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R eview
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Volume XXXII
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Atlanta, Georgia, September 30, 1947
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Number 9
Sixth District War Plants
P A R T I I : T h e R e c o n v e r s io n P e r io d
ship-repair facilities furnished it during the war at New Or
h e s u c c e s s of any business enterprise depends both on a
market for its goods or services and on the level of cost. leans but is utilizing the United States Navy Dry Dock. The
During the war industrial activity in the District increasedAvondale Marine Ways, Incorporated, at Avondale, Louisiana*
as it did mainly because of an assured market for war goods. has added to the capacity of its plant and is employing more
Costs were secondary, especially at the newly constructed war persons than it did before the war. The Ingalls Shipbuilding
Corporation at Pascagoula has continued its activities, though
factories.
Most of the new manufacturing plants in the Sixth District at lower than its wartime level, by constructing ships for the
that were built and equipped with the aid of public funds Republic of Brazil, reconverting cargo vessels, and manufac
during the war were erected to satisfy a market for exclusively turing Diesel locomotives. Its employment now exceeds its
wartime products. Not only were new plants constructed for prewar employment. The newly organized Higgins, Incorpo
that purpose, but many of the prewar plants were re-equipped rated, is also operating, though on a scale greatly below the
for that type of production. To many prewar industrial firms wartime peak of the former Higgins Industries, Incorporated.
Much the same developments have taken place at Savannah.
the new structures and equipment meant no increase in their
capacity to produce peacetime goods but the ability to pro Of the three yards that were vigorously active there during the
duce specialized war materials. Although the close of the war war, only the Savannah Machine and Foundry Company was
brought to an end the assured market for these materials, it operating in 1947. The firm, which was founded about 40
had no such effect on the market for the goods they normally years ago, is doing a ship-repair and foundry business that re
produced. Consequently, reconversion required only that these quires more employees than the company had before the war.
firms remove their wartime equipment and reinstall the ma In July it purchased the Navy’s ship-repair yard, including
the 475-foot concrete graving dock.
chinery used in their usual operations.
The Gibbs Gas Engine Company at Jacksonville, Florida,
Of the 108 manufacturers whose facilities were enlarged
by the Government during the war, all but five are now pro which was established in 1911 and which built mine sweep
ducing. They employ fewer workers than they did then but ers, tugs, and similar vessels as well as doing Navy ship-re
more than they did before the war. So far, employment in pair work at a Navy-built yard during World War II, is now
1947 has exceeded prewar employment 12 percent. Even in known as the Gibbs Corporation. It is performing ship-re
shipbuilding, in which the decline from wartime activity has pair and conversion work and other activities requiring al
been great, the gain has been 37 percent. Many of the com most three times more workers than it needed before the war
panies are, of course, producing goods much different from though considerably less than it had during the wartime em
those they made during the war.
ployment peak. In August the company bought the water
A large part of the increase over prewar employment at front dry docks and equipment from the Navy.
these plants is represented in the resumption of peacetime pro
Also the Merrill-Stevens Dry Dock and Repair Company of
duction. Good postwar markets for the wartime products of Jacksonville has continued its operations at a greater-thanother plants made changes in the type of production unnec prewar scale. Another Florida company continuing its opera
essary.
tions is the Tampa Shipbuilding Company, Inc., which has
The postwar markets for steel and petroleum products as purchased its plant from the Navy and now employs approxi
well as those for synthetic rubber have been good. Approxi mately 2,000 workers. The Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation at
mately all the newly constructed plants and the extensions of Mobile is also employing several thousand workers in its work
older plants producing these goods have continued to manu of ship reconversion. Extensive ship-repair work is carried on
facture them since the war. The market for ship construction by the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company, and
and repair, however, has called for the services of plants with other contractors are using part of its facilities for disman*
varied experience rather than for those of plants which con tling ships, but, of course, those operations are very much
fined their work to the mass-production type of vessel.
smaller than war operations.
Of the 25 shipbuilding companies operating in the District
Except for these firms the large wartime yards in the Dis
states during die war, the 17 that have continued are almost trict are idle. Consequently, evien though shipyard activity has
entirely those which were organized before the war. The Todd* been greater since the war than many people expected it to
Johnson Dry Docks, Incorporated, is not only operating the be, only about 23,000 workers were being employed in 1947,
T
106
M o n t h ly R e v ie w
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a figure in acute contrast to the 190,000 wartime labor force.
The extent of future activity is uncertain and is dependent on
Government policies for the Merchant Marine as well as on
world-wide trade conditions.
Equally dependent on Government policy and world con
ditions is the future of the synthetic-rubber plants, which so
far have continued in operation. Postwar employment at these
plants is slightly below the war level. The District’s chemical
plants, however, have a brighter outlook.
The postwar market for chemical products has been suffi
cient to enable not only a continued operation of the enlarged
prewar-plant facilities but a utilization of most of the warconstructed plants. Evidently the managements of these firms
have confidence in the future of their industry in the District,
because they have purchased most of the plants they operated
during the war.
Among the Tennessee chemical firms buying plants are the
Hayden Chemical Company, which bought the Southern Acid
and Sulphur plant at Memphis, and the Quaker Oats Chemi
cal Company, which bought the Memphis plant it was oper
ating. The Tennessee Products Corporation has purchased the
plant it operated at Chattanooga, and the Tennessee Copper
Company has leased the sulphuric-acid plant at the Alabama
Ordnance Works at Sylacauga and bought the plant it oper
ated at Copperhill, Tennessee. Rohm and Haas Company,
which was organized in 1942, has purchased the Knoxville
plant it operated during the war, and the National Carbon
Company has leased the Columbia plant, where it is continu
ing to manufacture carbon electrodes.
In Louisiana, the National Cylinder Gas Company at New
Orleans bought the equipment installed at its plant during the
war, and the National Distillers Products Corporation bought
the plant operated at that time by the Gulf Distilling Corpo
ration. One of the largest plants in the state, at Monroe, has
been purchased by the Commercial Solvents Corporation. The
company, it is reported, is planning a considerable expansion.
The Mathieson Alkali Works, Incorporated, has leased the
plant for the manufacture of ammonia at Lockport for a
10-year period. A part of the plant operated by that company
at Lake Charles has been sold to the Gulf States Utilities Com
pany, and another part has been leased to the Southern Alkali
Corporation for 20 years.
Postwar operations of the District’s light-metal plants also
appear to be promising. The Permanente Metals Corporation
is operating the alumina plant at Baton Rouge. It is planning
to construct a dock on the Mississippi River that will accom
modate ocean-going freighters delivering bauxite from South
America and thus eliminate a 100-mile railway haul. The
Reynolds Alloys Company has bought the plant at Listerhill,
Alabama, where it is producing aluminum-alloy sheets, rods,
and bars. Another plant turning out alumina during the war,
however, has been sold to the Ideal Cement Company and will
be used for the manufacture of a million barrels of oystershell cement each year. All together, the plants in the nonferrous-metals field were employing approximately 4,000 peo
ple in 1947, against 8,000 during the war and 1,500 before it.
Another of the brighter spots in the reconversion picture
has been the utilization of the District’s rubber-product fac
tories. Such established plants as the Armstrong Tire and
Rubber Company at Natchez, Mississippi, and the B. F. Good
rich Plant at Clarksville, Tennessee, are, of course, continuing
operation. A large sum of public funds was used in the con
struction of most such facilities as the Goodyear Tire and
F e d e r a l R e s e r v e
B a n k
o f A t l a n ta
f o r
S e p t e m
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1 9 4 7
Rubber Company’s plant at Gadsden, Alabama, which is con
tinuing operation at about its wartime level of employment.
The Goodyear Decatur Mills that were constructed to produce
rayon yarn and tire fabrics have been sold to the Goodyear
Tire and Rubber Company and are being operated by it. The
Firestone Plant at Memphis is manufacturing tires and other
rubber products, and the Robbins Tire and Rubber Company
has purchased one of the smaller plants that was operated by
it at Tuscumbia, Alabama. One of several plants that were
not completed by the end of the war, a plant at Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, was purchased by the B. F. Goodrich Company,
which finished the construction. This plant, it is reported, will
employ about 750 people. So far in 1947 the rubber-manufacturing plants have employed a total of 6,500 people, most
of which represents a net gain to the District’s manufacturing
activity.
Limited Postwar M arkets
It was, of course, those plants manufacturing products which
lost their market almost entirely at the war’s end that posed
the greatest reconversion problem. They could only be used
to manufacture entirely different products. In addition to rep
resenting more than half the total cost of the new manufac
turing facilities, such plants employed the greater part of
those manufacturing workers added at the war plants.
Although they manufactured diverse products, they had
several features in common. Most of them were financed en
tirely with public funds. They included the plants that were
characterized by large size and location in small communi
ties. Many of them were operated during the war by newly
organized companies. Almost none had a postwar market for
its wartime products. Consequently, most of them have con
tributed nothing as yet to postwar industrial growth in the
District. Some of them, however, have potentialities that
promise to aid a greater industrial development.
W ar Assets Administration
A successful solution to the problem of finding a use for the
war-manufacturing plants of that nature involves at least two
main types of activity. First of all a disposal organization
must be set up. In the second place, a use that is profitable
must be found for each of them. It was to meet the first re
quirement that the War Assets Administration was organized,
and, since customers cannot be secured for war surplus that
seemingly has no profitable uses, the agency has necessarily
become involved in the second type of problem.
The War Assets Administration was created in February
1946 to take over the disposition of surplus war material and
facilities from the War Assets Corporation, the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation subsidiary that had previously been
charged with the work. The WAA’s task, which begins only
after a property has been declared surplus, includes the dis
posal not only of industrial establishments but of military in
stallations and other nonindustrial facilities.
Under the present organization the Sixth District states
form part of two zones with main offices in Atlanta and Dal
las. The Atlanta zone includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
and Tennessee, and the Dallas office serves Louisiana and Mis
sissippi. In addition, regional offices are maintained in Bir
mingham, Jacksonville, Nashville, and New Orleans. The
work is organized into two branches, real property and gen
eral property. It is the real-property branch that must dispose
of the industrial facilities. These plants, however, compose
only a part of its problem. The inventory of zone 2, which is
M o n t h ly R e v ie w
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F e d e r a l R e s e r v e
P O S T W A R
U SE
B a n k
O F
o f
A t l a n ta
SIX TH
I. WAR MANUFACTURING pay rolls at all Sixth District plants in
1 9 4 4 to ta le d
1 ,2 5 5 m illio n d o ll a r s .
200
100
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS — 0
SOURCE' U.S. DEPT. OFCOMMERCE
300
3. THE ENDING of war orders resulted in sharp declines in employ
ment at the chief wartime employers' plants that were built or
expanded with public funds.
S e p t e m
b e r
107
1 9 4 7
D ISTR IC T W A R P L A N T S
2. IN THE SIX STATES, however, such pay rolls made up a smaller
part of total income payments than they did in the rest of the
nation.
PERCENT OF TOTAL
INCOME PAYMENTS
4. BUT EMPLOYMENT at the new and expanded plants exceeds
prewar employment at the expanded plants by 38,000.
SHIPBUILDING
ALABAMA
MUNITIONS
AIRCRAFT
f o r
FLORIDA
i
111
GEORGIA
IRON AND STEEL
SYNTHETIC RUBBER.
COAL, ft PETROLEUM
LOUISIANA
I ]
MISSISSIPPI
H i
NONFERROUS METALS
TENNESSEE
OTHERS
THOUSANOS OF EMPLOYEES ---- 0
100
50
150
200
5. PAY ROLLS at District war manufacturing plants, because of the
unbalanced character of wartime expansion, fell more from 1944 to
1946 than did pay rolls at such plants elsewhere but nonwar manu
facturing pay rolls expanded more rapidly.
Jllllllllllllllll
THOUSANOS OF___
EMPUOYEES
0
—4 0
—20
+ 20 +40 +60 +80
20
40
30
50
6. EMPLOYMENT at those manufacturing plants expanded or built
with public funds constituted 36 percent of all manufacturing em
ployment in the District states in 1943 and amounted to but 12
percent in 1947.
ALABAMA
PERCENT CHANGE—
—8 0 —6 0
SOURCE: U.S. DEPT. OF COMMERCE
10
m
I II IIIIIIB B IIIIIIIIlin
FLORIDA
I
PWP
GEORGIA
illJ IJ M
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllli
___
1
LOUISIANA
P
I D im
MISSISSIPPI
imnrnfTiTiiifa
TENNESSEE
■
I l f
THOUSANDS OF __ n
EMPLOYEES
0
SOURCE: U.S. BLS AND FEDERAL RESERVE
U J K ttJ M
100
200
i
300
108
M o n t h ly R e v ie w
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served by the Atlanta office and includes North and South
Carolina as well as four of the District states, had an inven
tory on August 1 of real property costing 248 million dollars.
Of this total, 111 million dollars represented nonindustrial
properties, 79 million dollars industrial properties, and 59
million dollars airports.
In any terms the work of the WAA is big business. Dis
posals of all three types in zone 2 during July amounted to
42 million dollars, and the goal set for August was 80 mil
lion. The physical handling and care of millions of items is
an enormous task. Items ranging from tiny screws to huge
machine tools and cranes are the agency’s responsibility.
Sometimes the machinery and other equipment have had to
be moved from the original installation, making it necessary
for the War Assets Administration to set up warehouses. Its
job is further complicated by many conflicting provisions of
the law with which the WAA must comply in disposing of
property. The 20 provisions specify, among other things, that
certain classes of buyers, such as Government agencies and
the wartime operators be given purchase priorities. The law
states that the plants must be disposed of in order to foster
competition. The present administrator of the WAA has
charged his personnel with the^task of measuring how well
they have balanced these provisions by the ultimate effect the
work has on the public good.
It is difficult to measure in dollar terms the progress that
the WAA has made in disposing of the equipment in plant
structures that have been declared surplus. Sometimes plants
have been sold with their equipment, and at other times they
have been sold after its removal. Sales of equipment may in
clude that coming from several sources and from nonmanu
facturing establishments. Some of the plants have been sold,
others have been leased. In general, it is believed that the re
covery value of the industrial properties sold in the South
east has ranged from 18 to 22 percent of the original cost. In
its appraisals, the WAA must take into consideration the
specified character of many of the plants and the rapid eco
nomic depreciation. The industrial facilities so far sold by
the WAA in the Atlanta zone had an estimated inventory
value of 500 million dollars.
The agency has tried to accommodate its operations to in
dividual cases. It has sought to interest not only local com
munities but national concerns and, therefore, has advertised
extensively in national publications. One of its chief tasks is
to interest local groups in acquiring properties for operation
as manufacturing establishments rather than for speculative
purposes. Interest in the operating prospects of properties
has more often come from large firms outside the area that
were interested in entering the District. Although a lack of
local capital may be a hindrance to local interest, according
to current arrangements the buyer of property may pay 20
percent down and sign a mortgage for the balance, which will
be amortized over a period of years.
New Products
Whether or not private businesses can profitably use the warcreated manufacturing facilities is, of course, decided by the
businessmen themselves. In several instances private enter
prise with little or no assistance from any particular Govern
ment agency or civic group has recognized the possibility of
using a District war plant for a purpose other than that origi
nally intended.
Occasionally it was the wartime operator of the plant that
F e d e r a l R e s e r v e
B a n k
o f
A t l a n ta
f o r
S e p t e m
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1 9 4 7
recognized the opportunities, but such instances have been
relatively rare when postwar operations involved the manu
facture of products quite different from those produced dur
ing the war. One such exception is found in the Consolidated
Vultee Aircraft Corporation’s Nashville plant. Early in 1946
the company began retooling the plant for the production of
light farm implements, gas and electric ranges, frozen-food
cabinets, and city transit busses. Although employing fewer
people than it did during the war, the company numbers its
present employees in the thousands.
A more recent example of a private company’s recognition
that a war plant could be profitably used for making products
very different from its wartime output is represented by the
sale of the detinning plant at Birmingham to the American
Rockwool Company. The plant had ceased operations when
its task of recovering tin oxide from the cans and tubes saved
by housewives and other people during the war had been
completed. The new owners will manufacture rockwool insu
lation from Alabama slag and coke. They will spend more
on improvements than they paid for the plant. Ultimately
they will employ about 325 people, almost three times the
number working at the plant during the war.
Other instances include the C. B. Ragland Company’s pur
chase of the partly constructed Goodyear Plant at Bordeaux,
Tennessee, in July. This company will use the plant as a
warehouse and as a food-processing facility. The American
Rubber Corporation, a subsidiary of the Florida Rubber Com
pany, has found a use for one line at the Redstone Ordnance
Plant in Huntsville, Alabama, which it has leased. It has be
gun the manufacture of rubber sponge and will later make
rubber floor covering in the plant. The McEvoy Shipbuilding
Corporation site at Savannah has been bought by the South
ern Paperboard Corporation. The Gadsden Ordnance Plant
operated by the Lansdowne Steel and Iron Company has been
leased by the Allis-Chalmers Corporation for the manufacture
of farm implements especially suited for Southern farms.
The citizens of Gadsden celebrated the transfer of the plant
to its lessees on August 19 by a special program. The com
pany plans to eventually employ 2,500 people there.
Local Civic Enterprise
Either the task has been too great or private enterprise has
been unaware of the opportunities, for much of the initiative
in determining new uses for the large plants has come from
local civic groups. One of the chief problems that confront
any group trying to interest businesses in the use of special
ized war plants is that, because of their large size, the plants
can ordinarily be used by only the very largest corporations.
Partial solutions have been found in multiple tenancy, or a
splitting up of the properties into sections of a size that will
attract smaller industries. A third method has been for a
local-government group to purchase the site with the ultimate
plan of subdividing the property or leasing it in parts.
The multiple-tenancy idea has been used at the BechtelMcCone Aircraft Modification Center at Birmingham. The
14-million-dollar plant was too large to interest any one man
ufacturer. Several Birmingham men, who were interested in
securing a profitable postwar use for the plant, devised the
plan of leasing various parts of it to different operators.
Early in 1947 it was reported the plan was so successful that
94 percent of the available space had been leased or was un
der option. The several operators in the plant were employ
ing about a fifth as many workers as the entire plant em
M o n t h ly R e v ie w
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F e d e r a l R e s e r v e
B a n k
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ployed during the war, but eventually, according to optimis
tic predictions, the full wartime employment may be reached.
The result, however, came only as a product of co-operation
between the War Assets Administration, the Birmingham
Chamber of Commerce, and many persons and other Govern
ment agencies.
Local interest in preserving some of the region’s income
gains was also behind the plans that were being effected for
a utilization of the ordnance plants in Talladega County, Ala
bama. The Talladega County War Plants Conversion Commit
tee was organized in 1944, through efforts of the Alabama
State Chamber of Commerce and other groups and persons, to
study the possibilities for the postwar use of the large muni
tions plants in the area. Surveys and conferences with Govern
ment officials and others led the committee to the belief that,
besides the site, one of the most valuable assets for postwar
use at the Alabama Ordnance plant would be the power plant.
At the same time the committee was aware of the long-cherished ambition of Southern newspapermen to see a newsprint
plant set up in the South. The area surrounding the plants
the Talladega committee was interested in preserving was one
of the few remaining areas considered capable of supplying
pulpwood in sufficient quantities.
The Coosa River Newsprint Company was, therefore, estab
lished in March 1946 to explore the possibilities of develop
ing such a plant at Childersburg. Two months later the War
Department approved a lease for 615 acres of the land and
facilities for five years, automatically renewable for seven
f o r
S e p t e m
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109
1 9 4 7
successive five-year periods. According to a recent announce
ment, the company is purchasing 230,000 acres of timberland
and has made an agreement with the Kimberly-Clark Corpo
ration of Wisconsin for the erection and operation of a plant
capable of producing 100,000 tons a year and employing
1,500 persons.
From the Talladega County War Plants Committee also
grew the Coosa Valley Development Corporation. Using funds
furnished by several hundred local stockholders, the corpora
tion bought the Brecon Loading Company plant near Talla
dega from the War Assets Administration to be divided into
units for various types of companies. It has sold parts of the
plant to Goodall-Sanford, Inc., the Southeastern Wood Prod
ucts Company, Inc., the Stretch-Tex Corporation, and the
Quality Laundry. The 1,000 workers at the Goodall plant will
produce men’s tropical suits.
Initiative has come in other ways from local government
bodies. The Hookers Point, Tampa, shipyard property that
was operated during the war by the McCloskey Company in
the production of concrete ships has been purchased by the
City of Tampa. According to announcements made in May,
the city will lease the property, in parts, to such firms as
lumber-impregnating, steel-fabrication, oil-term inal, and
small-vessel-building companies and other concerns, each of
which would employ from fifty to several hundred people.
After a series of negotiations, the shipyard facilities at
Georgia’s two port cities have been acquired by public bodies.
The Brunswick Port Authority has bought for $500,000 the
PO STW A R OPERATIONS
W ar M a n u fa c tu rin g P la n ts F in a n c e d w ith P u b lic F u n d s*
S ix th D istrict S ta te s 1940 - 45
EMPLOYMENT 1947***
NO. OF PLANTS OPERATING
war renoo
Ex
WAR PRODUCT** panded New
Aircraft and parts..
2
10
Ships and shiprepair work..........
12
13
Guns, ammunition,
and explosives..
44
22
__
Iron and steel.
4
Nonferrous metals
and products--5
3
Machine tools, ma
chinery and elec
—
tric equipment...
4
Chemicals................
9
10
Coal, petroleum
products, syn
thetic rubber--5
3
17
22
Others......................
ALL TYPES............
108
77
Postwar
EXPANDED PLANTS
NEW PLANTS
ALL PLANTS
Percent
Change Workers Change Workers Percent Change iron:
Workers Percent
irom
(Thou
(Thou
(Thou
irom
Wartime sands) Wartime sands)
sands))
Wartime
Total
Prewar Peak
Peak
Prewar Peak
****
****
****
****
****
**** — 91
5.6
7
Total
Ex
panded
12
2
New
5
25
13
4
17
20.7
+ 37.0 — 75.7
2.2
— 97.9
23.0
+ 51.8 — 88
66
43
4
7
—
50
4
18.0
23.5
— 43.5 — 45.2
+ 2.6 — 17.4
3.0
—
— 96.2
----
21.0
4
23.5
+ 11.8 — 81
+ 2.6 — 17
8
5
3
8
1.2
— 25.9 — 58.8
2.9
— 46.8
4.0
+155.4 — 51
4
19
4
—
8
10
4
18
3.0
1.4
+ 33.8 — 20.6
+ 105.7 — 32.0
—
4.4
---— 38.0
3.0
5.8
+ 33.8 — 21
+736.5 — 37
8
5
19
9
7
28
****
7.1
****
***★
+ 29.7 — 33.6
****
39
10.6
****
— 19.0
21.5
17.7
+ 14.2 — 7
+223.8 — 26
185
103
40
143
95.7
+ 11.5 — 50.8
29.5
— 89.3
125.1
+ 45.9 — 73
2
* T h e ta b u la t io n e x c lu d e s p la n ts w h e r e a u t h o r iz e d e x p e n d itu r e s w e r e l e s s t h a n $ 2 5 ,0 0 0 , a t o m ic - e n e r g y d e v e lo p m e n t s , a n d p la n ts f in a n c e d e n t ir e l y w ith
p r i v a t e fu n d s .
• • P r e w a r a n d p o s tw a r p r o d u c t s of s o m e c o m p a n ie s m a y d iffe r fro m th e s e .
• • • E m p lo y m e n t d a t a fo r m o s t p la n ts a r e fo r th e firs t q u a r t e r of 1 9 4 7 .
* * * * D a ta w ith h e ld to p r e v e n t d is c l o s u r e of in d iv id u a l p la n t o p e r a t io n s .
110
M o n t h ly R e v ie w
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F e d e r a l R e s e r v e
B a n k
o f A t l a n t a
f o r
S e p t e m
b e r
1 9 4 7
430-acre J. A. Jones Shipyards, which originally cost more owned and are valued at 2.3 billion dollars. Undoubtedly
than seven million dollars. To help pay for the property, rev some of the District war plants that have not yet been de
enue certificates were offered the people of Brunswick. The clared surplus will be included in the program. There is also
port authority proposes to develop the site for use by indus a possibility that if the War Department obtains congressional
tries that it hopes to attract to Brunswick. In Savannah, the approval of its plan to purchase or lease from the WAA 71
property of the Southeastern Shipbuilding Corporation has other industrial plants, to be taken over on 120 days’ notice
been purchased by the Savannah Port Authority under a simi if necessary, additional surplus plants in the District may be
kept as stand-by facilities for industrial mobilization.
lar arrangement.
In the Sixth District states the principal war plants that
Other properties taken over by governmental bodies include
the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation plant at Mi are owned by the Army and have not been declared surplus
ami, which is now owned by tlie Dade Port Authority; the employed 42,000 people during their period of peak opera
Gulf Ordnance Plant at Aberdeen, Mississippi, now operated tion. Though the retention of some of them in a stand-by ca
by the State as a trade school; and the Mississippi Ordnance pacity has been announced, final disposition of the others has
Plant, which was never operated during the war and has now apparently not been decided. Included is the plant operated
been partly sold to the City of Flora. The Board of Commis by the Bell Aircraft Corporation at Marietta, which has been
sioners of the Port of New Orleans is now negotiating for the retained for use by the United States Army Air Materiel
purchase of the plant and site of the Higgins Michaud Plant. Command. The Redstone Ordnance Plant of Huntsville is also
Arrangements for long-term leases to tenants are contem included, along with the Holston Ordnance Works at Kings
port, Tennessee, the Volunteer Ordnance Works at Chatta
plated.
An example of multiple use by means of private capital is nooga, and the Louisiana Ordnance Works at Minden. So far
provided by the St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company plant the Navy has retained its ordnance plants at Macon and Mil
at Jacksonville. Closed in 1945 after having launched 82 lib ledgeville, Georgia, but it has been announced that the latter
erty ships and several tankers, this plant, including the land, will be leased.
Those plants kept for national-defense purposes do not
was purchased from the Maritime Commission by the Tampa
Shipbuilding Company. The land and buildings were later represent a complete loss of industrial employment oppor
resold to a group of capitalists and used by several small tunities. Parts of them have already been leased, and other
manufacturing and warehousing concerns. It was announced parts may be leased in the future. At these plants, total em
in August that the property had again been transferred, this ployment, including the people employed by the lessees, is
time to a newly organized corporation, the Duval Terminal now almost a seventh of the wartime employment.
Company. The last company will continue to lease it to vari
Implications
ous concerns and will possibly erect additional structures.
The extent of the final impact that the war-built industrial
Remaining Disposal Problems
plants have had, and will have, on the District’s economy will
Among the chief industrial plants listed by the WAA as yet to not be clear for many years. But the experience of converting
be disposed of is the Wainwright Shipyard at Panama City. war plants to peacetime use has already provided lessons in
The property was nationally advertised for sale on September the promotion of Southern industrialization. One of them is
18. It has been split up into 14 units, to be sold singly or in that the wartime developments were not sufficient to overcome
blocks. The War Assets Administration believes the location the influence of the basic economic factors that guide indus
is particularly advantageous for the manufacture of furni trial location and expansion.
ture, plywood, boxes and containers, cotton garments, and
Efforts at reconversion have met with success where there
truck bodies and for warehouse and export-import operations. have been favorable markets and the management has been
The Jacksonville Oil Terminal is also ready to be disposed of a type to take advantage of those markets or where the
of. This property, which has a 3,000-foot water front, could management has been of a type to utilize any cost advan
be converted, it is believed, to the manufacture of fertilizer tages that already-built facilities might offer. For the most
or phosphate. Arrangements are being made to sell the Ala part industries that have expanded since the war have been
bama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Plant at Mobile in the very those for which the region held comparative peacetime ad
near future. Prospective buyers have expressed interest in the vantages. The wartime plant facilities merely gave impetus
McDonnell Aircraft Plant at Memphis. Others declared sur to a latent development.
plus and yet to be disposed of are the Wolf Creek Ordnance
Reconversion experience has also demonstrated the con
Plant and the Chickasaw Ordnance Works, both in Tennes tinuing necessity for community action. That wartime manu
see, and the Michaud Shipbuilding Plant at New Orleans. In facturing plants were already built and equipped did not au
August it was expected that the Huntsville Ordnance plant tomatically provide for their peacetime use. Conversion to
would soon be declared surplus. In addition, there are nu other uses has required much the same sort of tactics required
merous military installations which present industrial possi for the establishment of entirely new manufacturing plants in
bilities.
a community. Although private business must make the ulti
As the various properties are declared surplus the disposal mate decision to use a manufacturing facility built during the
problem of the Administration grows. In July, for example, war, community action can create the right environment for
more than five and a half million dollars worth, on the basis that decision. A conversion of the large specialized plants to
of cost value, were acquired. More properties are expected peacetime production is the problem still facing many com
to be declared surplus in the near future.
munities. Transferral of the plants to local groups is only one
The War Department announced in August its intention of step. To derive the full potentialities requires the energy
keeping in readiness for specialized production 60 industrial needed to effect any type of new industrialization.
plants over the country that are completely Government
Still another lesson can be learned. Many small businesses
M o n t h ly R e v ie w
o f
t h e
F e d e r a l R e s e r v e
B a n k
o f
A t l a n ta
can constitute a more stable economic support in some in
stances than a few large ones could. If the proper arrange
ments can be made they may offer more hope for a utilization
of large specialized war plants. Employment has continued
high at the many small plants in the District that expanded
their facilities with the aid of public funds during the war.
At certainly no less than 10 of them postwar employment ex
ceeds wartime employment.
The ability of Southerners to produce the goods needed
during the war has undoubtedly influenced the expansion in
manufacturing that, since the war, has taken place entirely
outside the war plants. Additional employment at other than
war plants probably exceeds the net gain in employment at
the war plants, but the ability to produce that was demon
strated in war-goods manufacture probably was a benefit of
wartime industrialization.
In value, the intangible benefits of that experience may
exceed the physical assets it brought. The wartime experience
showed many Southern communities that industrialization was
possible. It demonstrated the advantages of industrialization
at the same time it demonstrated ways to overcome the dis
advantages. It demonstrated the need for civic improvements,
better government, and better schools. It demonstrated the
abilities of Southern labor and management. After the war
was over, it led to vigorous community action aimed at re
taining those benefits. That action may eventually enable the
population of the Sixth District states to achieve the standard
of living that is possible with a full utilization of their re
sources.
Charles T. Taylor
Part I of the article Sixth District War Plants, which is con
cluded in this issue, appeared in the August Monthly Review.
f o r
S e p t e m
b e r
S ix t h
D is t r ic t In d e x e s
DEPARTM ENT S T O R E SiALES*
A d ju s te d * *
A ug.
J u ly
1947
D IS T R IC T ..................
A tla n ta ....................
B aton, R o u g e . . .
B ir m in g h a m .. . .
C h a t t a n o o g a .. .
la c k s o n ..................
la c k s o n v ille . . . .
K n o x v ille .............
M a c o n ....................
M ia m i.......................
M o n tg o m e ry . . .
N a s h v ille .............
N e w O r l e a n s ..
T a m p a ....................
1947
352
397
364
365
329
314
419
303
330
420
342
394
306
465
A n n o u n c e m e n ts
The Troy Bank and Trust Company, Troy, Ala bama, began remitting at par effective September 1.
This bank has total capital accounts of $429,000
and deposits of four million dollars. The officers
are Lane Enzor, president; L. C. Powell, vice pres
ident; Corley Chapman, cashier; and D. M. Pow
ell and L. D. Rose, assistant cashiers. The Troy
Bank and Trust Company does a general banking
business in Southeast Alabama and has a trust de
partment with assets of about $3,250,000.
The Citizens Union Bank of Rogersville, Ten
nessee, on September 10 opened a new branch at
Bulls Gap, Tennessee. This branch began remitting
at par on its opening day. The manager of the new
branch is Ray W. Pearson, and Miss Imogene
Barker will assist him in operating the branch.
Frank L. Gardner is the president of the Citizens
Union Bank. It has a total capital structure of more
than $400,000 and deposits of almost 8.5 million
dollars .
U n a d ju s te d
A ug.
A ug.
1947
1947
Ju ly
A ug.
365
412
363
370
397
360
444
361
356
3 81
358
459
304
433
309
389
328
322
293
289
378
278
274
281
305
355
267
405
269
315
809
260
251
241
336
242
|217
257
264
G10
244
366
321
404
327
325
353
3 31
391
332
296
255
319
413
264
376
1946
336
394
368
303
302
, (30 2
4 05
291
278
3 63
326
387
305'
441
D EPAR TM ENT S T O R E S T O C K S
A d ju s te d * 1Ir
U n a d ju s te d
J u ly
A ug.
A ug.
Ju ly
A ug.
273
413
224
294
4 44
281
270
369
234
383
496
2 88
271
430
214
324
464
25 2
295
403
225
291
444
i264
278
357
212
306
429
264
292
419
215
321
464
236
1947
D IS T R IC T ..................
A tla n ta ....................
B irm in g h a m . . . .
M o n tg o m e r y . . .
N a s h v ille .............
New' O r le a n s . .
1946
A ug.
1947
1946
1947
1947
1946
G A SO LIN E TAX C O LLE C TIO N S***
A d ju s te d * *
SIX STATES
A la b a m a ...............
G e o r g i a ..................
L o u is ia n a .............
M is s is s ip p i..........
T e n n e s s e e ..........
A ug.
Ju ly
1947
181
187
165
171
168
193
196
T O T A L ...............
A l a b a m a .. .
G e o r g ia ...
T en nessee.
U n a d ju s te d
A ug.
J u ly
1947
1946
A ug.
173
178
166
165
157
188
202
160
170
145
155
149
169
167
179
189
1 60
174
170
199
1 98
170
174
154
160
154
183
204
1947
1947
A ug.
1946
158
17 2
140
158
15:1
174
169
EL EC TR IC P O W E R P R O D U C T IO N *
C O T T O N C O N S U M P T IO N *
B a n k
111
1 9 4 7
A ug.
Ju ly
A ug.
1947
1947
1946
134
135
136
124
126
137
120
117
162
171
161
129
SIX S T A T E S .. . .
H y d ro
g e n e ra te d . .
F u e l
g e n e ra te d . .
J u ly
June
1947
1947
276
,284
260
20 1
226
273
376
359
244
J u ly
1946
C O N S T R U C T IO N C O N T R A C T S
M A N U FA C T U R IN G
EM P LOYME1NTT***
P la c e
SIX S T A T E S ..
A l a b a m a .. .
F lo r id a ..........
G e o r g ia . . . .
L o u i s i a n a ..
M is s is s ip p i.
T en nessee.
J u ly
June
1947
1947
140
148
111
128
142
152
151
141 r
1 54r
113
130
,140
1 5 5r
151r
J u ly
1946
137
144
108
133
134
144
148
ALL I T E M S ..
F o o d ...............
C lo th in g ...
R e n t ...............
F u e l, e l e c .,
an d ic e ..
H o m e fu r
n is h in g s .
M is c ...............
P u r c h a s in g
p o w e r of
d o ll a r .. . .
Ju n e
1947
1947
343
461
286
324
487
345
301
236
259
332
414
D IS T R IC T .. . .
R e s id e n tia l.
O t h e r .............
A la b a m a . . .
F lo r id a ..........
G e o r g ia . . ..
L o u i s i a n a ..
M is s is s ip p i.
T e n n essee .
m
434
372
243
255
156
471
J u ly
1946
423
542
065
41 6
398
719
246
1237
370
ANNUAL RATE O F TU RN O V ER O F
DEM AND D E P O S IT S
C O N S U M E R S ' P R IC E IN DEX
I te m
J u ly
June
J u ly
1947
1947
1946
164
202
182
n .a .
162
199
182
n .a .
144
170
154
115
13 0
122
<113
C RU D E PETR O LEU M PR O D U C T IO N
IN C O A STA L LO U ISIA N A
AND M ISS IS S IPP I*
177
143
177
143
154
133
A ug.
J u ly
61
.6 2
.6 9
* D a ily a v e r a g e b a s is
* * A d ju s te d for s e a s o n a l v a r ia tio n
* * *1939 m o n th ly a v e r a g e = 1 0 0 ;
o th e r in d e x e s , 1 9 3 5 - 3 9 = 1 0 0
A ug.
1947
U n a d ju s te d ..
A d j u s t e d * * .. .
I n d e x * * .............
1 6 .2
1 8.5
7 4 .8
1947
U n a d j u s t e d ..
A d ju s te d * * .. .
r R e v is e d
n .a .N o t a v a ila b le
256
256
Ju ly
A ug.
1947
1946
1 7 .2
1 8 .2
7 0 .5
1 5 .4
1 7 .5
€ 7 .5
Ju ly
1947
251
251
A ug.
1946
229
229
112
M o n t h ly R e v ie w
o f
t h e
F e d e r a l R e s e r v e
B a n k
o f A t l a n ta
f o r
S e p t e m
b e r
1 9 4 7
District Business Conditions
period furniture-storq accounts receivable expanded 34 per
was, unless conditions changed during the cent and the accounts of household-appliance stores 85 per
last two weeks, the fourth successive month that sales cent. This tendency toward greater credit buying had be
at Sixth District department stores were lower than theycome apparent in 1946. It was one of the things that ex
were in the corresponding month of 1946. For the two plained how consumer expenditures throughout the United
weeks ended the 17th they were down 5 percent from the States could increase more than personal incomes did.
With the release of income-payment estimates by the
level of the corresponding period last year. August de
United
States Department of Commerce it became evident
partment-store sales, after being adjusted for seasonal
changes, however, showed a slight increase over July sales. that this greater increase in consumer expenditures occurred
The seasonally adjusted index of daily average sales for the in the Sixth District states. For these states as a group, per
month was 351 percent of the 1935-39 average, against 336 sonal income increased only 1.5 percent in 1946. All evi
dence points to a greater rate of increase in District con
for July and against 365 for August 1946.
Because department stores sell a wide variety of goods, sumer expenditures during that year. Declines of about 2
the changes in their sales ordinarily indicate how much con percent each in Florida and Mississippi and 0.2 in Louisiana
sumers are spending in general. Such changes do not, how were more than offset by gains of 2.5 percent for Alabama,
ever, fully reflect the course of retail trade during a period 5 percent for Georgia, and 3.8 percent for Tennessee.
Although the increase in total income payments for the
like the present one. Compared with last year greater pro
District
states from 1940 through 1946 was 161 percent
portions of consumers’ expenditures are now going for such
durable goods as automobiles, building materials, and home while that for the Southeast was 159 percent and that for
furnishings, which either are not sold in department stores the entire United States 123 percent, the rate of gain during
or are sold there in limited quantities, and expenditures at 1946 was less than the rate of increase for either the South
food stores now make up a greater part of the amount spent east or for the country as a whole. The Southeastern increase
was 5 percent, and the National increase 9.1 percent.
for nondurable goods.
At Sixth District department stores in 1946, sales of
T otal Incom e P a y m e n ts
women’s and misses’ clothes amounted to 37 percent of total
M illions of D ollars
P e rc e n t C h an g e
sales. These sales and those of other departments specializing
1940
1943
1944
1945
1946
1940-46 1945-46
in the so-called soft goods amounted to 68 percent. It is in
the soft-goods lines, especially in women’s apparel, that retail A la b a m a
763
1 ,7 8 0
1 ,9 4 3
2 ,0 2 1
+ 1 72
2 ,0 7 3
+ 2 .5
900
2 ,1 0 5
2 ,3 6 9
2 ,3 7 2
+ 164
—2.T)
2 ,4 2 0
buying has declined in recent months. All together the sales F lo r id a
986
2 ,1 4 3
2 ,3 7 3
2 ,5 6 7
+ 16 0
2 ,4 4 5
+ 5 .0
of such departments for the first seven months of 1947 GL oe uo isr giaian a
847
1 ,8 7 4
+ 13 4
2 ,0 0 1
1 ,9 8 6
1 ,9 8 2
- 0 .2
totaled approximately the dollar amount that they did in the M is s is s ip p i
444
1 ,0 8 4
— 1 .9
1 ,1 8 8
1 ,2 0 5
1 ,1 8 2
+ 166
corresponding period of 1946. In the hard-goods lines, how T e n n e s s e e
927
1 ,9 8 3
2 ,2 7 6
+ 173
+ 3 .8
2 ,4 4 3
2 ,5 3 5
4 ,8 6 7
1 0 ,9 6 9
1 2 ,1 5 0
1 2 ,5 2 0
12,711
+ 161
+ 1.5
ever, department-store sales expanded during the period 11 S ix S ta te s
1 7 ,4 3 3
2 1 ,4 7 6
2 2 ,2 6 7
2 3 ,3 9 5
+ 159
+ 5 .0
9 ,0 4 3
percent. Greater dollar sales of household appliances and S o u th e a s t
U n ite d S ta te s
7 5 ,8 5 2 1 4 0 ,0 2 1 1 5 1 ,2 1 7 1 5 5 ,2 0 1 1 6 9 ,3 7 3
+ 1 23
+ 9.1
other home furnishings explain this increase.
But in recent months though sales of home furnishings,
Finance
including household appliances, have been greater than they
were in the corresponding months of the preceding year, The morning after Labor Day a period of intense activity
their gains have been lower. Despite a 14-percent increase began for the commercial banks, jvhich were called on to
for the first seven months of 1947 over the first seven months redeem a large part of the leave bonds held by more than
of 1946. Sixth District department stores in July, for ex 700,000 of the veterans living in the Sixth Federal Reserve
ample, sold home furnishings, including household appli District. By September 19 approximately 450,000 veterans
ances and radios, only 5 percent greater in dollar value than had presented their bonds and received in return about 90
the goods they sold during July 1946. In household appli million dollars.
ances the department stores still maintain a substantial gain
The first effect was to increase the commercial banks’ cur
over their preceding year’s sales.
rency needs. During the week ended September 3 the net
The reports received from other types of Sixth District note circulation of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in
retailers reflect similar changes. At the reporting furniture creased to 1,407 million dollars, a gain of 41 million dollars
stores, sales from January through June were higher than for the week. During the week following, it expanded further,
they were during the corresponding months in 1946. These to a total of 1,410 million dollars. After the first rush, there
stores sold 3 percent less this July, however, than they did was a decline of approximately 10 million dollars during
in July 1946 and 3 percent less during August than they the week ended September 17. Although net circulation was
did in August a year ago. At the reporting household appli lower in those weeks than it was during any week in January
ance stores, however, sales remained above the preceding of this year or at any time during 1946, the weekly increase
year’s figure, amounting in August to 53 percent more.
was by far the greatest in a number of years.
This greater buying of durable goods by consumers partly
The bond redemptions coincided with the customary yearly
explains the expanded accounts receivable of retailers. At increase in the demand for currency. Consequently, despite
the department stores, instalment accounts were 73 percent the spending that inevitably followed the redemptions and
greater this August than they were last August. In the same the resulting return of the currency to the banks, the net
Trade and Consumer Income
e p te m b e r
S
t h e
F e d e r a l
R e s e r v e
B a n k
o f
A t l a n ta
circulation of Federal Reserve notes on September 19 failed
to decrease anywhere near the amount outstanding before the
redemptions began. It, however, was approximately 31 mil
lion dollars less than it was on the corresponding date in
1946.
As the member banks received payments for the redeemed
bonds from the Treasury, through the Federal Reserve Bank
as fiscal agent for the United States, their reserve accounts
were credited with a consequent increase in reserves, amount
ing to 22 million dollars for the week ended September 10.
Also reflecting these transactions was the increase of 32
million dollars in the deposits made by correspondent banks
at the weekly reporting member banks during the same week.
The use to which the proceeds of the bonds were put can,
of course, only be conjectured. There is certainly no sign
that a sufficient amount is being spent in the department
stores to bring their sales up to last year’s level. The increase
in demand deposits adjusted at the reporting banks during
the week ended September 10, 1947, might be the result of
deposits made either by the veterans themselves or by other
people to whom they had paid the proceeds. There is some
evidence that the proceeds may have been used in making
down payments on consumer durable goods, especially auto
mobiles. Obligations from such purchases may partly ex
plain the four-million-dollar increase in consumer loans at
the weekly reporting banks for the week ended September 17.
The increased lending activity which has characterized
the reporting member banks’ operations since July has con
tinued in September. Beginning with the week ended July
23 total loans have expanded weekly, bringing them at the
end of two months, on September 17, to an amount 44 mil
lion dollars greater than they were at the beginning of the
period. A growth in commercial and industrial loans ac
counts for about 75 percent of the total increase, with the
expansion in consumer and real-estate-loans making up most
of the remainder. The reporting banks’ investments during
the same period increased about 10 million dollars.
An opportunity to exchange United States 7/8-percent
certificates of indebtedness maturing on October 1, 1947, for
one-percent certificates maturing on October 1, 1948, was
given the banks in September. Of those certificates held in
the District almost all are owned by banks, mainly Federal
reserve member banks.
The Treasury also announced an offering in September of
a new type of 2^2 percent Treasury bond, investment series
A-1965, to bear interest from October 1, 1947, the issue date,
and to mature on October 1, 1965. These bonds are designed
principally to attract investors other than commercial banks,
such as insurance companies, savings-and-loan associations,
pension funds, endowment funds, and savings banks. Sub
scriptions by commercial and industrial banks will be allowed
only when the banks hold savings deposits of, or issue time
certificates of deposit to, individuals or nonprofit organiza
tions. An eligible commercial bank is permitted to subscribe
in an amount up through 25 percent of its savings-deposit in
crease between December 31, 1946, and June 30, 1947, or
$25,000, whichever is greater. Subscriptions by other eli
gible Organizations are limited to 25 percent of their increases
in net assets between the same dates or $250,000, whichever
is greater. The bonds, which are not transferable, may be
redeemed by the holder six months after issue date.
If current Treasury receipts remain sufficient to cover cur
rent Federal expenditures and if the proceeds of the issue
f o r
S e p t e m
b e r
S ix t h
113
1 9 4 7
D is t r ic t
S t a t is t ic s
C O N D IT IO N O F 2 8 M EM BER BANKS IN SELE C TED C IT IE S
( ( I n T h o u s a n d s o l D o lla r s )
P ercen t C h a n g e
S e p t. 2 4 A u g u st 2 ri S e p t. 2 5 S e p t. 2 4 , :1 9 47 , fro m
1947
1947
1 9 46
A u g . 2 7 S e p t. 2 5
1947
19 4 6
I t e m
L o a n s a n d in v e stm e n ts.—
2 ,3 3 7 ,0 8 4
7 5 0 ,7 4 1
L o a n s — t o t a l ....................................
C o m m e rc ia l, in d u s tr ia l,
4 3 0 ,8 3 5
a n d a g r i c u lt u r a l lo a n s .
L o a n s to b r o k e r s a n d
7 ,6 3 4
d e a le r s in s e c u r i t i e s . ..
O th e r lo a n s for p u r
c h a s in g a n d c a r r y in g
8 0 ,6 5 4
s e c u r i t i e s .................................
5 9 ,5 1 8
R e a l e s ta te l o a n s ..................
5 ,6 0 0
L o a n s to b a n k s ....................
1 6 6,5 0 0,
O th e r l o a n s ...............................
I n v e s tm e n ts — t o t a l .................... 1 ,5 8 6 ,3 4 3
3 6 2 ,5 8 9
U . S. d ir e c t o b lig a tio n s .
O b lig a tio n s g u a r a n t e e d
b y U. S ................................... 1 ,0 2 9 ,8 2 6
1 9 3 ,9 2 8
O th e r s e c u r i t i e s ....................
4 4 0 ,0 8 8
R e s e r v e w ith F. R. B a n k . .
4 3 ,1 0 3
C a s h in v a u l t ..............................
B a la n c e s w ith d o m e s tic
1
7 2 ,9 3 0
b a n k s ...........................................
D e m a n d d e p o s its a d j u s t e d 1 ,7 4 6 ,6 3 4
5 4 8 ,8 0 7
T im e d e p o s i t s ..............................
3 6 ,3 8 7
U. S. G o v 't d e p o s i t s .............
4 8 4 ,5 0 3
D e p o s its of d o m e s tic b a n k s
B o r r o w in g s ......................................
8 ,0 0 0
2 ,3 2 5 ,6 8 7 2 ,4 7 2 ,1 1 4
7 2 9 ,9 6 9
6 2 8 ,5 6 0
+
+
o
3
- 5
4 - 19
4 1 6 ,9 1 6
3 4 3 ,3 0 5
+
3
4 - 25
7 ,5 0 2
1 1 ,1 0 3
+
2
- 31
8 0 ,5 9 4
5 6 ,4 1 5
5 ,4 0 0
1 6 3 ,1 4 2
1 ,5 9 5 ,7 1 8
3 6 8 ,5 4 6
1 0 6 ,4 7 4
4 5 ,6 2 5
3 ,4 7 8
1 1 8 ,5 7 5
1 ,8 3 4 ,5 5 4
6 2 6 ,3 6 9
4+
+
“f*
-
o
5
4
2
1
2
{F
h
-
24
30
61
40
14
42
1 ,0 3 4 ,9 1 0
1 9 2 ,2 6 2
4 4 2 ,2 1 6
4 3 ,3 9 7
1 ,0 2 5 ,8 4 8
1 9 1 ,3 3 7
4 3 3 ,3 3 8
3 9 ,6 7 7
4-
0
1
0
1
f-
o
1
2
9
1 7 1,1 8 3
1 ,7 7 2 ,7 7 7
5 4 6 ,7 6 9
3 3 ,5 5 6
4 6 1 ,8 7 9
4 ,0 0 0
19 3,3 7 3
1 ,7 2 3 ,7 9 1
5 3 4 ,7 4 9
1 9 5 ,2 3 5
5 1 6 ,0 9 4
7 ,3 0 0
+
1
- 1
b 0
- 8
- 5
-1 00
- 11
+
1
+
3
- 81
- 6
+ 10
D EBITS TO IN DIV ID UA L BANK A C C O U N T S
(I n T h o u s a n d s of D o lla rs)
N o. of
B anks
R e p o rt
in g
P ercen t C h a n g e
A u g . 1 9 47 fro m
Ju ly
A ug.
1 9 47
19 46
A ug.
19 47
Ju ly
19 47
A ug.
1946
3
6
2
3
4
3
1 7 ,2 8 3
2 6 7 ,8 8 0
9 ,9 7 0
1 4 ,7 6 5
1 1 6 ,3 1 9
6 3 ,9 8 7
1 7 ,2 7 3
2 6 9 ,7 2 2
8 ,8 4 0
,15,216
1 2 5 ,2 1 3
6 1 ,7 5 0
2 0 ,6 8 4
2 5 2 ,3 3 8
9 ,5 3 3
1 3 ,8 9 0
9 3 ,6 0 3
5 9 ,4 9 9
+
0
— 1
+ 13
— 3
— 7
+
4
— 16
+
6
+ £
3
7
12
3
3
3
3
2 2 8 ,0 8 3
1 8 0 ,5 9 2
'243,491
3 5 ,7 2 9
3 0 ,5 2 6
3 8 ,5 8 7
8 9 ,8 8 7
2 2 3 ,0 2 0
1 9 5 ,4 6 4
2 6 3 ,1 8 8
3 8 ,5 2 3
3 0 ,1 2 1
4 2 ,4 9 6
9 3 ,6 8 9
2 1 3 ,2 5 3
1 6 9 ,7 1 8
2 3 0 ,1 5 5
3 9 ,4 9 0
2 9 ,0 5 6
3 8 ,3 4 3
8 6 ,7 7 9
+
—
—
—
+
—
—
2
8
7
7
1
9
4
+
7
+
6
+
6
— 10
+
5
+
1
+ 4
B r u n s w ic k ..........
C o lu m b u s ..........
E l b e r to n ...............
G a in e s v i lle * . ..
G riffin * ..................
M a c o n ..................
N e w n a n ...............
R o m e * ....................
S a v a n n a h ..........
V a ld o s ta .............
2
4
3
,2
4
2
3
2
3
2
3
4
2
1 3,2 6 1
6 5 5 ,6 9 4
,43 ,9 56
7 ,7 3 3
5 3 ,9 5 9
3 ,2 1 1
>12,008
9 ,9 1 4
5 9 ,7 9 6
7 ,9 2 2
1 7 ,5 0 8
8 2 ,2 8 7
3 6 ,0 0 8
1 3 ,4 2 6
7 0 3 ,5 6 5
4 8 ,0 9 2
8 ,3 0 8
153,236
3 ,1 3 6
1 1 ,9 5 5
9 ,1 3 8
5 6 ,8 9 4
8 ,9 3 5
1 7 ,3 9 8
8 2 ,0 0 5
1 2 ,5 2 7
1 1 ,9 0 0
6 5 7 ,5 8 7
4 4 ,5 8 4
8 ,1 1 7
4 8 ,7 5 9
3 ,1 3 7
1 1 ,4 4 2
9 ,2 9 4
4 9 ,6 3 8
'8,010
1 7 ,2 0 3
7 4 ,2 1 0
2 3 ,9 2 5
1
— 7
— 9
— 7
+
1
+ 2
+
0
+
8
+
5
— 11
+
1
4~ 0
+ 187
+ 11
— 0
1
—- 5
+ ii
+ 2
5
7
+ 20
— 1
+
2
+ 11
51
LO U ISIA N A
B a to n R o u g e . .
Lake C h a rle s . .
N e w O r le a n s . .
3
3
7
7 3 ,0 3 8
2 5 ,7 6 4
5 5 1 ,7 1 2
7 9 ,3 8 1
2 5 ,9 1 2
5 6 9 ,8 9 1
6 1 ,7 6 5
,23,053
5 2 2 ,1 9 4
—
—
—
8
1
3
+
+
+
M ISS IS S IPP I
H a tt ie s b u r g . . .
J a c k s o n ...............
M e r id ia n .............
V ic k s b u r g ..........
2
4
3
1 4 ,5 6 7
1 0 3 ,4 8 5
2 4 ,1 0 9
1 8 ,9 5 9
1 4 ,5 2 4
1 0 0 ,3 3 5
,'23,181
1 9 ,4 5 8
1 4 ,8 0 0
9 1 ,7 6 8
2 6 ,5 6 2
2 0 ,7 8 7
+
+
+
—
0
3
4
3
— 2
+ 13
— 9
— 9
TE N N ESSEE
C h a t ta n o o g a . .
K n o x v ille .............
N a s h v ille .............
4
4
1 2 1 ,7 5 6
9 9 ,0 4 3
2 6 1 ,8 1 5
1 2 6 ,1 7 9
10 1,2 1 9
2 6 5 ,7 8 9
1 1 4 ,1 5 7
9 7 ,6 7 7
2 3 4 ,3 0 5
—
—
2
2
109
3 ,3 5 1 ,6 8 3
3 ,4 3 7 ,3 2 0
3 ,1 6 3 ,1 2 1
—
3
8 4 ,4 0 6 ,0 0 0
9 3 ,7 3 3 ,0 0 0
8 2 ,7 0 4 ,0 0 0
P la c e
ALABAMA
A n n is to n .............
B irm in g h a m . . .
D o th a n ..................
G a d s d e n .............
M o b ile ..................
M o n tg o m e ry . . .
FLO R ID A
J a c k s o n v ille . . .
G r e a te r M iam i*
O r l a n d o ...............
P e n s a c o l a ..........
St. P e te r s b u r g .
T a m p a ..................
G E O R G IA
A lb a n y ..................
A tla n ta ..................
Augusta.......
SIXTH D ISTRICT
3 2 C i t i e s .............
U NITED STATES
3 3 4 C it ie s ..........
2
6
* N o t in c lu d e d in S ix th D is tric t to ta l.
—
—4
— 10
4* 6
+ 24
+
8
—
4
4
4
18
12
6
+
+
+
7
1
12
CD
o f
+
M o n t h ly R e v ie w
4
2
114
M o n t h ly R e v ie w
o f
t h e
F e d e r a l R e s e r v e
B a n k
o f A t l a n ta
f o r
S e p t e m
b e r
1 9 4 7
and any similar issues are used to retire short-term bank-held mer workers and veterans will return to educational institu
debt as it matures, the effect will be to shift ownership of the tions. The demand is expected to improve in the fall with
public debt from the banks to nonbanking investors. Ulti the seasonal increase in industrial activity. Other forces,
mately this process would lead to a reduction in bank de therefore, will work to offset the slight summer decline reg
posits and possibly a lessening of inflationary pressures.
istered in manufacturing employment in the Six States in
July and ease the “full employment” placement difficulties
C. T. T.
of the state employment services. It is expected that in the
Employment and Industry
Slight increases in July over manufacturing employment for immediate future the employment trend will continue at its
June in Louisiana and Tennessee failed to fully offset the present level and perhaps rise.
Sixth District construction activity, as indicated by the
minor declines in the four other District states. The total fig
value
of contracts awarded, during the month of July was
ure, however, exceeded the July 1946 total 2 percent.
above
that of June but below the peak figure of the year
In Tennessee the crops matured late, delaying until July
ended
in May and considerably below the figure for July
the usual seasonal expansion in food-processing employment.
1946.
The
monthly rise occurred entirely in residential build
At that time there was a similar gain in the number of con
struction workers and a slight growth in textile employment. ing, with a slight fall taking place in other types of con
The gains were sufficient to slightly overbalance reductions struction. The construction-cost index for Atlanta (1913=
in employment in the primary-metals industry. Though some 100) reached 458 in July, as reported by the American Ap
industries in the states reporting slight over-all declines praisal Company. A comparison of this index with the Jan
added workers, the additions were insufficient to counteract uary figure signifies that costs in the city have risen approxi
reductions in others. In Georgia, for example, minor drops mately 12 percent since the first of the year. Though last
in the number of workers employed in the textile, food-prod- year these costs increased more rapidly in Atlanta than they
uct, and electrical-machinery industries were offset only did in either St. Louis or San Francisco, for the first seven
slightly by increases of the number in paper, leather, and months of this year each of these two cities had a rate of
increase greater than the Atlanta rate. The same report de
steel work. The decrease in Alabama’s manufacturing em
ployment during July resulted from the shutdown of steel notes that nation-wide costs of construction, based on a study
and iron facilities because of the uncertainties in the coal of 30 cities, have risen 15 percent during the period.
As indicated by the lumber market the prevailing con
situation during the earlier weeks of the month.
struction
activity entails a heavy demand for construction
In some cases the type of worker demanded is not the
type seeking a job. There are shortages in the professional materials. Southern Pine holds its strong demand in this
and skilled classifications, according to the state employment market while prices ipaintain their upward trend. Late-sumoffices, and overages in the semiskilled and unskilled groups. mer quotations are reported at substantial advances above
Thus even in prosperous periods there is the problem of find those of June in the better grades and finishes. At present
ing a job to fit the worker, as well as that of finding a less low-grade lumber is being produced. The lumber on the
worker to fit the job.
market now is better seasoned and less poorly manufactured
The individual worker may find himself in an area that than it was during the earlier postwar months. The supply of
has no openings in his line of work but has good openings lower grades is steadily diminishing as the stocks on hand
in other lines. In such a circumstance, there are three paths are shipped out. As a result there is a steadily increasing pro
open to him. The least desirable, of course, is that he take portion of quality lumber.
L. C.
a job beneath his ability. If he is young or in a position to
make adjustments, he can either get an apprenticeship
Agriculture
or a more formal type of training to qualify himself for the
As
retail
food
prices
continue
to rise attention is centering
sort of work that is available or he can move to an area
on
the
prices
that
farmers
receive
for their products. Farm
where there are openings in his line of work. The problem
is more acute for those workers who are prevented either by prices were approximately 26 percent higher in August than
age, property ownership, or responsibilities for dependents they were in June 1946, the last month in which price controls
from making easy adjustments and quick moves. Workers in were general. They were, however, only about 11 percent
one-industry towns are more likely to be in this predicament higher than they were in the same month a year ago. Since
than are those in areas of diversified industries with de that time the most striking farm-price rises have been for
mands for numerous skills.
meat animals and food and feed grains. During the year
In the Columbus, Georgia, area many of the prospective ended in August 1947 prices rose 19 percent for meat ani
occupational opportunities call for various textile skills. The mals, 13 percent for poultry, 21 percent for food grain,
majority of the unemployed veterans there, however, are and 20 percent for feed grains and hay. Cotton and dairyqualified as auto mechanics and truck drivers. The Nashville, product prices showed little or no change. Meat animal and
Tennessee, employment office reports that job seekers with food- and feed-grain prices have continued to rise in Sep
qualifications sought by employers are not always available tember, with price rises recorded for such major commodi
in spite of a surplus labor pool in the area. In the city itself ties as wheat, and corn.
there is an inadequate supply of skilled bricklayers, carpen
In general, District farm prices have risen less than the
ters, plasterers, mechanics, textile workers, and stenogra nation’s farm prices. During the year ended in August farm
phers.
prices rose 2 percent in Alabama, 5 percent in Georgia,
With the reopening of school the supply of labor is ex 6 percent in Tennessee, and 16 percent in Louisiana. Aver
pected to change in both composition and size. Many sum age prices received by Florida farmers and growers, on the
M o n t h ly R e v ie w
f o r
t h e
F e d e r a l
R e s e r v e
B a n k
o f A t l a n ta
other hand, were 17 percent lower in August than they had
been a year earlier. In part the relatively small average-price
rises for District farm products are attributable to differences
between the compositions of total District farm production
and national farm production. Last year farmers in the Six
States received about 42 percent of their cash farm income
from cotton, fruit, and tobacco. In August of this year aver
age prices for these products, in contrast to prices for all
other major product groups, were lower than they were last
August.
Although District farm prices for grain, truck crops, meat
animals, and poultry were higher in August than they were
a year earlier, they had not risen as much as the national
average prices for these product groups. Grain prices re
ceived by the nation’s farmers rose about 20 percent, but
District grain prices showed only a slight unward trend.
Meat-animal prices in Tennessee, Georgia, and Louisiana rose
about the same amount that meat-animal prices in general
did. Farmers in Alabama and Florida, however, were receiv
ing only about 10 percent more for meat animals than they
were in August of last year. Though national average prices
for truck crops and vegetables rose 30 percent during the
year, prices received by Florida growers rose only 11 percent.
Retail-food prices, of course, are affected by changes in
marketing charges as well as by changes in farm-product
prices. Based on the 1935-39 average annual purchases
of farm food products made by an average family of
three, marketing costs increased 27 percent from June 1946
to June 1947. Of the consumer’s dollar spent for food this
June, about half was absorbed by marketing charges. Though
these charges are now higher than they have been at any
time since 1920, they are lower relatively than they were in
the period of 1935-39, when they accounted for 60 percent
of the consumer’s food dollar. Almost half the total cost of
marketing farm food products is made up of wage costs.
Over the years changes in marketing costs have shown a
close relationship to changes in hourly earnings of foodmarketing employees. In the period June 1946 to June 1947
hourly earnings in food-marketing enterprises rose 12 per
cent, a rise that undoubtedly accounts for part of the rise
in food prices.
Although the national farmer’s share of each dollar spent
by consumers for all farm-produced food in June 1947 was
almost unchanged from what it was a year earlier, significant
changes did occur in the prices of some commodities. His
share of each dollar the consumer spends for fruits and vege
tables, the most important food crops produced in the Dis
trict, dropped from 43 percent to 38 percent. Of the con
sumer dollar spent for meat, his share declined from 79 per
cent to 71 percent.
An assessment of the impact which changes in farm prices
and food prices have had on the farmers’ economic position
requires a consideration of their position as consumers. Last
year almost a fifth of their cash outlay for various commodi
ties was made for food. Farmers make about one out of every
eight of the nation’s food purchases. Since the District farm
ers produce relatively small quantities of those food products
that have risen most in price, the adverse effects of higher
food prices on their position as consumers may easily out
weigh the advantages of higher prices for their products.
B. R. R.
f o r
S e p t e m
b e r
115
1 9 4 7
S ix t h D is t r ic t S t a t is t ic s
INSTALMENT CASH LOANS
No. oi
L enders
R eport
in g
L ender
F e d e r a l c r e d it u n i o n s .............
S ta te c r e d it u n i o n s ..................
I n d u s tr ia l b a n k in g
c o m p a n ie s .................................
I n d u s tr ia l lo a n c o m p a n ie s .
S m a ll lo a n c o m p a n ie s ..........
C o m m e rc ia l b a n k s ..................
V olum e
O u tstan d in g s
P e rc e n t C h an g e
A u g u st 1947 irom
P e rc e n t C h a n g e
A u g u st 1947 Irom
A u g u st
1946
July
1947
45
26
—
4~
2
10
11
—
—
—
—
11
9
11
23
54
34
+
+
60
79
— 3
— 5
-j- 0
4 - 29
4
A u g u st
1946
July
1947
+
4
+
8
- f 66
4 - 57
+
+
1
9
1
444-
—
4-
24
28
18
4 - 71
3
RETAIL FURNITURE STORE OPERATIONS
July 1947
86
T o ta l s a l e s ........................................................
C a s h s a l e s ........................................................
I n s ta lm e n t a n d o th e r c r e d it s a l e s . .
A c c o u n ts r e c e iv a b l e , e n d of m o n th
C o lle c tio n s d u r in g m o n t h ....................
I n v e n to r ie s , e n d of m o n t h ....................
Item s
P ercen t C h an g e
A u g u st 1947 irom
N um ber
oi
Sto res
R eporting
Item
+
78
78
85
85
63
A u g u st 1946
— 3
— 33
16
4~
4+
+
5
22
4- 6
4- 3 4
4- 9
4
4 - 2i
—
7
WHOLESALE SALES AND INVENTORIES*
INVENTORIES
SALES
P e rc e n t C h a n g e
P e rc e n t C h a n g e
No. oi
No. oi
A
u
g
u
st
1947
irom
F irm s A ug. 31, 1947, irom
Firm s
R
eport
R eport
July
A ug.
July 31 A ug. 31
in g
in g
1946
1947
1947
1946
A u to m o tiv e s u p p lie s .
S h o e s ....................................
D ru g s a n d s u n d r ie s ..
D ry G o o d s .........................
E le c tric a l a p p l ia n c e s
a n d s p e c i a l t i e s ..........
C o n f e c tio n e r y .................
G r o c e r i e s ............................
F u ll l i n e s .......................
S p e c ia lty l i n e s ..........
B e e r ..............................
G e n e ra l h a r d w a r e . ..
I n d u s tr ia l s u p p l i e s . . .
J e w e l r y .................................
L u m b e r a n d b u ild in g
m a te r i a ls .......................
P a p e r p r o d u c t s .............
T obacco P r o d u c ts .. . .
M is c e l la n e o u s ...............
T o ta l......................................
— 24
8
8
— 5
4
7
— 4
4 29
4
5
4
—
6
2
4
4
25
—
12
9
3
3
6
8
3
19
— 5
1
4
5
4- 64
3
3
14
19
— 16
— 3
— 9
•4 4
121
—
0
4 2
0
— 1
*3
4
4
’i
13
29
19
3
4
2
4
7
4 13
— 41
4
8
:+ 15
— 7
15
3
3
3
4
4
—
22
___
3
4
4
—
4
'5
—
"a
— 23
*3
4
4
4
+i 18
4 15
4
1
4
6
+
6
5
___
17
___
61
—
5
I
1
1
4
4
5
42
4119
41
51
24
44
52
79
47
* B a s e d o n U . S. D e p a r tm e n t of C o m m e rc e f ig u r e s .
DEPARTMENT STORE SALES AND STOCKS
P lace
ALABAMA
B ir m in g h a m ...............
M o b ile ............................
M o n tg o m e r y ...............
F LO R ID A
J a c k s o n v ille ..................
M ia m i...............................
O r l a n d o .........................
T a m p a ..............................
G E O R G IA
A tla n ta ............................
A u g u s t a ..........................
C o lu m b u s ....................
LO U ISIA N A
B a to n R o u g e .............
N e w O r l e a n s .............
M ISS IS S IPP I
J a c k s o n ............................
TENNESSEE,
C h a t ta n o o g a ...............
K n o x v ille .......................
N a s h v ille .......................
O TH ER C ITIE S*
D ISTR IC T
SALES
INVENTORIES
P e rc e n t C h an g e
No. oi P e rc e n t C h a n g e
No. oi
S to res A u g u st 1947 irom S to res A ug. 31, 1947, irom
R eport
July
A ug. R eport Ju ly 31 A ug. 31
in g
in g
1947
1946
1947
1946
4
4
6
4
5
3
—
5
—
9
3
3
4
—
7
5
—
—
20
11
— 7
4
6
— 18
4
2
3
4
22
4
11
23
18
14
26
—
—
—
—
12
9
11
7
5
3
4
4
13
2
—
_
4
4
'3
—
14
'6
6
—
—
4
3
4
4
4
—
0
9
4
i4
4
12
20
— 16
4
4
9
4
8
28
17
15
15
9
15
— 11
— 20
— 19
— 17
— 6
— 7
3
3
,4
4
3
/4 32
4 46
3
4
—
r4
4
5
5
3
• 4 24
4
3
4 15
4
4
3
5
4
4
,4
4
12
9
12
4
3
4
6
4
4
4
>4
4
5
4
4
9
4
4
3
4
4
(4
i4
4
4
i4
,4
6
18
94
—
—
—
4
1
8
5
22
73
4
4
4
8
6
9
4
4
5
1
* W h e n f e w e r th a n 3 s to r e s r e p o r t in a g iv e n c ity , th e s a le s o r s to c k s a r e
g r o u p e d t o g e th e r u n d e r " o t h e r c i t i e s ."
116
M o n t h ly R e v ie w
f o r
t h e
F e d e r a l R e s e r v e
B a n k
o f A t l a n ta
f o r
S e p t e m
b e r
1 9 4 7
National Business Summary
in August, following decreases in July, while output of nonoutput in August recovered most of the decline ferrous-metal products continued to decline.
shown in July. Total value of retail trade continued to
Output of most nondurable goods increased in August, re
show little change. Prices of goods in wholesale and retail flecting in part a recovery from exceptional vacation influ
markets advanced further to new high levels.
ences in July and in part increased domestic demand in such
lines as textiles and leather products. Output of manufactured
Construction
food products continued to advance somewhat more than is
Value of contracts awarded for construction, as reported by usual at this season.
the F. W. Dodge Corporation, rose by one fourth from July
Coal production rose sharply in August, the first full
to August and was higher than in any month since the month of operations under the new wage contracts, but out
postwar peak of May 1946. Increases occurred in all major put for the month was still below the rate prevailing early
types of construction but were especially marked in awards this year. Output of crude petroleum showed a further slight
for public-utility construction, which more than doubled. advance.
Awards for all other nonresidential construction rose some
Distribution
what, while value of awards for residential building in Department-store sales in August and the first half of Sep
creased by more than one fourth. The number of new perma tember increased by less than the usual amount at this time
nent houses started in August was estimated by the Bureau of the year. Value of sales was about 2 percent less than
of Labor Statistics to be 83,000 units, as compared with in the corresponding period last year. Retail sales at all types
of stores were about 5 percent larger in August than in the
80,000 last month and 65,000 a year ago.
same month a year ago, reflecting chiefly increased sales of
Bank Credit
durable goods. Value of sales of most nondurable goods was
Further large gold inflows and a shift of funds from Treas only slightly larger, although retail prices were considerably
ury and foreign balances at reserve banks to accounts held higher than in August 1946.
Loadings of railroad revenue freight increased considerably
at commercial banks in August and the first half of Septem
ber provided funds for a substantial expansion in member in August to a rate slightly above the same month a year
banks’ reserves, a large outflow of currency associated with ago. The August increase reflected a sharp rise in coal ship
cashing of veterans’ terminal-leave-pay bonds, and a decline ments and a substantial gain in loadings of miscellaneous
in Federal reserve holdings of Government securities. Re freight. In the early part of September, freight carloadings
quired reserves increased considerably during the period, re continued at a high level, after allowance for the usual Labor
flecting large additional expansion in bank deposits.
Day influence.
Commercial and industrial loans at banks in leading cities
Commodity Prices
continued to increase sharply in August and early Septem
The
general
level
of
wholesale commodity prices advanced
ber. Consumer and real-estate loans also expanded further,
and holdings of Government securities showed little change. further from the middle of August to the middle of Sep
tember and exceeded the peak reached in March of this year
Employment
by about 5 percent. Prices of farm products and foods
Employment in manufacturing increased in August, follow showed the largest increases. Prices of many industrial com
ing a decline in July, and was somewhat larger than in June, modities have risen sharply since June.
Retail prices increased about one percent from June to
reflecting chiefly seasonal increases in the food and apparel
industries. A further rise in construction employment oc July, according to preliminary figures for the consumers’
curred in August. The number of persons unemployed de price index of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Rent levels in
clined to an estimated 2.1 million persons, which was about the six cities surveyed showed somewhat less than a one
percent rise in July, which was the first month affected by
the same as a year ago.
the new controls jjermitting increases of 15 percent on new
Industrial Production
leases extending through 1948. Indications are that retail
The Board’s seasonally adjusted index of industrial produc prices have risen further since that time.
tion was 182 percent of the 1935-39 average in August, as
The Board of Governors
compared with 177 in July and 184 in June. Most of the
August advance was due to increases in output of nondurable
manufactured goods and minerals to levels slightly above
D is c o n tin u e d S e rie s
June rates. Activity in industries manufacturing durable
Indexes showing changes in Sixth District lumber pro
goods increased somewhat in August but remained 3 percent
duction and in coal production , formerly published in
below the June level.
the Review, have been discontinued. The Government
Output of steel rose to a rate of 90 percent of capacity
in August, and indications are that it will average about
agencies from which the basic data were received re
that rate in September. Automobile production declined
port that they are unable to continue to collect and
further in August but advanced sharply in September. Out
distribute these statistics.
put of lumber and most other building materials advanced
n d u s t r ia l
I
@FedFRASER