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M. Stabler, Henry Stabler, Wil liam M. Moore, Charles Stabler Charles G. Porter, Robert M. Stabler, Edward Lee, Samuel P Thomas, James S. Hallowell, Asa M. Stabler, Charles H. Brooke, and B. H. Miller. They had no capital assets; the bank merely opened its doors to depositors. At the end of 1868, 183 depositors had entrusted $9545 to the vault of the fledgling bank. The accrued interest was $240. Knowing that the new institution could ill afford to pay salaries from such meager funds, the first four officers took 1/4c each the first year. And they really cut up a penny! The statement of the bank's condition issued early this year graphically illustrates its growth. Assets total $5,193,448.73, of which two million dollars is in first mortgage loans, two and a half million in government bonds, and $360,000 in cash at Sandy Spring and in other banks. Opposite the item "corporate stocks" is the tiny figure $145.92. This token holding is a policy formulated after the depression of the '30s. President Thomas explains, "We held such diversified and such secure assets that if we hadn't read it in the paper we wouldn't have known there was a depression. Of course we held stock in corporations whose value dropped tremendously. But instead of selling out when they were at the bottom we held them through the depression and sold in the early '40s, at a profit in most cases. Since then, though, we've bought government securities instead of corporation stock." The Savings Institution of Sandy Spring was unaffected by the depressions of 1897 and 1912 also. The bank was forced to make very few foreclosures due to unpaid loans. And contrary to the "runs" on other banks, only three depositors withdrew their accounts during the depression. Mr. Thomas chuckles when he remembers the night the telegraph office called him at 4 a. m. with a message from the state banking board not to open the next day. It was the Maryland bank holiday. Later the bank remained closed during the national bank holiday. Though as a non-member of the Federal Reserve System the Savings Institution is not required to keep a cash reserve against total deposits, in reality bank policy is to keep about TWICE as much reserve as is required of member banks. Presently 20 per cent cash reserves are maintained against the $4 406,184.28 time deposits. This is but one of the bank's conservative policies. Extremely large accounts are frowned on. The largest is about $35,000 while the average is $15,000. Mortgage loans are made to only 60 per cent of conservative appraisals; other banks loan 65 per cent. In judging the worth of property the Sandy Spring bank takes the 1940 value plus 33 1/3 per cent; other institutions base worth on the higher 1947 value. Two per cent interest "plus extras" are paid semi-annually. Pass book No. 1 was issued to Joseph T. Moore and is still an open account owned by the Moore family. The youngest depositor Helen Thomas Nesbit, was only eight minutes old when her fath er opened an account by phone. When the Savings Institution of Sandy Spring opened its doors in 1868 it was renting a room in the Mutual Fire Insurance Com pany building. In 1896 the bank built its first structure which has been increased four times to form the present building. In 1900 the First National Bank of Sandy Spring was formed and