Evening star., 1936-02-08
ABA. CHIEF POINTS
TO BANK CONTROL
Public Should Be Informed
of Strict Regulations,
Fleming Declares. =.
BY EDWARD C. STONE.

we do have Is chartered banking
system. regulated and controlled by
Government authority, he said.
The Washington financier was re-
plying to the oft-heard bitter claims
that the banks of the country are run
according to the whims and fancies OF
the bankers and for their own selfish
interests. He said the people of the
United States should be made aware
of the amount of law which has been
passed in Congress to regulate ma
tionally chartered banking institutions.
1t is fact, he declared, that it takes
810 pages merely to repeat the laws
pertaining to the national banking
system. In the State of New York 1t
takes book of 7l8 pages to recite the
statutes regarding State-chartered
banks, and some 10000 pages of law
throughout the Nation to recite the
banking codes of all the States.
The rank and file of the people are
probably not aware of the fact that
chartered bank in America must )e
willing at any time to permit the rep
resentatives of the people to investi-
gate any and every act of that insti-
tuition. They probably are not aware
of the fact that last year it required
a book of over 800 pages for the Con-
troller of the Currency to report upon
the public examination OF the
chartered national banks.
Banking. therefore, is not private
business run according to the whims
and fancies and for the benefit OF a
few people. 1t is a chartered business
operated through the American sys-
tenn of individual enterprise, but super
vised and regulated at every point by
the people through their governmental
representatives, Mr.. Fleming said.
Calls Profit System Misnamed.
The A, B. A. chief also paid special
attention to the so-called profit sys-
tenn when he said:
Looking beyond the field of bank
ing primarily. to problem which con-
Germs business as well as banking, e
occasionally hear objectors bitterly
complaining about the profit system
of American business. They insist
that it must be superseded by some
sort of public ownership. They feel
that our present economic order has
been set UP by few business men who
do nothing but reap profits from their
enterprises. Hence. at the present time
there is feeling among some people
In the country that the profit system
is the thing which is fundamentally
wrong with us.
Now 1 submit that we do not have
q profit system in this country. More
accurately we have a proflt-and-loSs
system, and in recent years the en-
phasis has been on losses. The United
States Census shows that ITS, 900 cor
porations in the United States reported
net incomes in the year 1880, but that
284,000 corporations reported no net
incomes. Dun & Bradstreets reports
also show that for the 10-year period
from 1928 to 1888 there was an aver
age of 1000 business failures month.
How Income Is Divided.
Profit is the reward for man.
agerial skill which can avoid the pitt
falls inherent in every business enter
prise.
81 would not have you believe that
American business is simply one long
record of failure, for Dun & Brad
streets reports also show that for the
years 1923 to 1888 business as a whole
paid out about $4,000, 100000 year in
dividends. But that profit was made
only after SIS 15,OOo0OO,OOO a year had
been paid out in wages and salaries"
Mr.. Fleming concluded his address
by stating that the complaint is heard
that the national income goes in large
measure to the very rich. The Depart
ment of Commerce in Washington
compiled statistics on national income
based on the Treasury Department re-
ports for the year 1894, which re-
ported the following:
National income for that year to-
tailed S48,500 100000. Persons with
incomes of less than $4,000 a year
received SO per cent of that income
Between and II per cent of the
national income went to persons whose
incomes ranged from $4,000 to S100 900
a year. Less than l per cent went to
persons whose incomes ranged above
100000 a year, he said.
neal Estate Law Mastered.
Washington Chapter, American Saw
ings Building and Loan Institute, un-
der the direction of Harry j. Kane, jr.
secretary of the Columbia and Real
Estate Title Insurance Co.'S, has just
completed successful first semester
in real estate law. With the compile
tion of this course, several members of
the chapter will have satisfied the re-
quirements leading to diploma in the
American Savings Building and Loan
Institute, which is awarded at the end
OF the successful completion of three
year course in the fundamentals of
the building and loan work, admins
tration, accounting, analysis, apprais-
ing and real estate law.
During the coming semester. start
Ing February 13, course will be given
on the fundamentals of Building
and Loan Work" Alfred Baker. attor-
ney and general counsel for the Home
Building Association. will be the in
structor. Many employees of the build
Ing and loan associations in the city
are expected to attend the class, which
Is held Thursday evenings at 7 o'clock
in the Thomson School at Twelfth
and L streets northwest.
Officers of the chapter this year are
Julius Maedel, president; r. L. H.
Jones. first vice president; Wilson
Camp, second vice president: Miss
Esther Devers, secretary. and Thorn
ton w. Owen, treasurer.
Financial District Notes.
The Washington Baltimore Insur-
ance Congress in Baltimore last
Wednesday drew an attendance of
1000, the largest on record. F. Bowie
Addison, president of the Baltimore
association, is a brother of Francis
G. Addison. jr., president of the Sc
curity Savings & Commercial Bank
in this city. j. E. McCombs is head
of the Washington association.
The Richmond Reserve Bank states