Evening star., 1940-06-03
Fiduciaries Section
Completes Z Years
0fActive Service
Uniform Practices
Further Established
During Lost Yeor
BY EDWARD C. STONE.

ington Loan & Trust Co., has &C
complished much in the last IL
months in establishing and main
tanning uniform practices.
During the last year the section
consisted of Is banks and trust
companies, with "a delegates. In
addition to Mr. Amiss the officers
are Harold A. Kertz, assistant trust
officer, National Metropolitan Bank,
vice chairman, and Henry K. Dier-
koph, assistant trust officer, Riggs
National, secretary.
Reports of the standing commit
tees evidenced activity productive of
beneficial results. The Committee on
Standardization, under the chair
manship of Kenneth Brooks, trust
officer, Riggs National, was en-
gagged in determining the proper
basis for trust fees.
The Committee on Life Insurance
Trusts, under Aubrey o. Dooley, as
sistant trust officer, Hamilton Ma
tional, accomplished the formation
of the Washington ID. c. Insurance
Trust Council, composed of life in
surance and trust men and designed
to promote greater cooperation be-
tween the two groups.
New Service to Members.
The Committee on Trust Law and
Legislation, under the Craftsmanship
of Earl Jonscher, assistant trust Of
| ficer, American Security e. Trust
Co., created central clearing house
{ for the receipt and distribution to
the banks of decisions rendered in
! the District of.Columbia courts OBJ
tanning to trust and probate mat
ters, making available to all men,
bers of the association information
which ordinarily would not be of
public knowledge.
The Committee on Taxation, un-
der William H. Weigering, Riggs
National Bank, did excellent work
in recommending the need for legis-
lative amendments to the tax laws
During the II years, the flduci-
aries section has accomplished much
! IN improving trust and estate ad-
ministration in the District of Co.
lumbia, bankers assert.
D. C. Banks Make 2,123 Loans.
Washington banks, during the
period between June, 1889. the date
of the amended National Housing
Act, and April 30, 1910, made 2,132
Title l modernization loans amount
ing to a total of $941 041, it was
learned in the financial district to-
day
Title II mortgage insurance loans
granted by Washington banks from
the date of the original act in 1894,
up to March 81, 1910, numbered
1865 and reached the impressive
total of $10,459,570.
For several years the moderniza-
tion loans have been an important
factor in the improvement of WASH
ington property, increasing employ
ment and in the demand for various
building materials.
French New A. B. A. Officer.
Walter B. French, who will ad-
dress the District bankers conven-
tlon on Consumer Credit" is the
new deputy manager in charge of
the consumer credit department of
the American Bankers Association
A native of New Jersey he Was edu-
Gated at New York University.
American Institute of Banking and
Graduate School of Banking at
Rutgers.
He resigned as executive vice
president of the Trust Company of
New Jersey at Jersey City to direct
the consumer credit work for the
A. B. A, and is considered one of
the leading authorities in the coun-
try in this field.
New Base Period for Indices.
The director of the budget today
announced that the Central Sta
tistical Board has recommended that
all Government agencies adopt the
years 1859 as a uniform base
period for general-purpose index
numbers. Adoption of uniform
base period will make it easier to
compare the changes shown by
various statistical indexes. At pres
ent a multiplicity of base periods
prevails.
The Department of Agriculture
publishes some index numbers on
pre-War base and others on 1924
29 base: the Board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve system uses
1923-25 base; the Department of
Labor 1923-25, 1926 and 1929
base: and the Department of Com
merce l923-25, a 1929 and a 1929
81 base.
1t is expected that both the Fed
eral Reserve index of industrial pro-
ductlon and the Bureau of Labor
statistics cost of living index will be
published in the near future on the
1859 base.
Real Estate Bonds Slump.
The latest Amott-Baker realty
BOND price average indicates that
curing the month of May prices
cropped an average of go per cent.
This is the greatest loss shown in
any month since the average was
started over five years ago.
While this drop is a tremendous
one for any 30-day period. the de-
cline compares quite favorably with
the losses suffered in many other
types of securities. the review SAYS.
The loss for the month of Nav
wipes out the gains indicated for
the first months of 1910 and as of
May 81, the average price of a 81 900
real estate bond is 1888 or S.3 per
cent lower than the 1889 close.
New York issues showed the great
est decline both for the month and
for the year, being down Ills per
cent and 11.2 per cent, respectively.
Exchange Trading Active.
Following Saturdays summer clos
ing, today's trading on the WASH
ington Stock Exchange was par
ticularly active, prices generally
holding steady.
Twenty-seven shares of Washing
ton Gas Light common moved at
2ll2, unchanged. Washington Gas