Evening star., 1926-04-12
FINANCIAL DISTRICT
H0N0RS C. ]. BELL
Veteran Bankers Birthday
Remembered by Many in
Allied Pursuits.
BY EDWARD C. STONE.

Nashington's financial district.
The man who has been president ot
he American Security & Trust Co.,
-or the past SO years was showered
With congratulations and best wishes,
he special occasion being the OBJ
'ervance Of his siXty-eighth birthday.
Recently President Coolidge had to-
,urtail handShaking on account Of
ne physical strain and party because
u the time required. If Mr.. Bell had
birthdays two days in succession. he
would have to adopt the same course.
When the bank opened for business
MS morning his office was SO filed
With flowers that he hardly had room
o sit at his desk. The tributes were
he gifts Of his associates in the bank
ina from personal friends outside.
Exchange Presents Flowers.
The Washington Stock Exchange
llso said it with flowers at the reg.
liar Monday morning session, such
'eteran members as Charles &. Glover,
chairman of the Riggs Bank board,
ind Albion X. Paris being present,
n addition to the regular traders, in
'rder to extend special Fluctuations.
eugene f. Thompson presided in the
tbsence of John l.. Edwards. the ex.
:hange president. Between the lively
bids of &. ]. Gockeler and George ..
Watson for local stocks, business waq
emporartly suspended and u huge
basket Of flowers presented TO Mr.,
Bell, Mr.. Thompson conveying with
he gift the best wishes of every mem
Der Of the exchange.
Mr.. Bell responded briefly, thank
ng the members for the gift and the
good wishes. "As long as ] have the
good will and friendship of my asso-
states and good health / don't care
1ow old / am" he said in conclusion.
Previously Mr.. Thompson had hu.
norously reversed the figures and re-
terred to Mr.. Bell as Sc instead of 6s.
Trading Rather Moderate.
Trading on the exchange today waA
secondary. with SO many fluctuations
1lling the air. Mr.. Glover burst In
Turing the proceedings and said he
had heard there was to be IAN old
mems party at the exchange"
Washington Railway and Electric
Is sold at 92; Gas Light stock stood az
59A; 10 shares of Capital Traction
came out at 10412: six shares OF Mer.
chants Transfer and Storage nre.
'erred brought 1O1, and 40 shares ot
National Mortgage and Investment
1t was announced during the c1s
change session that the annual meet.
ng OF the Lanston Monotype Co. Ill.
rectorS Will be held at Alexandria on
May for the election Of officers. pres.
Of reports and the transaction
Of any other business that may come
up at that time.
The board of governors Of the Stock
Exchange has voted to list common
stock of the Title and Investment Co.
OF Maryland on the local board. The
stock will he available for trading to-
$206, 900 worth of the shares
at $50 par TO be listed. The headquar.
ters of this company are at 1912 X
street. this city. 1t is also announced
that the old shares of Mergenthaler
STOCK. recently replaced by the new,
Will be dropped from the board on
April 10.
Convention Plans Pushed.
1t is expected that representatives
ot 400 business organiza tions will
attend the annual meeting of the
Cnlted States Chamber of Commerce.
to be held here from May IL to Is.
Questions of import to every branch
OF business will come up for discus.
sion, hut the most important tonic
Is expected to be Self Regulation in
Business. Other interesting sub
JectS are Local and State Taxation
and Budgeting" and Relation of the
States to the Federal Government.
Average Yield Is Lower.
Moody's weekly review of financial
says in part:
Our averages of the price of cap.
being equivalent TO the av-
erage yield of new investment is-
sues-have fallen back to the previous
low record of 5.77 per cent. We may
now reasonably anticipate a general
downward trend in the price of can.
ita1 throughout the balance of the
present year and the first half of
1927 and perhaps longer"
Further Decline in Prices.
A further decline in Dunn's IndeS
Number of wholesale quotations is
reported, and the April total is
: Sl90,47S. This figure, representing the
cost per capita of a years supply of
is IL per cent under
that for March | and is at the lowest
point touched since September, 1924.
The index number has shown declines
for four consecutive months, though
the downward trend has been gradual.
and 1t is little more than per cent,
below the $194,537 of year ago. IL
Is, however, about SO per cent. above
the pre-war basis.
Employees Profits lis Per Cent.
The Standard Oil Company of In.
LLAMA will distribute $40 900 shares ot
is stock May 90 to 1890 EMPLOYEES
who participated in the Company'S
first stock purchase plan, inaugurated
i've years ago.
During this period the company has
put in 30 cents for each dollar sub.
scribed by employees. The subscrip.
ions of employees totaied Sill 500 900.
With the amount put in by the com.
,any and the markets tappreciation ot
he stock, the employees have a profit
VI 1l5 per cent. The stock they will
receive has present value OF
s25, ,350 900.
Closer Relationship Seen.
Recent declines of stock prices have
,rought the stock market into closer
with general business so
hat it's movements may again fuuc.
ion as important evidence on the
outlook" according to the monthly
-eview of the American Bankers As
Journal, issued today. 1t
avs:
"Of the several factors mentioned
Ls contributing to the feeling of un-
certainty as to the future of business,
most attention has been
,iven during the past month to the
harp decline in stock prices. At the
md of March average prices of rep
stocks on the New York
stock Exchange had declined about
10 points, or 90 per cent within Il
,eriod of six weeks. This appears to
ave been q more abrupt decline than
occurred following the peak in any of
he five previous bull markets in the
,ast 20 years"
DRY GOODS STEADY.