Evening star., 1941-03-10
Stockholders Approve
Washington Gas
Preferred Issue
About IS Per Cent
OF Shares Represented
At Noon Meeting
By EDWARD c. STONE.

annual meeting held this noon,
voted in favor of the proposal to
increase the capitalization Of the
company by issuing 10000 shares
of cumulative preferred stock with
out par value, according to an
nouncement by President Marcy l..
Sberry.
About rs per cent of the COM
pany's outstanding stock was repre-
Sented at the meeting, although
only 6623 per cent was required for
adoption of the proposal. 1t was
reported last week that sufficient
proxies had been received to make
certain adoption of the plan. There
was a large attendance of stock
holders in person at today's meet
ing.
It is the intention of the Wash
ingtOn Gas Light Co. to issue 10000
shares of the new preferred stock
this year. as it is believed that So
100000 additional capital will take
care of present expansion needs.
The remainder of the stock, 10000
shares. will be issued from time to
time as considered necessary by the
Board of Directors, with the ap-
proval of the Public Utilities Com
mission.
All Directors Reelected.
Directors for the coming year
were also elected at today's meeting,
the present board being retained
in office. These directors are Albert
W. Atwood, Everett j. Boothby,
Robert c. Overs. Christopher H.
Pope. Marcy L. Sperry, Sidney F.
Taliaferro and COrcoran Thom.
MI. Atwood represents the public
on the board; Messrs. Boothby,
Overs and Sperry are company
officials. Mr.. Pope is president of the
Munsey Trust Co; Mr.. Taliaferro,
vice president of the American
Security & Trust Co.
The board formally approved the
action of the stockholders in voting
for the increased capitalization,
Just when the new stock will be
offered the public could not be
stated today. The matter now goes
to the Public Utilities Commission
for approval. For the moment the
Commission has only one member
who will not act on the application
until another member has been ap-
proved by the Senate. Such action
is expected shortly.
Funds Needed for Expansion.
The new capital will be used for
financing extensions and improve
ments TO the property. During the
past five years the Washington Gas
Light Co. and subsidiaries have
expended more than S9000000 for
such purposes, over 50 100000 being
expended in 1910.
The annual report was also dis
tributed at today's meeting. Net
income of Sl.3l3,942 showed an in
crease of S82,I ,I45 over the previous
year.
After provisions of dividends on
preferred stock. the remaining earn
ings were approximately the same
as in 1899, equivalent to S2,52 for
each of the 4250OO shares of COM
mon stock, the report said.
Wholesale Trade Up Sharply.
Wholesale trade of 1863 firms in
the Fifth Federal Reserve District
was 19 per cent better in January
this year than last, according to
the latest survey by the Richmond
Reserve Bank. Sales OF electrical
goods made the best showing, ad-
Vancing So per cent, while industrial
supplies ranked second, with an
upturn of 81 per cent over Janu-
ary, 1940
Wholesale drug sales were up 20
per cent: hardware. Is per cent; |
groceries, u per cent; paper and
paper products, IS per cent; tobac-
co and tobacco products, 18 per
cent, while miscellaneous sales
moved up % per cent. Auto sup
plies were in slow demand, show
ing an increase of but l per cent. !
The demand for shoes was prac-
ticauy the same as in January, |
1910. but was Isl per cent better
than in December. the survey said. |
Turning to retail furniture sales |
in January. the same review states
that sales by seven leading stores !
in Washington were 36 per cent
ahead of January a year ago. Bal
timore furniture sales gained % per
cent and Richmond 3 per cent over |
last year. IN the State figures,
Virginia and North Carolina re-
ported IT per cent advances, while |
South Carolina was up SO per cent, |
same as in Washington. The fifth
district average upswing was 26 per
cent the report said.
Hold Fate of Financial Bills.
The Senate Banking and Cur |
iencv Committee has recently re-
Ceived a host of bills for study and !
approval which contain provisions
of great importance to banks. The |
number of these bills is constantly
increasing. The personnel of this
committee which controls the fate
of so many proposed measures,
follows:
Democrats-Robert F. Wagner of |
New York. Carter Glass of Vir- |
ginia, Alben w. Barkley Of Ken
lucky, James F. Byrnes Of South !
Carolina. John H Bankhead, ID, |
of Alabama; Alva B. Adams of Col
orado. Francis Maloney of Connect
icut. George L. Radcliffe of Mary
land, Prentiss NJ. Brown of Michi-
gan. James H. Hughes of Della
ware, CLYDE L. Herring Of Iowa,
William H. Smathers of New Jer-
sey. John E. Miller of Arkansas,
D. Worth Clark of Idaho and Sheri-
dan DoWney of California.
Republicans-Charles w. Tobey
of New Hampshire, John A, Danaher
of Connecticut. Robert A. Taft of
Ohio, John Thomas of Idaho and
Joseph H. Ball of Minnesota.
TOday's Trading on Exchange.
Washington Gas Light preferred
stock opened trading on the Wash
ington Stock Exchange today, with
a small lot selling at 1862, un-
changed