2 
POSTAL SAVINGS 
the other great nations of the world in this mat 
ter. 3 This is not, however, the first experience of 
the United States with postal savings banks. To 
be exact, this is the third postal savings bank to 
exist under the American flag ; the first being the 
Hawaiian postal savings bank, which was estab 
lished in 1886 and was closed shortly after the 
American annexation in 1898, and the second 
being the Philippine postal savings bank, which 
has been in successful operation since 1906/ 
A study of the forty years of discussion which 
culminated in the establishment of a postal sav 
ings system in the United States does not fall 
within the scope of this book, which is primarily 
concerned with the system created by the legisla 
tion of 1910. It will be desirable to consider 
only the events immediately leading to that 
legislation. 
Movement for Postal Savings Encouraged by 
Punic of 1907 
The panic of 1907 was characterized by a gen 
eral lack of confidence in banking institutions. 
8 For descriptions of the different postal savings banks of 
the world, see Notes on the Postal Savings Banks Systems 
of the Leading Countries, National Monetary Commission 
Report, Sen. Doc. No. 658, 61 Cong., 8 Sess. 
4 The Philippine Postal Savings act, as amended to date, 
together with the principal regulations issued thereunder, 
will be found in Appendix B, pp. 151-169.