Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-01-25
Small Gain in Deposits
Last Year.
Abstract Of Examiner Skeletons
Annual Report.
One New Trust company-.-various
Recommendations Made.


| ccived from the printer The report
shows that there were on December
first II! institutions under the SUPER
vision of this department; 50 savings
banks, 40 trust companies and 50 loan
and building associations, being an i'll
crease over the preceding year of one
trust company, that at Lubec. The
total assets of these institutions on
October 31st, 1908. was s14o 635, S6l.37,
which is Il gain OF 81, 257 ,54S.5S.
The increase i'll deposits In the saw
ings banks, including dividends added,
during The year. is $74s, 963.34 against
| y. 704, 466.S2 for the preceding year when
the recent financial disturbance had
just begun to be felt. The percentage
Of gain this year has been .SS as com
pared with 33 for 1907. A gratifying
trend If recovery is, however, shown
by the fact that the increase for the
| last six months OF the year was $623,-
2o9 II while that of the first half-ycar
was bet Sis. 154.01.'
The table of deposits and Withdraw
| ais gives the total amount OF deposits
| October 81 1908, IS $50, 131 ,4IO91; there
having been added during the past year
| S15, 704 ,046 96 in new deposits, and 3d.
2l5.952.24 in dividends making total ad-
citions of $1S,9l9,999 against which
there We're withdrawals amounting to
| SSH .035S6.
| The estimated value of the resources
Of the savings banks above liabilities
is given as -, $50, 164 &c. against $11,0G7,-
G70.99 for the year 1907. There is an
Increase of $93,172 in reserve fund
ard of $31,3l6.54 in undivided profits
Commenting on the decrease In esti
mated value of resources over liabilities
| the bank examiner says:
| This shows marked decrease in
| The estimated value of resources above
| liabilities due to the increased rates of
| interest paid on all classes of invest
ments and the consequent marking
| down of the investment value Of indiv-
| idual securities AS the normal inter-
est rate varies the investment value
and tn" market value of any given Sc
| Cl.rity iuC tu;lte. If the former change
is due to d permanent change of con-
ditiOnS, or one which promises to con-
tinue for long period of time, both
| the investment and the market values
are materially Influenced thereby. IF
it is due to temporary conditions, tho
value of Il longtime investment is nor
| seriously affected.
| 1t is not easy to separate the two
and 10 say to what extent abnormal
conditions may be disregarded iii fin
ing these values. Justice, not only TO
! the institutions themselves but to the
| public which must judge the institu-
lions very largely from the official re-
ports, demands that in times when con-
| ..itionS are unsettled q serious cIfci
should be made to distinguish between
| values for Investment purposes and
those for purposes purely speculative
.r fixed by the necessities Of individu-
ais.
This department undertook to make
:his distinction in fixing the valuations
at the beginning of the year. 1t rec
| oE1iZcd the growing ana apparently
| fixed demand for rate of income hiS1-
or than that which had previously pre-
vailed and reduced the valuations ac
| cordingly This accounts for the de-
| crease shown in the table given above.
1t declined to adopt the sU-called mar
kct values fixed by the panic of 1867,
for the reasons fully given III the last
annual report. claiming that they were
| only temporary, fixed by the eXigen-
| Ci"S of those who We're situated differ
entity from such institutions as our
savings banks and did not reflect the
| trnc value Uf the securities as invest
mcnts. Developments of the past
| Twelve months and the steady rise in
market values. appear to have fully
vindicatcd this action.
"At first thought it might seem
that this whole matter of differentia-
t,n in values was of little Importance.
| But when we consider that savings
banks are not private institutions; that
they are purely mutual and the prop
| erty of the dcpositors and of the pub
| lie so much SO, in fact that the entire
assessments on the deposits for the ex-
pense of maintaining is less than one
| fourth of one per cent per anhum;
| that any disturbance of their AFFAIRS
! results in direct loss to the depoSitorS,
and the dcpositors alone, and no busl-
| ness is So sensitive to the slightest
W ord of criticism as the banking busi-
| ness: when these facts are consider
| ed the Importance of the subject De
comes very real And the banks ana
| their depoSitorS are under obligation
to those WHO mould public opinion
and particularly to the press OF the
State. for the support given them our
ing the recent panic, condition winch
| is bound to recur at intervals. In tact,
T believe that no criticism has been
made except under circumstances that
inpel me to the belief that it was not
| actuated by a disinterested concern 1or
| fine welfare of the institutions them
| selves.
SIT is gratifying to observe that
oven with the lower values given the
securities, the surplus remains largely
above the book surplus claimed by the
banks themselves, and amply demon
s.ratas their strength and conserva-
| tiSm'
The savings banks during the past
wear have paid in dividends $S,2l5soZ'-
p. while the amount SO paid the year
before was So, O3S. 6499S. The average
rate for 1905 was 3.92 per cent. gam
of .2s of one per cent and the highest
rate for ten years or more.
1t is not probable that this compara-
tivelv high rate can be maintained
fo. auv considerable length of time