Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-12-05

AN OFFICIAL of one of the large
4 financial institutions in the city
when asked for his opinion Of the re-
port of the secretary Of the treasury to
Congress replied that he could SEQ
nothing 20 criticize unfavorably, that
he agreed with him on every point he
made.
He said he even agreed with the Sec
retary on that point on which it is said
many New York financiers had disa-
greed with him, namely-that it is not
the business Of our government to as.
sist in the establishing of credits in
European countries and that it ia
wholly a matter for our bankers and
exporters.
In saying this he made it plain that
he did not believe that such policy
would be the proper one under every
circumstance, but at the present time
and under present conditions he be-
lieved the secretary was right.
Averaging Up Security Holdings
| One of the conditions which show
| plainly how the times are out Of joint
in the financial world is a comparison
OF the securities on which numbers Of
| people have been making profits and the
staid old strong box securities on which
their owners are losing every day was
spoken of by banker yesterday He
then enumerated some dozen Of the stocks
which, before the recent slump. were
| skyrocketing and afterward followed
! with list of standard-mostly railroad
bonds, giving their present quotations
and comparing them with the prices
just Immediately preceding the war.
! 1t is good thing, he said, that tho
| people who own these bonds in large
amounts, and have them locked away
| in vaults or deposited in trust com
panies, are not following the stock and
bond quotations each day. If they did,
many of them would have heart disease.
OF course, their losses are only book :
! keeping losses, but there is only Ger
! tain degree Of comfort in that,
If they were watching the market.
he added, they would have seen recently
that people were making money invest
ing in stocks which their conservative
instincts would have warned them
against, and at the same time they
would have seen the values of their
supposedly conservative Investments
dwinding day by day till they have
now reached the lowest point in his
tory.
If these people were wise they would
take advantage of the present situation
and average up their holdings at figure
which may never again be possible, he
said
Another banker, when speaking on
the same subject, said his firm had been
and is doing n splendid business in
bords on account of these very circum
stances.
Our experience is that the wealthy
men who hold these taxable bonds are
taking them out of th"ir strong boxes
and selling them to buy nontaxable
bonds and other securities with a high
yield. And. he added. we are selling
these bonds to the small investor, who
is not troubled by the income tax to
any great extent--the man who buys
anywhere from one TO five bonds. II
is surprising what recognizing oi
holdings there has been since the intro
duction of the income tax, he said. Now
that the secretary OF the treasury rec
ommonds a change in the income tax
II it is carried out the result will be
another readiustment of holdings tC
conform TO whatever changes may be
made.
The reason we know, he said, that
rich men are selling many of their
bonds is that wo are handling issues
which have not been seer in the market
to any appreciable extent for Ions
time.
Stock Transfers Take Time