in 3 per cent government annuities, and the trustees are prohibited by law from deriving any profit from the operations of the banks. The interest paid depositors is limited to £3 0s. 10d. per cent. as a maximum, and in practice varies from this limit, fixed by law, to as low a rate as £2 108. per cent. The savings of the rich are kept out of these banks by another limitation, fixing the maximum deposits on one account at £30 a year, or 150 pounds in all, and prohibiting depositors from keeping accounts in more than one Savings Bank.

The British Post-Office Savings Banks were first established in 1863. Certain post-offices throughout the kingdom are designated to receive deposits of not less than one shilling, for transmission to the central office in London. The same limitations as to amount are made as indicated in the case of Savings Banks under trustees. The moneys thus received are invested in the public funds, and depositors of one pound, or upward, receive interest at the rate of 2 per cent per annum. The depositor may apply to any Post-Office Savings Bank in the kingdom to withdraw his money, which he must be paid with interest, in ten days at farthest after his demand. Starting with 301 Postal Savings Banks in England in 1863, the system has since extended over Ireland and Scotland, and the number of Postal Savings Banks was in 1873, 5448, having accounts with 1,702,374 depositors, who have on deposit an aggregate of £26,996,550. The proportion of depositors to the whole population was 1 in 19. Average amount to credit of each depositor was £15 178.

The competition of Post-Office Savings Banks had the effect to diminish for several years the deposits of independent Savings Banks, managed by trustees, but the latter have recently recovered, aggre-. gating in 1876 deposits to the amount of £43,283,570, while the PostOffice Savings Banks have deposits to the amount of £26,966,550.

In the United States, the first Savings Bank was started in Philadelphia in 1816. Others went into operation in New York, Boston, Baltimore, and many New England towns, during the three following years. State legislatures were quick to recognize their benefits, and to throw around them the sanctions and regulations of law. The half-dozen Savings Banks first organized in this country sixty years ago are still in existence, and doing a safe and responsible business. Their management varies in different States, but they are chiefly managed by elective trustees, though in Maryland and Pennsylvania both the mutual and stock systems prevail. The funds of the depositor are invested variously, the best approved securities being stocks of the United States, or of State governments in undoubted credit, the bonds of cities and counties, and mortgages on real estate. The management of Savings Banks has in many cases been far from prudent, resulting in numerous suspensions, either temporary or permanent, of these institutions, chiefly during the last two years. A number of mushroom concerns, which grew up during the inflation

era ensuing upon the war of 1861-65, were managed with criminal recklessness of the interests of depositors. Investments in doubtful railway and other bonds, and in over-valued real estate, were made to heavy amounts, and the assets locked up in securities which it was impossible to sell at their pledged value in times of shrinkage. Expenditures were increased to an extravagant amount, and some institutions devoured in salaries and other misappropriations the hard earnings of depositors. More stringent legislation and government inspection are needed as a safeguard against such mismanagement, and for the protection of the community.

The absence of State regulation or of any authoritative statistics whatever of Savings Banks in the majority of our States, prevents any full knowledge of their aggregate business. It may be safely stated, however, from the returns which do exist, that the amount of deposits in Savings Banks throughout the United States reaches, if it does not exceed, $1,000,000,000 (one thousand millions), held by about 2,800,000 depositors, while the amount of annual interest, or dividends, paid by Savings Banks exceeds $45,000,000. In the State of New York alone, it is over $16,000,000 per annum. The following table shows the statistics of the Savings Banks in the six New England States and in New York, from 1830 to 1876, inclusive :

Growth of the Savings Banks in New England and New York, as shown by their Deposits from 1830 to 1876.

1840..

750,000

$2,500,000 $200,000 $350,000 $2,623,304 5,819,554 500,000 1,500,000 5,431,966

1850..

1851..

1852..

1853..

1854..

4,834,312 10,844,933

26,012,713

5,797,857 12,162,136

41,699,502

6,079,053 12,562,594

41,422,672

6,349,621 14,052,181

48,194,847

39,424,419

7,765,771 16,565,284

58,178,160

1,641,543 $199,376 13,660,024 1,495,545 5,466,444 20,832,972 1,776,768 282,217 15,554,089 1,907,233 6,698,158 24,006,599 2,009,617 407,188 18,401,308 2,474,109 8,135,016 27,541,923 2,507,909 704,990 23,370,102 3,308,769 8,883,397 32,824,177 3,222,261 901,789 25,936,858 4,104,091 10,006,131 33,453,781 1855.. $867,131 3,341,256 897,407 27,296,217 1856.. 919,571 3,537,363 897,432 30,373,447 1857.. 968,325 3,748,285 875,909 33,015,757 1858.. 968,194 3,588,658 819,650 33,914,972 1859.. 923,397 4,138,822 940,846 1860.. 1,539,257 4,860,024 1,111,532 45,054,236 1861.. 1,708,961 5,590,652 1,231,940 44,785,439 9,282,879 19,983,959 1862.. 1,876,165 5,653,585 1,348,833 50,403,674 9,560,441 23,146,936 76,538,183 1863.. 2,641,476 6,560,308 1,678,261 56,883,828 11,128,713 26,954,802 1864.. 3,672,975 7,661,738 1,952,500 62,557,604 12,815,097 29,142,288 111,737,763 1865.. 3,336,828 7,831,335 1,708,531 59,936,482 13,533,062 27,319,013 115,472,566 1866.. 3,946,433 7,857,601 1,589,354 67,732,264 17,751,713 31,224,464 131,769,074 1867.. 5,598,600 10,463,418 1,815,662 80,431,583 21,413,647 36,283,460 151,127,562 1868.. 8,032,246 13,541,534 2,046,321 94,838,336 24,408,635 41,803,681 169,808,678 1869.. 10,839,955 16,379,857 2,601,940 112,119,016 27,067,072 47,904,834 194,360,217 1870.. 16,597,888 18,759,461 2,745,779 135,745,097 30,708,501 55,297,705 230,749,408 1871.. 22,787,802, 21,472,120 3,172,525 163,704,077 36,289,703 62,717,814 267,905,826 1872.. 26,151,333 24,700,774 3,836,224 184,797,313 42,583,538 68,523,397 285,286,621 1873.. 29,556,523 29,671,114 4,478,842 202,195,343 46,617,183 70,769,407 285,520,085 1874.. 31,051,963 28,829,376 5,011,831 217,452,120 48,771,501 73,783,802 303,935,649 1875.. 30,757,651 30,214,585 6,004,694 234,974,691 51,311,331 76,875,049 319,260,202 1876. 32,169,371 29,081,777 8,058,553 240,645,045 50,511,979 78,524,172 316,677,285

Table of the Aggregate Deposits of Savings Banks in Twelve States, with the Number of their Depositors and the Average Amount due to each in 1875 and 1876.

[From the Report of the Comptroller of the Currency for 1876.]

Since the panic of 1873, and the recent closing of many savings banks, an agitation in behalf of Government or Postal Savings institutions has sprung up. It is claimed that Postal Savings Banks, if established in all cities or large towns, would afford an entirely safe and convenient means of protecting the savings of the people, while yielding them șure and moderate interest; that the government may thus become the holder of a large and permanent loan at low interest, convenient to the public credit; that the losses flowing from careless, irresponsible, or dishonest private and corporate management would thus be avoided; and that habits of economy and thrift, as well as of attachment to the government and its solvency and permanence, would be largely promoted, were Postal Savings institutions to be established in the United States.

On the other hand, it is urged by opponents of the scheme, that it is utterly beyond the legitimate sphere of a republican government with limited powers, if not directly unconstitutional; that it would make a banker of every postmaster, complicating the government business with the care of large funds, extending the field of temptation to dishonesty, and liable to produce a large crop of defalcations; that it would transgress the sound principle that the government should not interfere at any point in the domain of private business or corporate enterprise; that all of the advantages to the people, of security for their savings, with remunerative interest, could be better

reached by an authorized issue of government bonds in small denominations, as low as $10 or even $5, bearing 3.65 or 4 per cent interest, thus bringing into the government coffers an enormous amount of the people's savings; and that the scheme of Postal or Government Savings Banks, while it might be justified in case of a paternal government, is out of place in a republic, and might lead to great abuses and corruptions. Various bills have been offered in Congress for the establishment of Postal Savings Institutions, and the plan was recommended by a former Postmaster-General. The present Secretary of the Treasury, in his Annual Report of December, 1877, recommended the plan only in a modified form, authorizing the deposit of small sums with any postal money-order office, and the issue therefor of Government certificates convertible into the 4 per cent bonds of the United States.

BRITISH SAVINGS BANKS.

CAPITAL OR DEPOSITS IN

POST-OFFICE AND OTHER SAVINGS

BANKS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM FOR 14 YEARS, 1863-1876.

[From the (Official) Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom, 1877.]

NOTE. It will be seen that this form of investment for savings has by no means reached so extensive a development in Great Britain as in this country. Only about $351,000,000 of deposits in all the British Savings Banks, both postal and independent, are recorded, or an average of less than $12 per head of population; while in the United States, $893,000,000 are deposited at the Savings Banks of only 12 States, indicating an average of over $25 per head to the whole population. This may be partly accounted for by the stringent limitation of deposits in the English law to one person, while our States have few or no limitations of the amount of individual deposits.

PRINCIPAL IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED STATES, WITH RATES OF DUTY THEREON.*

Table showing Quantities, Values, Total Duties, Rates of Duty and Average Duty, ad valorem, on all imported Commodities paying $100,000 or upwards into the Treasury, in the year 1876.

[Compiled from the Official Report on Commerce and Navigation of the U. S. for 1876.]

* For greater condensation, fractions are omitted, and the figures are therefore approximate, except as to rates and percentages of duty, which are the figures of the Bureau of Statistics.