Postal Savings Banks, a system for saving money by the deposit of small amounts, established by several European Governments, and authorized by the United States Congress in 1910, as a branch of the Post-office Department. The system had long been urged in the United States, and the annual report of the British postal savings banks for 1908 had much effect on Congress. That report showed for the United Kingdom a total 18,379,991 deposits, aggregating $217,877,011, and a total of $781,794,533 to the credit of 11,018,251 depositors. Deposits at post-offices and other designated stations of from 10 cents to $1 are represented by stamps; of from $1 to $50, by certificates in duplicate, punched to indicate the amount, one being retained by the postmaster or agent, the other by the depositor. The system went into operation Jan. 1, 1911.


Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.