Evening star., 1934-10-13

St. LOUIS. a
Mr.. Morehouse ID
has long been ~ Z. s a. /! \.
very active in the WE~sESskz
affairs of the w. R. MorehOuse.
national association. In 1925 and
1926 he was president of the savings
bank division and at present is a
member of the associations commerce
and marine commission.
Mr.. Morehouse has written numer-
Gus books on banking, some of the
titles of which are Bank Deposit
Building; Bank Letters; Bank
Window Display Advertising; Bank
ers' Guide Book" which has been
used by $4,000 banks; THE New
Bankers Guide Book; How to
Succeed in the Bank" and Written
Examinations for Bank Employees" ."
Some of these books have been trans
lated into three languages.
Robert V. Fleming, second vice
president of the A. B. A., is slated
for election to the first vice presi-
dency at the coming convention here.
Selection of the second vice president
Is always of great Importance, since
it means that two years later the in
cumbent will be president of the
association.
Tom K. Smith, generously men,
toned for the honor by Mr.. More
house, was in Washington several
months as an assistant in the Treas
ury Department. He left here to at
tend to pressure Of business at home.
Only the other day he was ap-
pointed by President Law as chair
man of a subcommittee to study
possible changes in the Nations
banking system and make recon-
mendations to the larger A. B. A.
committee Of. which Mr.. Fleming is
chairman.
Authors Laud Securities Act.
A thorough analysis of the 1884
amendments to the Federal securities
act leads definitely to the conclusion
that they have removed the bar to
the marketing of legitimate securi-
ties by large and small businesses.
This is the opinion of ]. K. LASER,
c. P. A., and j. A\Gerardi, member
of the bar of the District of Colum-
bia, whose book, Federal Securities
Act Procedure" has just been pub
lished by the McGraw-Hill Book Co..
While much has been written in
criticism of the act, the authors take
the stand that it is a piece of per-
manent legislation, which. under the
rational administration that it will
undoubtedly receive from the Securi-
ties and Exchange Commission, will
be a workable mechanism.
According to MesSrs. LASER and
Gerard, the 1884 amendments suffi-
ciently liberalize the punitive provi-
sions to permit freedom of action,
without removing the penalties pro-
Vided by the original act designed to
compel proper disclosures to investors
by officers, directors, underwriters,
accountants, attorneys and others
connected with the issuing of Sc
curities.
They point out that it is fallacious
to assume that registration Of a
security with the Securities and EX-
change Commission and the absence
of an order of the commission Sus-
pending the effectiveness of the regis
tration, is an indication that the
merits of the issue have been ap-
proved or that the contents Of the
registration statement are accurate.
That premise has already been re-
sponsible for much loose thought and
the creation of mistaken impressions,
In their opinion.
The authors direct attention to the
fact that the act in no way limits
the practices of high pressure door
to-door peddling of securities that are
distributed without the use of the
instruments of interstate commerce.
Sees New Mortgage Concerns.
Chairman Jesse H Jones of the Re
construction Finance Corp. declares
that the next big job on the admins
tration's program for unfreezing cred
its is to revive the real estate mort
gage business through the creation of
new mortgage trust companies.
The chairman said he did not see
any parallel between the Mcleod bank
pay-off bill and Controller O'Connors
plan to wind up the liquidation of
some 300 or 400 receiverships of small
closed banks.
The chairman reported that to date
the R. F. c. has authorized 1892, ,000,-
600 in loans to closed banks and that
there was not more than $100,000,000
of like loan potentialities throughout
the country.
Mr. Jones indicated that an extern
sion of time beyond January, 1885, for
making industrial loans would be
asked of Congress.
w. Walker Williams, retiring presi-
dent of the Mortgage Banking Asso-
citation of America. told President
Roosevelt this week that the mortgage
bankers of the country are entirely in
sympathy with lending agencies of the
Government so long as they are of an
emergency nature.
American Stores Sales Gain.
Sales of American Stores Co. for the
four weeks ended September 29 are
reported as totaling $8,354,964, against
$S,299,376 in the like period a year
ago, an increase of $55, ,588, or 0.6 per
cent. The company's sales for the
first nine months of this year totaled
$64 4,907,3l7, in comparison with $780,
736,062 in the same months in 1933
an increase of $4,171,255, or 81 per
cent.