DEPOSITORS  AND  DEPOSITS

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ural  to  ask  :  (  1  )  How  has  the  plan  appealed  to
persons  of  different  ages,  and  particularly  how
has  it  appealed  to  children  who  represent  the  part
of  our  population  whose  education  in  thrift  would
appear  to  be  the  most  important?  and  (2)  How
has  it  appealed  to  our  negro  population,  which,
as  a  whole,  and  allowing  for  numerous  worthy
exceptions,  is  our  most  thriftless  class?
Age  Grouping  of  Depositors
No  recent  figures  are  available  for  the  age
grouping  of  depositors.  An  investigation  of  this
subject,  however,  was  made  as  of  June  30,  1912,
after  the  postal  savings  system  had  been  in  operation ­
  a  year  and  a  half.  The  result  of  that  investigation ­
  has  been  furnished  the  writer  by  the
Third  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  and  is
summarized  in  the  following  table,  the  last  two
columns  of  which  have  been  added  by  the  writer.
The  table  shows  that  children  from  10  to  14
years  of  age  constitute  about  four-fifths  as  large
a  percentage  of  the  depositors  as  they  do  of  the
country’s  total  population  10  years  of  age  or  over;
while  persons  from  15  to  19  years  of  age  constitute ­
  about  two-thirds  as  large  a  percentage.  The
facts  are  considerably  more  favorable  to  children
depositors  than  the  figures  show.  This  is  true,
first,  because  of  the  fact  previously  noted  that