[Volume XXV
THE CHICAGO BANKER
20
PROGRESSIVE
Established 184 7
CONSERVATIVE
Marshall & Ilsley Bank
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Capital $500,000	Surplus and Undivided Profits $370,000
Oldest Bank in the Northwest
We take pleasure in placing our facilities at your disposal and ^ should be pleased to have you write us if you are contemplating opening either an active or a reserve account in Milwaukee
OFFICERS and DIRECTORS
JAMES K. ILSLEY, President	JOHN CAMPBELL, Vice-President	JOHN H. PUELICHER, Cashier
HARRY J. PAINE, Asst. Cashier G. A. REUSS, Mgr. South Side Branch SAMUEL H. MARSHALL ROBERT N. McMYNN	J. H. TWEEDY, Jr.	C. C. YAWKEY	GUSTAV REUSS
Report of Committee on Postal Savings Banks
B.	In the use made by the government of the funds coming into its possession through the postal savings depositaries, the provisions of the bills do not assure a wide and equitable distribution of the funds deposited nor prevent the centralization of the people’s money, which belong to and should be retained in their respective communities.
C.	No provision being made for a time notice for withdrawals, the government might at times be seriously embarrassed, to the great detriment of the general business interests of the people.
Respectfully submitted,
P. Le Roy Harwood, Myron T. Herrick,
C. La Ruf. Munson, Francis R. Morison, Charles E. Sprague, Lucius Teter,
Committee. Wm. Han hart,
Secretary.
V»
Luzerne County National
Certificate has been issued authorizing the following national bank to begin business:
Luzerne County National of Wilkesbarre, Pa., capital $400,000; George K. Powell, president: Joseph K. Weitzenkorn. vice-president; A. H. Bloom, cashier.
V*
The Oakland Savings and Trust Company
The board of directors of the Oakland Savings and Trust Company, of Pittsburgh, has declared the quarterly dividend of $1.50 a share on its capital stock.
Savings Bank Section
billion, five hundred million dollars in savings deposits, whereas, the proposed government rate of 2 per cent would have deprived the depositors of at least fifty million dollars in interest in the same year.
6.	We submit that our savings institutions have performed a great service throughout the United States in the developing of the country. A large proportion of the deposits in these institutions is invested in first mortgages to build homes and in municipal bonds, all of which investments have greatly assisted in the upbuilding of the various communities.
7.	We hold that the history of the financial institutions of the United States demonstrates that in safety and in adaptability these institutions are developing as the country develops, through a process of evolution, and that the record of the past is a sufficient guaranty for the future that our present banking facilities will steadily grow to meet all the requirements of the country.
8.	While we believe the basic objections we have urged against a postal savings system are unanswerable, we further submit that the bills now pending in Congress for the creation of that system should not be enacted into law, because specifically wrong in the following particulars, to which many others could be added.
A. The exemption of deposits from legal process is vicious, as it would provide a depositary for funds of the dishonest and the fraudulent, where they could place their money, draw interest on it. and be free from attachment, which would prove a serious menace to the business interests of the country׳.
1.	It is our opinion that unless imperatively demanded by public needs the functions of the United States Government should not be extended to the spheres more properly occupied by state governments, or by corporate or individual effort.
2.	The savings systems of the majority of the states, with the modern facilities for transacting business by mail, are adequate to the needs of the people, and the safeguarding of their deposits. It is evidenced by the record of this association that it is the constant endeavor of the banking fraternity to improve these conditions in the remaining states.
3.	Although, in our opinion, no great detriment will result to the existing savings bank system from the establishment of postal savings depositaries, inasmuch as the present facilities are superior to any׳ that could be afforded by the government, or to those of the countries where postal savings banks now exist, y׳et the previous experiences of the United States government in conducting banking institutions, and notably in connection with the Freedmen’s Savings & Trust Company׳, do not encourage us to believe that the proposed postal savings sy׳stem would be managed more wisely or with better success than the existing savings institutions.
4.	We think it preferable to educate the newly-arrived foreigner to American methods rather than to accommodate our methods to his inexperience.
5.	We point with pride to the record of the savings institutions of the United States. While the figures for 1907 are not yet available, during the year 1906 the aggregate net loss to depositors was the trivial sum of $i20;ooo, being three ten-thousandths of 1 per cent on a total of three