The Meeker herald., 1898-01-22
PAYING INVESTMENTS
BUILDING AND LOAN AND Saw
iNos ASSOCIATIONS LEAD,

Lsss Peres.tass Il yazaafss Ma IN
\ Baaks, RailsoaAs - Insafaoos-Nsw
1 LAvs EaasssA ia fhsir IAeaFssatThs
Courts Regard TAs. witA Issrs.sss
| Yavoe.
For several years the feeling has
been spreading in the West, - wen A.
In the East. that speculative invest
ments are seldom desirable for wage
earners or people Of moderate means,
and men and women Of this class have
been turning their attention to safe.
regular and legitimate business invest
ments. In view OF this fact 1t speaks
we'll for building and loan associations
that during this period they have
steadily increased their membership
and capital, while the business OF other
kinds of financial corporations has
greatly decreased.
| According to recent official reports,
the national banks have an aggregate
paid-up capital of $3.50, 1000 600. owned
! by 2SS,OOO stockholders, while the
building and loan associations have
/ paid-up capital of $GO7, 900, 600, owned
4
Of stockholders in the latter exceeds
those In the former nearly ten to one.
The comptroller of the currency
shows that during the past four years
the capital stock Of national banks has
| decreased more than $40,OOO,OOO. while
their assets decreased $246, ,4O9, 5S4, and
| the records in most lines of business
, show a greater decrease than In the
| case Of national banks.
How is II with building and loan as
sociations? There are fourteen states
that issue official reports, representing
more then 10 per cent. Of the active az
sociations Of the country. In his bulle-
| tin, issued in May. 1897, the commits
sioner of labor says:
comparing the figures for fourteen
!, states for the period covered by the
ninth annual report of the commission
er Of labor, the fiscal year Of the asso-
| Citations ending nearest to January i,
1893. with the figures for those four
| teen states az shown by recent state re-
| ports for 1866, growth is shown in
! every item. The number of
associations reporting, which repre-
sents practically all active associations
| a year old or over had increased from
| 4,443 to 4,531. or 2 per cent. The shares
| outstanding had increased from $780,.
755 to 99S5, $50. or 40 per cent; and
| the installment dues paid in, plus paid
| up and prepaid stock, and profits had
| increased from 1870. All. $50 to $449,-
| 64S.O4S, or p 40 per cent"
| Notwithstanding this great increase
In assets, these associations during the
past year have paid to withdrawing
| members and on stock that has ma.
| tured, more than 1874 .000,0
.lc -
national banks failed, involving $685.
6s4, ,3s1 in assets and $22. .745,0 ,02O in
| capital. During the same time 1874
building and loan associations have
failed. involving assets Of e14,211, 600
or 451. "a, ,881 less than was involved
| In the 10 national hank failures. An.
| other feature shows q still greate1 dis
crepancy. The stockholders Of the
failed national banks, ont Of $S4 ,642,.
$50 Of paid In capital and assessments
have only received In cash the sum Of
&1,117,8S4. which indicates that Their
| holdings have little or no value in. the
event Of failure. On the other hand
the assets Of the associations. which
are almost exclusively invested in first
mortgages upon real estate, are tangi
BILE and usually repay to shareholders
In any event, a large per cent. of theii
investment.
Since 1893 there have been 523 fall
ures of this class of banking institu
tons, involving assets Of $84 ,3O3, ,745
They have paid their depositors less
than 2S per cent, while In nearly every
instance the loss of the stockholderf
has been total
The records Of the national board OF
f1re underwriters show that 827 Join,
stock IRE companies have failed within
| the past few years. involving a paid-up
capital of $117.312.8s3 and aggregate
assets Of $101. .S7S, ,452 and the most Of
these companies failed to pay their
creditors in full, while their stockhold
ers met with q total loss. Compared
with these the losses of building and
loan associations are Insignificant.
The records show that during the
| past four years 177 railroads and 45.
| s95 miles of track have failed and tha,
the stock and bond liabilities of these
roads amount TO $2.S2O. 500 900. or in
other words. that these failures involve
| twenty-five per cent. of the aggregate
| capital stock of all the railroads in the
| country.
| The commercial failures during the
/, past four years have been enormous
| Dun's review shows that during 1876
| the ratio of defaulted liabilities tc
clearing house exchanges was $4.37 pei
| $1,000 and that the ratio in 1898 was
| $3.50 per $1,000, with losses almost as
| great for the two intervening years
| These statistics show that the fail.
| ures Of national banks during the past
four years are about five times greater
than those of building and loan asso.
Citations, and that the percentage In 9th
er lines is very much greater
! A careful review Of recent legislative
| enactments and decisions in state and
! federal courts shows that building and
loan associations are constantly coming
into high favor. Laws are made fol
the express purpose Of promoting and
fostering them.
The auditor Of public accounts in II
| linois, in his annual report for 1896
| says: There is no more safe and pro