THE POSTAL SAVINGS BANK ACT 
33 
sufficient to meet administrative expenses. (2) 
The proponents of postal savings banks were 
very positive in their claim that these banks 
would he feeders of other banks rather than com 
petitors. Had not this contention been widely 
accepted as true, it is very doubtful if a postal 
savings bank act could have been passed. If 
postal savings banks were not to compete with 
other banks, and if individual deposits, as soon 
as they reached substantial amounts, were to be 
transferred to other banks, the interest rate paid 
by postal savings banks must obviously not be 
so high as that paid by the best savings banks in 
the most populous sections of the country. 16 
(3) If the rate of interest should be fixed too 
10 The National Monetary Commission, in its Special 
Report from Banks of the United States as of April 28, 
1909 (pp. 36-46), tabulated the average rate of interest 
paid on savings accounts by the different kinds of banks in 
the various S%tes. These figures show the average rate 
paid by mutual savings banks in all States to have been 3.85 
per cent, the lowest average in any State having been in 
Pennsylvania, 3.32 per cent, and the highest in West 
Virginia (only one bank), 4.5 per cent. The average rate 
paid by national banks in all States was 3.34 per cent, the 
average local rates having ranged from 4.66 per cent in 
North Dakota to 2 per cent in the District of Columbia. 
The average rate paid by State banks was 3.71 per cent, 
the average local rates having ranged from 5.14 per cent in 
North Dakota to 2.62 per cent in Delaware. The average 
rate paid by stock savings banks was 3.60 per cent, the 
average local rates having ranged from 4.35 per cent in 
Georgia to 2.71 per cent in the District of Columbia.