The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-21
RED STAR LINE
IN THE BANKING CIRCLE.
Local Investment and Speculative
Gossip of interest

An interesting event in the business
week locally. was the sale of ten shares
of Metropolitan Bank stock at $500, on the
Washington Exchange The price is. of
course. a considerable advance on any
heretofore paid. 1t is the price at which
the stock, paying its present dividend of
20 per cent per annum. yields per cent
on the investment. The recent increase of
the dividend from IS per cent to 3? made
it certain that the advance in the price
would come, but it is probable that it was
not looked for so quickly. AS the earn
ings of the bank are understood to be
well in excess of 30 per cent, it is not I'M
reasonable to suppose that the price will
get even above its present level. Ii is in
tereSting to note that the investor that
bought the block sold out 100 shares of
Capital Traction for the purpose. Bank
stocks are considered very conservative
Investments, but the advances in the
prices Of the various bank and
trust company securities during the
past year have been larger than those in
any other securities. street railway. gas,
There was bid of $50 on Metropolitan
one day in the week. and the lowest offer
on another day was $1,000 a share.
The annual meeting of the stockholders
of the Lanston Monotype Company was
held on Thursday at Alexandria. Va.
There has been much gossip in f Street
as to what the meeting developed, and
some INSTRUMENTATION has become cur
rent. The number of directors was in
creased from nine to eleven. The old di-
rectors were reelected and John c. Poor
and Gen. Maxwell Woodruff were elected
to fill the two new places on the board
Mr. Poor is the treasurer of the Washing
the directory, but was elected with the
understanding that he shall resign in the
near future to make way for II. C. Hal
lenbeck, a New York capitalist, member
of Wyncoop. Hallenbeck, Crawford & Co,
a large publishing firm. Mr.. Hallenbecks
firm owns several OF the Lanston ma
chimes and he wished to become a director
and came over from New York for that
purpose, but found when he reached here
that he was not eligible, not being the
owner of any of the stock. He promised
to purchase the required amount of stock
before the next meeting OF the directors in
May. The directors are empowered by the
charter of the company to Till the vacancy
that will be caused by the resignation of
Mr.. Poor. and the programme is that Mr..
lallenbeck shall receive the position
The report of President Dove was read
and will be sent to stockholders later.
Dove stated tndt Is ION
turning out six machines II week, three of
which are sent to the English company
and three sold in this country. The ca
pacity of the plant which is manufactur-
ing the machines for the company will be
Increased shortly. il is said. to at least
double the present number. Mr.. Dove
stated further that there are large num-
Der Of orders untitled There are in use
at present lis I.anston machines. of which
seventy-seven are in this country and
forty-one in England. The central Office
is to be removed from this city to New
York shortly. and New York Office has
been established already. The plant of
the company was transferred to Philadel-
phia during the past year. President
Dove recommended that the 5000 shares
Of treasury stock stil remaining of the
80, 000 shares authorized be now issued, in
order that the company may have more
working capital. The par of the stock is
so. but the present price is between IA
and 10. so that the amount which would
be realized on the new issue at the mar
ket price would be about $3.50 0JG. or some
thing less No statement is made regard
ing possible dividends for the stockhold-
ers, except that Mr.. Dove expresses hope.
based on what he considers a good out
look for a steadily growing business.
There has been what seemed, to be a
strong outside demand for the stock dur
ing the past few days, but there has been
supply also, and the price has made no
advance.