Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

248 HISTORY OF THE BANKdoors, or having done so, would have been forced to closethem before loss to its depositors had supervened.Despite the fact that the years 1907 to 1910, inclusive,were marked by difficulty and depression, The Canadian Bankof Commerce prospered. Its total assets increased from$113,000,000 in November, 1907, to $157,000,000 hi November,1910. In most of these years the profits were alsosatisfactory. In 1907 they were $1,752,350; in 1908,$1,627,332; in 1909, $1,510,696, in addition to which the sumof $300,000 was recovered from over-appropriations; and in1910, $1,838,065. The dividend remained at eight per cent,until the first quarter of 1910, when it was increased tonine per cent. A further increase to ten per cent, followedin 1911. At the annual meeting in 1908 the authorizedcapital of the bank was increased from $10,000,000 to$15,000,000. The additions to the Rest were one milliondollars in 1908 and another million in 1910, bringing thatfund up to $7,000,000, or seventy per cent, of the paid-upcapital. The yearly appropriation out of current earningsapplied to writing down Bank Premises Account ranged from$300,000 up to $419,000; and the annual contribution tothe Pension Fund was increased in 1910 from $30,000 to$50,000.Reference has already been made to the formation ofthe Dominion Realty Company, Limited, as a subsidiaryenterprise, to construct and own the smaller branch buildings,the bank acquiring the capital stock, and writing off the cost. 1In 1906 the premises belonging to the bank stood in its booksat a value of $1,300,000, against which there were lands andbuildings conservatively valued at $1,951,600, safes and fixturesvalued at $478,200, and Dominion Realty Company's shares for$600,000, representing a cash investment of like amount, a totalof $3,029,800. Three years later, on November 30, 1909,Bank Premises Account had grown to $2,000,000; while theproperty values behind this amount were: land and buildings,1See page 232.