Evening star., 1933-12-11
FRANKLIN OFFERS
65PER CENT CASH
Depositors Asked to Sign
Waivers on 35 Per Cent
for Reopening.

Depositors of the Franklin National
Bank will be asked to waive 35 per cent
of their deposits in order to receive IS
per cent in cash when the bank reopens
as part of the new Mechanics Frank
lin Savings Bank
This long-awaited development was
disclosed today as the bank rushed
forward with plans to release more
than 100000 to its depositors as soon
as possible. 1t is believed the bank will
open sometime early next year, but a
definite date has not yet been deter
mined
The IS per cent which depositors of
the Franklin will receive when the bank
reopens is the largest percentage for a
first dividend of any of the unlicensed
banks which have reopened in the Dis
trict of Columbia. Only one insolvent
bank has paid as much as 65 per cent
to date, the Departmental Bank. and
this was accomplished in two or three
different dividends.
Malling 10 be SpeeQeQ.
The form Of the waiver was being pre-
pared today by counsel for the bank,
William F. Kelly, in cooperation with
Treasury Department officials AS soon
as the final draft can be officially ap-
proved it will be printed and rushed to
depositors
no T,roy, 1iv, &c
stood facilities have been prepared to
speed up this mailing process so that
the first waivers should go out within
ther hitch in the final form of the
waiver itself
Accompanying the waiver will be a
letter from bank officials explaining the
program to the depositor.
Will Begin Stock Sale.
The 35 per cent to be waived is to be
represented by remaining assets of the
bank to be placed in the hands of three
trustees. These assets will be liquidated
gradually under friendly form of slow
liquidation in order to realize the max
imum cash.
The Franklin Bank becomes a part
of the new Mechanics Franklin Savings
Bank, and will begin a sale of stock
in the merger as soon as the first waiv-
ers go to depositors. The stock is to
sell at $40 a share, half of which is par
value for the stock, and the other half
for surplus. The Franklin will offer
to stockholders of tn old Franklin
Bank, to its depositors and to the public
a total amount OF 100000 worth of this
new capital structure.
Ezra Gould, who is president of the
Washington Mechanics Savings Bank,
the open institution around which the
new merger centers, has been busy with
many details for expanding his present
institution. Thomas P. Hickman, vice
president of the Franklin National Bank,
is to be vice president of the merger,
and John B. Cochran, president of the
Franklin National Bank, is to be chair
man of the board of the Mechanics
Franklin Savings Bank.
Labor Unions to Act.
Meantime, steady progress was being
made by the third bank member of the
merger. the unlicensed Mount Vernon
Savings Bank, which today was rapidly
nearing its goal on return of waivers
from its depositors.
Important action Is to be taken
shortly by several important organized
labor unions which are big depositors
In the bank, and when the anticipated
approval of these groups is given to
the waiver program Of the Mount Ver-
non Bank, it wNl give a tremendous
impetus to the waiver and stock selling
campaign of that institution.
The Mount Vernon Bank is also SELL
ing stock in the new Mechanics Frank
lin Savings Bank at the same price of
$50 a share. The waiver agreement for
the Mount Vernon Bank provides that
depositors waive 60 per cent and receive
40 per cent. The Mount Vernon Build
ing, Ninth street and Massachusetts,
avenue, is to be headquarters for the
new merger