Evening star., 1919-03-20
j. s. BANK EXPERTS
OPEN CONFERENCE
Hines Tells Administration
Plans for Financing
Railroads.
STEEL CONDITIONS TOLD

Governors OF federal reserve banks
and official advisers of the Federal
Reserve Board opened today three
day conference on importan financial
and business problems faced by the
country as a result OF the cessation of
the war. Director General Hines met
with the bankers today to explain the
railroad administrator plans for
financing the roads without a large
revolving fund.
Beekman Winthrop, formerly assist
ant secretary OF the Navy and now di-
rector of the National City Company.
is i'm Washington. He dropped In at
the Washington branch OF the oo0-
pany and chatted for some time OA~
Eugene Allies. Later he went over to
the Riggs Bank and talked over old
times with Charles }. Glover and Mil
ton Allies.
The board of directors OF the Unitse
States Savings Bank has declartd
quarterly dividend of per cent. pay"
able April l to stockholders of rec
ord March II.
The director general of railroads
announces that the Sa0.006,0o0 ad-
vanced by the War Finance Corpora
tiOH TO the TdllrOdu auHiltilstf dtioh
will be used only to pay current e1-
penses and will not be used to meet
railroad obligations already incurred.
The Iron Age in it's weekly sum
mary OF conditions in the iron and
steel trade says trat whatever price
changes result from the meeting nov
on at Washington. the weeks market,
scafit as business has been. has fur-
ther emphasized the downv I'd tend
nr
steel there has been no change in the
feeling that price reductions at this
time will not produce the Desired re-
vival in buying. Reductions in COP
per. more drastic than have Deen pro,
posed in steel, have not stimulated
demand, il is argued. and the spelter
market with the price below the COST
of we'll equipped producers, mas q"
semblance of life.
Meanwhile the Department OF Labor
at Washington has reinforced the
position of the chief objectors to re-
ductions in steel by widespread prop
aganda urging that high level prices
are no temporary thing, but perma-
nent. Buyers are told that IN ,, me ao-
sence OF special reasons for declines
in the case OF particular products 1t
is safe to assume that prices are NOT
going to drop"
Another Washington development is
the statement from the industrial
radical cuts in prices can thwart the
whole stabilizing program; that the
main thing Is not SO much the extern
of the reduction as convincing the
public that the new basis Will be
stable.
1t must be said that the week has
not clarified the situation. but rather
added to it's confusion. The fact that
the government has no buying pro-
gram and thus cannot give practicai
sanction to steel prices that may be
fixed is a serious drawback.
The report of the Consolidated Coal
Company for 1918 shows total earn
ings of S26,14S.SS5, an increase of. ap-
proximately. S35,00O over the gross
earnings of 1917. After operating ex-
penses, depreciation and depletion
charges the net earnings were s1,155.-
1eS. as compared with $11,336.s6o in
the preceding year. The increase in
operating expenses over 1917 was
more than $4,000. 900, the difference
between net earnings in the last two
years being almost entirely accounted
for by this.