Evening star., 1927-07-21
QUIZ NEARBY BANKS
ON CLEARING HOUSE.
Questionnaires Sent to Insti-
tutiOns in D. c. Area as
to New Project.
EN EDWARD G. STONE.

EN EDWARD &. STONE.
| Victor Il. Dcybcr. secretary of the
| Washington Clearing House ASsoCia.
| ton is sending out qucstonnaires to-
| day to local and nearby suburban
| banks asking for information bearing
| on the proposal of organizing some
| kind of an auxiliary clearing house
| association to include banks in the
vicinity Of the Capital with which the
| Washington banks have extensive
| dealings,
The aim of the present inquiry Is
| find out just how much business local
| banks are doing with nearby institli.
| tions and how much these outside
| banks would gain by clearing through
| Washington instead of Baltimore and
| Richmond. Under present arrange
| ments two days are often lost in the
| mails.
Some of the nearby banks are
anxious to establish more direct con.
nections with Washington. The in.
| quiry will show how the others feel,
| about how much business an auxiliary
| clearing house organization would
| transact and how many banks would
| join 1t.
Railway Common at New High.
Washington Railway & Electric
common sold today on the local ex-
change at 25S. new top for the
year, The last sale was at 255, while
the low for the year is 1907 Other
| stocks were firm. Capital Traction
sold at l05, Washington Gas Light at
74%8, Potomac Electric Power ~ pre-
ferred at 10l 3s. Barber & Ross com
mon at 3612 and Railway & Electric
at 90
Bank stocks were active. Riggs
changed hands at 473, Washington
Loan & Trust at 1872, Second National
at 243 and Commercial National at
26o. Trading was fairly lively in the
being maintained.
Office Building Being Rushed.
Work on the Washington Building,
at New York avenue, Fifteenth and
streets, is being rushed rapidly to-
ward completion. AS announced some
time ago, it is the intention of Wea-
YER Bros, who are in charge of rent
ing the office space, to have some
banking institution on the second
floor Such negotiations are now in
progress, but no contracts have yet
been signed. so that the real estate
firms officials are not yet ready to
make public the name of the organ
ization with which they are dealing.
The Parker Bridget Co. is making
elaborate preparations for opening
it's furnishing store on the street
floor. The company has already Or
dered most expensive fixtures and
plans to have clothing establish
ment that will compare favorably
with any store of the kind in this
part of the country. Several lawyers
and newspaper men have already
taken space in the new building.
Fertilizer Outlook Brighter.
z. l.. Robins, president of the Ma
tional Fertilizer Association, has been
in the city to attend a meeting of the
directors. Mr.. Robins says the out
look for the industry is bright, but
warns against overproduction. The
low cotton prices reduced the buying
power so much this year that the re-
duction in sales in the South more
than offset gains in other sections.
However," he said, with the cot
ton price now up to II cents as COM
pared to II cents last December. pros
poets are brighter in the South for
next season. and fertilizer con5ump-
tion is increasing in the other sec
tions. particularly in the Middle West.
In Indiana. sales during the past sea-
son were 5 per cent larger than dur
ing the previous season, and our re-
ports indicate increases in Illinois,
Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In
Florida, sales were 4 per cent larger
than last season, and in Maine sales
also substantially increased"
Average Rents Show Decreases.
The high level of building costs and
the steady decline in rents are Gre
ating problem for the property
owner, the Brookmire Economic
Service reports. Building costs have
remained steady throughout the year
at about 80 per cent over 1913 costs
and wages are higher than ever
recorded. On the other hand, rents
are showing an uninterrupted de-
crease. February, the latest month
for which complete figures are avail
able, showed a decrease in average
rents of 2.8 per cent over February,
1926, which in turn was 3.3 per cent
below 1925. For the country as a
whole rents are s per cent below the
peak reached in 1924. while costs con-
tinue around the 1924 level.
$! - Stricken Firm Local List.
The board of governors of the
stricken from the trading list stock of
the Yellow Cab Co. and also Termi-
nal Taxicab common.
Yellow Cab was recently purchased
by Black & White. Following this
transaction exchange officials commu-
nicated with Yellow Cab with refer
ence to the stock listed here and it
was mutually agreed that it would
be taken off the board.
The governors then decided to re.
move Terminal Taxi also as this or.
ganizatlon was an auxiliary of the
other company. The stock sheet
shows that this stock pays per cent
and the last sale was made at 100. The
last sale on the local board of Yellow
Cab was made at % u. There has been
no trading in either issue in many
months, the stock having been ex-
tremly closely held.
Heard i'm Financial District.
President George l.. Starkey of the
National Bank of Washington. will
pass the week end at the Cavalier at
Virginia Beach, going down the Poto.
mac on the Norfolk boat this evening.
President 7 ter A. / ,ury of the Mer-
chants Bank and Trust Co. was a re-
cent visitor at the homestead, Hot
Springs, Va, Where many Washing
ton people are now staying.
G. j. GOekeler. vice president of the
D-~trlct National Bank, took a fish
ing trip down river yesterday. He
and his friends caught ~ fish.
Lanier =. McLachlan, banker and
secretary of the District Bankers AS
sociation, IS having a fine vacation in
Connecticut Fine fishing, fine golf
and fine food" he writes
Vice President L. j. McQuade of
O i i6n,,