Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-12
LOCAL FINANCIAL NEWS.

Some of the figures from comparative
statement OF the business OF the Washing
ton Railway and Electric Company which
has just been issued In printed form to the
stockholders were given at today's meeting
of the stock exchange by ons OF the
brokers for the benefit Of those who had
not seen them.
As he reeIed Off some OF the totals about
net earnings and depreciation account. ana
SO forth. another broker who was bidding
on the preferred stock which had Just been
reached in the call remarked that the ng-
ures sounded good enough for a higher BID,
and so he bid 30 for fractional lot
AS the latter broker is identified with the
Capital Traction Company such remark
might be considered In the nature OF
bouquet Of value. II not rarity, ana no
doubt would have been sufficient to run the
stock up a point or two II the. makers VI
orders had been there to hear It.
However. the bid for fifty shares advanced
to 80 quarter Of a point better than inc
bid on Saturday. The asking price was mar
a point higher, but there was no tradlnS
until after call. when a couple of fractional
lots were secured at 30
The common stock of the company sold TO
the extent of three ffty-share lots al rs
and an eighth of point less, ana al the
close was to be had at the last figure named.
In both Instances the advance gained during
the past week has been maintained 1uuy,
so that the gain for the week In tne case Vi
the preferred stock has been about three
quarters of point, and in the case OF the
common somewhat less.
The figures quoted from the comparative
statement issued by the company are, at
least some of them, as follows: surplus.
S724.0G0. Of which about half a million Is IN
vested in the per cent bonds or the COM
pany. There Is a credit to the depreciation
account of about 1858 600. while the net
earnirs shows an increase over that OF last
year of about 10 per cent.
The operating expenses have been de-
creased about l per cent, so that they nave
been brought down to a little over 90 per
cent of the gross receipts. 1t might have
been remarked In regard to this Item that
those OF the stockholders who use this line
and who are Obliged evening after evening
when they go home to hang by the straps,
IL they succeed in getting into the car al
all. that they would be willing to add some
thing to the operating expenses, providing
only some more adequate service was ar
ranged for by the company.
The announcement was made when the
stock of Riggs Bank was called that In ad-
dition to paying the regular semt-annuai
dividend of 10 per cent the middle OF mex.
month the directors had also decided
to Fay an extra dividend of 2 per cent, so
that the entire amount due on each share
would be $40.
The. effect of this announcement has been
somewhat discounted. as IT has been known
for some time that something Of the sort
was contemplated.
In addition to distributing this amount
among the stockholders the directors also
added 100000 to the surplus. so that the
totals of these figures shows a pretty good
years business on the capital of 100000.
Mergenthaler made a pause In Its upward
course. and instead of selling at 1913, as was
the case on Saturday, the only ten-share
lot that came on the market went at half a
point less and there was more of the stock
to be had on same terms, and the bid was
1877.
There was not large volume of business
done and nothing further Of special fea-
ture occurred. The condition of the money
market locally is such as to Justify rea-
sonably fair amount Of business. which
means that the banks have money to loan,
and while there is no anxiety expressed to
get business, still the prospect Is held out
that II money Is wanted II can be had ana
on favorable terms.