The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-03-02
TRUST COMPANIES
GUARD ESTATES
Administering Affairs Valued at
Seven Billion, Two Hundred
Million Dollars.
ADVANTAGES THEY OFFER
IS Executor and Administrator,
They Represent Stability
and Pcrnancncc.

A9 tho result of actual statistics re-
Gently obtained from official sources
ana through direct inquiry il has been
1SccrtainCd that the trust comnanics
OF the United States are administering
lie affairs and guarding estates valued
At S.2o00Oo.nOQ This vast treasure
embraces real estate. personal prop
crty. stocks and bonds mortgages aud
cash funds. conveyed TO the s;ifckccp-
ne of trust companies in accordance
With instructions under Wills aud in
strunlents OF trust. for the benefit OF
heirs and leSatecs. Among the estates
managed by trust companies are those
Of eminent jurists inancicrs bankers
capitalists aud men who have left large
fortunes The samc care aud procau-
tons with Which tie great estates are
looked after Is directed T. tho RAPIDLY
Increasing number of small estates
which are being turned over to these
institutions The same reasons which
induce the man OF large means to have
= trust COMPANY appointed aa executor
and administrator Of his estate to guard
his family against waste or miaman-
agcment after his death appeal With
equal, II not greater. force TO tho man
who has only fcw thousands or tho
proceeds TT life Insurance to keen his
widow and children from poverty
There have been many important do
veiopmcnts Of late to show that there
- general awakening throughout Tho
country that the trust company ia the
only logical and safest custodian of cs-
tatcs and trust funds This sentiment
Is largely due To tile MANY disclosures
which apnear in public print descIib-
ing the footing Of estates, mis-
management. incompe tence aud an
plcation uf trust funds in snecu-
|ation. where such property and
funds have been placed in the sole
CUSTODY Of some individual who is sur.
rounded and yields to temptation. An
examination OF probate court records
IN several OF the largest cities Of the
country revealed the melancholy fact
that mnnr hundreds Of millions Of dol.
lars worth of property securities and
funds belonging To estates, and Which
have been placed in the hands OF so.
called "Couiidcntials' or family advis-
ors as executors aud administrators
have been lost through needless liti.
gatloh. incompetent management OF de-
laIchil"n. In most instances the rec
ordS OF such Iocscs do not come TO pnh.
lie notice II is only when some tragic
circumstances attcn n betrayal Of
trust that the newspapers give an
mixing of the true conditions Several
wcelIs ago the Now Ioihe papers con
tained details OF the complete Tooth
ing of the estate Of the late Roscoe
tonklin by an individual executor
Several DAYS after this was made pub
lie, there We're accounts Of the suicide
of a prominent citizen. Nho resided, in
one OF tho fashionable suburbs of
Philadelphia, who had wasted tho pro-
Goods Of humorous estates valued at
s2oe.oop In Pittsburgh there were no
less than fonr meu IN prison at the
same time awaiting trial or criminal
charges of having appropriated trust
funds for their own use
reasons of Success.
When such we'll known men as the
late Chief Justice Fuller, of the United
states supreme Court: Senator stephen
Elkins. MarshalI Field. +. \. +. Widener
and many others on the roll of the de-
parted. make Wills IN which they in
struct trust companies to manage and
preserve their estates for the welfare
of their families. 1t lis easy to compre-
eContirued on Second PaSa3