STOCK DIVIDENDS 
J 
of certain totals and ratios employed for determining the importance 
of stock dividends prior and subsequent to the decision in Eisner 
v. Macomber. 
Of upward of 18,000 corporations to which schedules wera sent, 
about 6,500 either failed to report, despite repeated requests, or 
else replied that no stock dividends were paid. About 1,500 addi- 
tional corporations, though replying to the inquiry, reported that 
they were unable to furnish the information. In some cases this 
was due to the loss or destruction of certain records; in other cases 
the corporation was bankrupt or out of business, and in still other 
instances the records were inaccessible or their whereabouts unknown. 
Some close corporations, for competitive or other reasons, refused 
to furnish any of the information requested, while others who filled 
in the schedule requested that their cash dividends and surplus 
figures should not be published for similar reasons. In accordance 
with the Senate resolution only capitalization and stock dividends 
have been shown for individual corporations. 
A great many schedules were returned either in incomplete, incor- 
rect, or otherwise unusable form. While a large proportion of these 
schedules were rendered usable by subsequent correspondence, it 
was impossible to do this for all such returns within a reasonable 
time, and as a result, a few hundred returns were not tabulated. 
It may be observed, however, that these schedules were almost 
exclusively those of very small companies. 
The commission takes this occasion to express its appreciation of 
the generally cordial cooperation which was accorded it by most 
of the corporations requested to furnish information. 
METHODS OF LISTING STOCK DIVIDENDS, 1920-1926 
In all, the commission obtained reports which could be tabulated 
forstock dividends from 10,548 corporations. Of this number, how- 
ever, 303 were corporations which issued stock dividends prior to 
January 1, 1920, but none subsequent thereto. Deducting these, 
there remained 10,245 corporations which reported the issue of 
stock dividends in the seven-year period January 1, 1920, to Decem- 
ber 31, 1926. 
Appendix 4 presents the list of these corporations and information 
pertaining to them called for by the Senate resolution. Detailed 
explanations of the particular methods of handling the figures for the 
corporations shown on this list are presented in the head note to this 
appendix. Only certain of the more general features of the tabula. 
tion are explained in this comment on it. The list is presented in 
three parts or divisions, that is, first tabulation, supplementary 
tabulation; and no-par stock tabulation, in each of which the corpora- 
tions are arranged alphabetically for ready reference. 
In order to present the report as early as possible and at the same 
time furnish the information on an alphabetical basis, a cut-off of the 
returns was made about August 1, and the alphabetical tabulation of 
all schedules complete as of that date, except the no-par stock cor- 
porations, was begun. Subsequently a second list of corporations 
was prepared, again on an alphabetical basis, this list meluding 
returns (except for no-par stock companies) which were received op