Florida

The business recession in Florida became serious last week. Several banks failed.

West Palm Beach. The Commercial Bank & Trust Co. closed its doors, thereby stirring up a run against the Palm Beach Bank & Trust Co. It closed also. But the other six banks of the city met all demands. Merchants strengthened the bank situation by guaranteeing their employes' deposits.

Miami. Four suburban banks closed, each with deposits approximating $1,000,000; Bank of Coconut Grove (capital $25,000), Bank of Buena Vista (capital $50,000), Bank of Little River (capital $20,000), Bank of Dania (capital $30,000). Low capitalization against the vast deposits accepted was one important cause of this banking frailty. But President George Romfph of the Miami Clearing House Association blames the situation on outside control and loans on outside paper.

Three banks in the Miami neighborhood withstood serious runs during the week: Bank of Hollywood, Bank of Allapattah, Bank of Hialeah.

Boca Raton. Thomas Coleman du Pont, Jesse Livermore and a few others equally as prominent recently resigned from the directorate of Architect Addison Mizner's 16,000-acre, $40,000,000 project here. Lot buyers owed $21,000,000. Creditors have sought to force a receivership.

Floranada. This allotment close to Fort Lauderdale commenced with much touting of wealthy and noble names, frankly used as bait for social climbers. It quickly became an $8,000,000 fiasco with the owners of the alluring names scurrying from the noisome, unprofitable affair.

Manhattan. Here 500 owners of Florida property banded into the Florida Property Owners Association to combat false propaganda against Florida, to concentrate information about their land troubles; above all to manage somehow to get extensions on their mortgages and reductions on their interest rates.