The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-02-22
Optimism Prevails I'm Rubber Town As
 Conditions Pick Up
Town at Least Year Ahead of Other State Towns and Cities, Business Charts Reveal-kennedy Circle
 Defeats Waterbury at FOrty-ive
NAUGATUCK
Wm J. Baxter, Correspondent-Phone Naugauc< 672-2

Naugatuck, Feb 22-Naugatuck- ians should chase Gus Gloom away from their shoulders and face things with plenty of renewed confidence for economically the town is at least one year and prob ably two years ahead of most other towns and cities in the state in get ting out of the depression. accord ing to charts of business conditions in Naugatuck prepared painstak- ingly over period of several years.
 Some of the highlights revealed by the charts are:
 In realty transfers. that is the sale of house, lots and other build ings, indicating the desire to buy and sell, Naugatuck has practically climbed back to within short distance of the high point it reached in the unusually high 1929 level when times were at their best. The state in the meantime Is only within about one-third of it's 1929 peak.
 Construction costs in Naugatuck for 1884, which reflects building conditions, were about the same point they were in the financially good year of 1925, a year indicative of average normal conditions.
 Naugatuckians prefer autos to homes. apparently, having 400 more autos in 1884 than they had homes. There has been a remarkable in- crease since 1925 in the number of autos owned, each year showing q | higher number. There has also been a steady upcurve in the num- Der of homes, since that year. The charts which show much more graphically with their curv- ing lines than printed word can tell how much better Naugatuck has weathered the depression than other towns in the state were com piled by Russell Hughes. local civil engineer. He is competent in this line of work and has based his ! graphs on accurate figures.
 What Charts Reveal
 | Here are a few facts and figures derived from the charts which arc worth serious consideration by l |Naugatuckians. They affect each one of us to some degree or other Let's look at the chart for realty transfers for the state during the years from 1927 to 1885. We see { sharp drop in the curve since tho boom year, 1929. There is no up swing in this respect at all but the compilerof the chart expressed thu opinion 1t reached it's low last year It Is now only 35 per cent of wha it was at the peak, 1929, in othel words it has dropped 65 per cent. | Instead of being like Q iagSet streak of lightning as in the iln' on the state graph, the curve oi the Naugatuck graph is more sim l liar to a wave. It dipped slightly i' the years 1880 and 1881 an' reached it's low point in this re spect in 1892 when it was 47 De cent of the 1929 mark, a decreas of slightly more than half.
 | Climbs Way Back
 Since 1892 there has been a rap i'd upturn in the curve representing realty transfers. Today 1t IS back t 73 per cent of the 1929 high mari and there is every reason to beliey 1t will be 90 per cent of the 192 figure by the end of the prescn year, says the chart compiler. Thi would be slightly below its peak. ! Credit conditions in Naugatucl have not kept up with improve ment in real estate conditions. ac cording to the charts. Let us iig uratively examine the state chart or mortgage loans. These reache' their peak in 1927 and thel dropped downward until they III their low in 1932. Just how loan | tieheued nm may ba seen by tn fact that in 1882. a critical year 10 banks all over the country stat mortgage loans only amounted 2 26.5 per cent of the 1927 figure This is 74 per cent drop. Mnc' | l1932 there has only been a sligh upturn in the state. mortgage loan