Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-12-31

yances. This was not confined TO
any one section.
Florida got down to a less inflated
basis Of land values, to the RELIEF or
the real estate business in general
Despite the hurricane which struck
the State in the Fall, Florida Is strtd-
ing steadily forward on the road OF
progress.
The ocean fronts on all three sides
erty values. This was specially no.
ticeable along the Gulf coast of Louisi-
ana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas,
where huge developments are under
way. In other sections developments
sprang up wherever there was a lake
or a golf course, and II the locality
had neither promoters were not lack
ing to build both.
Construction Gained.
The building industry, despite all
predictions to the contrary, had year
in which nearly Sc 800, 900, 900 was ex-
pended for new construction. This
was a gain Of more than per cent
from the figures of 1926, hitherto the
highest ever known. The volume of
building in the first six months was
enormous and, while 1t dropped slight
~ as the year drew TO close, there
was still enough work going on TO in
sure a high degree of activity during
the next few months. The industry
was aided by a. slight lowering of build
ing material costs, but wages ad-
vanced in some sections.
Building was one Of the bulwarks OF
business in the last year. Hundreds
of thousands Of workers were employ
ed and their wage scales were the high
est Of any of the skilled crafts. Ma
terial production accounted for addi-
tionaI employment, and the benefits
spread to the office equipment, carpet
and rug and household furnishing
fields.
Easy credit conditions continued
throughout the year. There was am
pie money on hand to finance sound
| building projects and this is likely to
| continue. A huge sum was obtained
| through sale Of real estate and build
| ing bonds. Activity Is now turning,
| however, more largely to municipal,
public utility and other heavy con-
| struction work and away from resi-
| Dental types. The demand for resi-
dences has been filled in some sections.
as has that for commercial buildings.
| This is shown by g. lower level of
rents than prevailed a year ago.
Easy Money.
There was. in fact, an abundance of
| funds for the financing of all Iegiti-
mate business enterprises and for the
adequate movement of crops. Banks
were bursting full at times and this
| had stimulating effect on the market
| for bonds and investment securities.
| The average rediscount rate for the IL
| Federal Reserve banks was a trifle
| higher than in 1925, but was under A
| per cent. Call loans ranged from 81
| to per cent, as compared to 3A to 6
| in 1925. Loans and discounts OF ma
| tlonal banks showed a gain, as did de-
| mand, time and Government deposits.
| Savings deposits increased to over
$24, zoo, 100000 during the year, but
this was due, in some part at least, to
interest and dividend payments to de-
| positors as well as to acquisition OF
| new accounts. The extent to which
the banks profited was shown at the
year end, when huge sums in bonuses
| to employees were distributed by bank.
ers and brokers.
Never before has such a huge
amount of the public's money gone
| into investment securities. The vol
ume of new bond offerings for the first
II months of the year totaled $4,317 ),
23S, 1862, as compared with $3,95S,950,,
800 in the corresponding period of
1925. The total for the year seems
likely to approximate $4,725 100000 or
more. There are now some 100000
| holders of stocks and bonds in the
United States as compared with about
3 900, 900 prior TO 1914. The chief gain
in bond offerings was in the public
utilities.
Power and Gas Consumption.
Production OF electric power in this
country rose about II per cent in the
last year, and the power and light util
ity companies had a most active and
prosperous twelvemonth. Their earn
ings improved approximately 90 pei
cent over 1925. Considerable of this