Evening star., 1939-03-06

al City Bank, .- IT,.
and P. R. Will '""' '' A'""'
liams, vice president. Bank of Amer
lea and president Of the saving di-
vision of the A. B. A.. will appear
with Mr.. Benson at the first general
session.
The program includes some so
speakers, among them being Arthur
j. Linn, controller of the Hamilton
National Bank. this city, who will
appear at a round table conference
Wednesday afternoon. on operation
problems Of commercial banks. His
subject will be Expense Control
Another speaker from Washington
will be DR.. Ernest M. Fisher, eco
nomic adviser and director, division
of economics and statistics, Federal
Housing Administration. He will
speak on "A Sound Mortgage" at the
round-table conference on savings
banking problems Wednesday aft
ernoon.
Peoples Drug Sales Climb.
Sales of Peoples Drug Stores, Inc,
in February, totaled s1,737,14747 in
comparison with S165815 in
February, 1898, an increase of S78,-
99421, or Ats per cent, it was an
nounced at the head Office of the
big drug chain here today.
Sales in the first two months OF
the present year amounted to So
5l0,367.74 against s3,404 200.09 in
,ol> Of
gain of S106,0T965, or 311 per cent.
Peoples Drug sales in January to-
tailed S2,475, 1929, which was an
increase of S40,80l55 over January,
1888, or 2O1 per cent. The February
percentage upturn was we'll ahead
of January.
Association Chief Returns.
Hilleary G. Hoskinson, president
of the District Bankers Association
and one Of the vice presidents of
the Riggs National Bank, was back
at his desk today after months
vacation in Florida. He reports Flor
ida resorts as having one Of the
best seasons in years. There are
absolutely no indications Of any
business recession, judging by the
number Of visitors there and the
amount of money being spent.
H. Prescott Galley, president of
the National Savings & Trust Co.,
who is now in Arizona for a winter
rest, reports that he is very pleas
antly situated. He will remain there
some weeks.
Eliot H. Thomson. Washington
Loan & Trust Co., will give the first
of a series of 10 addresses before
employees of the Marshall Bank &
Trust Co. at Marshall, Va, Thurs
day night. He will discuss public
relations. The other speakers will
also be from Washington.
Robert C. Jones, head of the in.
vestment banking firm bearing his
name, left Washington yesterday for
vacation in Punta Gorda, Fla,
where he will try his luck at tarpon
fishing.
Exchange Trading Expands.
Dollar values OF all sales on the
Washington Stock Exchange in
January was notably ahead of the
same period in 1888. the Securities
and Exchange Commission reported
today All sales totaled $121,710 in
January this year, against S90,520
in January, 1888 Sales were Slight
ly lower than in the previous month,
December business amounting to
Sl22869.
Stock sales alone in January were
$50, 1853, against 93,062 in December
and only $70,354 in January year
ago. The number of shares chang
ing hands in January was 963, COM
pared with 1,449 in January of last
year and 1886 in December, the
commission said.
Bond sales were ahead of the
previous month and the same month
last year, the report showed total
ing $35,051, against S29,767 in De-
cember and $20.166 in January, 1888
Total principal amount of bonds
sold was $34 500 also well ahead of
January, 1888.
Upham Sees Business Gaining.
The present banking situation, as
far as the national banks are con-
cerned, is very good" Cyril B. Up
ham. deputy controller of the cur
rency, declared before a House sub
committee on the 1910 appropria-
tions measure for the Treasury De-
partment.
Mr.. Upham said the business "at-
mosphere is getting better Visit
ing bankers seem to think that the
last two or three months show some
increase in business he added
Mr. Upham denied that banks are
heavily laden with Government
bonds, or that the condition is not
wholesome in this respect
He explained that banks prefer
to make good business loans. And
when those are not available to
them" he said, they invest their
money in bonds and securities"
Financial District Comment.
Employees of Sears, Roebuck & Co.
in Washington will have dinner at
the Hay-Adams House this evening.
The Association of Reserve City
Bankers will hold their annual con-
NClltiOll, way y W ~, dC oCl V1OlllC,
Calf. A very limited number of
Capital bankers are members.
Morton Bodfish, executive vice
president of the United States
Building and Loan League, is op-
posed to any increase in Federal
Housing Administration mortgage
insurance. He sees no reason for
Government competition with pri-
vate lending institutions.
Ten shares of Washington Gas
Light preferred stock sold at 105 on
the Washington Exchange today
Three 10-share sales of Gas common
appeared on the board at 30, up
point.
Potomac Electric Power per cent
preferred stock sold to the extent of
10 shares at It's today, half point
under the last sale Bonds were