DEPOSITORS AND DEPOSITS 
at work, without attempting to weigh them. 
Among these may be mentioned: (1) The dis 
trust of non-Government banks on the part of 
the foreign born population—a distrust easily 
understood when one bears in mind the extent to 
which our foreign born have been robbed by per 
sons (often of their own nationality) parading 
under the name “banker” or “bank.” The ex 
ploitation of our thrifty foreign born population 
by many of our so-called “immigrant banks” has 
been a public disgrace. 7 Although considerable 
improvement has been made in recent years in 
the regulation of these institutions, the situation 
is still far from perfect, and the distrust among 
the foreign born engendered by the early abuses 
still persists. (2) A second reason is the demo 
cratic atmosphere which pervades most post of 
fices, in contrast with the aristocratic one that 
pervades most banks. Moreover, comparatively 
few banks have made a reasonable effort to at 
tract this class of our population, while the postal 
savings system has. 8 In receiving and sending 
7 Cf. Report of Immigration Commission, on Immigrant 
Banks, Sen. Doc. No. 881, 61 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 109-124. 
8 Circulars in 28 foreign languages explaining the postal 
savings system and its advantages have already been issued 
and widely distributed. These 23 foreign languages are 
designed to reach about 97 per cent of our entire foreign 
born population. Ann. Rep. 3 Assist. Postmast.-Gen., 
1916, p. 12. 
;J o ? 
61