Evening star., 1924-05-31
D. C. BANK CLEARINGS
SHOWING INCREASE
Checks Handled During May Ag-
gregate $9s,5s7,91S, Indicating
q Material Gain.
$4,000, 900 MORE THAN APRIL
Federal Reserve District Report on
Seasonal Conditions.
BY CHAs. p. sHAEFFER.


The consistent monthly gains evil
denced in Washington uank clearings
during the present calendar year over
the corresponding periods Of last year
were terminated with the month
ending today, according to announce
ment this morning by Charles E.
Bright. manager of the local clearing
association.
Checks passing through the Dis
trict clearing body aggregated $685.
5S7,9ls during May, 1924, a decline
of about 100000 from the $1o1,4O8,-
osS reported for the same month of
last year. The expiring months
hgures. however, are slightly above
$Z0oO,O0O in excess of last month
577.
Checks in the aggregate cashed
curing the present year total approx
imately s1S.000,O 900 in excess of the
corresponding five months of last
Year, which would indicate last years
new nigh record will be smashed by
many millions in 1924, if the present
pace can be maintained
Uncertainty of Future Prospects.
Seasonal conditions and uncertainty
over future prospects were RESPONSE
BILE for further slackening in busi-
ness activities of the fifth reserve
district, according to the monthly
review of the Richmond Federal Re-
serve Bank, issued for publication to-
day. in Associated Press report
The comparative prosperity of the
district during the past eighteen
months has rested largely upon the
great activity in construction enter
prises and on the improved financial
condition of our agricultural popu-
lation." said the bank, but fears
have been expressed that the build
ing boom has passed its crest and
there is, of course, no certainty that
1924 will prove as satisfactory year
for fifth district farmers as 1928"
Reviewing business statistics for
April, the bank stated that regularly
reporting member banks showed reduc-
tions in outstanding loans and in redis-
counts at the Richmond federal institu-
tions, both of these being contrary to
average seasonal demands for credit.
Demand deposits declined, but time
savings increased, it was stated.
Fixtures More Numerous.
Business failures were more nu-
merous in the district than in either
March this year or April last year.
smaller than in March. 1924, when a
single corporation failed for approx :
mately s4o,ooo.o0o. the bank con-
tinued
Referring to la Dor conditions. the
bank said the situation. on the whole,
with the exception of farm help. was
satisfactory Textile mills, it con-
tinued. have curtailed running time
very materially in the absence of
forward orders, and are marking time
until ii becomes possible to judge the
prospects of the 1924 cotton crop.
owing to unfavorable weather con-
ditions, agriculture is getting away to
a late start, the bank said but added
that experts have an optimistic out
look. New construction work in the
district "is holding UP in remarkable
volume" it was stated. An improve
ment in retail and wholesale trade
was noted.
Business Before 7. &. G..
The Erie railroad applied to the In
terstate Commerce Commission today
for permission to pledge s2.o0o,ooo OF
its first consolidated mortgage 4 per
cent bonds and $1,692,o00 of its re-
funding and improvement mortgage
per cent gold bonds, to the Secre-
tary of the Treasury as additional col
lateral for loans to the company. and
to issue SS200.000 of refunding and
improvement mortgage per cent
gold bonds as collateral for various
outstanding notes of the company.
The Pere Marquette railroad received
permission today from the Interstate
Commerce Commission to abandon its
twenty-five-mile branch line from Ben
ton Harbor to Buchanan. Mich.
The Glenmora and Western Railroad
Company was authorized to abandon
seyenteen-mile stretch of it's line from
Holdup to McNary, La.