Long Green Pastures

In the Administration of President Chester Alan Arthur, the private bank of John H. James did a thriving business at the downtown corner of Whitehall & Alabama Streets, Atlanta. People used to say "Put your money there -- they pay 6%." Then came the panic of 1884. The James Bank closed its doors. Its debt to its depositors, including three Negro Sunday-school societies: about $400,000.

The depositors formed a Georgia corporation to take over the bank's assets.

Principal item: a block in Atlanta's Whitehall Street shopping area. But many of them said the stock certificates of the new Central Bank Block Association would be chiefly valuable as wallpaper.

As Atlanta grew, the Central Bank Block Association prospered. In the early days, dividends were only 1% or 2% annually, but in recent years the company has paid as high as 8 1/2%.

Last month the Association sold its property for $548,240. Last week the heirs of the old depositors, now dwindled to about 50 but still including the three Sunday-school societies, were finally paid off. They got 140 cents on the dollar.

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