The Washington times., 1913-11-16
STOCKHOLDERS MAY
ASK FOR INQUIRY
By CARTER FIELD.


That the minority stockholders of the
| City and Suburban Railway Company
| OF this city, may take advantage OF
| the investigation now going on by the
| Public Utilities Commission into the ex-
| ira dividend recently declared, but not
yet paid, of the Washington Railwa =
ana Electric Company, Is one of the
latest developments OF the situation.
A number of these minority stock
| holders IN the City and Suburban. which
| Is controlled by the Washington Rail-
| way and Electric Company and opera
Ted pra6 6tcally as part of the Wash
| Inston Railway and Electric system, do
not believe that they are getting any
| thing like fair treatment from the
parent company. They feel that the
investment which their stock repre-
sents Is being used by the Washington
hallway and Electric Company without
any return to them whatever. inasmuch
| CITY and Suburban Railway receive no
| dividends, while the company as a
whoie, that is the Washington Railway
and Electric Company, Is making
enough dividends to be disbursed at the
rate OF per cent per anum, ana even
for an extra dividend to be declared SO
as TO make the total distribution for
the past fiscal year at the rate of G
per cent
1t is claimed that the interests of the
4
are not served by the Washington Rail-
way and Electric Company, in that no
expansion Is permitted. while on the
other hand the same effort is not made
TO increase the earnings as would be
made were the company still an inde-
penuent concern, as 1t would be II a
majority of its stock were not owned
bJ another traction company. which
has the power to deterrnine. and does
determine. the amount 1t shall pay for
us electricity Ito another subsidiary OF
the washington Railway and Electric
Company. the amount paid in salaries
and wages. and all other expenditures,
| AT present, so far as can be learned.
there has been no determination as 70
| whether the Public Utilities Commits
| lngton Railway and Electric Company
| 70 pay dividends on the stock OF the
City and Suburban, or whether the
commission will be asked to require the
washington Railway and Electric Com
PAM 70 purchase the minority stock
OF the City and Suburban. at price to
oe determined by the Public Utilities
1t Is said that the purchase plan an
peais more strongly to a number OF the
minority minority stockholders who are most
active In the movement. since, they
point out, this would allow the wash
lngton Railway Company to make a
| considerable saving in bookkeeping and
supervision. by merging the property
aosoluteIy In with the system, SO that
no separate accounts need be kept
president F. 3. Devereux, of the
washington Chapter of the American
Institute Of Banking. is being saluted
as man who has made his mark as
a humorist by fellow bank men wher-
ever he goes. while his fellows in the
National Savings and Trust Company
give MIN little rest. The cause Is his
introduction Of George D. Allen, the
educational director of the American
Institute OF Banking. at the meeting of
the chapter Thursday night Right
before celebreties ranging from United
States Senator Shafroth of Colorado,
member of the Senate Banking and
currency Committee. all the way down
the line to bank runners, he introduced
Mr.. Allen as follows:
Il want to introduce to you George
d. Allen. the man who put the 'toot'
into institute
Many Washington market operators
and brokers regret the withdrawing
from this city, which took place yes
terday. of Whelan, Duer & Lanahan,
of Baltimore, who for fifteen months
Lave occupied offices on the Fifteenth
street side of the Woodward building.
William J. Boothe. who has been man.
ager of the Washington office since its
opening. In August 1912. has made
many friends while he was in the city,
! and the office has been rather a popular
one with market operators. who, here,
as In other cities. rarely confine their
| attentions to one office. perhaps for
| the reason that they do not like any
| one broker TO know Just how much
they are interested in the stock move
rnents. II they wish to watch the board
| from 10 O'Clock until 3, they spend an
hour or two in one office, and move on.
There are some exceptions to this, of
course, but generally it works.
1t is understood that the business of
the branch which has just been closed
had been growing steadily until the
Mexican trouble, when certain issues in
which the firm had advised its custom
ers to invest showed heavy losses. This
would not have ben sufficient in good
times to have made it necessary to
close the office, but business in general
has been so slack that the branch has
not been self-supporting, so the home
office has cut il off.