Evening star., 1949-10-05
Construction Awards
Here for August Up
FourfoId Over H48
By Edward G. Stone

VQtIVIu Vvkl ITV
By Edward c. Stone
Contracts awarded for building
and engineering projects in thu
District of Columbia in Angus
totaled $24,706,O 900 to show four
fold increase over July and five
fold upturn over August, 1948. thu
F. w. Dodge Corp. reported today
Residential awards amounted tt
$13,750,000 and nonresidential Il
$10,416,000. Heavy engineering
awards totaled s470,00O, off 62 PEI
cent from July and an increaSt
of I'll per cent over August s
year ago.
Building and engineering awards
during the first eight months o1
1949 amounted to $87.013.000, o.
So per cent above the like 194s
period.
August Gas Earnings Off.
Net earnings of the Washington
Gas Light Co. in August resulted
in loss of $106,7l7. compared
with a seasonal loss of S92.6 ir
August a year ago, officials re.
ported to the Public Utilities Com.
mission today.
For the first eight months o1
this year net income amounted te
s934,I27 in comparison with $780,
GA year ago, decline OF $685.
487. Including Maryland ano
Virginia subsidiaries, earnings
showed a decline for the eight
months of $35O,328. this years net
of $1,029,288 comparing with ST.
387,616 a year ago.
Gas sales in August were up 8
per cent and equal to last year in
the eight months. Meters in the
District in August totaled 1881,
an increase of 1927 in IL months.
Boom in Bond Purchases.
A survey of the bond-a-month
plan in District banks for the pur-
chase of United States Savings
Bonds shows there are now 4,108
participants in the plan here who
are investing $4,000 monthly or
$2,600,OO0 a year. according to
Chairman Thomas j. Groom OF
the D. c. Savings Bond Division.
This is an average investment OF
$53 a month issue price for each
buyer and an increase Of 1874
participants, or so per cent, over
the 1854 recorded in 1948. Mr..
Groom stated.
The investment increase is $751;
900 monthly, or nearly s1,000,000
annually. Virtually all purchases
were Series E Bonds by profess
sional people and others not hav-
ing access to the payroll savings
plan.
Pack Opens Jewelry Firm.
Horace Pack, for 20 years
identified with the jewelry busi-
ness in Washington. has opened
his own wholesale jewelry firm,
Horace Pack & Co., Inc, with
Offices in the Homer Building.
A native Washingtonian. Mr..
Pack was general manager OF
Schwartz, F street, from 1910 un-
til August, 1948. At that time he
went into the wholesale business
as manager of Blustein Co.. Inc,
resigning that position several
weeks ago to form his own firm.
Davis Weir, president. State
Loan 81, Finance Corp, Washing
ton, was elected a director OF the
National Consumer Finance Asso-
ciation at the annual convention
in Los Angeles, for sixth term.
G. j. Kerkstra of Washington,
passenger agent for the Rock Is
land Lines, yesterday was elected
vice president of the American
Association of Travelling Passenger
Agents at Asheville. N. c.
Loans and Deposits Dip.
Total loans in Washington's 10
banks showed a drop of $4,o16,000
in the week ended September %
from the previous week. The main
decrease was in real estate loans.
Assets were down $12.297, 900. De-
mand deposits disclosed de-
crease of $7.843.o0O the Richmond
Reserve Bank reported.
Nathan Bushnell, jr., manager
of the Washington Office of the
Prudential Insurance Co.; Alfred
Hansen, Paul w. Hammack. Bax-
ter Murphree and Robert N. Park
will attend the annual fall meet
ing in New York next week.
Bond sales improved on the
Washington Stock Exchange in
September, with a turnover of
$4,000 in Capital Transit As.
$500 in Georgetown Gas SIS and
$32,500 in Washington Gas IS,
which reached 1913, highest-priced
bonds on the board.
CIearings Rise Impressive.
The gain in Washington bank
clearings of $167,736,154 in the
first nine months of the year
stands out impressively and indi-
Gates mounting business advances.
Clearings reached a total of ST.
854,0O9,9O6, compared with ST.
686,273,752 last year, up 6.3 per
cent. The important monthly ad-
vances are revealed in the follow
ing comparisons with 1913:
Month 194S. 1949.
,snnary 5000, ,05O,5ss 1926, ,546,1 65
Tehrnayv 25l136,317 2S3,991 ,625
tarch 3OSSl5,679 334,414,022
snr,i 322440,133 3O0,751,165
Mav 2S2O6O,251 321.045. .159
IiIne 325,50l 1921 341 ,526, GIG
.Iuiy 3O6,997.014 313135.645
AUGUST 29O,397. .S95 329, ,676, ,555
September 29S,S 800 332, ,922, 1851