Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-30
FLORIDA F|NANC|ER
SEES TRADE GAINS
Tampa Banker Points to
Signs of Better Business
in Future.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, August 30.-Nothing
seems to discourage some business
leaders. Peter o. Knight, Florida
banker. lawyer, president of the Tampa
Electric Co., Is one of these.
When the clouds look blacklist, Col
Knight always sees the silver lining.
Florida. owing to a contraction of
its credit because of a multitude of
troubles, Is almost on a cash basis" he
informs me. And as soon as confidence
is restored, which is rapidly being done,
the possibilities of increased business
are magnificent"
Concerning the greatness of FloridaS
future, he has not the slightest doubt.
mo State in the Union has ever
been subjected during the same length
of time to as many disasters and troubles
as Florida in the last four and half
years; and it has successfully passed
through them ALL" says this Tampa
business man.
Florida has stood the acid test. And
it shows how fundamentally strong the
State really is. Its productivity per
acre is greater than that of any other
State. That's why business conditions
are better in Florida at the present time
than in any other place in the United
| States"
Col Knight uses three barometers of
business to prove his point:
THE Tampa Electric Co. shows
larger net receipts for June and July
of this year than for the same period
of last year.
The Lyons Fertilizer Co.. which does
business with farmers, receives 20 per
cent of the purchase price of its fer
| tilizer in cash upon delivery to the
growers. This could happen in no
other part of the United States.
The Exchange National Bank of
at any time last year. 1t has no bills
payable, has no bills rediscounted with
| the Federal Reserve Bank and has
more cash resources than at this time
| last year."
So Col. Knight concludes: eve arc
definitely now on the upgrade, and !
see nothing but sunshine ahead"
Merger RumOr Grows.
Should the Chemical National Bank
| and the National City Bank of New
York merge (and the rumor gets more
! insistent every day)-Percy H. john
ston, president of the Chemical National
is bound to loom large in the picture.
| This Southern banker came from the
| Citizens National Bank of Louisville
| Is years ago to accept a vice presi-
dency in the Chemical, and was made
its president just 3 years later, at
the age Of 80.
Now, at 4s, he is recognized as one
of the half dozen strong men in the
New York banking field.
Mr.. Johnston was born at Lebanon,
KY, and after graduating from the
| public schools began his banking career
at Is in his home town as a clerk with
| the Marion National Bank. For 10
years he worked there. Then he was
! appointed national bank examiner in
1907 and in a short time became chairs
man of the examiners in all Of the
Southern States south of the Ohio River
! and east of the. Mississippi River. .
| This position he left six years later
to become cashier of the Citizens Ma
tional Bank of Louisville: KY.
In addition to his banking work, Mr..
Johnston, known to be one of the rich
est of big bank executives. is a director
| in the New York Life Insurance Co.,
the Electric Auto-Lite Co.. the National
Surety Co. United States ~ Foreign
Securities Corporation and tie Waldorf
Astoria, Inc.
|, The Chemical National Bank is known
as a Southern hank on the street be-
cause of its large number of officers
from the Ssuth who dominate its policy.
Business Increase,
Business picked up slightly during the
week which ended August % If bank
debts, outside of New York; City, are
any indications. The increase was about
per cent over the preceding week, but
the volume was considerably lower than
for the corresponding period of 1929
Wholesale prices. however, receded
little under the low of the preceding
week. Also they were considerably lower
than for the same period year ago.
Bank loans and discounts Of Federal
Reserve Member Banks were slightly
smaller than for the preceding wick of
the same period of 1929. But the price
of stocks and bonds reported advances
in both over the preceding period. AS
compared with year ago, bond prices
were higher and stock prices were low
err Money continues to b. a drug on
the market. with interest rates for both
call money and time money down over
both the week before, and the year
before.
Business failures. too. were fewer dur
ing the past week than during the pre-
ceding period.
Business, for the period which ended
August Is, was quieteY than for the
preceding week in the steel mill activi-
ty, lumber output, petroleum production,
and the value of building contracts
awarded.
Cattle receipts and the price of wheat
at Kansas City, as we'll as bituminous
coal production, showed increases over
the week preceding.
From this Government survey, one
could infer that 1t was neither good
week nora bad week-just another of
those weeks so common this Summer.
Foreign Trade.
The National Industrial Conference
Board, in recent study on foreign
trade. says that 1.-The doctrine of iso-
lation. although still popular as politi-
cal sentiment, Is no longer practicable
nor desirable economically" The board
concludes that 1.-The United States must
increasingly look to foreign countries
for raw material for certain OF its in
dustrieS."
It cites several-rubber for automobile
tires. silk for clothing, tin for many
lines of industry.
The Conference Board foreSees a
larger share of our foreign trade going
to Latin America, with imports from
Canada remaining about the same.
american enterprise has promoted
copper mining in Canada, Mexico and
Chile: tin mining in Bolivia, petroleum
extraction in Mexico, Venezuela and
Colombia; numbering and paper manu-
facture in Canada, rubber growing in
the East Indies and Liberia. In
dustrialists in the United States are
turning actively to the problem of in
surfing for themselves supplementary
foreign sources of supply"
Not only the fight for markets, but
also that for raw materials is growing
more intense each year.