Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1897 — POSTAL BANKS BEST. [ARTICLE]

POSTAL BANKS BEST.

MR. GARY ADVOCATES THEIR establishment. The Annual Report of the Postmaster General Goes Into the Subject Exhaustively and Recommends the System Without Reserve. Strong Argument Made. The first annual report of Postmaster ; General Junies A. Gary to the President i has been made public. Its feature is the ■ strong advocacy of postal savings deposi- ; tories, a scheme over which Postmaster ; General Gary has worked for many : months in the formulation of plans to preI sent to the President and Congress. He ■ says the time is ripe for their establishment, and that the adoption of a wellorganized’ system would confer a great boon upon a large number of people, and ultimately be of inestimable benefit to the whole country. The estimates of the revenue and expenditures for the fiscal year ending June i 30, 1899, are: Total postal revenue for : 1897. $82,665,462.73; add 5 per cent, $4,133,273J3: estimated revenue for 1899, $86,798,735.86; add 7 per cent, $6,075.911.51; total estimated revenue for 1899, $92,874,647.37; estimated expenditures for 1898, $98,922,760; deficiency for 1899 estimated $6,048,112,(K». The increase of the postal deficit for 1897. Mr. Gary says, is largely a reflection of the depressed business conditions which prevailed all over the United States during the first three quarters of that period. There has been no extravagance of expenditure save that obligated by law. Reitera/.ng the iiyustiee inflicted both upon the postal revenues and tile jteople by second-class mail matter carriage regulations, the enactment by Congress of some measure to remedy the wrong, similarly pointed out by past Postmasters General, is urged. As to this the Postmaster General says: “If this were done, there would be an end to postal deficits, and the service could be enlarged aud popularized by a broad extension of free delivery, without infringement upon the general resources of the Government, and eventually result in the much-desired reduction of letter postage to 1 cent per ounce." No method of perfecting the organization of the postal service has proved more effective than the consolidation of postoffices. Legislative restrictions on its development are to be regretted and a repeal us the fivc-mile limit consolidation measure in the 1896 postal appropriation bill is recommended. Ihe -experimental rural free delivery has been generously appreciated; few expenditures have conferred greater benefits in proportion, and it has unquestionably proved a potent factor in attaining What should be a chief aim of government, the granting of the best possible facilities to the farming class. ’1 he report reviews in detail the operations of the various branches of the department. The portion on the subject of postal savings in brief follows:

“Many millions of dollars is undoubtedly secreted by people who have little or no confidence in ordinary securities and monetary institutions organized by private citizens. It is dead capital, but if its owners could be inspired with absolute confidence in the security of an investment it is altogether probable that the bulk of this fund would find its way into the channels of trade and commerce. If the Government undertook this task the service would undoubtedly be gladly accepted by the people. Their faith in the Government is unbounded. Their little savings, which separately could hardly be put out at interest, would amount, in the aggiegale. To 'a sum that could be invested to their advantage. It would tend to cultivate thrift in a large class, realizing the advantage of depositing with the Government instead of wasteful)}- and uselessly expending; it would tend to better relationship: bring into closer relationship lhe Government and its citizens, and develop practical and enduring patriotism. This growth of patriotic sentiment and good citizenship constitutes a powerful appeal to statesmanship to make a way for these beneficent consequences. “The proposition is an accomplished fa<j* in nearly every country in Europe, in the British dependencies of both hemispheres. and even in Hawaii. In Great Britain 7,060,000 depositors have upward of $550,000,000 in savings accumulated during thirty-five years, and in ten years fewer than 10,000 Hawaiian depositors saved nearly $1,000,000, Deposits in Canada in twentj- years exceeded $22,000,000. These vast accumulations have been made with the least possible loss to the Governments, which guarantee their repayment, aud with a minimum of cost to the millions of depositors. More than a thousand postal savings accounts in European offices are held by minors and over twb- . thirds, bythe.most humble callings. It is '-essentially the bank of this class. Postal savings would not conflict.with those savings banks, but would encourage savings rather than accumulations. The conversion of money order offices into savings depositories would soon afford indefinitely more facility for receiving interest-bear-ing deposits than the interest-paying biinks (know. The most aggresssvo opponents are among the private institutions engaged in somewhat similar enterprises, though associations of the larger cities recognize in it a valuable feeder to the financial currents of the country. “Security, and not the rate of interest, is the primary and essential condition of such a system, and bonds of States, counties and municipalities, and real estate, furnish an illimitable field.”

■ At Ardmore, I. T., Charles Reina rd cjit the throat of his cousin and sweetheart, Miss May Reese, and then cut his own throat. She will recover, but Reinard will die. Ralph Van Horn, a farmer living near Unadilla, Neb., shot and killed his 5-year-old son and then committed suicide. Van Horn was slightly deranged. In a political row nt Hayden, Ky„ John Sebree killed Henry Davis, and Sebree was shot and mortally wounded by Mollie Davis, a sister of Henry. Gen. W. H. Jackson of Belle Meade, Tenn., purchased the Interest of Richard Croker in the Belie Meade breeding fans for thoroughbred horse*.