior  to  the
European  War  ruled  higher  in  the  United  States
than  in  most  advanced  countries,  this  rate  of  2
per  cent  is  the  lowest  one  to  be  found  in  any
postal  savings  system  in  the  world.
In  framing  rules  and  regulations  concerning
the  payment  of  interest  to  depositors  the  Board
of  Trustees  has  been  very  exacting.  It  early

44  Sec.  7.