Evening star., 1939-02-23
Life Insurance Sales
Jump Al Per Cent
Above 1888 Here
Jonuory Cain Fails
To EquoI Climb in
National Average
BY EDWARD C. STONE.

Insurance Sales Research Bureau at
Hartford. The national average was
still better, 49 per cent ahead of
last year.
January sales in the Capital
totaled s7,183,OOO and in the whole
country reached $729, 1927 ,0O0 While
Washington scored a striking gain,
several other cities did much better.
Boston gained los per cent over last
year, Chicago, 63 per cent; Cleve-
land, Sc; Detroit, 90; Los Angeles,
119, and st. Louis, Sc. Philadelphia
was 2 per cent under Washington
and New York business was up only
II per cent.
State gains showed advances from
10 to As per cent With the ex-
ception of last December, the total
volume of business was the largest
for any month since January 1885.
The South Atlantic section, which
includes this territory, scored a 43
per cent gain by signing up S63,-
100000 in new business.
Maryland insurance was 40 per
cent ahead of last year. the Janu-
ary volume amounting to $40, ,427 900
Virginia noted a gain of AZ per
cent policies reaching S9,7O4OOO
West Virginia reported 36 per cent
pickup, totaling s5,082,00
D. c. Indices at New Peaks.
Several Washington business ba-
rometers reached all-time peaks in
January. when compared with the
same months in previous years, a
survey discloseS.
Postal receipts in the Capital
totaled s652 ,l89 10, more than $4,000
above the January, 1888. figure. and
the highest ever reached in the
first month of the year, according
to reports from the City Post Office.
Kilowatt-hour sales of the Potomac
Electric Power Co. reached the high
est January mark on record. the
total standing at 63,667 ,1S0, an in
crease of S3C38,6 ,667 hours over jan
uary, 1888, or sol per cent. and
much higher than the figures for
other January summaries.
Another barometer having double
significance comes from the Chesa-
peake & Potomac Telephone Co., the
Capital being served by 241.26l tel
ephones on January 81. 1889, the
largest number reached since the
company started business in the
Capital.
At the same time telephone calls
increased, there having been 1885,
$50 average originating calls per day
as compared with 947, ,124 calls dur
ing January, 1888. 1t was the first
time during any January that aver
age daily calls had crossed the
million mark.
During January the department
store sales figure registered 98 fiat.
This figure stood at 100 in January,
1887. In January. 1929, the index
registered 90. Right after the Wall
Street boom broke, the January,
1880, index stood at "a and at the
end of January, 1881, had moved up
one point to 95. Hence the January,
1889, number is better than in any
Of those other eventful years.
One other business thermometer
reading-check ransactions-made
a better showing than in January,
1888, but established no new prece-
dent. With the exception of jan
uary, 1887, bank clearings of $685.
4245O6 were the highest since jan
uary, 1881.
Capital bankers said today that
the January results are encouraging
for the first quarter, as well as the
first half year. They add that the
activity in the building industry
should not be overlooked.
Building Permits Up Sharply.
Building permits in the Fifth
Federal Reserve District in January
were the heaviest in volume of any
month in more than a year, the
Reserve Bank of Richmond reports.
The total was s10,266,892, against
$4,125, ,673 in January, 1898. The in
crease was spread uniformly around
the entire district, the report said.
Announcement that Virginia
utility will spend $6,150000 on an
expansion program during the year
is the most important recent indus
trial development in the fifth dis
trict. Ground has just been broken
at Charleston, S. c., for the new
Robert Mills Manor, a S750,OOO bet
ter housing and slum clearance
project.
Employment in Virginia has seen
little change recently. according to
Richmond reports. Up to the mid
die of February, textile, tobacco and
building employment was running
ahead of last year at the same time
There was less employment in mines
and on the railroads
Heard in Financial District.
Paul C. Sanborn of Boston will
be the guest speaker at the Febru-
ary meeting of the District Life
Underwriters Association next Tues
day noon at the Willard Hotel. He
will speak on Greater Profits
Through Business Insurance" He
is chairman of the Million Dollar
Round Table and in several differ
ent years produced million in new
isurance, today's announcement
states.
Hilleary G.. Hoskinson, president
of the District Bankers Association
and vice president of the Riggs Ma
tional Bank, will return on March
4 from his winter vacation in
Florida.
DR.. Ernest M. Fisher. director of
the division Of economics and sta
tistics of the Federal Housing Ad-
ministration, will be one of the
leading speakers at a regional con-
ference of banks in II States and
the District of Columbia, in New
York, March 8, and 10.
American Security g. Trust Co.
stock figured in a small sale on the
Washington Stock Exchange today
at 259, gain of four full points
since the last previous sale.
INo cIoinotor Cos Ijoht Yorafnrrad