Evening star., 1917-01-07
BY I. A. FLEMINa.

y, a. =
Had the controller of the currency
postponed his last call" from Decem-
Der "a until January the banks OF
Washington would unquestionably have
shown an enormous gain. and the de-
posits would have been well over the
one-hundred- million dollar mark. prob
ably one or two millions better.
January disbursements. which were
then in banks all over the country to
the credit OF corporations, including
banks and trust companies, have since
been transferred to the deposit ac-
counts OF stock and bond holders.
While the exact increase since Janu-
ary 1 is not available, it is certain
that last Tuesday was one of the
largest days in the record Of many
local institutions, In the matter of de-
posits.
Getting Out Of the System.
While it is true that number Of
state banks are surrendering their
charters with view of joining the
federal reserve system, 1t is also true
that a number are retiring from the
latter and going into operation under
state charters.
During the week ended January the
First National Bank of Cuthbert, Ga. {:
the Home National Bank of Holyoke.
Mass; the Hadley Falls National, also
of Holyoke, Mass; the Lake Placid Ma +.
the First National Bank of Sheraton,
Pittsburgh. Pa, have all entered
liquidation. to be succeeded by state
institutions, except the Lake Placid
National, which has been consolidated
with the Bank of Lake Placid.
Leak or No Leak.
There is but little question that
the brokers and large commission
houses in Wall street, aided and abet-
ted by the bankers, were determined
to eliminate the large public following
from the stock market with their
pyramided trades and paper profits be-
fore actual peace negotiations would
throw the street into what might have
been the worst panic in its history,
when the losses would have been so
heavy that the public could not have
paid margins could not have been col
lected fast enough to keep even, and
the commission houses and brokers
would have been left to carry the bag
and shoulder such of the losses as they
could, and the rest would have fallen
on the banks.
Never was the stage better set for
just such a development. Hundreds OIL
thousands of accounts were on the
books of Wall street houses and In
branches all over the country, Wash
ington being no exception.
Clerks had been working night and
day and were unable to keep their
hooks cleared of the glut of trades;
millions on millions Of money were
borrowed to complete payment OF
stock purchased on varied margins
pyramiding from "a shoestring TO a
diamond necklace" predominated every
where, and the war babies were IA
vorites.
Attention was called in this column
some weeks ago to the fact that Just
such conditions In miniature. existeo
in 1901, when John w. Gates, then in
business in Chicago, finding 1t tmpos-
sible to get his customers out OF the
market-of their own accord-simply
announced closure of the business anc
ordered trades transferred. and was
scot free when the crash came, as ii
did, when Northern Pacific sold TO
81 900 share.
Ripe for the Reaper.
With these conditions again preva-
lent, 1t was up to New York's financial
and Wall street interests to clear
decks for smashing decline. and they
did it. Days before the final Smash
on the much discussed peace note
emanating from this side. brokers
were talking. talking SO bearish, call
ing margins and forcing traders to get
out with energy meyer. before dis
played, and. at that. they were left to
carry the bag for many thousands In
the aggregate-but 'it was the best
year they ever had"
And the public is once more out of
the market-out.
The federal reserve warning, Ger
many's Willingness TO talk peace and
the American peace note were all in
cfdents to the cleanup.
Some Book Values.
Book values of some of the local
banks, based on the response to the
! latest call of the controller OF the
currency. have been compiled. includ-
ing only the institutions that have so
far reported their statements of con-
dition.
The figures show the book value of
each share Of stock as follows:
Riggs National .....................- s52a-s y.
National Metropolitan .................- 111.se
Columbia National .........--....--..- 22o.2t