Speech #610194215

House from time to time during the last few days I have urged as the one great advantage of a postal savingsbank bill the desirability of a distribution of the government indebtedness by means of this small bond provision among the masses of the people. and have been met almost invariably with the reply that it is the desire of the several sections of the country to have these deposits invested in local obligations or kept in the banks for.the commercial u ses of the locality where the deposits are made. and with almost one accord. in response to my question as to whether they did not consider the government debt as a local obligation proportionate to the population. I have found. to my amazement. that it was not so looked upon. but that the general idea was that the national obligations should be held. as a matter of course. by the large financial institutions and concentrated in the great money centers of the East. It will be a happy day for this Republic when the miner of Alaska and the homesteader of the West. the workers in the cane fields of Hawaii and Porto Rico and the cotton fields of the South. and the thrifty and industrious immigrants coming to our shores from foreign countries become the proprietors of these small bonds. and thus acquire a sense of responsibility for the welfare and prosperity of our beloved country. Nothing that I can conceive of would tend more to promote the solidarity of this Republic. and if the passage of this bill and the distribution of the government debt among the wageearners and wage savers of this country will bring about this result. it will be a greater benefit to the Nation than anything which has occurred in its history. not even exceeded by the settlement of the claim of the right of secession. which was only brought about by a long and bloody war. The bill which was sent to us from the Senate provides for permanently locating in the banks 90 per cent of postal deposits as trust funds. to be secured by indemnity bonds given by the banks. or at the banks option by "collateral security" in lieu of an indemnity bond. no restriction being made whatever upon the character of such collateral security except that it shall have the approval of the board of trustees.