Evening star., 1934-08-04
SEES THRIFT WAVE
GRIPPING NATION
Benson Points TO Large In.
crease in Mutual Saw
ings Accounts.
BY EDWARD C. STONE.

thrift is gripping the whole Nation.
The continued increase IN mutual
savings accounts. he asserts. can
mean but one thinp--the average
man or woman Is financially bette
on than IN some time
He bases hts claim on the fact that
mutual savings banks nov have the
greatest number Of deposits on record,
1896. .s47. or q gain OF 275.sss in the
past six months. as compared with a
gain Of l0e 49s In the like period IN
1888.
In our institutions" Mr. Benson
adds. we always measure the trend
by the number Of accounts rather
than the total OF deposits, but We
nov have substantial gain in both
cases for the half year
--latest estimates point TO an in
crease Of about 81 900 000, 600 in all
bank deposits during the same period.
IL Is gratifying 70 see that mutual in
stitutions have received 12iz per cent
OF the gain, mostly In small amounts.
which shows the public will save. and
in my opinion provides one Of our
koundest reasons for confidence" the
association official added
Deposits in mutual savings banks
roee by sl25. .766, ,227 for the half year.
the total being S9. 100, ,377 .o72. New
York led with an increase Of $50, ,l69,-
476; Massachusetts, was next, $23,-
9,391. and Connecticut. sl2,54l. .791.
In each case the gain marked a re-
versal Of the trend in the last six
months Of 1888. when mutual deposits
in the three States registered moder-
ate receSsions. Maryland also made
an excellent showing.
Assets followed the same curve,
growing by sl47,999,7 ,773 to a total of
SIl l,oo4, 600 ,035.
"Wlse Men" Buying.
A prosperity to be real must be
taking constructive advantage Of the
huge financial facilities at its disposal.
The mistake men make. the magazine
Sphere believes, Is to assume that
there are no opportunities for invest
ment. The truth is that inventive
genius is creating obsolescence so
rapidly that the supreme task is not
to find media for capital employment
but to prevent so rapid progress as TO
wipe out existing investment too fast.
Sphere adds:
Masters of the air, we still do not
commercially fly the oceans because
the financing of airdromes has been
delayed. We travel in needlessly
heavy ships because the new alloys
are not employed to make lighter
ones. We submit to slow and bulky
trains because we are tardy in re-
placing them with the superior We
hicles engineers have produced. We
have scarcely begun to make our
habitations as comfortable in Sum-
mer as they are in Winter. We have
Nation still to be furnished with
electric equipment for its rural dis
tricts. We have a continent to be
protected against erosion. Our me-
chanics are still of the stone age in
comparison with what will be, as in
ventors 60 their way discovering new
and better methods of making ice,
refrigerators, washers and pretty
much everything. Vast as our flnan-
cial resources are, they can be used,
all of them, profitably in the speed
era of chronological improvement that
is even now in progress.
"A new economy has been intro
duced and its oxygen is advancing
prices, which is but another way of
saying that the devaluation of the
dollar must be absorbed. The method
of absorption is the revival of invest
ment movement. The value of the
dollar is shifting and all token values
must shift with it. Wise men, of
whom there are too few, understand
this thoroughly. They are not selling
America, they are buying it, for they
put their faith in the inevitable"
Fewer Commercial Failures.
Commercial failures in the fifth re-
serve district in June, according to
Agent w. w. Hoxtons latest review,
were less numerous than In any other
month since August, 1920 The local
record was better than the national
record both in number of insolvencieS
and liabilities involved.
Bankruptcies in this district de-
elined 479 per cent in the first half
of 1884. compared with the same
period in 1888, and aggregate liabili-
ties declined 69S per cent over the
same period last year.
Mr.. Hoxton says that, generally
speaking, acreage in the district
planted in money crops has been re-
duced, while acreage in food and feed
crops has been materially increased.
1t is too early to estimate accurately
probable production.
There is a lighter demand for farm
workers this Summer because of the
decreased acreage, and this has in
creased the number of workers seek
ing employment in towns and cities.
Strikes have also added to the num-
Der of people requiring relief.
The average price for middling
grade upland cotton on 10 Southern
markets was 1877 cents per pound
on June Is, but on July IS, the latest
date for which official figures are
available, the average price had risen
to 1886 cents per pound. the highest
price since June, 1890.
Gossip in Financial District.
The washington office of Hemphill,
NoyeS & Co. announces that the New
York Stock Exchange firm has sb-
sorbed the Detroit firm Of winthrop,
Mitchell & Co. This action is in line
with the firms policy of expansion
which was applied to Washington
when Hemphill, Moves & Co. took
over the local business of Goodbody
& Co., and of Maynard, Oakley &
Lawrencs. The firm now has branch
Offices in Is cities.
Many people in the financial dis
trict have received copies of an ad,
dress made by Representative Samue
B. Pettengin of Indiana, in which ht
declares the Presidents gold policy
has worked so well that it has beer
the chief factor in recovery to date
When gold was $50 an ounce cottor
was selling at cents a pound. Wher
gold reached S35 an ounce cottor
went TO IL cents a pound, he says BY
way OF illustration
Leading brokers in this city are
awaiting some kind Of q Statement
from President Roosevelt on his re
turn 70 the White House. which vii