Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-11-11
OUT OF THE FOG
A Story of Adventure in the Air
BY W. BOYCE MORGAN

Looks like trouble down at the bank, "
he said, scowling.
whats the matter?" said Johnny.
He was used to being taken into the
confidence of his older friend, who
knew this boy could be relied upon
absolutely.
wen, there's really nothing wrong
in our bank, but the Farmers Trust is
in bad shape. And the worst OF 1t is,
Will probably be run on them tomor-
row. You know what run is, don't
you?"
II know that 1t means everybody
| tries to get money from the bank, but
don't quite get what It's all about"
admitted Johnny.
Neither do the persons who want
their money" commented Stan, with q
wry smile. "You see, banks never keep
more than a small fraction Of their
depositors' funds right in the vaults
in cash. That would be foolish and
unnecessary. Instead, they invest it in
loans to customers, and in bonds and
other securities which pay them inter-
est. In fact, that's how they make
their profit and keep operating.
Now, these investments OF the
banks may be perfectly safe, yet If a
bank wanted to get all its money out
of them in cash without much warn
ing, it would have trouble doing it. In
other words, although the banks assets
are perfectly good, some of them may
be what is called frozen, or unavail-
able. And if all the depositors get an
idea that the bank is unsafe, and de-
mand all their money at once, even a
sound bank may be embarrassed by not
having enough cash on hand"
Pretty Deep" said Johnny, "but I
think understand it,
We'll" went on Stan, II guess the
depositors have some cause for worry
about their money in the Farmers
Trust, and probably tomorrow there
will be mob of them down there,
trying to draw out their deposits.
That's what run is. And If the
Farmers Trust is in the shape think
it is, they'll have to close their doors
If they do that, lot of our depositors
will get panicky, too, and We'll prob
ably have run on our hands. We're
in goa shape, but you can never tell
whefe those things will stop when they
oNce start"
They reached the Decker farm then,
and nothing more was said about
banking for the time being. Stan and
Johnny went back to the pasture, and
spent many minutes looking over and
discussing the half-built hangar.
you're doing mighty fine job on
that, Johnny" complimented Stan.
"It'S going to make a real home for
my crate Well, let's go over and
have look at her. I'm not going up
today, but I always like to feast my
eyes on her"
The plane was being kept under
a large shed while the hangar was
under construction. Stan went over,
lifted up the canvas that covered the
ship, and gazed at it fondly.
You're a pretty expensive toy, old
girl" he said with grin, "but some
day you may prove worth the money
put into you"
Stan left a few moments later, and
Johnny spent the few hours remaining
until dusk, busily working on the
hangar.
On the following morning he was
on his way to school when he saw
huge crowd gathered on one of the
main corners Of the town. He began
to hurry. wondering what the excite
ment might be. and then he noticed
that the crowd was around the en-
trance to the Farmers Trust Co.
At once STAINS words of the preceding
day came to him.
"Whewl" he gasped "Stan was
right. They certainly are going after
the Farmers Trust, hot and heavy
Although the bank would not open
for almost an hour, Johnny saw that
fully a hundred people were lined up
at the closed doors, and he noticed that
their faces were grim, or worried, or
angry-looking.
(To Be Continued Next Sunday