CRESCEI{I BAY

leave. Sven said:

"Ole, Ay tell you vat ve do. You mark dis hare place vere ve catch all dese hare feesh, and next Sunday ve come back hare and ve feesh in de same place."

Ole said: "Okay, Sven, Ay do dat."

They were almost back to the boathouse when a thought struck Sven, and he said: "Ole, did you mark das spot vere ve catch all dem feesh?" And Ole said: "Sure, Sven, Ay put a cross on de side of the boat right dere vere ve catch de feesh."

Sven was disgusted. He said: "Ole, you bane a fool Svede. How do ve know ven ve come back here next Sunday ve gonna get dis same boat?"

Home Building Beoting Bqck

Sharp gains in heavy engineering ancl resiclential brrilcling in the second quarter almost carriecl the corrstructiorr inclrrstry to a new record in the first l-ralf of 1958, accorcling to the rnidyear review of collstrrlction contrircts jrrst publishecl by tr. \V. Dodge Corporation. The cunrulative total of contrzrcts for future construction in the first six n.ronths of 1958 arnorrnted to $16.788.b25.000.

Cor.rtracts for resider.rtial builclings in the April-throughJtrne periocl pickecl up substantially, registering a gairr of 7'y' over the comparable montl-rs of last year. Resiclential contracts in tl.re first cluarter had clropped Sft beloll'a year ago. The recerlt spurt ir"r housing activity can probably be attributecl to three things: (1) a reneu'al of consumer conficlerrce as tl're recession sl-rowed signs of leveling off ; (2) mcire liberal firralrcirrg terms were made available uncler both the VA ancl FHA prograrns by the Housing Act of 1958; ancl (3) the effects of easier nlolrey corrditions.

ln tl.re first half of 19.58, resider.rtial building contracts totalecl $6,505,000,000, a gain of one per cent over last year. The number of dwelliug units re1>resented by tl-re residential contracts rose by 3/ with a large part of the gain accounted for by apartment brril<lings. Horvever, single family homes u'ere ir-r a decidecl uptrencl as the periocl clrerv to a close. At tl-re end of the first six nronths, the nuntber of single-family trnits was down only one percerlt compared with a 9/o clecline at the end of the first orlarter.