Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-10-02
BY 7. A. FLEMING.


made a clean, splendid recovery, for
which the shareholders may return
thanks to Wade III. Cooper. one Of
Weshington's most successful bank
ers. who took the presidency when 1t
was in the slough of despond, won
the dreaded mllion-dollar apple or
chards suit, turned a vacuum cleaner
into the note boxes, wiped out to a
complete eradication every unsavory
item and gave the shareholders a
bank worth keeping.
BY so doing. he added thousands
to their bank accounts and for the
good work accomplished should be
elected and reelected president just
as often as he will accept office.
The history of the Continental Trust
Company covers a period of nearly
| 20 years. 1t was orga nized by Nathan
B. Scott, formerly a United States
Senator from West Virginia, whose
success in the Dollar Bank and the
glass works at Wheeling, w. Va, was
pronounced. Mr.. Scott was head of
the United States Trust Company
when Eldridge Jordan obtained con-
troll Of that corporation.
A Varied Career.
The success Of the Continental
Trust Company was of a varied char
acter-the full effect of the panic of
1897 had not fully passed and bust
ness was slow and hard to land. Capt
Guy Scott, a splendid young man,
but not a banker, succeeded his father
and is accredited with having been I'M
fortunate in several large loans. After
his death he was again succeeded by
Nathan B. Scott after a number of
prominent bankers had been ap-
preached with tenders to office.
Wade Fl. Cooper, president of the
United States Savings Bank-the
stock of which has the highest value
per share Of any bank shares in
Wastington--was asked to accent the
position and did so. with the results
| noted above, the shares Of stock hav-
ing risen rapidly from below par to
materially above and Is very strong.
Yet there are some rumors of a con.
test for the presidency current on the
street today.
Bankers Urged to Watch Costs.
There seems to be very general
movement among bankers all over the
| country. an urge to watch costs, to
eliminate improbable accounts and
| to get rid of dangerous depositors, the
| kind that are constantly overdrawing.
check-kiting. and require that the
bank officials shall be constantly on
guard for danger.
1t has been frequently shown that
banks with many depositors frequent
ly derive as high as 80 per cent of
their profits from a comparatively
small number of their customers
while a large percentage of costs is
charged to the Improbable accounts.
which usually require more attention
than some of the good-paying deposi.
tors.
The Improbable account is not the
small account of necessity, not nearly
as much so as the dangerous account
for the small account has frequently
shown the steady growth of a. good
business mans account and often be.
comes the very profitable one.
Banks Here on Solid Basis.
The banking business in Washing.
ton Is today on very solid basis, for
which thanks should be rendered to
the Clearing House Association and
the District of Columbia Bankers AS.
ISOLATION.
Both Of these organizations have
worked long and faithfully to bring
about prevailing soundness. They
have been alert on the slightest sign
of weakness to mop up" the weak
sister, IL irrevocably gone, without
loss to the depositors and without
sympathy with shareholders who have
allowed themselves to be coaxed into
putting their funds into so.calIed
banks to further the ends of a pro.
fessional organizer or an ambitious
would-be president.
People will not patronize that kind
of an institution when there are so
many safe and certain banks readily
accessible. In the last decade there
were six or seven of such banks or
ganized. All have gone.
Any one desiring information as to
the banks that are not may readily
obtain 1t by study Of the city direc.
tory Of 1924 and the latest edition of
the same authority.
1t Cannot Spread.
Time was when bank frauds and I'm.
welcome depositors might run the list
OF active banks, one after the other,
and thus considerable time would
elapse before such operations were
checked permanently.
Now, however, they are brought up
"AehA es h'iAOA tdti. "A ucpOSllOT WICIl
a non.paying account was told the
other day that he would be obliged to
pay service charge or take his &C.
count away.
The deposit2r was decidedly bitter
and announced acceptance of the al
tentative, but returned in a day or
| two with changed mind-"there was
justice in the service charge"
The Luncheon Group.
One Of the most important gather
ings of bankers is held every Wednes-
day with 20 or more presidents, vice
presidents and cashiers of banks
gathered around the luncheon board
enjoying the midday meal, and after
that giving over the better part of
the hour to the discussion of bank
ing problems and the attempts that
have been made dAring the week to
get something for nothing from diff
ferent banks, attempts of this char.
acter being made every day in the
week.
In addition there are matters of law
presented for consideration every
week. So many different situations
present themselves in the regular
daily operations of banks that it's no
wonder some of the bankers find
themselves slightly mixed in their
views. and they take their problems