Evening star., 1924-02-28
Rail- WAY COMMON !.
TRADING FEATURE
Gains 7-8 of Point-CoIum.
bia Graphophone's Plan.
Other Financial Notes.

Decided strength in the commo.,'
stock OF Washington Railway and
Electric Company. carrying with it q
net advance OF 7s OF a point, was
the outstanding feature of today
trading on the Washington Stoc;s
Exchange. This security opened ar
the days high, Il 7s, dropped back to-
4 and recovered its high on Sales
of sixty shares.
The remainder of the session wa
listless. Capital Traction stock was
unchanged at 345S, but Washington
Gas eased off to 49h on sales OF five
shares. Three shares of American
Security and Trust Company sold az
300.
Utilities monopolized bond trading..
Capital Traction IS brought 81, Wash
ington Gas 6s, 100A, and Railway A.
were unchanged at ~.
Bankers Favor Gold Loan.
1t is noteworthy that total loans.
discounts and investments Of leading
banks throughout the country ara
now within per cent Of the total he:t
In May. 1920 when the postwar boon.
reached its height. In 1920, however
leading banks were borrowing more
than S2,000,0 100000 from federal re-
serve banks. leaving the regtor%I
banks with an alarmingly low ratS
and making liquidation imperative.
Conditions are now completely ra-'
versed. According TO last statement !
available. leading banks owe juf,
about one-sixth as much TO fede5a.
reserve banks as they owed four year
ago: federal reserve banks have G..
ratio nearly double that of 1920. an;
their earning assets are SO low thai
any further reduction will result liz
revenue being too small to pay eX-
penses and dividends on stock. Whila
In 1920 1t was certain that expansion
would be checked, II now seems rea
eonably certain that IL will be In,
creased
Bankers say a part of our surplus
portions, well secured. can be ar
ranged, that might solve the present .
problem, the consensus holds. i
neither bank loans nor investments
lower interest rate. 1t is thought, Is
inevitable.
Columbia Graphophone's Affairs. .
It is expected that the Columb;,.
Graphophone Company. Inc, will sue
ceed the present Columbia GRAPHIC
phone Manufacturing Company o.
March 1. Reorganization plans have
been approved by the holders Q.
about s20.00o,000 OF the $2S,91o,41l.
notes, bonds and other claims 4"
Personal Mention.
James Trimble, vice president o:
the National Bank Of Washingto" RI
will lecture before officers Of Ii.
Supply Corps, United States Navy
tomorrow afternoon at o'clock o.:
vi Eyaroip N YjoDS"
The credits class of "ashingtoc
Chapter, American institute or BanA-
owing TO the inability OF InStTucto.
Starkloff to be present.
Reserve Bank Reports
The Federal Reserve Board In =,
review of business conditions, made
public today, reported that the u usuallJ"
expected slump following the holidays
was narrower in scope in January and
February this year.
Coupled with the increased outpui
In basic commodities was heavier
demand for credit for commercial pur-
poses, indicating continuation of q
healthy business development the re-
view said.
Production increases were mos.
marked in steel ingots, lumber and
bituminous coal and in the mill con
sumption Of cotton. Contract awards
for new buildings were slightly high
er in value in January than In De
cember and were 90 per cent greater
than in January. 1923
Along with the increased produc- =
ton in basic commodities there was d
resultant increase in railroad ship
ments. Compared with & year ago.
January department store sales were
z per cent greater, although the stocks
Of the reporting stores were slightly
smaller than those on hand in Janu'
ary. 1929.
The volume of borrowing for con?
mercial purposes at member banks
of the Federal Reserve System in tho
leading cities. after an almost con-
tinuouS decline for more than three
months, increased considerably, the
review showed, the increase being
particularly notable in the last two
weeks of January and first two weeks.
of the present month.