Evening star., 1925-10-06
new PEPC0 STOCK
ISSUE IS POPULAR
Desirabi|ity as Investment
and Advance Orders Indi-
cate 0versubscription.
BY CHAS. p. SHAEFFER.

The forthcoming issue Of $1,000 900 8
per cent preferred stock Of the Poto
mac Electric Power Co.. which will be
opened for public subscription at 9Si4
within the next 10 days, according to
reliable Information. is arousins an
unprecedented interest in local in
vestnent circles.
The stock. which is designated "6
per cent series of 1925" will offer to
the public It's first opportunity Of in
vestine in the shares of the Potomac
Electric Power Co. The loan, which
Will he handled by the company itself,
In conjunction with local banking i'll
lots, which will afford to employees and
patrons Of the company every oppor-
tunity to become part owners of the
plant.
From the standpoint Of security. the
new stock will be virtually in a class
by itself. secured by an equity in the
plant Of more than six times the
amount Of the issue. after making de-
ducttonS for outstanding bonded in
debtedness. 1t will be free from the
normal Federal income tax and from
the District intangible tax Of u per
cent, which actually will put the Sc.
curity In the 6ia per cent class
Bankers and brokers. generally. re
port many demands for reservations
made by prospective customers, IA
dicating the loan will be quickly over
subscribed when put on the market.
Comment on Rail Shares.
SlugSishness Of the rail shares IL
the face Of uniformly favora bic August
earnings. continued gains In traffic
and the upward tendency Of indus
trial stocks have been ascribed in
some Wall Street quarters to the re
cent unfavorable developments affect
Ing consolidation projects requiring
approval Of the Interstate Commerce
Commission.
The proposed fifth trunk line OF l..
, F. Loree has encountered at least
temporary obstacle through the ad-
verse report against the construction
of a new railroad across Pennsylvania
and the Rock Island has been forced
to cancel s7.500.000 note issue sold
, to finance It's proposed acquisition OF
the st. Louis Southwestern Railway
| because Of the failure t. obtain In.
! terstate Commerce Commission ap-
proval. Cneasiness also has been
manifested over the long delay In
passing on the Nickel Plato" merger.
Other Financial Notes.
The Continental Trust Co. reported
a loss in deposits on September g OF
only s99.s29 instead Of decrease OF
| $lS9, 900 as reported.
+; Freight cars In need of repair on
| September - totaled l90,674. or 81
per cent of the number on line, ac-
| cording to the American Railway AS
sociation. This was decrease OF
! 6,604 cars under the number reported
on September /.
| Bank Stock at New Top.
! Stock of the Commercial National
! Bank held its high level, 1875, cs-
| tablished yesterday. in todays mar
ket, 40 shares changing hands. This
vas the only noteworthy feature or
! the days transactions.
| Railway preferred stock was quiet
at s5ia, u shares changing hands
while Lanston was also unchanged at
| S5l. on sales of 2o shares. National
! Mortgage and Investment. preferred.
/ was in good demand at 9is.
| Bonds were neglected. $1,000 Rail
way As at 80 and $500 Capital Trac-
ton 5s at 99i4 being the only sales
Land Bank Offering Coming.
! During the next two weeks Joint
| Stock Land banks will work out pans
| for the offering of $4,000, 900 of re
! funding bonds. Actual Offering of the
! major portion of these bonds will be
| accomplished this month. The first
| of the series consisted of 5000, 900
| Chicago Joint Stock Land Bank AZ s
offered last week.
| The ability of land banks to Inarke.
| Az per cent coupon bonds at this
| time is considered Of wide economic
| Importance. These banks are limited
| by law to charge the farmer no more
| than | per cent interest in excess OF
! the coupon rate of the bonds secured
by the farmers mortgage. and in view
| of the fact that the present market is
readily absorbing Az per cent bonds
at premium farmers in many sec
! tons are now paying 5l2 per cent in
| terest against 6 per cent two months
! ago. and In the future an even lower
| rate is expected.
] Extensive Refunding Plans
The Guy Huston group of hs INKS
! alone are expected to refund between
$4,000. 900 and SIS 600. 900 during the
next two weeks. Some interesting
facts regarding the financial condition
Of these banks are disclosed by figures
| released as part of the refunding
| program. For example. the Southern
! Minnesota Joint Stock Land Bank is
! to retire 4S54,ao0 of It's own 5 per
cent bonds and $3.50 600 of Minnea D.
| oils Joint Stock LAM Bank per cent
! bonds, which they have absorbed, with
cash and Government securities which
| they now hold Many other land ha nks
are in equally good shape, and many
millions will be retired out of cash and
cash items without recourse TO new
| fina ncing.