INVESTMENT  OF  FUNDS

115

large  a  number  of  banks  would  in  time  of  stress
be  of  decided  disadvantage  to  the  Federal  reserve
system,  which  seeks  as  much  as  possible  to  mobilize ­
  the  financial  resources  of  the  country  under
one  control.  The  bill  which  I  now  return  repeals
that  provision  so  far  as  it  might  apply  to  funds
accumulated  in  the  hands  of  the  Government  under ­
  the  postal  savings  system.  It  is  in  this  provision ­
  of  the  bill  that  I  find  myself  unable  to  concur. ­

“It  is  my  clear  conviction,  very  respectfully
urged  and  submitted,  that  as  a  matter  of  principle ­
  as  well  as  of  policy  we  should  strengthen  and
safeguard  the  new  banking  system  very  jealously
with  a  view  to  the  ultimate  unification  of  the  entire ­
  banking  system  of  the  country  under  the
supervision  of  the  Federal  Reserve  Board.  It
would,  in  my  judgment,  be  a  grave  mistake  to
take  away  any  of  the  benefits  or  advantages  held
out  by  the  present  law  to  member  banks  to  enter
the  system,  and  to  take  them  away  just  as  the
system  is  about  to  be  put  into  operation  and  the
promises  of  the  act  of  last  December  made  good
to  the  banks  that  have  entered.”
A  year  and  a  half  later,  on  May  18,  1916,  the
Postal  Savings  Amendment  act  was  passed,
which  contained  a  compromise  between  the  positions ­
  on  this  subject  taken  in  the  bill  previously