Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/636

 622 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

The proposition to establish postal savings banks in Great Britain was first introduced into Parliament in 1807, but the measure was not passed until 1861, when Gladstone carried it through Parliament. At the end of the first year, 2535 persons had depos- ited nearly 2,000,000. There are now 11,000 offices. One out of every seven per- sons in England is a depositor. The total amount due depositors Dec. 31, 1893, was 80,597,641. The interest for that year was 1,860,104. Before 1894 deposits were limited to 30 per year; since then 50 may be deposited. Investments may be made in government stock equal to the amount deposited. No interest is allowed on deposits exceeding 200, and the accumulations, after that amount is reached, are invested in government stock. Annuities of not less than i nor more than 100 may be purchased on the life of any person over five years of age. Postal banks were intro- duced into Canada in 1868. The system is similar to the English. June 30, 1896, there were 755 postal banks, 126,442 accounts remaining open, $29,932,929 standing to credit of open accounts, $944,524 allowed in interest for the year. Austria intro- duced the system in 1 868. Interest is paid at 3 per cent, on one gulden and upwards. Bonds are bought for depositors at market price. A clearing and check system has been established, In 1895, 1,917,784 deposits were made, aggregating 37,160,508 gulden. France introduced the system in 1881. There are 7000 offices in France and Algiers. Three per cent, interest is paid. Sept. I, 1894, there were 2,224,813 depositors, of whom more than two-thirds held less than 200 francs each. The amount due depositors Dec. 31, 1893, was 610,793,920 francs. Belgium established postal banks in 1865. In 1886 the maximum sum upon which interest was paid was reduced from 12,000 to 5000 francs, and further reduced to 3000 francs in 1891, with interest at 3 per cent. Sweden established banks in 1883. Coupon receipts are there given for deposits. There are 369,000 depositors, and the bank controls an invested capital of 28,000,000 crowns. Russia adopted the system in 1889, Holland vc^ 1886, and Italy in 1875. The English Colonies have systems modeled after that of the mother country. In New Zealand the deposits number 202,276 and amount to 2,386,089. Hawaii introduced the system in 1886. Seventeen different bills have been introduced in the United States Congress. The Postmaster-general first recommended the establish- ment of the banks in 1871. EDWARD T. HEYN, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, November 1896. F.

The Brewing of the Storm. The rise of Altgeld denotes the introduction into American politics of the European spirit of revolution, of which socialism is the extreme and anarchism the delirious manifestation. American institutions were framed for a community of freehold farmers and small merchants of English blood. They are now being applied to a community embracing a body of great capitalists and employers on one side and masses of wage-earners on the other, and containing a large element imbued with the social acrimony of its class in Europe. The difficulty of amendment is such as to amount to immobility. Populism, which has its source in agricultural distress, is not the greatest menace, for the farmer has property and would not march far with the socialist or anarchist of Chicago. That everyone should be free to get as much as he could for himself, was the principle of American commu- nities. But it does not work, now that there is a proletariat. The labor of the factory is mechanical and monotonous; whereas the hand-loom weaver might have a joy in his completed work, the factory hand has no interest except his wages. The system of education begets a general desire to rise in life. When there is no hope for these aspirations, education breeds discontent. Monstrous fortunes have stimulated envy. Religion no longer reconciles men to the order of society as a divine decree. The laborer will not be put off with compensation in another world. The revolutionary spirit has spread to the family, on which the state has hitherto been founded. At a critical moment, unfortunately, came the judgment of the supreme court against the income tax. The court probably only declared the law, but the decision in favor of the Legal Tender Act condemned it as a partisan body. Experience has shown that the pretense of fostering infant industries by protection is a snare. The degradation of the senate was the natural outcome of a fiscal policy which taught the trader to look to his influence with congress rather than to the marketable value of his goods. That