Evening star., 1926-04-20
GAIN Of S3,ODO,ODO
IN BANK C[EAR|NGS
First Two Weeks in April
Show Good Increase Over
Period of 1925.
BY EDWARD C.. STONE.

year ago by more than SO 600 900 the
gam revealing a substa ntial improve.
iheht In the volume of business being
carried on IN the National Capital ~
,ne present tlme in comparison with
Inc nrSt half of April in 1928. The fir
ureS are considered very imDortart as
check clearings are declared by bank.
erS to be the best barometer of busi
ness trends and volumes that are oh
talnabIe. The figures for the first half
OF April, compared with the first two
weeks of March. this year. show :.
Slght falling off, the drop being $685.
544
Business was little better during
the nrst week in April than for the
second week. According to the fg
ures of Charles f.. Bright. manager
of the Washington Clearing House
Association, Clearings for the veek
ending April 10 totaled S2S .3O6. 1856 and
for the week ending April u amount
ed to S27.514.477. the total for the
two weeks being S55.SSO,SG3. The
total for the same period in 1929 was
$o2,622.9l3. the exact gain in Clear.
ings, therefore. being S3.O57.9 .95u
Clearings for the first week in April
last year were also above the tota,
clearings for the second week Of tho
same month. Easter buying presun-
ably accounting for the difference
The figures Indicate that both
wholesale and retail trade in Wash
ington are ahead of last year in spite
of the recent cool weather, which j.
said TO have retarded buying in mill
merry goods as well as in light cloth
ing for Spring and Summer wear
Bank clearingS elsewhere in The
country are showing advances Las
week saw gain in New York over
the same week last year of "a pc
cent. The gain was more than per
cent in Boston. Philadelphia, New
Orleans and Los Angeles.
Bankers Dinner Big Success
There We're 175 local bankers at the
annual get-together dinner of the Dis
trict Bankers Association held at the
Columbia Country Club last evening
At the very brief business meeting
Francis q. Addison. ir., presided and
Frank j. Hogan was POSTMASTER The
program was wholly informal. there
being no set speeches. Among those
present were such veteran bankers as
Charles J. Bell, president of the
American Security and Trust Co, an6
Charles e. Glover. chairman of the
board of directors of the Riggs Ma
tional Bank. I. A. (PopD Fleming.
the dean of Washington's financial
writer's. one of the special guests, was
one of the speakers. Others called
upon TO address the gathering were
| Joseph w Mcintosh, controller of
! the currency: Charles W. Collins and
/ Willis j. Fowler. deputy controller.
Moving pictures taken at the las,
! convention of the bankers at Ho,
/ Springs were shown and made add
| tionally interesting by W. J. Waller.
as w. W. Spaid. general chairman of
! this years convention. was una BILE To-
attend. Thomas J. Brahany was At
! his best in entertaining and musical
selections by sIr. and Mrs. I. +. NJ.
Bowie were equally enjoyed CLYDE
s. Asher carried off the golf honors
in the afternoon tournament. while
! Robert Y. Fleming also diSpla we'd
amazing skill in his work on the
course. Very few of the golfers com
planned of the heat-in fact, the
/ arctic setting being complete with
! the possible exception of the aurora
| borealis. Snowfiakes and a bowling
i gale furnished special touches not OF
! the program.
! The bankers report that wide inser-
| est was manifested in the coming Hot
| Springs convention. the greatest aim
| of the pre-conVentiOn dinner being to
| boost this affair.
! TOday's Local Trading
I Trading on the Washington Stock
! Exchange today was of fair volume
but without marked price changes
! Capital Traction 5s registered 993t i'm
the opening transaction. District o.
Columbia Paper 5s came out at 81, ana
] Potomac Electric consolidated 5s sold
/ at 1OOIl on one 81 900 transfer.
| Three bank stocks made their ar
pearance during the days trading. the
sales including seven shares of Wash
ington Loan and Trust co. stock
which changed hands at Az. One 10
share block of Riggs Bank stoch
brought 450 which was I point lower
/ than a sale in the same issue ycster-
day. In the unlisted department there
were two sales of Departmental Bank
stock at 6l..
! Other stocks recording sales in
| cluded Potomac Electric Power pre-
, ferred. which opened at 1861 and
closed at 1865. Ten shares of Mer-
| chants Transfer and Storage pre-.
ferred brought 10l, while two small
sales of Washington Gas Light stock
were checked up at 67&.
Richmond Reserve Report.
| Bank debts of the Richmond Fed
! eral Reserve district as a whole =
/ that is to say, of the "a centers in
| cluded in the report-were lower dur
| ing the second week of April th3 n
| during the first week. but were sub
stantially in excess of the Compara-
| tive period a year ago.
Total debts of the fifth district
stood at $313 1856. 900. compared with
| $500. .1S9 900 during the week ended
April and $299 162 900 during the
correSDondinC 1925 period
Bank debts of the country as a
whole were down 11.2 per cent from
the previous week. but exceeded last
year by 14.4 per cent.
Other Financial Notes.
The Chaplin Sacks Corporation will
hold it's monthly meeting of the board
of directors Friday afternoon. The
company's business is reported as he
! ing satisfactory, although the weather
during the past few days has not been
| highly favorable TO boosting the ice
cream business.
The stockholders of the Security
Savings and Commercial Bank will
meet tomorrow Afternoon to approve
! the increase in capital stock from
| S2OO, 900 to $500 900, of which S50.0On
is to be in the nature fo a stock divi
dend of one share for each fonr
shares held.
Net income of S. s. Kresge Go. for
the first quarter of 1926 amounte !
to 81, ,5S7 ,666 after Federal tax, equal
after preferred dividends. to 60 Gems
share on S.67S.619 shares of $40 pa
value common stock. against S".169
9O4, or S5S0 a share on 367.919 snares
of $1O0 par stock outstanding in The
first quarter of 1925.
In connection with efforts being
made in Washington to get a law
passed by Congress preventing the
sale of worthless securities. reports