CHAPTER  VI

Conclusion
The  postal  savings  system,  despite  the  handicaps ­
  of  a  defective  structure  and  of  many  hampering ­
  restrictions,  has  made  substantial  progress
during  the  early  years  of  its  history,  and  has  rendered ­
  the  country  a  real  service.
When  the  Postal  Savings  act  was  passed  the
only  plan  that  had  the  slightest  chance  of  getting
through  Congress  was  a  highly  decentralized  one
which  would  use  existing  banks  as  depositories,  '
and  try  to  keep  the  money  deposited  in  postal
banks  “at  home.”  This  philosophy  of  keeping
money  at  home  meant  little  more  than  that  the
profits  that  were  to  be  realized  on  the  investment
of  postal  savings  funds  should  be  given  to  local
banks.  Money  is  too  fluid  a  form  of  capital  to
be  “kept  at  home”  if  it  is  in  materially  greater
demand  in  some  other  place.  In  1910  it  was  less
fluid  in  the  United  States  than  in  most  advanced
countries.  That  was  the  time  of  a  vigorous  agitation ­
  for  the  reform  of  our  currency  and  banking ­
  system,  whose  chief  defects  were  generally
recognized  to  be  immobility  and  inelasticity  of