Evening star., 1914-12-23
EVIDENCE Of BETTER
BUSINESS CONDITIONS
Judge Gary's Observations as to I'm
provement-No Cut in Steel
Workers Wages.
Dividends Declared-Local Bonds
Firm-New York Stocks
Slow-Gossip.
BY I. A. FLEMING.

l.. II. Gary, chairman of the board
OF directors of the United States Steel
Corporation. declares:
There are some evidences o a
change for the better in business.
Because of this indication. slight
though il is. the United States Steel
Corporation will not put into effect
general reduction of ) per cent in the
wages of its tens of thousands of en-
pIoycs. which ha', been planned and
which was expected as Il matter OF the
near future.
independent companies in the same
line of business will probably follow
the policy of the steel Corporation in
the matter of wages.
Marrow Market.
New York stocks moved within a de-
ci6edIy narrow range and but few is
sues showed any appreciate change IN
values The usual quietness was in
tensifed by the holiday atmosphere.
and brokers offices showed the absence
of the usual interested customers and
spectators.
Bethlehem Steel. which moved up
sharply Tuesday because of the home
coming from Europe of President
Schwab, reacted for a loss of 4
points, Beet Sugar lost q and Balti-
more and Ohio Il. These were the
only stocks on the list showing ma
terial changes in prices.
on the local stock exchange the bond
call resulted in the sale of two $1,000
Washington Gas Us at i03 and 103 Is.
Other bonds We're nominally unchanged.
Dividends.
The Farmers and Mechanics National
.I..
dividend of per cent, payable January
to shareholders of record December e6
The McLachlen Banking Corporation
has declared a regular semi annual divi-
dend of 3 per cent, payable December 81
The Ontario Apartment House Company
has just orde.ed a semi-annual distribu-
ton of 2la per cent. payable January /.
The Washington Investment Company,
owner of the McLachlen building, will pay
per cent dividend to shareholders De-
Cember 81.
Ruling on Gratuities.
Extra compensation at Christmas
time. paid by many banks to employees,
where such compensation may be re-
garded as constituting part of the reg
Jl1ar compensation of employees and Of
fcers of the bank, and are granted with
that distinct understanding, is not re-
garded by the federal reserve board
as an infringement of section % of the
federal reServe act. This means good
Christmas cheer to thousands of bank
employees over the country. who have
acquired the expectancy of a big bill
es part of their Christmas emoluments
Many inquiries have been directed to
the federal reserve board for interpre-
tatien of the law in regard to this
practice. The question asked is
whether the voting of such payments
VIII constitute violation of law.
Dr0hlpn of to
c. Elliott, counsel for the federal re-
serve board Any ruling of the board,
II was decided, will afford no protection
to any officer. director or employe who
may be liable under the provision of
the law. The opinion is given, how
ever, that moderate payment, consis- |
tent with general business practice, |
does not constitute an infringement of
the law, but is an element in the reg
ular and legitimate compensation Of
the employees and officers of the bank
District Bankers Association.
The District Bankers Association
met last evening. The committee hav-
ing in charge the matter of a uniform
collateral note asked for further time
to consider the matter
George W. White, Corcoran Thorn. B.
F. Saul and Andrew Parker were elect
ed to fill vacancies on the committee on
examination, the latter to serve one
year, the others two years.
New Ruling.
The commissioner of internal reve-
nue. has issued a ruling permitting the
cancellation of revenue stamps of 10
cents and over, after initiating and
dating, by incisions or the use of a
punch, before affixng the stamp to a
document. This action was taken in
response to a claim made by the Ameri-
can Security and Trust Company, that
cancellation by incisions after the
stamp had been attached to a docu-
ment might, in the case of mortgages
or bonds which required frequent
in do