Since I have been here this week I have heard billions and billions talked about.... I can hardly comprehend what a million is. But I want to tell you that in four and a half years the postal savings system of the United States has become custodian of sixty-eight million dollars, in cash, of the people's savings. Let me lay emphasis on the _cash_, because big figures do not always mean cash. Sixty-five million dollars of this money is on deposit in six thousand banks scattered throughout the country. In other words, practically all of the money we have collected has been released through the banks to channels of trade in the very localities where it originated. I am sure you will agree with me that this is a very creditable showing so far as dollars and cents are concerned. The Federal Reserve Act, which went into effect on the 16th of November last, provided that postal savings funds should not be deposited in non-member banks. The Attorney General for the United States has held that the prohibition relates to funds received on and after November 16th. Therefore, postal savings on deposit in state institutions when the act became effective have been allowed to remain, except as it has been necessary to withdraw it to pay depositors. The Post Office Department has made frequent investigations to determine where postal savings deposits come from; with the invariable result that they are found to come from chimney corners, mattresses, bootlegs, etc., but until very recently no effort has been made to ascertain where postal savings go when withdrawn. And this recent inquiry has been both gratifying and entertaining. It was found that in a vast majority of cases savings were withdrawn for very substantial reasons, prominent among them being payments on homes and the launching of small business enterprises. Occasionally a hospital bill was paid. Some depositors sent money to the old country to bring over a parent or a brother; a wedding trousseau here and there; and in Colorado we have record of a withdrawal to buy an automobile. (Laughter.)