Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-02-07
urges M|DDLEMEN
!. TO ADJUST PROFITS
Must Conform to Wholesale
Prices to Aid Consumer, As
serts Comptroller Williams
LABOR FACES PROBLEM
BY the Associated Press

Naenfngton, teb. Tine country IL
now In many respects on sounder
basis. economically, than II has been
for years. Comptroller of the Cur
rcncy John Shelton williams informed
Congress today In what he described
ns his seventh and last annual re-
port"
Defation, obviously inevitable a year
ago, has come, he said. and prices Of
many basic commodities and raw ma
terials have returned to prewar levels
or below. ut now remains for the
middleman," the comptroller declared,
ito adjust his profits 70 the new prices
before the ultimate consumer will re-
seive the benefit OF the reduced cost of
living"
Labor. however. Mr.. Williams said,
must soon determine whether 4 shut.
down and idleness Is preferred to a
lower wage scale which takes into con-
sideration the lower living charges.
Mills and factories can not afford TO
operate unless they can turn out com
to pay, he asserted, and Il 10 better for
the manufacturers to operate and pro.
duce goods at cost or at q very mar
row margin Of profit than to close down
entirely. Participation by labor with
capital in the profits ne suggested ns
the only principle to restore business.
Some Articifcial Prices
When conditions abroad become
more settled or stabilized" Comp
troller Williams declared In sum-
N ~ ha -
at home much needed adjustments are
effected in the costs to the consumer Of
steel and iron products, which are still
quoted about twice their pre- war prices,
and when coal, for which tho govern.
ment itself has paid in recent months MS
much as four times the pre- war price,
and certain other commodities which
are now being kept up artifcially or as
a result of monoplistic control far above
the pre-war figures, get back to nor
NAL level, our country, resting on solid
foundation, will be prepared to enter
Upon new and let US hope long en-
during era Of prosperity and healthy
progress
During the fiscal year ended June 80,
1920, the comptroller said, there were
Sl67 national banks In operation, the
highest number ever reported, and de-
spite the difficulties encountered, they
made the best record In immunity from
failure in about forty years. The pas
sage of the capital or failed banks to
the total capital Of all banks, he ex-
planned, was about two one -thousundths
OF l per cent, or sixteen times better
than the average for the entire fifty
seven years since tho inauguration Of
the system.
Il III -.
the country on June 80, 1920, including
comptroller said, aggregated $59, ,153,-
704, 900.
Borrowers CatalOgued
Figures showing for the first time the
business of the principal borrowers from
national banks were presented by the
Loans and discounts on
November Is, 1920, he said, aggregated
S13, ,764 900, 600, Of which loans to
farmers and livestock raisers amounted
to 81 ,99S. 200, 900 or ii per cent; loans
to manufacturing concerns approx
mated $2,S62, ,000, 900 or II per cent;
to merchants. mercantile concerns, indi-
viduals In the jobbing business and
trading wholesale and retail, $3,5S1.-
O0O. 900 or &c per cent. Loans reported
to bond and stock brokers and dealers
in investment securities. aggregated
S884. 900, 900; to railroads, shipping
S225, 900. .O0O while the
loans to professional men, including
doctors, lawyers, teachers, chemists,
engineers and clergymen amounted TO
s37b, 900, 900. Miscellaneous loans
amounted TO about 81, 900, ,0O0, 900 or 30
per cent OF the total.
Bankers Profits
Gross earning Of the national banks
during the last fiscal year aggregated
81 100 ,OOO, 900, while their totnl ex:
penses were $788, 900 ,O0O,. OF which
$175 ,OOO, 900 was for salaries and
wages and $2S7 900 900 was for In
tcrest on deposits. National banks In
the city of New York showed earnings
on capital stock Of 37H per cent;
national banks, 3sH per per
cent; Chicago, "a per cent Boston: 20
SfE Mi,nsanojis cent oef af% per cent; st. Louis,
i7m per cent; Richmond, 20h per
cent: Dallas, so per cent Kansas City.
II per cent, and In San Francisco, iS
per cent; Pueblo, Colo. with % per
cent. reported the largest earnings In
any reserve city; Birmingham, Ala,
was next with 39% per cent, and At.
Ianta, third, with 3SA per cent.
During the last fiscal year the comp
troller reported three presidents, eight
cashiers OF banks and thirty assistant
cashiers, tellers, bookkeepers and
Others OF national banks were convicted
of criminal violations OF the banking
law and sentenced to terms OF imprison-
ment running up to six years and vary
ing fines.
Mr.. williams made public a table
showing the salaries paid the executive
officers by all national banks Of the
country whose resources were In excess
of $40, 900 900, and showed the largest
salary paid any national bank president