ADMINISTRATIVE  ORGANIZATION  53

Selection  of  Depository  Post  Offices
The  postal  savings  system  was  inaugurated  in
January  and  February,  1911,  by  the  opening  of
one  postal  savings  bank  in  each  State  and  Territory. ­
  From  that  time  forward  the  work  of  extending ­
  the  system  to  other  places  proceeded
rapidly.  By  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year  1913  banks
had  been  opened  in  12,151  post  offices,  including
all  Presidential  offices  and  about  4,000  offices  of
the  fourth  class,  also  in  667  branches  and  stations. ­
  This  fiscal  year  showed  the  high  water
mark  in  the  number  of  banks.  The  Department,
however,  had  moved  too  fast  in  opening  new
banks,  particularly  in  fourth  class  post  offices.  It
was  pointed  out  by  Representative  William  H.
Stafford  of  Wisconsin, 4  in  Congressional  debate,
that  of  the  4,000  fourth  class  post  offices  3,000
either  had  no  deposits  at  all  or  deposits  of  only
one  dollar.  On  the  fee  basis  then  used  for  compensating ­
  postmasters  for  their  services  in  postal
savings  work,  in  these  3,000  offices  average  compensation ­
  allowed  was  27  cents  a  year. 5  Yet  the
auditors  of  the  Post  Office  Department  kept  a
separate  account  with  each  of  these  offices,  and
4  Cong.  Rec.,  Dec.  15,  1913,  p.  928.
5  Representative  Madden  of  Illinois,  a  member  of  the
House  Committee  on  Post  Office  and  Post  Roads,  Cong.
Rec.,  Dec.  10,  1913,  p.  654.