INVESTMENT OF FUNDS 
109 
United States so require.” Aside from this, the 
only provisions in the present law for the invest 
ment of postal savings funds in United States 
securities are : ( 1 ) That the trustees may so in 
vest any funds which in any State or Territory 
“shall exceed the amount which the qualified 
banks therein are willing to receive under the 
terms of this act, and [when] such excess amount 
is not required to make up the reserve fund of 
5 per centum.” This is a contingency which has 
not yet been met and is not likely to occur. (2) 
That the Board of Trustees may in its discretion 
purchase from the holders 2J per cent postal sav 
ings bonds. As previously noted, up to June 30, 
1916, the trustees had purchased about a million 
and a half dollars worth of these bonds. If the 
market rate of interest goes up materially in the 
near future, and the prospects are that it will, the 
trustees are likely to be called upon to purchase 
them in substantial quantities. 
Deposit of Postal Savings Funds in Banks 
Soon after the act of 1910 was passed the Post 
Office Department received applications from all 
kinds of banks scattered throughout the country 
for the privilege of becoming depositories of pos 
tal savings funds. On December 31, 1910, the 
Board of Trustees issued its first series of “regu-