TRUST

Among the latest announcements of the appointment of trust companies and National banks to act in various fiduciary capacities as transfer agent, registrar, trustee under corporate indentures, paying agents, etc., are the following:

Guaranty Trust Company of New York has been appointed transfer agent for the stock of the New Madison Square Garden Corporation, consisting of 51,000 shares of Class "A" cumulative participating preference stock and 125,000 shares of Class "B" stock, both classes without nominal or par value; transfer agent for the stock of the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Company, consisting of 458,800 shares of preferred stock and 596,200 shares of common stock, both classes of stock having a par value of $100; transfer agent for the stock of the Derby Oil and Refining Corporation, consisting of 100,000 shares of preferred stock and 500,000 shares of common stock, both classes without nominal or par value; transfer agent for the first preferred stock of the Commercial Solvents Corporation, consisting of 10,000 shares, par value $100; trustee under International Securities Trust of America agreement dated June 1, 1923, securing an authorized issue of $40,000,000 secured serial gold bonds.

The Mechanics & Metals National Bank has been appointed transfer agent of the preferred stock of the Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company; transfer agent of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company capital stock. The same bank has been appointed trustee under indenture securing $3,000,000 Rome Wire Company three-year 6 per cent. sinking fund gold notes.

The Central Union Trust Company of New York has been appointed transfer agent for Munsingwear, Inc., for 200,000 shares capiital stock of no par value; trustee for the $4,000,000 Central States Electric Corporation two year 7 per cent. secured gold notes, due June 1, 1925. The same company has been appointed trustee for the $7,000,000 Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company three year 52 per cent. secured gold notes, due June 1, 1926.

The New York Trust Company has been appointed registrar of the 7 per cent. cumulative preferred stock, series of 1923, of the Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company.

The Metropolitan Trust Company has been appointed registrar of $2,000,000 preferred stock, par value $100, and 1,500 shares common stock, no par value, of the Credit Alliance Corporation.

The Empire Trust Company has been appointed depositary for the five-year 8 per cent. Series "A" convertible collateral trust sinking fund gold bonds of the American Fuel Oil & Transportation Company, Inc., bondholders' committee; transfer agent of the capital stock of the Oriental Navigation Company; depositary for subscriptions to $300,000 par value 7 per cent. closed mortgage notes of Dalford Oil Refining Company; under an indenture covering the issuance of guaranteed notes of Colonial Finance Trust.

The Seaboard National Bank of the City of New York has been appointed registrar for the capital stock of Rossia Insurance Company of America; trustee of an issue of $300,000, first mortgage 8 per cent. serial gold bonds of the Independent Fruit Auction Corporation.

furnished the first wave of liquidation, and the change of position marketwise by a large advisory bureau having some 35,000 clients

MARKETS

Thomas Gibson

During the last month there has been much talk of an approaching period of business depression. Efforts to discover the basis for these predictions show that there is nothing in the familiar indexes of trade, in the credit situation or in any other class of fundamental factors to warrant the pessimism. Closer inquiry develops the fact that the predictions are based largely, if not wholly, upon the action of the security markets. For many years the security markets have been considered a faithful barometer of approaching prosperity or depression and during the last year or two there has been a growing tendency to place more dependence on charts and traditions than upon reflection and analysis. The dependence on academic projections of precedent has, in fact, become a mania in some quarters.

Causes of the Decline

If we seek the simplest explanations for the decline in security prices instead of going afield for recondite reasons we quickly discover that the causes have been in the market itself rather than in any change in the general business outlook. For a long time there has been an absence of public buying in the security markets, due largely to the fact that a majority of the speculative public has been carrying a load of stocks purchased at higher prices during the period of stock dividends, mergers and prediction of a secondary period of inflation. This absence of new buying has been a very weak point in the technical situation for several months.

When there is an absence of new buying a comparatively small amount of hurried liquidation has an unusually severe effect on quoted prices. The failure of two prominent and old-established stock exchange houses

selling. The effects of such selling are cumulative. People become alarmed, stop loss orders are reached, and weakly margined accounts are forced out. The professional bears are of course aware of the vulnerability of the market, and do not fail to take full advantage of it.

No further explanation of the decline is necessary. In fact, such recessions are not at all unusual. They have appeared one or more times in every year, of which we have records.

The General Outlook

Judging by all the available data bearing on trade conditions, supplemented by deductive reasoning, there is nothing in the outlook to warrant the belief that we are on the eve of a period of depression. The factors which have been responsible for depression in former years are not only absent, but some of the most powerful of these factors are actually reversed. For example, depression has usually been preceded by a period of overbuilding. At present we have a shortage of structures. It is estimated that in order to make up the deficiency in new building occasioned by war conditions, we will have to add 25 per cent. to the normal amount of annual construction for a period of ten years. The new construction program was recently checked by the inordinate demands of labor, but this drawback has now been measurably removed.

It is also found that former periods of depression were preceded and accompanied by credit stringency. In fact, this influence, standing alone, has on several occasions been largely responsible for acute depression. There is no credit stringency and no remote prospect of stringency now.

We are at present at a time of year when a moderate seasonal falling off in volume of business is the normal expectation. So far,

we do not find in the bank clearings, the freight car loadings, pig iron production or any of the other leading trade indexes any evidence of more than a seasonal decline. On the other hand, most of these indexes register an unusually well sustained volume of trade. If depression is before us it has not yet been indicated in a single one of the barometers on which we are wont to depend, with the exception of the security markets.

Railroad Securities

The railroad securities have participated to some extent in the rattling down of prices, as liquidation has been of an indiscriminate character. But there is no relation between these declines and the factors which eventually establish security values. The net income of all roads exceeded 6 per cent. on property value in April and May, and judging by the records of freight car loadings, the June and July earnings will be equally satisfactory. As against these conditions we find only the fears induced by radical threats.

JOLLY OUTING OF BANKERS TRUST EMPLOYEES

June 23d was a red letter day for employees of the Bankers Trust Company of New York when the annual outing was held under the auspices of the Bankers Club. The "special" which conveyed the members to Asbury Park unloaded its hundreds of passengers who formed in military order headed by a band. The line of march was past the Monterey Hotel, where President Tilney and a staff of officers of the Bankers Trust Company held review. The hotel plaza was the arena for numerous hardfought athletic events between members of the different departments and officers. In the evening a tempting menu was served which was varied with musical and other enjoyable features.

EXTENSION OF TIME IN FILING BANK TAX RETURNS

The State Tax Commission of New York has announced that it has granted to shareholders in National and State banks and trust companies a two months' extension of time, until December 1st, for filing amended 1922 returns claiming refunds on dividend payments during the year.

"Wherever possible," says the Commission, "a return should be prepared on the same form as the old one and a schedule attached showing the amount of each item of the bank or trust company dividends with the name of the institution. If taxpayers submit complete facts, prompt approval of the refunds is possible without correspondence. If the data is insufficient the refund will necessarily be held up until additional information makes possible its approval. If taxpayers are unable readily to secure return blanks the commission will accept affidavits, but these should carry detailed facts similar to the information necessary on the amended return."

SELECTED LIST OF INVESTMENTS

The National City Company of New York, with its many offices in the United States and Canada and extensive private wire connections, is in position to secure the choicest investments for its clientele. Before making any offerings the company subjects each investment offering to the closest scrutiny of experts. The list of offerings for the current month includes all varieties to suit investment taste. First are the United States Government, insular and Federal land bank bonds. Then follows a list of short term and equipment securities with yield ranging from 5 to 7.15 per cent. Other offerings include State and municipal bonds, Canadian securities, foreign government issues, railroad, industrial and public utility bonds and notes.

LEFFINGWELL BECOMES MORGAN PARTNER

Russell Cornell Leffingwell, lawyer and former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Secretaries McAdoo, Glass and Houston, has been admitted to partnership in J. P. Morgan & Co. Mr. Leffingwell has retired from membership in Cravath, Henderson, Leffingwell & de Gersdorff, lawyers.

The new Morgan partner entered the law firm "immediately upon his graduation from Columbia Law School in 1902," according to an official statement. He had been a member of the firm and its predecessors since 1907 except from May, 1917, when he took part in the first Liberty Loan drive as a dollar a year man, until 1920. After his work in floating the war loans Mr. Leffingwell became Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, a post he held until 1920, when he resumed his law practice.

LARGE GAINS BY BANKERS TRUST

COMPANY OF NEW YORK

An increase of over $48,000,000 since March 27th, in aggregate resources is shown in the June 30th statement of the Bankers Trust Company of New York. Deposits during that period show a gain of over seven millions. Total resources on the last reporting date were $397,219,923, including cash on hand and in banks, $61,449,723; exchanges, $13,492,000; demand loans, $79,625,000; time loans and bills discounted, $124,764,000; U. S. Government securities, $62,226,000; State and municipal bonds, $7,731,000; other bonds $23,546,000; acceptances, $9,847,000. Depos. its total $288,587,000. Capital is $20,000,000; surplus, $15,000,000 and undivided profits, $8,155,621, the latter item also showing substantial gain.

On June 29th the consolidation of the Importers and Traders National Bank of New York with the Equitable Trust Company was completed. The offices of the Importers and Traders National at 247 Broadway are now operated as the Importers and Traders Office of the Equitable. Through this office special facilities, developed by the National bank, will be provided for merchants, manufacturers, importers and exporters of lower New York. In addition to this office the Equitable conducts an uptown office at Madison avenue and 45th street, the Colonial office at 222 Broadway and foreign offices in London, Paris and Mexico City. District representatives are located at Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago and San Francisco.

The June 30th financial statement of the Equitable Trust Company, following the merger, shows that the company occupies the third leading position among trust companies of New York City in regard to combined capital, surplus and undivided profits. The capital is $23,000,000; surplus and undivided profits, $9,501,228, making total capitalization of $32,501,228 as compared with $43,290,126 reported by the Guaranty Trust Company and $43,155,000 by the Bankers Trust Company. Resources of the Equitable aggregate $376,906,361 and deposits, $301,194,606.

The Chase National Bank has been appointed registrar for 125,000 shares of class A cumulative participating preference stock of the New Madison Square Garden Corporation; registrar of the American Motor Body Corporation.