Evening star., 1936-12-02
D. c. BANK VOTES
SPECIAL DIVIDEND
Commerce & Savings Orders
So a Share in Addition
to Higher Regular.
BY EDWARD C. STONE.

terday.
This makes total dividends declared
during the year $12 per share, as the
bank paid regular semi-annual divi-
dend of So a share in June and an
extra Of So a share at the same time,
Thomas j. Groom, vice president, said
today.
Both the IS and So dividends just
voted are payable January to stock
holders of record December 20.
The directors also voted Christmas
bonus in the form of a half months
salary to all officers and other en-
ployes of the bank This is the first
Christmas bonus announced by any
Washington bank this year, although
several others are expected.
The directors were informed that
the bank is just completing the most
successful year it has ever had. De-
posits are now at an all-time high and
earnings the best Of any year on record
Mr.. Groom stated.
Two transfers to surplus were made
during the year, making the surplus
twice as large as the banks capital.
The branch Office at H and North Cap
itol streets, which is now two years old,
has been an important factor IN the
institutions more recent business
growth, officials say.
Mr.. Groom, the vice president and
cashier, Is first vice president OF the
District Bankers Association.
Real Drop in U. S. Loans.
The American Bankers Association
notes with great satisfaction that Tor
the first time in four years there has
been a sustained decline in the out
standing volume of loans by Gov
ernment agencies, with banks and
other private lending institutions re-
porting an increasing volume OF new
lending activities. The turn has come
after four years of almost uninter-
rupted lending by Government agen-
cies to meet all kinds of emergencies.
The drop in CURRENT lending by
Government agencies has become SO
marked that repayments on existing
loans are more than offSetting new
loans on the whole. This change
dates back to combination of cir
cunstances-cessation Of lending by
the Home Owners Loan Corporation
on June 13, large repayments by flnan-
cial institutions to the Reconstruc-
ton Finance Corporation and con-
tinued improvement in the farm real
estate situation, which enabled the
Federal land banks and the land
bank commissioner to curtail their
new lending still more sharply.
The greatly revised operating status
OF many of these agencies is signifl-
cant both to the Government itself
and to private lending institutions,
which have felt or feared the compe-
tition of depression-born Federal or
Plantations, says the A. B. A.
For one thing, the Treasury is now
recovering, in the net, on its so-called
recoverable assets-those assets which
have long been pointed to as making
q large part of the recent increase
in the public debt more apparent than
real
The decline in lending operations
has been especially apparent in agen-
cies established to meet the emer-
sency in agriculture and urban real
estate. This shrinkage of lending
applies also to the Federal land banks.
which, although in existence for 20
years, were practically powerless to
cope with the situation until Con-
eress revived them with large new
subscriptions to their capital in 1882,
the survey concludes.
Wholesale Trade Mounts.
Value of wholesale trade increased
noticeably in october, 1886, from Oc-
tober, 1885, and collections on ac-
counts receivable were made at a
higher rate over this period, accord
ing to reports of wholesalers in the
monthly joint study Of the National
Association of Credit Men and the
Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com
merce, Department of Commerce.
Total net sales of 1,146 reporting
wholesalers increased about Is per
cent in October, 1896, from october,
1885, continuation of a change re-
corded for every month of this year
over the corresponding month of last
year Without adjustment for sea-
sonal influences, October, 1896, sales
registered an increase of over per
cent from September of this year.
The increases over October, 1885,
ranged from per cent for tobacco
and its products to 489 per cent for
machinery. equipment and supplies.
Lumber and building material. furni-
ture and jewelry wholesalers averaged
increases in sales of over 35 per cent.
Heard in Financial District.
Washington bond dealers reported
. lively demand today for the new
$140, 100000 81 per cent debentures
phone &, Telegraph Co. They said
they could place all the bonds they
could get.
John G. Cronin of Los Angeles has
come to Washington to be associated
with Frear & Co., Woodward Build
ing. in charge of the new business de-
partment. 'Tr. Cronin has been as
sociated WI Ellery Mann, former
president of the Zonite Products Corp.
and now head of the Tampex Co.,
which has just registered its securities
with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
The Washington branch Office an
nounces that Burton E. Donaghy, a
field representative. and formerly with
the McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., has
been appointed to the New York sales
division.
Riggs Common at New Peak.
Riggs National Bank common stock
reached another new 1886 high on the
Washington Stock Exchange today
when a small sale took place at 322
after opening at 800.
Capital Transit stock moved at 15h
Washington Gas at 8o1a and Potomac
Electric Power 6 per cent preferred
at Ill. The days only bond sale was
$4,000 transfer in Georgetown Gas IS
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