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R e p r o d u c e d f r o m : Las Vegas •MIKOM MUM'S .MRV tttfit es-K oRtU MWSMHt E. E B !f| 9 iorf SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1956 WHERE I STAND LETTER T O H ANK G REEN SPUN From Jordan Crouch, Vice-president* First National Bank of Nevada By JORDAN CROUCH “Never” (does it happen) — “well, hardly ever” as Gilbert and Sullivan would put it, does a Las Vegas news­paper publisher ask a Reno banker to write about the economics of Las Vegas or anything for that matter — but you asked for it Hank — so here goes. Did ybu ever see a college track meet where the mile runner'levels off his fast sprint and after seemingly slow­ing down from his former pace suddenly starts again — apparently fresher than ever and crosses the finishing tape Way out in front? That’s called “second wind.” We, in America and particularly the west, have be­come so accustomed to breaking economic records year after year by big margins that we become unhappy, nerv­ous and irritable if we don’t continue this breakneck pace. . . If you lock at what Las Vegas has accomplished the past 10 years and compare it to the average American community — it’s fantastic — almost without comparison! So Las Vegas paused like the mile runner in its gallop­ing pace to assimilate and consolidate its gains of the past 10 years. <And, why shouldn’t it? As A1 Smith used to say, “Let’s look at the record!” Since 1950: 1. Bank deposits doubled. In 1950, there were three bank offices and now there are 10. 2. Population doubled. 3. Retail sales doubled. 4. School enrollment doubled. 5. Electric power consumption doubled. 6. Property valuations tripled. 7. Building permits quadrupled._______ ' Speaking of electric power — think of Las Vegas, now unable to get additional power from Hoover Dam. If anybody had ventured the guess 20 years ago t hat; Hoover Dam would be at its capacity by 1956, you would! have laughed at them and properly so. Cyril Wengert,! one of the senior officers of the Southern Nevada Power! Company told me that up to 1954, they had a total invest­ment of $8,800,000. In 1955 they invested $9,400,000 which was larger than their total plant investment ac­cumulated in the previous 49 years of operation. In 1956 their expenditures for power plants will total $10,400,000 and by the end of 1957, their plant investment will pass 30 million dollars. At that time, it will be more than five times the investment of 953 and Hank — one of the main indices of prosperity of a community is the growth of electric energy. Cyril Wengert believes in Las Vegas '•to the tune of millions! What happened to Las Vegas in 1955 happens to every prosperous and successful business if they happen to pause to catch their second wind, as Olympic stars who train for years, must do. Envious people . . . writers and prophets of fear trying to be “I told you so” forecasters attempt to ti'e a millstone around your neck — that Hank, is a compliment in my book! Strangler Lewis, the old master at being a villain wrestler, once told a sports writer when asked why he was so mean in the ring, “Be­cause I’d rather be booed at than snored at.” What actually did happen to give Las Vegas all this exaggerated uncomplimentary publicity that was wholly unwarranted? Well some of the newer hotels had trouble — and that’s not original. I remember when many of"the-major hotels in Los Angeles and throughout the country were in default. The trouble some of the Las Vegas hotels had was caused by underfinancing and mismanagement, which will wreck any business, hotel, bank or newspaper. | R E N O B A N K O F F I C I A L A N A L Y Z E S S O U N D A S P E C T S O F L A S V E G A S E C O N O M Y ; F O R E C A S T S B R I G H T F U T U R E iFor instance, as we all know each new. place was trying | to outbid better established places for star performers and the like paying them all out of proportion to economic sound principles. Added to that, the available clientele was divided among more places, by having so many open in such a short time. All this spells out in capital letters that underfinancing and mismanagement equals disaster. This is true even in State, and Federal governments too. And did the eager beaver writers outside of Nevada love it? They hopped on it like a “duck on a June bug,” as we used to say in Tennessee and played it up out of all reason. But, I’m proud to say, not Reno. Reno’s affection for Las Vegas i& like that of a husband and wife. They can fight between themselves, but let an outsider come in to jump on one — and they both join forces. Reno is proud of Las Vegas and .don’t let anyone tell you differ­ently. Well what about Las Vegas and the future? That’s a good question, I’m glad you asked me. Last week one of the owners of a fine Strip hotel was crying the blues. Be­ing a good friend of mine, I said, “ What’s the trouble”? He answered, “Business is bad this time last year I was turning away 500 people each week-end because of lack of rooms, and now I’m only turning away 300.” To me that’s a good illustration of how bad off Las Vegas is! Ed Quests, president of our bank, is sold 100% on Las Vegas. For instance, he has spent almost a million dollars on bank buildings and equipment in the past five years here. He’s planning to enlarge the South Fifth Street Branch at once. He’s adding to the staff new em­ployees every day and he has a'lot of plans in mind right now. Ed, the other day when talking about Las Vegas said, “Did you ever hear Roy Wenzlick, America’s number one > real estate analyst? He was the man in 1938 and again in 1945 who was right on America’s future when nearly everybody else was wrong. Wenzlick said that in 1957 (that’s only 11 months off) because of the tremendous increase in number of girls and boys getting married (family formation that is) because of war marriages 18 years ago, the demand for everything — homes, cars, [baby carriages, washing machines would be terrific.” Added to that Eddie went on, “With the astounding pop­ulation growth of Southern Nevada, dispersion of in­dustry from large metroplitan centers, Nevada’s tax-free freeport law plus, yes, plus the wide-spread use of the air conditioner for Las Vegas’ summers, I’m betting on Las Vegas! She is only pausing now to catch her second .wind”! And you know Hank, I think he’s right! -**002-0