The Washington times., 1930-05-24
j. s. BUILDING
ON UPWARD
TREND
Continued from Page 13)

CONTINUED from Page IJ)
should be remembered that April,
1929, like March of that year,
was abnormal, due to the exces-
Sive volume of plans hastily filed
in New York city in anticipation
Of the multiple dwellings legisla-
ton pending at Albany. Exclud-
inC New York city, April. 1880,
had a loss of 80 per cent from
April, 1929.
For the first time since Octo
ber, 1929, the StrauS index of build
ing permits, after allowance has
been made for seasonal and trend
factors, shows an upward ten
dency toward normal. The in,
dex, unadjusted for these factors,
was 63.3 for April as compared
with 58.6 for March and 400 for
February. The April index was
only 29.9 per cent below normal
when seasonal and trend factors
are considered, whereas the
March index was 42.6 per cent
below normal. This increase is
not entirely due to the fact that
the April seasonal factor is lower
than that of March, and there
fore points to a decided improve
ment in the building outlook.
Is Cities Report
The Is cities reporting the
largest volume Of building per-
mits for April showed a collective
gain of Is per cent over March.
The loss from April. 1929, was
SO per cent. but again the abnor-
NAL conditions in New York city
must be taken into consideration.
Excluding New York city, the loss
amounted to 20 per cent.
Eighteen of the Is cities showed
gains over March. Los Angeles,
Cincinnati, Detroit, Seattle. BoS
ton, San Francisco, and Pitts
burgh being the only ones to fail
behind. Twelve of thes cite,
gained over April, 1929, namely,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincin-
natl, Washington, Ponca City,
Okla; Jersey City. Memphis.
Kansas City, Mo-; Schenectady
Newark, Sioux City and Albany.
Philadelphia ranked second IN
volume to New York city, followed
by Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltl,
more, Cincinnati, Washington,
Detroit, Houston and Ponca City,
Okla, in that order. The high
rank of Ponca City, tenth in the
country, is attributable to the fact
that the Empire Refining Com
pany planned a $2,800,00O addl
ton to its plant during April.
Twelve of the cities, Philadel-
phia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Wash
ington, Houston, Ponca City,
Jersey City, Memphis, Kansas
City, Mo; Schenectady, Okla.
homa and Sioux City, showed
gains over April, 1928.
The employment situation in
the building trades as reflected
by the reports of the American
Federation of Labor again show
ed a slight improvement over
the preceding month. This or
ganization reports 40 per cent
OF it's 85O,OOO building members
unemployed in the month OF
April as compared with Al per
cent in March and 43 per cent
in February. Whatever improve
ment in the employment s1tua
ton has been apparent so far
this year has been largely due
to an increase in engineering
construction. AS the Straus in
dex of building permits does not
include this type of construction,
O further improvement is to be
looked for, on the basis of the
raise in this index shown for
April.
Building materials prices show.
ed no important changes in
April over the month preceding,
Portland cement prices remained
unchanged. Common brick prices
decreased so cents per thousand
in Dallas whereas paving brick
increased so cents, in the same
market. The most important
factor affecting the building ma
terialS market is the revisions Of
freight rates to become effective
on May 20, 1880, on finished
steel products in the Pittsburgh
district. These revisions affect
nine cities. In eight of these
cities the revisions are down.
ward, Boston being the only city
where an increase will be made.