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Show and 1 037 crossings will be protected by installation of warning and safety safe-ty devices. Forty thousand men have been given employment on the projects, while 68,000 were given indirect employment em-ployment in the production and transportation of materials and equipment, the bureau said. During the past year, 281 bridges to carry highways under or over railroads were completed; 138 high-ways high-ways were relocated so as to avoid crossings, and protective devices were placed at twenty-nine locations at the cost of $18,203,462. In various stages of construction aimtnd the NATIONAL CAPITA! Washington. The dollar, backed by $10,983,000,000 gold reserve, is the kevstina of the new Anglo- October 1 were 830 new bridges, me reconstruction of 1C2 inadequate existing ex-isting structures, the relocation of 246 highways and the installation of protective devices at thirty-three crossings at the cost of $112,929,765. Construction will start soon on 174 new and thirty-six reconstructed structures, seventy -nine highway relocations and 624 protective installations in-stallations at an estimated cost of $27,816,526. Work listed as "programmed only" consists of 341 new and seventy ' five reconstructed structures, struc-tures, fifty-seven relocations and 351 protective installations to cost an estimated $43,649,963. Liquor Mark Set Distilled liquor withdrawals from bonded warehouses, considered to represent consumption, amounted to 10,063,778 tax gallons in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1936, the highest high-est figure since 1917, when cellars were stocked in anticipation of national na-tional prohibition. The figures were revealed at the internal revenue bureau. The 1936 withdrawals of fermented ferment-ed malt liquors, chiefly beer and ale, amounted to 41,890,967 barrels in the fiscal year 1936, a reduction from the 41,946,201 barrels of the years before, but otherwise higher than in any year since 1918. Cigarette production set an all-time all-time record in 1936, 141,834,738,730 having been withdrawn on the payment pay-ment of tax. This compared with 128,490,692,940 cigarettes the previous pre-vious year. Judging from trends since the first of July, the liquor and tobacco taxes probably will net the government govern-ment in excess of $1,200,000,000 in the 1937 fiscal year. At the rate of collections so far this fiscal year, liquor taxes would yield around $623,000,000 and tobacco taxes $555,-500,000. $555,-500,000. It was expected, however, that, with gradual gain in business activity ac-tivity and purchasing power, these figures would be exceeded. Maritime Commission The new maritine commission appointed to administer the ship subsidy act found its schedule of work loaded with important problems. prob-lems. Immediate action was necessary on the west coast longshoremen's strike situation. Requests were dispatched dis-patched to shipowners and the union, asking that a 60 day extension exten-sion be made on the contracts between be-tween employers and workers which expired September 30. This extension exten-sion would give the commission an opportunity to confer with other government departments concerned and make an impartial investigation investiga-tion in hopes of settling the labor disputes amicably. The commission has no direct authority au-thority over longshoremen. Its powers pow-ers in the west const citnati nn a ro French-American system for stabilizing stabil-izing currency exchanges. The Treasury department, working work-ing out technical details of the tri-power tri-power monetary agreement, said a selling price for gold would be announced an-nounced only by the United States. Although gold will flow freely between be-tween the stabilization funds of all three nations, France and England will keep their selling prices secret, treasury officials announced. The American price remained at $35 per fine ounce, though it may be changed on twenty-four hours' notice if necessary to protect internal in-ternal prosperity. When America buys gold from Great Britain or France, Treasury authorities said, the price will be arrived at by private negotiation. If bullion is purchaseo from the British stabilization fund, they suggested, sug-gested, the price probably will be close to the current quotation on the London free gold market, operated oper-ated by private dealers. In the case of France, they said, there is no definite indication at what price sales might be arranged. France has no free gold market, and has not yet fixed an exact basis for its devalued franc. Recent French action merely cut the value of the currency somewhere between 25 and 34 per cent. Large Wheat Acreage Another large wheat acreage is in prospect in this country, the bureau bu-reau of agricultural economics said in its summary of world wheat prospects. It pointed out that wheat prices are more attractive than at seeding time last year or this spring. Seed-ings Seed-ings for harvest in 1936 of both winter and spring wheat were approximately ap-proximately 74,500,000 acres, the largest on record except for 1919. Abandonment and crop loss due to unfavorable weather were exceptionally excep-tionally large and resulted in small production relative to acreage sown. If yields of the crop for harvest in 1937 turn out to be one-fourth below average, the same acreage as seeded for harvest in 1936 would produce fully enough wheat for total domestic utilization. If yields should turn out to be near average or above for the 1937 crop, in view of present seeding prospects, the bureau said, "production "produc-tion would be in excess of domestic requirements and prices in the United States would fall to export levels." Winter wheat seeding in this country coun-try is making good progress generally gen-erally and the early seeded grain is coming to a good stand. During the past month the winter wheat belt, except in some northwestern districts and in the Pacific Northwest, North-west, has generally received sufficient suf-ficient rain to condition the soil properly for seeding, germination and early growth. Insure More Mortgages Contrary to seasonal trends, residential res-idential mortgages accepted for insurance in-surance by the Federal Housing administration ad-ministration on new construction during September showed a rise of 147.8 per cent over the same month last year and 5.1 per cent over August, 1936, Deputy Administrator William D. Flanders reported. Mortgages approved for insurance last month on new homes totaled $18,263,950 against $17,367,789 in the previous month and $7,370,524 in September a year ago. Last month's figure for all types of mortgages accepted was the second sec-ond highest monthly total since the FHA began functioning, reaching $44,316,900 on 11,174 items, Mr. Flanders pointed out. The only higher month was last June, when the total was $50,156,258. The rise for all types of FHA insured loans over the same month a year ago was $23,031,502, or 108.2 per cent. One of the chief causes for the upturn was held to be the increasing increas-ing number of private financial institutions in-stitutions lining up with the FHA program and making insured loans. There also is a wider demand on the part of borrowers for this type of mortgage, Mr. Flanders said. September operations of the FHA included insurance on 43,789 modernization mod-ernization loans totaling $19,394,-303, $19,394,-303, the largest in several months. Total insurance business of the FHA as of September 30 included 120,245 home mortgages accepted for insurance for a total of $481,-360,088; $481,-360,088; 1.195,956 modernization and repair notes insured for $444,670,660 and insurance on thirty-two large-scale large-scale housing projects for mort-gages mort-gages aggregating $45,851,000. Road Building Cost The United States bureau of public pub-lic roads announced that construction construc-tion work costing $131,133,227 was either completed or initiated during the past year in the campaign for safer railroad crossings. With the $200,000,000 of emergency emer-gency relief funds allocated last year for grade crossing work, the bureau reported that 2,097 crossings will be eliminated, 320 old grade-separating grade-separating bridges will be rebuilt limited to regulation of minimum wages, hours and working conditions condi-tions of seamen on subsidized ships. It desires to intervene in the longshoremen's long-shoremen's dispute only as an interested in-terested party. Another duty of the commission will be a scrutiny of 600 regular employees em-ployees of the shipping board bureau bu-reau and the merchant fleet corporation. corpo-ration. These employees will continue con-tinue their regular work for a six month "probation period," after which they may be replaced or certified lor civil service ratings. The commission will begin two studies of vital importance to American Amer-ican shipping. It will determine whether any existing trade routes are "nonessential" and should be stricken from the federal subsidy list. It will soon analyze cargoes, foreign competition, revenues, construction con-struction and operating costs, and other factors which will enable it to construct a yardstick for allocating allocat-ing subsidies. National Forests Approval for purchase of 392,665 acres, to cost $1,946,171, to be added to the national forests, was given by the National Forest Reservation commission, Secretary of War Woodring, president of the commission, commis-sion, announces. The purchases are divided among 45 national forest units located in most of the important im-portant forest regions of the United States. The Mary's Peak area, on the watershed of Corvallis, Oregon, was one of the most important purchases pur-chases authorized. The commission also approved purchase of the Keosauqua national forest nursery near Ottumwa, Iowa. It consists of 99 acres formerly rented by the government and used for propagation of trees for planting plant-ing in the national forests in Midwest Mid-west states. The boundaries of the Chattahoochee national forest In Georgia were extended to include the Lookout mountain area of 204,-000 204,-000 acres, and the Armuchee area of 250,000 acres, situated in the 1 Southern Appalachians in the Tennessee Ten-nessee river basin in Georgia and Alabama. No land was bought in these 'additions. ; C WNU Service. |