Evening star., 1942-04-08

riS Plan Bank, Francis E. Robey.
has been appointed vice chairman
of the committee. The other mem
bers are:
D. J. Callahan, jr., assistant vice
president, Riggs National; Ralph
Endicott, assistant treasurer, WASH
ington Loan & Trust Co.; Robert
H. Lacey, cashier, Columbia Nation
al: Garrett A. Pendleton, assistant
treasurer. McLachlen Banking
Corp; Frank M. Perley, assistant
vice president. American Security
& Trust Co., and William B. Will
. lard, vice president, National Saw
ings & Trust Co.
Mellon Becomes Army Major.
Richard K. Mellon, president of
the Mellon National Bank, Pitts
burgh, has been commissioned as
major in the United States Army
assigned to the finance section, and
ordered to report in Washington on
April Is. He volunteered two
months ago. He is the second men,
ber of the Mellon family to join
the Army, his cousin, Paul Mellon,
son of the late Andrew j. Mellon,
having been commissioned a second
lieutenant in the cavalry.
Dean Elmer Louis KaySer of
George Washington University will
be the dinner speaker at the an
nual convention of the Maryland
Bankers Association at the Emer-
son Hotel, Baltimore, on May 81.
His subject will be The World Out
look"
Trade Here Best in Nation.
The Federal Reserve Boards
latest department store sales COM
parsons in the u Federal Reserve
districts show that the Richmond
district still holds the lead. Sales
from January l through March %
were 40 per cent better than
year ago, with Philadelphia Sec
ond with a 81 per cent gain. The
Cleveland area was third, up 33
per cent.
Boston reported % per cent
pickup in the three months; New
York, "a; Atlanta, 16: Chicago. 26;
ST. Louis, %; Minneapolis, 21; Kan
sas City, %; Dallas, II, and San
Francisco, g. The average gain in
the u districts over the like period
a year ago was 27 per cent.
Insurance Men in Service.
Bernard L. Wilmer. for many years
Washington agent of the State Mu-
nf INnrnaS-
ter. Mass, has been granted leave, to
take a commission in the Army.
Leon Katz has been placed in charge
of the local Office He has been in
insurance a long time and is a men,
ber of the District bar.
James A. De Force, head of the
De Force Life Insurance Agency, has
left the insurance field, having been
appointed assistant to the director
of the division of economics and sta
tistics in the United States Mari
time Commission. Mr.. De Force is
a chartered life underwater, being
very active in Washington Chapter,
as we'll as in the District Life Un-
derwriters' Association.
Sapltal transit Oncndngeu.
Capital Transit stock sold at 81
on the Washington Stock Exchange
today. unchanged. The market again
closed with 81 bid and % asked.
Potomac Electric Power 512 per
cent preferred figured in two small
sales at ia Bonds were neglected.
Disseminating of business for the
duration of the war by Bonbright
& Co. caused a lot of comment in
the financial district today. The
firm is one of the oldest investment
houses in the country and had
Washington office for many years.
Chairman Leo T. Crowley of the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
yesterday urged the banks to main
tain conservative dividend policies
and build up capital accounts as
much as possible.
Reports today stated that S. S.
Kresge sales in March we're 14.7
per cent and 1877 per cent in the
first quarter. McCrory Stores re-
ported an 1875 per cent advance in
March and 21.2 per cent in the first
quarter.