Turpentine receipts for March, 1918, were 2,450 bbls., against 1,159 bbls. last year.

Rosin receipts for March, 1918, were 9,332 bbls., against 7,974 bbls. last year.

Foreign shipping continues active. There was an increase in the shipment of cotton both foreign and coast wise.

The Foundation Shipbuilding Company's plant is nearing completion and they have started to lay their first keel. The National Shipbuilding & Drydock Company has received an additional contract from the Government for ten 7,500-ton tankers and two 10,000-ton drydocks. One of the latter will be permanently located at Savannah. The Savannah Engineering Company has already finished its wooden shipbuilding contract and has contracted with the Government for seven sea-going tugs.

General business conditions continue active.

Seattle, Wash., April 10th:

Bank clearings for March, 1918, were $128, 807,440, against $84,468,576 last year.

Building permits in March, 1918, were valued at $934,135, against $583,795 last year.

Real estate transfers for March, 1918, were $1,371,931, against $1,141,328 last year.

General business as a whole was good during March. The shipyard payrolls for the month reached $3,000,000, and 28,000 was the average number of men employed. Ships contracted for at the end of the month numbered 156.

The outlook for a big wheat crop is excellent. Every available acre is going into the crop. Favorable action on the price of northwestern wheat, unusually open March weather and world shortage of wheat, are bringing about a much greater acreage than was predicted last fall.

The lumber situation is bad. The government, by stopping all shipments to points east of Chicago, shut off one big market which was becoming active. The requirement that for every two cars of commercial lumber one of government lumber must also be shipped, has almost closed down the industry, for at present there are practically no government orders on hand.

Tacoma, Wash., April 10th:

Bank clearings for the first three months of 1918 were $50,261,039, against $31,304,430 last year.

During the first three months of 1918, 484 building permits were issued, valued at $629,602, against 351 last year, valued at $332,131. Real estate transfers for the first three months of 1918 were $959,091, against $618,230 last year.

Post office receipts for the first three months of 1918 were $157,946, against $72,434 last year.

The Todd Drydock & Construction Corporation at Tacoma has launched its first steel vessel for the government, and ten steel steamships of the same type as the one recently launched have been ordered by the

United States Shipping Board, to be built by the Todd shipyards at this point. The vessel recently launched was christened "Tacoma."

According to the West Coast Lumbermen's Association the production of the lumber mills of Washington and Oregon for the second week of operation on the regional 8-hour day was 25.13% below normal. The production for the previous week was 24.90% below normal. While this report indicates the trend, exact comparative results of 10-hour and 8-hour days cannot yet be given as identical mills have not participated in the reports for the past three weeks.

Tampa, Fla., April 12th:

Bank clearings for March, 1918, were $6,088,844, against $5,622,452 last year.

Building permits for March, 1918, were valued at $29,908, against $114,635 last year.

Post office receipts for March, 1918, were $26,362, against $23,598 last year.

Customs receipts for March, 1918, were $165,324, against $187,988

last year.

Internal revenue for March, 1918, was $172,344, against $89,241 last year.

The value of water commerce for March, 1918, was $1,981,973, against $2,755,801 last year.

Cigars manufactured in March, 1918, were 32,722,740, against 28,954,000 cigars last year.

Bank clearings were greater than for any March since 1913.

Customs receipts, while slightly below the previous year, were greater than for any previous March since 1913.

Building permits were very low, owing to general conditions affecting labor and material and to war economy.

General business conditions continue about as in previous months, with the shipbuilding industry slowly developing and promising to just about bring the situation as a whole back to the condition which existed prior to the war.

The receipts of our railway department for March, 1918, showed an increase of 36% and those of the lighting department an increase of 33%.

Woonsocket, R. I., April 16th:

During March, 1918, 32 building permits were issued, valued at $66,835, against 14 last year, valued at $19,030.

General business conditions remain practically unchanged. Mills and factories continue to work at capacity, largely on government orders. We find by recent survey that 40% of the output of the Blackstone Valley Gas & Electric Company is being used in the fabrication of war material.

Retail merchants continue to report business practically normal in nearly all lines.

The scarcity in the labor market increases rather than diminishes. The receipts of our electric department for March, 1918, showed an increase of about 28% over the previous year, and those of the gas department an increase of about 50%.

News from the Companies

Boston Office

Mr. W. H. Blood, Jr., talked at the annual dinner of the Boston Engineering Societies on April 30, on the work at Hog Island. On May 9 he talked on the same subject before the directors of the American International Corporation in New York, and again on May 13 at Wellesley College.

Mr. M. M. Phinney has returned recently from a trip to Texas.

Mr. L. H. Bean, manager at Tacoma, was in Boston for a short time. Mr. H. C. Foss, manager at Savannah, has been at the Boston office recently.

Mr. L. C. Bradley, district manager in Texas, made a brief visit to Boston.

Mr. Warren Haskell, formerly of the meter department of the El Paso Electric Company, and later of the Dallas Electric Light & Power Company, and now located at Hog Island, recently spent a few days here.

Mr. A. K. Macnaughton has left El Paso for Ponce, Porto Rico, where he will officiate as lighting superintendent.

Mr. John C. McCluskey of the Treasurer's office has gone to the counting department of the Key West Electric Company.

Mr. John F. Boyle of the Treasurer's office has gone to the Brockton & Plymouth Street Railway Company as freight agent and general clerk. Miss Alice M. Winn has joined the Treasurer's department in connection with the industrial companies.

Miss I. G. Smith, who for a number of years has been stenographer in the Treasurer's office, has left to take an outside position.

Baton Rouge, La.

The Third Liberty Loan drive among the company employees is on with a rush and the power station group is leading all the other departments. D. E. Sommer, master mechanic, has returned from a New Orleans hospital, where he underwent an operation for stomach trouble.

Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Bell have announced the birth of a daughter and Mr. and Mrs. I. M. Stover the birth of a son during the month of April.

The Company War Garden, operated under the supervision of Mr. R. A. Delaroderie, superintendent railway and distribution, was quite badly damaged by a severe hail storm on the fourth of April. A number of varieties of vegetables were entirely destroyed, making replanting necessary, while the yield from others will be materially reduced.

The State Teachers' Association held a convention in Baton Rouge on April 4th and 5th, about 400 teachers attending. Co-operation of the schools in war work activities and the need of increasing teachers' salaries in order to hold competent men and women in the teaching profession, were among the important topics discussed.

The sugar mill and refinery of the Leon Godchaux Co. at Reserve,

Louisiana, of which Mr. Edward Godchaux, vice-president of the Baton Rouge Electric Company is manager and part owner, was destroyed by fire on April 9th. The loss is said to be between $500,000 and $600,000. Mr. Godchaux is planning to rebuild immediately in order to take care of the fall crop.

The first visit of aeroplanes from Gernstner Field at Lake Charles, Louisiana, since the landing site just north of Baton Rouge was completed, occurred April 2nd. From now on frequent visits of small squadrons from Lake Charles are expected.

Beaumont and Port Arthur, Tex.

On March 10, H. A. Black of Galveston, director of the National Chamber of Commerce and divisional member from this district, held a conference at the guest room of the Crosby House with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce of Houston, Orange and Beaumont. The delegates constituted the war shipping committees, a subdivision of the National Chamber of Commerce, and the purpose of the meeting was to assist in solving problems they may have encountered in the shipbuilding industry and shipping business. Mr. Black gave suggestions concerning the problem of securing and getting transportation for the material needed in shipbuilding, concerning the matter of getting the realty interests of the city to furnish adequate facilities for the workmen, the matter of getting the men to and from work, recreation and entertainment of the workmen, etc.

During the month of March the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce launched a campaign for raising $27,000 for the maintenance of the Chamber the coming year. Mr. A. F. Townsend, manager of the Beaumont and Port Arthur Companies, was a member of the finance committee for raising this amount. The campaign proved to be a success, as the amount raised was $600 in excess of the $27,000.

Mr. E. J. Davis, superintendent of railway and claim agent, returned to Beaumont March 23 after a two weeks' visit in Louisville, Ky. Mrs. Davis and her new daughter, who was born on March 20, will follow in a month or two.

Mr. A. F. Townsend spent March 23 in Houston on company business. Mr. C. O. Birney spent March 28 in Beaumont in connection with installing safety equipment on the Beaumont cars.

The "City of Beaumont" was launched here March 28. The vessel measures 265 feet in length, has a 19-foot beam and 13-foot hold capacity, 2,000 tons net, and is valued at $250,000. The vessel will be used by Mr. H. Piaggio, the owner, in Trans-Atlantic trade. She will be equipped for sea in Beaumont and make her maiden voyage from this port.

Mr. G. S. Brickey of Marianna, Ark., arrived here March 12 to assume the duties of general manager of the Chamber of Commerce.

A contract has been let for the construction of a three-story brick building, to cost $60,000, by the Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company, to be occupied by their exchange and other branches.

On account of the great shipbuilding activity, and other industries, the Chamber of Commerce has appointed a committee to work out plans for the building of a new 200 or 250-room hotel. Mr. A. F. Townsend is a

member of this committee. They have also appointed a committee to arrange for the building of rent houses for the shipbuilders and other industrial employees recently drawn to Beaumont. Placards have been posted all over the city urging the people to build rent houses, and most of the merchants are carrying a similar reminder in all of their advertisements. The Elks are planning to build in the very near future a $75,000 home in Beaumont.

Brockton, Mass.

The City Planning Board recommends special assessments to pay for municipal improvements, and suggests a plan for overcoming the housing problem.

Along with the service-at-cost plan for street railways recommended to the Legislature, came the petition of the Bay State Street Railway Company for an increase in fares by means of a zone system, which is opposed by the city and surrounding towns, the hearing resulting in means being taken to agree on a new fare system.

Columbus, Ga.

Mr. John S. Bleecker, manager, recently visited Washington and Boston.

Mr. G. K. Hutchins recently made a trip to West Point and Rome for conferences with army officers with reference to water power for nitrate plants. The officers also inspected sites near Columbus.

Miss Bernice Rodgers has entered the service of the company as cashier, vice Mrs. Alma E. Wofford, resigned.

Miss Georgia Mitchell has entered service in the accounting department as railway clerk, vice Mr. Jas. E. Butler, resigned.

A "War Savings Society" has been formed among our employees, and up to date there are sixty-eight members who have pledged to buy a definite amount of Thrift and War Savings Stamps for the balance of the year.

Mr. R. M. Harding, general superintendent, and Mr. F. U. Garrard, attorney, went to Atlanta on April 10th in connection with getting the Railroad Commission's approval of the changes in car schedules incident to the inauguration of the new Birney cars.

Mr. L. H. Crowell, assistant treasurer, has announced the birth of a daughter, Ellen Elizabeth, on April 9th. The employees of the accounting department have presented the child with an engraved silver cup.

Fort Madison, Ia.

H. T. Edgar of Boston, Mass., visited Fort Madison early in March. The Industrial Plumbing and Heating Company have moved to this city from Warsaw, Wisconsin. They have secured quarters in the business district, and will bring to this city six families.

On March 13th, the Greater Iowa Association gave a banquet to the farmers and business men of upper Lee county. The attendance was 150 and following the banquet a very enthusiastic meeting was held, at which H. T. Moss, representing the Greater Iowa Association, delivered an address.