DEPOSITORS AND DEPOSITS 
77 
tern has been to any appreciable extent a com 
petitor of the banks. On the contrary it has 
been a feeder for the banks, and has been a posi 
tive influence for the encouragement of thrift, in 
the interest of which the American Bankers As 
sociation has for some time been conducting a 
vigorous and well organized campaign. This 
fact has of late been generally admitted by the 
very bankers who formerly opposed the estab 
lishment of the postal savings system. For 
example, Mr. Edward L. Robinson, vice-presi 
dent of the Eutaw Savings Bank of Baltimore, 
and chairman of the Committee on Postal Sav 
ings Bank Legislation of the Savings Bank Sec 
tion of the American Bankers Association, in a 
recent address before the Savings Bank Section 
of the American Bankers Association, after re 
ferring to the “almost unbroken front of oppo 
sition from the banking interests” to postal sav 
ings legislation prior to 1910, said: “[After the 
system had gone into operation] it was at once 
evident that the system was not invading the ter 
ritory occupied by other banks, but was actually 
drawing money out of hiding places and was 
making a strong and successful appeal, as was 
predicted, to the distrustful foreign element.” 18 
18 Com. & Fin. Chron., A. B. A. 
Conv. Suppl., Oct. 
14,