EDITOR'S TABLE. 



2 39 



cussion, and, equally of course, much 

 loose talk. 



The obvious fact that many of the 

 men who have been chosen, or have 

 assumed, to take care of the savings of 

 the frugal have proved to be wholly 

 unworthy shows, it is often argued, an 

 alarming decadence in the moral tone 

 of the community, which is variously 

 ascribed according to political or re- 

 ligious bias. There are not wanting 

 those who assert that the whole social 

 organism is unprecedentedly corrupt, 

 and that the facts which have trans- 

 pired are but a faint precursor of what 

 is to come. But it is by no means 

 clear that any such doleful view of the 

 situation is warranted. The morals of 

 trade may be loose enough, but it is 

 not readily to be admitted that they 

 are deteriorating. 



It is true that the early history of 

 savings-banks in this country shows no 

 such dark picture. Previous to 1862, 

 failures were rare ; the banks were, as 

 a rule, safely managed by fit men. A 

 high order of financial or executive 

 ability is not required for the manage- 

 ment of a savings-bank, but integrity 

 and common -sense are ; the right paths 

 are straight and well beaten what is 

 needed is a steadiness of purpose to 

 resist the temptations that lead away 

 from them. During the last fifteen 

 years the number of these institutions 

 has largely increased, and the process 

 of natural selection does not seem to 

 have developed safe officials as fast as 

 they were wanted. 



Nor is it alone that it has been ne- 

 cessary to put many new and untried 

 men in places of trust. A higher de- 

 gree of rectitude has been needed to 

 bear the strain imposed by the specula- 

 tion and recklessness of a period of in- 

 flation than was sufficient in the less 

 trying days which preceded this era 

 this has not always been found. The 

 prudence of any given man or class is 

 not a fixed quantity, it is subject to 

 fluctuations; it is weakened by the 



spirit of confidence and rashness that 

 always marks a period of rising prices, 

 and strengthened by the heroic treat- 

 ment of adversity which is sure to 

 come in with the reaction. 



Of the details of the mismanage- 

 ment which has led to disaster, and of 

 the rules for properly conducting such 

 institutions, it is not our present purpose 

 to speak; but there is one idea which 

 seems to be fundamental in all the 

 remedies proposed that deserves atten- 

 tion. 



State control in some form is the 

 sole corrective which, in the opinion 

 of those whose views find expression, 

 is available ; and there is something 

 sublime in the faith apparently felt in 

 government management, even by those 

 who are loudest in their denunciations 

 of office-holders the only agents 

 through whom a state can do its work. 



The recommendations all assume 

 one of two forms : 



1. That a system of post-office sav- 

 ings-banks, similar to those now oper- 

 ating in England, be established ; or 



2. That more thorough state inspec- 

 tion be instituted with a view to main- 

 taining and purifying the present sys- 

 tem. 



Opinion is still divided in England 

 as to the ultimate success of the scheme 

 for post-office banks, but it has, so far, 

 worked too well to permit unqualified 

 condemnation. This success, however, 

 has been wrought under conditions that 

 do not obtain in the United States. 



In the first place is the wide differ- 

 ence in the Civil Service of the two 

 countries. Without going into com- 

 parisons it is safe to say that, until our 

 much-talked-of reform shall have made 

 some progress, it may be as well to go 

 slow in committing savings-deposits to 

 the custody of an irresponsible, ever- 

 shifting set of officials, chosen without 

 any reference to their natural fitness or 

 training for the discharge of such a trust. 

 "We already hear much of their delin- 

 quencies, and it is certain that the pro- 



