Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-06-11
BY ROBERT GUTENBERG
Star staff writer

star staff Writer
Tomorrow will mark the day,
one year ago, that the State Of
Maryland decided to put the
brakes on some freewheeling
segments of the savings and
loan industry.
The State, after years of flu
tile effort and several bitter
legislative sessions, enacted
the savings and loan regula-
tory law. 1t was the last State
in the Nation to do so.
Since that time, the effects
of the law have echoed from
Garrett County in the west, to
Somerset in the south.
The State courts have been
wrestling with the problem of
how best to salvage about $34
million, by conservative esti-
mate, tied up in associations
that have closed or had their
operations frozen"
Nearly 10000 shareholders,
many of them overseas mill
tary personnel, are wondering
If and when they will see their
savings, and if so, how much.
The answer is still unknown.
Responsible officials won't even
venture a guess.
Politicians rode the savings
and loan issue hard in the re-
cent Democratic primary, and
the battle is not yet over.
Crisis Seen Over
A few days ago Albert W.
Ward, State Director of Assess
ments and Taxation, who is
charged with enforcement of
the law, said "the crisis in the
State-chartered building and
loan industry in Maryland is
over for all practical purposes. "
However, both he and
Thomas B. Finan, the Mary
land Attorney General, who is
in charge of filing the legal
actions closing the associations,
have not said that Marylanders
have seen the end of the story
There may be still more ac-
tion-but Maryland is over the
hump" in cleaning up its saw
ings and loan mess, they say.
This is agreed to by two OF
the States principal savings
and loan spokesman, Robert
Stocksdale. executive secretary
Of the Maryland League of
Building. Savings & Loan As
sociations, and Carl Gottschalk,
head of the Maryland Savings
and Loan League, which repre-
sents insured associations.
Both are lavish in their
praise of the enforcement job
done by Mr.. Ward and his chief
aide, Harry B. Wolf, jr., head
of the departments savings
and loan division.
What Has Happened
What has the record been?
Since the law took effect on
July /, 1861, the box score adds
up to this:
/. OF 702 savings and loan
charters in existence a veal
ago, 289 were forfeited because
according to Mr.. Ward, they
were not used to operate gen.
uine thrift associations.
2. An additional 20 changed
their charters to those of reg
ular business corporations, two
were dissolved and two merged
3. Six firms, four of them
in Montgomery County and two
in Prince Georges, were placed
in State receivership. A seventh
originally placed in receiver
ship, is now in Federal bank
ruptcy. Together, these seven
had some $1,000 accounts Gone
person may have more than one
savings account) and $16.S
million.
4. Eight associations have
either had a conservator, Mr.
Ward, appointed over them OF
have been placed in a freeze
state, in which nearly all OF
their financial operations have
been halted.
ConServatorShip is consider
ed less drastic than receiver
ship. Under the former, say
State aides, an attempt is
made to bring the business back
to life, while in the latter the
end is just that-the end
Attorneys for associations in
conservatorship would argue
that supervision of conservator-
ship is abount as paralyzing
as a receivership.)
The eight firms in conServa-
torship have an estimated 49,
100 shareholders and STA mil
lion in savings.
S. Three associations have
been reported quitting the bust
ness or converting tn some other