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74 
POSTAL SAVINGS 
capita deposits. Figures for ten of these cities 
are given in the table on page 73. 
It is obviously to the small mining and indus 
trial towns with their large foreign bom popula 
tions that the postal savings system is rendering 
its greatest service. 
Sizes of Individual Deposits and Deposit Bal 
ances and Sources from Which Drawn 
It has already been mentioned that the Postal 
Savings act of 1910 limited the balance that any 
depositor could have (exclusive of interest) to 
$500, and limited the amount which he could de 
posit in any one calendar month to $100. With 
these restrictions in mind, we may consider the 
sizes of individual deposits and deposit balances 
and the sources from which they have been drawn. 
The Post Office Department publishes no fig 
ures showing the grouping of deposit balances 
according to size—information which it is desir 
able that the official statistics should furnish ; but 
from its published statements a small amount of 
light on the sizes of individual balances can be 
gained. The average size of the deposit balances 
at the end of each of the six fiscal years during 
changes in their population figures since the census of 1910; 
and the actual population figures for June 30, 1916, if avail 
able, would show in some cases materially different per 
capita figures.