Show POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS washington oct 18 1897 it was in the library of his new home on connecticut avenue that I 1 chatted with postmaster general gary the other night about postal savings banks the postmaster master general Is one of the wealthiest as well as one of the m most ost thrifty of our public men he has amassed a large fortune and his income runs high into the tens of thousands of dollars a year his success in a business way he largely attributes to the habits of saving which he learned through his connection with savings institutions and he thinks postal savings banks would be of incalculable value to the people of the united states our conversation last night covered the whole subject ot of saving and it was full of suggestions for young men I 1 asked mr gary II if he had had any practical experience with savings banks he replied 1 I have been connected with the baltimore savings bank all my business life I 1 have been one of the directors tor for more than twenty five years and was a depositor long before that the first money I 1 ever saved was put into that savings bank As I 1 told you once before my father took me into his factory when I 1 was a boy and paid me regular wages just like the rest of the hands in order to teach me to do business when I 1 had a little money ahead he advised me to deposit it in the savings bank he told me that for every dollar that I 1 put in he would put in another for me so that when I 1 came of age I 1 would have a L nice little sum with which to start life he tried to show me how money earned money but I 1 dont think I 1 understood this from what he said such lessons are only learned by experience peri por ence tence did you get the lesson through the sayings savings banks yes te replied general gary 1 I kept kepi up my deposits putting in so much a week sometimes more and sometimes lew less as iwas able to get the money my father doubling my deposits as I 1 went on one day after I 1 had been depositing for about a year I 1 noticed that some figures were added to the account representing the interest for the past year I 1 cant remember just what hat the amount was but as I 1 looked at it IL I realized that I 1 did not have to work for that my money did the work and the thought came over me that it if I 1 could get enough money at work ork in this way the day might come aken I 1 would not have to work at all the idea grew upon me and I 1 was more anxious than ever to increase my deposits I 1 became more careful about my personal expenses and the fact taught me economy and thrift I 1 dont believe there Is a bertei way to bring up a boy than by encouraging cou raging him to deposit in savings banks banker and the money that my father gave me in adding to my deposits was paid to him a hundred fold in my 3 education from my bank account this would be one of the great advantages va nages which the country would derive from postal savings banks it would teach our young men thrift and economy the boys would deposit in such banks they would be a school tor for the teaching of thrift have you noticed that your baltimore savings bank has done any good alone such lines yes yea indeed replied general gary she savings banks have made balti morg more one of the thriftiest thrift iest towns in the i united states nearly all our decosi tra F are working people we have il r T forty nine thousand depositors and oui om deposits amount to about twenty two million dollars but would not the postal savings banks hurt such institutions by taking depositors away from them no I 1 think not replied general gary you see the government would necessarily pay a much smallen rate of interest the idea would be to make the rate very small not more than 2 or 2 per cent I 1 should think the saving banks usually pay foul per cent people who are now getting four per cent for their money would hardly lea leave ve and invest wh where ere they the would get only half that besides the savings banks already have more money than they can well dinv inv invest est and pay the interest they are paying within late years there has been a big reduction in the percentage of interest bearing securities all kinds of bonds are now being refunded at lower rates and it is much harder now to get sate safe investments which bear six seven or more per cent many of the savings banks have cut down the amounts that may be deposited in a week by one person we have done it no I 1 do not think it would hurt the saving ss banks how about the building associations I 1 suppose you have some ot of them in baltimore we have a number of building associations replied gen gary the first building associations of the united states were in baltimore and philadelphia and I 1 believe there are proportionately more such associations in pennsylvania Pen sylvania and maryland than in other states there is one in my little town near baltimore which has invested it will pay out when itt ita earnings amount to A large number of people who invest in building associations are borrowers they buy homes getting the money from the associations and paying it back at the rate of so much a month they find in this way an amount equal to little more than the rent soon pays for their homes the result is that philadelphia and boston has more people who own their own homes than any other cities of the world the borrowers of course would not leave the associations for the savings banks on the other hand those who deposit in the associations to save money get six per cent and they would not change their investments to one which would only pay two then who would be injured by postal savings banks 1 I dont know of anyone who would lose by them with perhaps the exception of the grog shops and the to baco stores the inculcation of thrift and saving taught by such banka would lead a man or boy to think twice before spending a nickel or dime foolishly his bank account is before him and he will save for it he might N be less extravagant as to his clothes ana other things but as his savings grew gre w he would perhaps think he ought to have better ones but would not this saving take a great deal of money out of circulation no indeed replied the postmaster general the mone money y would at 0 once n ce be invested this would have to be a part of the scheme it would at once go back into circulation and that in such suca sums as would make it of value to the country postal savings banks would in fait fact largely increase the money of the country postal savings banks gen gary went on would put the breath of life into the dead money of the united states have you ever thought w what 4 dead thing money is when it is not att use it is the deadest dearest thing in universe there are many mill millions tons al such dead money in the country it III hoarded away in stockings burled buried ua der the hearthstones hearth stones tucked away b hind the rafters and planted here a and there in the earth because the away ers have no faith in private savi savings banks they have faith in fh ald government and they would bring t th money out and deposit it in the p postal savings banks s have you any idea how much ab such money there is in the countr country you can guess just as well as I 1 caa I 1 have asked a number of mn men w wharf they think the average of the ho ardelt money would amount to per capt capita some have estimated that it would hf 10 others 15 and some less S sag pose for instance it was 5 per cap capita this would make the enormous sum kumf three hundred and fifty million dollt doll I 1 dont believe it would be less F that though I 1 would not like to chesy such hoards are asua usua greater than Is s supposed some them amount to hundreds and a so to thousands of dollars I 1 rebern r the case of a woman in balsimo E who lived in a little house and supposed to be worth nothing she died four thousand dollars dollar notes was found sewed inside her low she had slept on the pillow j night and locked lock ed it up in trunk dy in the day time I 1 doubt whether a are as saving as the french p deop our hoards are probably not equal theirs but you will remember wh the french did after the franco bruj sian war germany demanded such immense sum that the other nati of the world thought that F araa would be bankrupt not one tho thou she could ver pay it still the mot mo was raised within a few days france is still one of the finance sound nations of the world W did the money come from it i from the hoards of the common pie who brought it out to buy jac government bonds bringing this money into ct tion would make times better wo it not general 1 I should say so replied ge gary if we had three hundred fifty million dollars thrown into c lation we would have an era of L such as the country has haa n seen As it is now these hoards like the water in a great dam afi has no outlet the water Is d da nothing but let a mill race lead from it and the power will run f fact ies helping everyone in the net hood make a race out of which 1 dammed up money can go and if ft start the business of the country ah but are you sure that such s savl banks would bring the money general would the people no not afraid of the government no replied general IG gary j people of the united states believe nal 1 the government even those who crying loudest against the estabill stability pur our currency are glad to get hoard board it I 1 have seen these very 1 packing away greenbacks green backs in safe posit boxes when they were 0 BE that greenbacks green backs would soon be nothing they pretend that they no faith in our currency but their mons show that they tell what Is true can you tell me general in edl a words what your postal savings scheme Is 1 I have no special schemer scheme general gary the subject of fk savings banks is not a new one only urge that the system be 0 org and be put into operation the are a matter for congress to t several bills have been cintr I 1 doubt whether the ideal one has yet been proposed I 1 am now having in formation upon this subject collected Y from all parts of the world nearly every nation of europe has a postal i system of its own these IT terns have been in operation for years 5 and by looking them over we can take e best elements of each and form a anew system for ourselves that would k S ge especially adapted to our conditions 1 t think perhaps the canadian system t Q IB 19 about as near what we want as any 7 thing thine that is now in existence I 1 am setting a great deal of information tram from the post postoffice office department there apa when congress meets I 1 shall be Is able to answer almost any questions ag which sire are asked me on the subject but general can you not give me S tome some af of the features of such banks 14 the idea replied general gary s would be to ma make ke the post offices all sw the country banks of deposit where ere the people could put their sav 01 toes in small amounts and upon which would receive a low rate of in terest each depositor would have a boek the postmasters would take the e y and credit the deposits on the lS beok tk foiw forwarding arding the money to wash on for investment in case the e wanted his money all ajl he would ralpl starve e to do would be to call upon the tm aster and it would be paid him would of course be certain re as to the amounts of de met tons ay iy sits the he time allowed for withdraw aaland aa and other things tho w small an amount would one tf io able W to depos deposit it J feise fe ise idea would be to make it very isaiall ii in order that the poorest might able b le to use the system but ut how S small mail general would a it of twenty five cents be re r ed f think the deposits might be even ler iller than that we have dime sav banks in baltimore which are seu patronized and I 1 believe there some savings banks which take Seo sits of one nickel in the french savings banks deposits of one sifting Sif ne or twenty cents are received and order to encourage the people to we pos postage age stamps are accepted as deposit when their value reaches a s ve in some of the countries they e stamps which can be bought and upon a card until an amount is albed d equal to the smallest allowa aliola deposit a franc for instance wb it is credited on the depositors iN bOOlE in some of the countries they afe school banks connected with the raim gs banks there are thousands yasi school hool banks in france in which pa children can deposit a cent or at a time A record of the feta aunts is kept by the teacher and as as a childs deposits have reached air ane the credit is made on the postal 1 nags bank books there are penny in england englan d which are some similar ow much would be the largest t received receive dg at Is a question I 1 am not ready alwer il replied general gary 1 I L arft t say how much on one person eperson will be wed to keep on deposit the limit probably be somewhere between i i thousand and five thousand dol ak 9 it would not be best to have if f limit very high as the banks are 4 small savings and not for the in ent of the money of the rich what would uncle sam do with so muc money the sums deposited ff ew d be very great the amounts in english savings banks represent Vei ment of 10 per capita if ahie e ratio should prevail here you have ave seven hundred and fiat fifty y Q dollars on your hands what the e government vern ment do with it I 1 I 1 is another serious question general gary it if we were like ab some of the nations of europe and believed in a government debt it could be put into government bonds we think thinh differently however we do not believe as ben butler did that a national debt is a national blessing still even if the debt were paid there will be plenty of places to invest the money for years to come there will be state bonds city bonds and other secure investments we are only on the edge ol of our development as a nation we have seventy million people our country will support seven hundri million until we fill up we will always have need of great sums of money our industrial future has possibilities beyond conception and there is public improvements of different kinds which will be undertaken the bonds of which will be safe my idea is that the money should be reinvested so that the profits would pay all the expenses of the postal savings bank system I 1 think we could easily do this but would there not be great danger of defalcations government officials would be tempted in handling so much money 1 I think not replied general gary we would surround the system with sufficient safeguards to protect it take the national banking system see how it is guarded if a national bank breaks over the rules a bank examiner is there the next morning to inquire into the action I 1 think the government could regulate the savings banks quite as easily as it does the national banks would we not have some of the postmasters skipping off to canada 9 no replied general gary T the postmasters would have but little money on hand at one time they would have to send the money on to washington almost as fast as they received it the rule might be that they would send daily accounts they would also have to give bonds so that there would be no danger of loss there would not such a system require a new clerical force no not to any extent replied the postmaster general our postal machinery is already organized many of the postmasters have more time than they can use and it will only be in the larger places that more clerks would be needed give me in a word general what you think would be the greatest advantage from such banks 1 I haven have not spoken of the chief profit that the government would get from them replied general gary gacy their greatest advantage to us would be in the patriotism which they would inculcate among the people every man who has a dollar in the postal savings bank will be a better american citizen he will feel that he has an interest in the government which has charge of |