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MONTHLY
BUSINESS
REVIEW
oft h e
Volume 32
FEDERAL
RESERVE
BANK
Dallas, Texas, Decembel' 1, 1947
of
Dallas
Number 12
INCOME PAYMENTS TO INDIVIDUALS IN THE SOUTHWEST, 1929-1946
O. TANNER, Economist
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
EUGENE
The economic health of the Southwest, as of any other region, may be judged by the income
generated through the total of its productive efforts and paid out in individual shares to its population. For the amount of personal income received in relation to satisfaction of wants felt is the
measure of the extent to which each person who devotes his labor or his property to the production
of goods and services has achieved his immediate economic objective. Accordingly, personal income
payments are an index of a region's ability to sustain its people and to retain or expand its productive
resources and organization. One may expect, therefore, to find the economic development of the
Southwest, over a period of years, closely associated with the trend of income payments to individuals
in the area during those years.
For each year of the period 1929-1946, the United States Department of Commerce has
prepared and published estimates of income payments to individuals in each state of the Union.
This period began and ended in years of abnormal national prosperity. The estimates of income payments make it possible to analyze the composition and trends of such payments in the five southwestern states which lie wholly or partly in the Eleventh Federal Reserve District. It is these five
states-Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona- which constitute the region referred
to above as the Southwest. They are the same, except for the inclusion of Louisiana, as the Southwest Region referred to by the Department of Commerce in reporting income estimates. For convenience in the discussion which follows, they will be referred to also as the states of the Eleventh
District, though portions of all of them except Texas lie outside the district's boundaries. These five
southwestern states had an estimated population of 11,035,000 in 1929, and of 13,013,000 in 1946
-an increase during the period of about 18 percent. In 1929, their population was 9.1 percent of
the population of the continental United States; in 1946 it was 9.2 percent.
Total Income Payments
Total income payments to individuals in this five-state region fluctuated widely between 1929
and 1946, with the trend generally, but unevenly, upward after 1933. Reflected in these fluctuations
are the great economic depression of the early 1930's, the 1934-1940 period of slow recovery interrupted by recession in 1938, the spirited response of the economy to the expanded national defense
program of 1940-1941, and the unprecedented upsurge of production and income during the war
period and the first postwar year. From $5,015,000,000 in 1929, the figure dropped to considerably
less than $3,000,000,000 in 1932 and 1933. Then, by painful stages of both induced and natural
recovery, and with one backset in 1938, it climbed to $4,755,000,000 in 1940, or to within five percent of the 1929 level. The next year it reached $5,800,000,000, setting a new record some 15 percent
above 1929. The first war year (1942) saw it rise to approximately $8,000,000,000; the next year
it topped $10,400,000,000, more than doubling the 1929 total; and then continuing to rise but at
a diminishing rate, it exceeded $11,000,000,000 in each of the next three years (1944-1946).
This publication was digitized and made available by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' Historical Library (FedHistory@dal.frb.org)
176
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
Percentagewise, total income payments in the states of the Eleventh District declined 44 percent-the same as in the Nation-during the deep depression years, 1929-1933, rose 71 percent
from 1933 to 1940, compared with a rise of 64 percent in the country as a whole, and spiraled upward
146 percent from 1940 to 1946, while the national total was climbing 123 percent. A slowing down
in the rate of increase occurred after 1944, concurrently with the slackening of the impetus which
the war effort had provided, and total individual income payments in the Southwest increased only
one percent during 1945 and three percent during 1946, compared with respective increases of three
percent and nine percent in the national totals. Payments in the region, during the last year of the
TABLE 1.
TOTAL INCOME PAYMENTS TO INDIVIDUALS IN THE SOUTHWEST, 1929-1946
Year
Amount
(millions of
dolla.rs)
1929
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
5,015
4,153
3,428
2,698
2,786
3,218
3,565
4,150
4,596
4.372
4,584
4,755
5,800
7,928
10,402
11,247
11,356
11,696
-17
- 32
--46
--44
-36
- 29
- 17
- 8
- 13
- 9
- 5
16
58
107
124
126
133
.Les8 than
on ~hlC
PCfccut..age change rrom
1930
1031
-17
-35 - 21
-33 -19
-23 - 6
- 14
4
- • 21
11 34
5 28
10 34
14 39
40 69
91 131
150 203
171 228
173 231
182 241
1032
3
19
32
54
70
62
70
76
115
194
286
317
321
334
1033
16
28
49
65
57
65
71
108
185
273
304
308
320
1034
11
29
43
36
42
48
80
146
223
250
253
263
1935
16
29
23
29
33
63
122
192
215
219
228
1936
11
5
10
. 15
40
91
151
171
174
182
1937
1038
1030
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
Southwest total &II
per cent of
1945 United Sta.tes tota
- 5
-
•
3
26
72
126
145
147
154
5
9
33
81
138
157
159
168
4
27 22
73 67 14
127 119 79
145 137 94
96
148 139
155 146 102
31
42
43
47
8
9
12
1
4
3
6.07
5 .66
5.53
5.69
6.02
6.07
6.09
6.10
6.36
6.65
6.49
6.27
6.29
6.81
7.43
7.44
7.32
6.91
of oue percent.
SOURCE: United Statts Department of Commerce.
1929-1946 period, exceeded those of the first year by 133 percent, while in the Nation as a whole,
the rise was 105 percent. Between the depth of the depression (1933) and 1946, total annual payments in the Southwest rose 320 percent; in the Nation, 266 percent.
These greater percentage gains in the Southwest than in the Nation in total payments to individuals during periods of rising income reflect a relatively rapid rate of increase over a low base
rather than a regional level of income higher than the national level. Comparatively, the Southwest
is an area of lower than national-average income, due, in part at least, to the relative importance of
farm wages in its total income, to its limited industrial production, and to the fact that both its
agricultural and industrial wage rates are below the national averages. In 1929 its inhabitants, though
comprising 9.1 percent of the national population, received only a little more than six percent of
the national total of personal income payments. In 1946 they constituted 9.2 percent of the population and received 6.9 percent of the income payments. At the 1944 peak of wartime concentration
of industry in certain parts of the area, they comprised 9.4 percent of the population and received
7.4 percent of the total individual income payments.
Examination of the column in Table 1 which shows total income payments to individuals in
the Southwest as percentages of such payments in the United States will reveal several significant
developments. The effects of the depression from 1930 through 1933 were relatively more severe in
the predominantly agricultural Southwest than in the country at large, since the ratio of regional
to national income payments in each of those years was lower than in 1929. After returning in 1934
to the same relation to national income payments as in 1929, regional payments continued slightly
and irregularly above the 1929 ratio until 1942, indicating a slow relative improvement in the income
status of the Southwest. The rate of this region's wartime increase (1942-1945) in total income
payments to individuals was considerably more rapid than the national average rate. Between 1929
and the wartime peak in 1944, the share of national income payments received by inhabitants of
this region increased from $6.07 ou t of each $100 to $7.44-a rise of 22 percent. Even with total
income payments at a new peak, however, the first postwar year witnessed a moderate recession in
the income position of the Southwest relative to that of the country as a whole, reflecting the end
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
177
of the abnormal influence of war industries on regional income and the sharp reduction in numbers
and pay rolls of military personnel in the region. Whether this trend has continued during 1947 is
as yet unknown; but in view of the rapid expansion of peacetime industries, both small and large,
especially chemical, refining, metallurgical, and
TABLE 2. PERCENTAGE CHANGES IN TOTAL INCOME textile, in the towns and cities of the Southwest,
OF UNITED STATES, SOUTHWEST, AND SOUTHit seems likely that the region will hold most of
WESTERN STATES FOR INDICATED PERIODS
the wartime gain it made in income status relaSouth.
New
tive to that of the Nation at large.
United
lleriod
1929-1933
1929-1940
1929-1941
1929- 1946
1933-1937
1933-1940
1933- 1941
1937-1938
1941-1942
1942-1943
1943-1944
1944-1945
1941- 1945
1945-1946
States
-44
- 8
12
105
56
64
99
- 9
26
west
Texas
- 44
- 5
16
133
65
71
108
- 5
37
31
8
-42
Oklahoma Louisiana
- 50
- 23
-11
71
57
-44
- 2
24
130
63
74
119
•
32
33
Mexico
Ari1.Ona
-44
18
38
- 51
- 3
17
156
Data in Tables 2 and 3 reveal that, over the
full period, 1929-1946, each of the five states of
205
the Eleventh District experienced a great increase
97
93
54
111
98
in
total income payments to individuals, the
78
147
139
gains
ranging from 71 percent in Oklahoma to
9
-5
-7
- 8
24
38
35
55
205
percent
in New Mexico. Texas ranked first
20
34
20
25
34
each year in total payments, as would be expected
8
13
7
12
8
-3
•
- 1
3
1
1
7
2
from its primacy in area, population, and natural
68
96
100
102
88
86
107
3
•
9
resources. In 1929, its inhabitants received 53
3
3
10
6
·Y.es8 than oue-hnlr of ouc percent..
percent of the total income paid to individuals
SOUnCE: United Stale! Department or Commerce.
in the area; 54 to 56 percent each year from
1930 to 1942; 57 percent during the last three
war years; and 58 percent in 1946. Oklahoma ranked second among the five states, and Louisiana
third, from 1929 through 1937 except for one year (1934), although their shares of the area income
were sometimes less than one percent apart. From 1938 through 1946, however, Louisiana held
second rank and Oklahoma dropped to
third. Arizona and New Mexico ranked TABLE 3. INCOME PAYMENTS TO INDIVIDUALS IN THE SOUTHWEST, 1929-1946--STATE TOTALS: AMOUNT AND AS PERCENT
fourth and fifth, respectively, each
OF SOUTHWEST TOTAL
year.
- 1
23
153
65
71
III
(Amounts in millions of dollars)
The rise in Texas' ratio of the
_ __ _ Totalpayments _ _ _ __ _Per cent of Southwest total- Texas
Okla .
La.
~. Mex. Ariz.
Texas
Okla.
La.
N. Mel:.
Mil.
Yea,
region's total income payments from
862
161
245
53
22
17
3
5
1929 2,668 1,079
53 percent to 58 percent during the
20
18
3
5
844
725
137 208 54
2,239
1930
659
640
116 170 54
19
19
3
5
1,843
1931
period appears to have been due to sev507
499
86
122 55
19
18
3
5
1,484
1932
eral factors. The State's cash farm in537
487
90
120 56
19
18
3
4
1,552
1933
18
18
4
5
583
595
113 149 55
1934
1,778
come increased more rapidly than that
641
131
167 55
18
18
4
5
666
1,960
1935
of the area as a whole, though less
753
748
162 202
55
18
18
4
5
2,285
1936
56
18
17
4
5
841
792
177 232
2,554
1937
rapidly percentagewise than that of
56
17
18
4
5
767
789
165 213
2,438
1938
Arizona and New Mexico. Industrial56
17
18
4
5
796
828
179 227
2,554
1939
56
17
18
4
5
829
847
190 237
2,652
1940
ization, particularly oil refining and
287
56
17
18
4
5
956 1,066 222
1941
3,269
chemical industries along its Gulf
299 445 56
16
18
4
6
1942 4,451 1,322 1,411
15
18
4
6
.\962 1,593 1,874 375 598 57
1943
Coast, expanded substantially before
420
582 57
16
18
4
5
6,436 1,S08 2,001
1944
57
16
18
4
5
the war and with great rapidity during
1945
6,527 1,SOl 1,986 448 594
627
58
16
17
4
5
6.748 1,848 1,982 191
1IH6
the war. Also, during the war, aircraft
sounCE:
United States Departwent of Commercel
factories, other war production plants,
and military installations and training
bases were located in many parts of Texas, and their operations and pay rolls contributed heavily
to the 100 percent increase in total income payments to individuals which occurred in the State
between 1941 and 1945. During 1946 the heavy postwar demand for petroleum and its products
ikept the Texas oil industry in all its branches operating at near capacity; and rapid reconversion
and expansion of the State's prewar mills and factories, together with an upsurge of civilian construction, an expansion of utilities, and the opening up of a considerable number of new trade and
service establishments, apparel, metals, ceramics, and other industrial plants, sustained nonagricultural employment and pay rolls at high levels.
Except for a less notable rise in cash farm income, similar factors seem to have contributed in
varying degrees to the rise of Louisiana from third to second rank in its share of the total income
payments made to individuals in the five-state area.
178
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
The smaller gain made by Oklahoma than by the other four states in total individual income
payments between 1929 and 1946, and its decline from second to third rank and from 22 percent
to 16 percent in its proportion of the total individual income of the Southwest, may be attributed
to a number of developments occurring at different times during the period. Severe droughts and
dust storms during the Thirties greatly reduced agricultural income and caused migration qf many
farm families to other states. The State's production of crude oil began a sharp decline in 1930, which,
in spite of occasional yearly upturns, reduced the average annual output after 1937 to little more
than half the peak production of 1927. The decline in this basic industry affected the rate of development of oil refining and other related industries and may have contributed to the slow but steady
decrease in the State's population from 1931 to 1940. During the war the State experienced relatively less economic stimulation than Texas and Louisiana received from war production industries
and expansion of military and naval training bases. Loss of a considerable number of its wage earners
to war industries in other states was reflected in a sharp reduction in its population during the war
period, which was only partially restored by the return of its ex-servicemen in 1946.
Arizona and New Mexico, with total income payments far below those in the other, more
populous states of the Southwest, nevertheless made gre'a t gains both dollarwise and percentagewise
between 1929 and 1946, These gains were associated with large increases in cash farm income, almost
uninterrupted anilUal gains in population, expansion of vacation resort facilities, exploitation of
nonferrous mineral resources, and, during the war, heavy concentration of military and scientific
research personnel in the Los Alamos section of New Mexico.
Per Capita Income Payments
The annual estimates of per capita income made by the Department of Commerce for the
United States as a whole and for regions and states are derived by division of total individual income
payments in the respective areas by national, regional, and state populations, excluding Federal civilian
and military personnel stationed outside the continental United States. Thus, per capita income in
a state or region may decline while total payments increase, as was true in 1946 when the return
of great numbers of servicemen from overseas to their homes reduced per capita payments in the
Southwest and in each of the component states except New Mexico, in spite of an increase of more
than $300,000,000 over the previous year in the regional total of income payments.
TABLE 4.
Year
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
United
States
680
596
500
380
368
420
460
531
561
509
539
575
693
870
1,045
1,145
1,177
1,200
PER CAPITA INCOME PAYMENTS IN THE SOUTHWEST AND COMPONENT STATES, 1929·1946
COMPARED WITH PER CAPITA INCOME PAYMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES
&uth- Per capita. pa.d'kb~ts iJ.:~il~T8 New
west
Texas
homa
siana Mexico Arizona
454
370
302
236
242
277
305
352
387
365
380
391
478
640
800
905
923
899
465
383
312
248
257
292
319
369
409
387
401
413
496
665
859
947
975
954
455
352
275
212
226
246
281
319
358
327
340
356
465
636
691
886
849
415
344
299
230
222
269
286
330
346
341
354
357
433
564
735
815
832
825
784
SOURCE: United States Department or Commerce.
383
322
265
192
196
240
272
330
353
322
341
356
416
568
712
802
850
911
573
475
382
271
263
322
355
425
482
436
461
473
539
751
889
957
1,026
995
. South-
weat
67
62
60
62
66
66
66
66
69
72
71
68
69
74
77
79
78
75
of Southwest ptr capit a - Percent °b~~~ed S~:tpcr crfei~--- - -Percent
OklR..
~uiNew
To.."
homa
siano. Mlaieo Arizonll
Texas
homB
Slana
Mexico Arizona
68
64
62
65
70
70
69
69
73
76
74
72
72
76
82
83
83
80
67
59
55
56
61
59
61
60
64
64
63
62
67
73
66
77
72
69
61
58
60
61
60
64
62
62
62
67
66
62
62
65
70
71
71
65
56
54
53
51
53
57
59
62
63
63
63
62
60
65
68
70
72
76
84
80
76
71
71
77
77
80
86
86
86
82
78
86
85
84
87
83
102
104
103
105
106
105
105
105
106
106
106
106
104
102
105
105
106
106
100
95
91
90
93
89
92
91
93
90
89
91
87
92
91
98
92
92
91
93
99
97
92
97
94
94
89
93
93
91
91
86
90
90
90
87
84
87
88
81
81
87
89
94
91
88
90
91
87
87
87
89
92
101
126
128
126
115
109
116
116
121
125
119
121
121
118
123
108
106
III
111
Per capita income payments in the Southwest reflected generally the same developments in the
area as were mirrored in the fluctuating totals of individual income. The rate of decline, recovery,
and gain in the economic health of the region between 1929 and 1946 is indicated by the fact that
the decline in per capita payments during the depression years (1929-1933) was 46 percent, the
rise from 1933 to 1940, slowed by recession in 1938, was 62 percent, and the upward spiral from
1940 to 1946 was 130 percent. Dollarwise, the drop during the depression was from $454 to $242;
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
179
the rise during national recovery brought the per capita to $391, or $63 short of the 1929 lev~l;
and wartime prosperity boosted it to $923 in 1945, from which it declined moderately to $899 In
the first postwar year.
The percentage gains in per capita income in the Southwest during the period of national
recovery and the war years were somewhat greater than for the country at large--62 percent compared with 56 percent between 1933 and 1940, and 93 percent compared with 70 percent between
1941 and 1945. Nevertheless, per capita payments considered dollarwise reveal the same fact regarding this region that was pointed out above in the discussion of total income payments. The Southwest is a low-income area when compared with the Nation generally or with any other geographical
region of the country except the Southeastern States. Neither the area as a whole nor any of the
states composing it has ever equaled the national average of per capita income payments. In 1929,
the regional per capita payment of $454 was
only
67 percent of the national, and during the
PER CAPITA INCOME PAYMENTS
depression
years it fell still lower by compariUNITED STATES AND SOUTHWEST
,':;'6 son, dropping to 60 percent of the national per
- ~"
capita in 1931. In 1941 it stood at 69 percent.
/' I 000 During the war years, with the region experi100 0
./
,00 encing a percentage increase in total individual
income exceeding that of the Nation and prob,.. I
UNITED STATES=:--yV
600
6 00
portionately greater than the regional gain in
~
I
I
population, per capita income payments moved
<00 ~ '"
I -.,...
•00 up in relation to the national per capita. The
.' ., ._.1.-._'- '
-:::::::StlUTHWEST
peak ratio of 79 percent was reached in 1944,
200
200
although, dollarwise, the regional per capita was
0
0
1929
slightly higher in 1945. By 1946 the regional per
45 1946
"
"
capita declined to 75 percent of the national, reflecting a partial return of population and industry to prewar regional groupings. Even so, the
regional per capita income in relation to the national was eight percentage points higher than in 1929
and six points higher than in 1941.
2 1/-!.- '
//1
-t_J.-1.---:-.) --4'T/
1
r
The nearest approach by any Eleventh District state to the national per capita occurred in
1945, when the per capita payments of $1,026 in Arizona amowlted to 87 percent of the national
average payment of $1,177. Between 1929 and 1946 per capita payments in Texas ranged from 62
percent of the national average in 1931 to 83 percent in 1944 and 1945, receding to 80 percent in
1946. In Oklahoma the range was from 55 percent in 1931 to 77 percent in 1944; in Louisiana,
from 58 percent in 1930 to 71 percent in 1944 and 1945; in New Mexico, from 51 percent in 1932
to 76 percent in 1946; and in Arizona, from 71 percent in 1932 and 1933 to 87 percent in 1945.
In 1946, the five states of this district ranged between 35th and 44th rank among the states of the
Union in per capita income. The fact that the lowest ratio of state to national per capita income
occurred in each state of the Southwest between 1930 and 1933 and the highest ratio occurred during or in the wake of W orId War II reveals the heavier than average impact of the depression upon
the economy of this region and the greater than average stimulus which the war imparted to regional
business and industry.
Principal Sources of Income
Important sources of individual income payments in the Southwest, as in the United States
generally, are manufacturing pay rolls, agriculture, trade and service establishments, and the pay
rolls and oilier payments of Federal, State, and local governments. The accompanying table, showing percentages of total income payments derived from each of these principal sources in selected
years, makes it possible to compare the United States, the Southwest, and the five states of this region
as to the relative importance of each major source of income at four significant dates: 1929, climax
of predepression prosperity; 1940, last year of peacetime industrial recovery; 1944, peak year of
wartime economy; 1946, first full year of reconversion to peacetime economy.
It will be observed that manufacturing pay rolls at each date were far below the national average as an income source in the Southwest and in each of its five states, reflecting considerably less
180
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
than average advancement in industrialization and industrial wages. From 1929 to 1940 the region,
as a whole, made only a nominal gain in the ratio of manufacturing pay rolls to total income payments. During these years, two of the five states in the region-Texas and Oklahoma-showed small
increases in this source of income while the remaining states showed losses in the relative importance
of manufacturing pay rolls. The great expansion of pay rolls in airplane factories, chemical plants,
TABLE 5.
INCOME PAYMBNTS FROM PRINCIPAL SOURCES AS PERCENT OF TOTAL INCOME PAYMENTS
1929, 1940, 1944, 1946
Area. or State
- - Manufacturing payrolls
1029
1940
1944
1946
1920
-- Trade and service incomet --Government income payment-r--
Agricultural incomel
1946
1940
1944
Continental United States 19 .7 20 .3 28.2 21. 3 7.8 7.2
Southwest ....... . ..... . 8. 7 8 .8 15 .1 9 .7 17 .4 14. 9
T exas ... . .. . . .......... 8. 3 9. 0 15. 8 10 .0 18 .3 15. 1
OklahoDla . ... ... ....... 6.8 7 .3 13 .1 7. 6 16 .9 18 .1
Louisiana . ...... . ... . .
14 .0 12 .4 18 .8 13.4 16 .2 10 .2
New Mexico . ... ..... . . . 3.0 2.4 2. 9 4.5 22 .2 20 .9
Arizona ..... ... . .... . . . 6 .7 4.6 10.1 4.8 12 .1 13 . 7
8. 9
13.9
13.9
17 .9
9 .8
16 .9
14.0
9 .8
13 .9
13. 9
16.5
10 .3
15.9
16 .9
1929
1940
1\144
N.A.'
N.A.
N.A.
N.A.
N.A.
N.A.
N.A.
25.2
25.3
25.6
24.0
25.8
23 .5
26.0
21.0
20 .4
20. 6
20 .2
20. 2
18 .7
21.1
1\146
1929
26.6 7.3
27 .5 7 .8
27 .9 7.2
26.0 7.5
27.6 8.2
26.4 12 .5
28. 2 12 .0
lIncludes net income of (arm operators (adj usted (or change in inventories of crope and livestock), Carm wages, and net rents to landlords living
00
1940
1944 5
1946
12.4
12 .8
11.1
14 .6
13 .6
16 .1
18 .6
22.6
30 .9
29.4
32 .2
30. 8
44 .2
33 .7
17 .0
21.1
20 .2
23.2
21.4
26 .8
20 . 1
(arma.
:Includes wages a ud so.'lurici:t aud oct income of proprictora.
' Consists of pay of State and local and of fo'ederal civilian emplOYee!, net pay of the armed forces, family.allo ....ance payments to depcndcnt.8 of Cil iisted !1li~~ry persoon~l. vol.untn ry
allotment." of military p:oy to individuals, mustering..out payments to discharged servicemen, enlisted men's cash terminal leave payments, iuterest payment.a to mdl\'1duals, public 3581stancc
and other direct relief, work relief, veterans' pensions and benefi ts, State government bonuses to World War 11 veterall3, a nd benefit payments from socia.l insurance fu ods.
"'N.A.-Not available.
~Percen tage
figures in this column are estimated..
SOURCE : Office of Business Economics United States Department 'of Commerce fo r 1929 1940 1946' estimated for 1944 from dnt.a of Office of Business Economics and }o'ederal
Security Agenoy.
'
-
,
,
'-
and other war industries in the Southwest, especially in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, raised factory wages and salaries from less than nine percent of the region's total income payments in 1940 to
more than 15 percent in 1944. Even then, manufacturing pay rolls contributed only a little more than
half as much to regional income as to national income. The region's postwar (1946) decline in the
relative importance of this source of income appears to have been somewhat sharper than the national
average decline, because of the discontinuance of war production. In 1946, however, factory pay
rolls in the Southwest accounted for a share of total income payments about one-tenth greater than
in 1940 compared with a national average increase of about one-twentieth, indicating that this
region held some of its wartime gain in manufacturing industries during the first year of reconversion.
Income payments from trade and service in the Southwest since 1940 have not varied greatly
from the national average in relation to total income. Before the war they constituted almost exactly
one-fourth of all individual income in both the region and the Nation. During the war the diversion of manpower to military duty and war industry, the reduction in number of wholesale and
retail establishments and in relative volume of trade in consumer goods, and stricter controls over
prices of goods and services than over wages caused trade and service income to drop in 1944 to
approximately one-fifth of total income payments. During the first postwar year this component
of total income more than regained its prewar importance, reaching 26.6 percent in the Nation and
27.5 percent in the Southwest. This is an obvious reflection of a sharp rise in trade and service employment since the war and of the opening of many new wholesale and retail stores and other service
establishments. Among the states of the Southwest Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana slightly exceeded
the national and regional averages in the ratio of trade and service income to total income payments.
Government income payments increased more rapidly in relative importance between 1929 and
1946 than any other principal income source, both in the Southwest and in the Nation. The rise
from 7.8 percent to 21.1 percent in the region, however, was considerably greater than the increase
from 7.3 percent to 17 percent in the country as a whole. The sharp upward trend in both areas
before and following the war reflects the expansion of government employee payrolls, of public
assistance and relief payments, of veterans' pensions and benefits, of social insurance funds, and of
interest payments on government debt to individuals. The lower than national-average income in the
Southwest from private income sources may account for the more rapid rise in relative importance
of government payments in the region than in the Nation at large.
The spectacular position of government payments in the national and regional income picture
in 1944 was obviously the result of stupendous wartime increases in the number and pay of the
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
181
armed forces and Federal civilian employees and in military allowances and allotments to families
and other dependents of military personnel. The heavy concentration of military bases and training
fields in the Southwest was reflected in a much greater increase in the regional than in the national
ratio of government payments to total income of individuals. After VJ-Day government payments
declined regionally more than nationally, but having risen so much higher in the region during the
war, these payments in 1946 contributed approximately one-fourth more to the regional than to the
national income. The continued maintenance of some major military establishments in the Southwest still adds considerably to the importance of government income payments in some of the states
of the Eleventh District, especially New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana.
From agriculture the Southwest draws a share of income considerably larger than the national
average from that source. It it worthy of note, however, that between 1929 and 1946 agriculture
as a source of income became relatively less important in the region and relatively more important
in the Nation as a whole. Moderate increases throughout the period in the relative importance of
manufacturing pay rolls and of trade and service income in the Southwest and an approximate
trebling in the relative importance of government income payments appear to be responsible for
this decline in the share of total income payments derived from agriculture in the region. This decline
in the importance of agriculture as an income source occurred, in varying degree, in each state of
the area except Arizona. In that State, agriculture was stimulated by the impounding of the waters
of the Colorado in the Thirties, making possible since then the irrigation of a considerable acreage
of arid fertile lands.
Income by Type of Payments
The estimates of total income payments to individuals may be broken down into four components, as follows, according to the type of payment: (1) wages and salaries, (2) proprietors'income,
(3) property income, and (4) other income.> The approximate percentages shown in Table 6 of
total income of individuals in
the Southwest paid to each of
these four accounts reveal
INCOME PAYMENTS TO INDIVIDUALS IN THE SOUTHWEST BY TYPE OF PAYMENT
the predominant share of toBIL.LIONS OF DOLLARS'
I
tal payments going to wages
and salaries-ranging from a
low of 53 percent in 1936 to
a high of 65 per cent in 1932
and 1943 and averaging
D OTHER INCOME
about 60 percent over the
81-- - ~ PROPERTY INCOME
entire period from 1929 to
~ PROPRIETORS' INCOME
1946. It is an interesting coincidence that wages and sal6 1 - - - f§lm WAGES AND SALARIES
aries accounted for almost
exactly the same percent of
total income payments in
1946 as in 1929.
The tendency of wages and
salaries to fall less rapidly
than prices and profits in
periods of deflation is reflected in the widening gap beSOURC( U. S DEPARTMCNT Of" COMMERCE
tween the shares of income
going to employees on the
one hand and proprietors on the other in 1930-32 and in 1938. A decrease in the number of proprietary
establishments also may be indicated by this same development. During the period of industrial recovery, interrupted by the 1938 recession, income payments to proprietors tended to rise, though unevenly,
1 For definitive statements as to what payments are included in each of these four categories, see notes at the bottom of
table 6.
182
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
in relation to wage and salary payments. Government payments to farm operators contributed in
some measure to this rise. In the war period total proprietors' income declined relative to wages and
salaries, possibly as the result of tighter government controls on prices than on wages. Reduced benefit
payments to farmers contributed to the same result.
It will be observed that the ratio of property income to total income payments rose in 1930 and
remained above the 1929 ratio through the next two years, indicating a delayed reaction to the forces
of deflation. Similarly, the effects of the recession of 1938 on property income was not clearly revealed
until the following year. To account for the sharp decline of property income in relation to total
income payments since 1940, one must recognize the influence of lower interest rates on incomes from
bonds, loans, and other investments, as well as the restraining effects of rent control on the profits
which owners of residential rent property might have reaped in the absence of such control.
TABLE 6.
INCOME PAYMENTS IN THE SOUTHWEST AND COMPONENT STATES BY TYPE OF PAYMENT
1929-1946'
(Total. in millions of dollars; components as percentages of totals)
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
19'5
1946
Southwest total. .. . . 5,0154,153 3,428 2,698 2,786 3,218 3.565 4.1504,596 4,372 4,584 4,755 5,800 7,928 10,402 11,247 11,356 11,696
Wages and salaries' . 57.7 64.0 64.4 65.0 57.8 56.5 54.7 53.0 54.7 57.0 56.9 58.0 58.8 61.8
Proprietors' incomes 26.2 18.3 15.8 15.6 22.5 21.4 24.4 23.0 24.5 21.4 22.3 22.6 24.9 25.0
Property income' . .. 14.9 lO.1 15.5 15.1 14.4 15.6 14.8 15.6 15.3 15.1 14.2 12.9 10.7 9.0
4.3 4.4 5.3 6.5 6.1 8.4 5.5 6.5 6.6 6.5 5.6 4.2
Other income' ...... 1.2 1.6
65.0
22.4
7.5
5.1
63.0
2Ui
7.5
8.0
60.0
21.2
7.9
10.9
.57.5
24.2
8.6
9.7
Texas total. .... . ... 2,668 2,239 1,843 1,484 1,552 1,778 1,960 2,285 2,554 2,438 2,554 2,652 3,269 4,451 5,962 6,4.36 6,527 6,748
Wages and salaries .. 55.7 62.0 63.5 63.8 56.1 55.5 53 .7 52.3 53.4 56.3 56.6 57.8 58.7 6l.9
Proprietors' income. 27.6 20.1 16.5 17.2 24.3 22.4 25.3 23.5 25.6 22.0 22.9 23.1 26.0 25.2
Property income . . . 15.6 16.7 16.3 15.8 15.5 17.0 16.1 17.2 16.7 16.7 15.4 13.8 10.7 9.1
Other income ....
1.0 1.2 3.6 3.2 4.1
5.1 4.9 7.0 4.3 5.0 5.1
5.2 4.6 3.8
Oklahoma total . . . . . 1,079
844
659
507
537
583 ;666
753
841
767
796
829
64.8
22.9
7.5
4.8
956 1,322 1.593
Wages and salaries .. 57.6 64.9 64.6 65.9 56.1 57.3 52.4 51.3 51.7 51i.0 53.5 52.2 53.0 54.5
Proprietors' income . 26.2 17.0 15.3 13.6 24.4 19.6 26.7 23.1 26.0 23.2 24.5 26.5 29.1 31.2
Property income ... 14.9 17.0 14.2 13.8 13.2 15.3 14.0 14.7 15.0 13.2 12.7 12.4 10.1
9.0
Other income .. ... . 1.3 1.9 5.8 6.7 6.3 7.8 6.9 10.9 7.7 9.3 9.3 8.8 7.7 5.4
60.8
24.8
7.9
6.5
60.4
21.6
7.9
10.1
58.0
24.4.
8.6
9.0
1.808 1,801
1,848
55.1
23.8
8.3
12.8
51.1
27.4
9.1
12.3
63.3
21.7
7.6
7.4
56.5
26.2
7.8
9.5
122
120
149
167
445
598
582
594
627
Wages and salaries. 68.2 68.3 68.2 70.5
Propriet ors' income. 17.1 15.4 12.9 10.7
Property in come .. . . 12.2 13.5 12.9 12.3
Other income .. .... 2.4 2.8 6.0 6.5
64.2
14.2
11.7
10.0
59.7
14.8
12.1
13.4
61.1
14.9
12.0
12.0
59.4 62.5 61.9 61.7 60.8 61.0 64.5
15.3 17.7 15.5 17.2 19.4 20.2 22.9
11.9 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.0 11.1 8.1
13.4 8.6 11.3 0.7 8.9 7.7 4.5
68.6
21.1
6.0
4.3
65.3
20.1
7.0
7.6
62.0
20.5
7.1
10.1
58.2
2,'j.4
8.0
8.5
90
113
131
162
375
420
448
491
58.3
23.4
7.4
10.9
5,'j.2
27.5
7.7
9.6
Arizona t otal. ......
N ew Mexico total ..
245
161
208
137
170
116
86
202
232
177
213
165
227
179
237
100
287
222
299
Wages and salaries. 55.9 60.6 64.7 69.8 62.2 56.7 55.0 54.3 54.8 58.2 55.3 54.2 5.5.4 57.9
Proprietors' in come. 32.9 25.5 19.8 13.9 21.1 21.2 22.1 22.2 26.6 21.8 24.6 26.8 28.4 28.1
Property income .. . 9.3 10.0 9.5 10.5 10.0 9.7 10.0 9.3 10.2 10.3 10.6 9.5 8.1
9.0
Other income ... ... 1.9 3.0 6.0 5.8 6.7 12.3 12.9 14.2 8.4 9.7 9.5 9.5 8.1
5.0
62.7
24.0
7.7
5.6
60.5
23.6
7.4
8.6
847 1,066 1,411
1,874
2,001
Wages and salaries .. 61.3 68.4 65.6 65.6 63.2 58.2 58.5 55.0 59.9 60.2 60.3 64.0 64.3 68. 1
Proprietors' income . 23.0 13.9 14.2 14.2 16.8 21.8 22.3 23.4 20.8 19.5 19.6 17.2 18. 4 18.7
Property income ... 14.6 16.0 16.1 15.8 13.3 13.6 13.3 14.0 14.1 13.8 13.4 12.0 11.5 8.9
Other income ..... . 1.2 1.7 4.1 4.4 6.6 6.4 5.9 7.6
5.2 6.5 6.8 6.7 5.8 4.3
68.7
18.7
7.3
5.3
67.7
16.5
7.3
8.5
Louisiana total. ... . .
862
725
640
499
487
595
641
748
792
789
828
1,986 1,982
62.9
17.5
7.9
11.7
61.9
19.1
8.9
10.1
lIncludes only payments to residentl! of the cootinernal United States; e.'(c1udc." pay of Ferleml civilian employees and armtd forces stationed out8icle the country with the ex('rJlti()~
of that part flowing into tbis country in the form of voluntary al\otmclltB of pay and contributions to famiiy--allo1'.-ance payments by mihLary personnel t.o their dependents.
2,o\[ter deduction of employees' contributions to Social Security, Railroad Retirement. Rnilroad Unemployment Insurance, and Government retirement program!3. Pa.y of tno armed
fo rcCII, net o( contributions to family-aUowance paymenta and of aUotmenta to inclividuals, iB aUoc:atcd by States in terms of the State of duty.
3ReprescnUJ the lIet income of unincorporated establishments, including farms, before owners' withdrawals.
'Includes dividends, interest, net rents and royalties.
Ilncludes public ft.S!listance and other direct relief; labor income items such 89 work relief, veterans' pensions :md benefits, Government retirement payment.e, workma.n's ooml:nsation,
Bnd Bociol insurance benefi ts; musterini-out payments to discharged servicemcll; and fami ly-al1ownnee payments and allotments of pay to dependents of military personnel (aJ oeate<! to
St.ate or dependents' residence.)
"Other income" rose sharply both in amount and in relation to total income during the depression
years, reaching a peak in 1936, because of large disbursements by Federal, State, and local governments
for direct relief, work relief, the redemption of bonus bonds held by veterans of World War I, and
other forms of public assistance. The growing importance of public assistance and of unemployment
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
183
compensation and other social insurance benefits in maintaining individual income and purchasing
power is revealed in the generally upward trend of "other income" from the middle Thirties through
1940. Reduction in unemployment and unemployment compensation during the war years caused a
decline in relative importance of "other income" which was not counteracted until 1944, when veterans'
benefits and military allowances and allotments to dependents of servicemen reached large proportions.
A further rise in these payments during 1945 and some increase in unemployment compensation
brought "other income" to a peak of more than one-tenth of all income payments to individuals in
the Southw est, as compared with one-twelfth in the country as a whole. Sharp reductions in allowances
and allotments to servicemen's dependents as the result of demobilization during 1946 were largely
offset by increased benefit payments to disabled and unemployed veterans and to veterans availing
themselves of the educational provisions of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act. Continuation of
these benefits to veterans and the growing volume of civilian social insurance benefits and of old-age
assistance payments may be counted upon to sustain "other income" as an important element in total
income of individuals and in the disposable income and purchasing power of consumers.
Compared with the United States as a whole in regard to distribution of income among the four
types of payment, the Southwest fell below the Nation every year except 1931 in percent of total
income going to wages and salaries, due
to lower than national-average wage TABLE 7. PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF TOTAL INCOME PAYand salary scales. Income payments to
MENTS TO INDIVIDUALS BY TYPE OF PAYMENT- SOUTHWEST
property were consistently lower reCOMPARED WITH THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES
gionally than nationally, reflecting
smaller investments in rental properties
1929
and corporate securities by inhabitants
57.5
63 .7
26.2
16 .7
14.9
1.2
18.5
1.3
1930
64.9
13.7
16.1
64.0
l S.3
19 .8
1.6
1.5
of the Southwest than by those in cer1931
15.5
64 .4
20 .2
64.4
15 .S
11 .7
4 .3
3.7
1932
65 .0
65.2
15.6
10 . 2
15.1
20 .7
4.4
3.8
tain other regions of the United States.
1933
57 .8
22.5
14 .3
14. 4
lS.9
5.3
61.7
5.1
By contrast, income payments to pro1934
21.4
14 .2
15. 6
18 .2
61.4
56 .5
6 .5
6.2
1935
54.7
60.6
24.4
16.2
14 .S
17.1
6.1
6. 1
prietors of unincorporated businesses,
1936
23 .0
16.0
15 .6
17.5
8.4
53 .0
58.5
8 .0
1937
15.3
16 .8
54. 7
61.5
24 .5
16 .5
5.5
5 .2
including farms, regularly accounted
15. 9
1938
21.4
15.3
57.0
61. 5
15.1
6 .5
7.3
for a substantially greater part of total
1939
15.5
56 .9
62.1
22 .3
14.2
15 .6
6 .6
6.7
1940
22 .6
14 .9
58 .0
63 .2
15 .6
12. 9
65
6 .2
income in the Southwest than in the
13.3
1941
24.9
17.1
58 .8
65 .0
10.7
5.6
4 .6
Nation at large. For example, in 1932
4 .2
1942
11.1
61.8
66.9
25 .0
18 .4
9.0
3 .6
5 .1
1943
22.4
17 . 3
9.7
65 .0
68 .S
7.5
4 .2
the respective percentages in the region
1944
21.5
9.6
67.2
17 . 1
7.5
8 .0
6.1
63.0
1945
21.2
10 .0
17. 8
60 .0
63 .9
7. 9
10 .9
8 .3
and in the Nation were 15.6 and 10.2,
1946
62.1
24.2
20.2
10.2
9 .7
8.6
57 .5
7 .5
and in 1946, 24.2 and 20.2. This trend,
running throughout the entire period,
suggests the presence of a greater than average number of proprietorships and a smaller than average
development of corporate enterprise among the business establishments of the Southwest. The rise in
relative importance of proprietors' income throughout the Nation in 1946 apparently reflects the
rapid increase in small independent manufacturing, trade, and service enterprises established by veterans returning to civilian life. The greater divergence between the region and the Nation during the
war years and 1946 than previously as to the importance of "other income" probably reveals the effects
of a greater than average concentration of the recipients of military pay, allowances, and allotments
in the Southwest during the war, as well as a sharper percentage rise in the region's "other income"
as compared with its smaller than average income from other sources.
Disposable Income: Nominal and Real
Comparisons made in the foregoing sections of this article between the Southwest and the Nation
in terms of various aspects of income payments to individuals have revealed some characteristics and
t rends of the economic development of the Southwest from 1929 to 1946. To measure the progress,
if any , of the region in increasing the rewards of its inhabitants for their productive labors, however,
it is necessary to determine how much the disposable income increased during the period and whether
such income constituted an enlargement of the "real" income, or power of the inhabitants of the area
184
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
to satisfy their economic wants. In other words, was there a gain in the amount remaining to individuals for spending and saving after deduction of Federal and State income taxes, and did such
amount represent a gain in "real" income when adjusted for changes in the cash purchasing value
of the dollar.
Approximate figures for total and per capita disposable
income of individuals in the Southwest in certain years are
shown in Table 8. It will be observed that total disposable
dollar income in 1940, reflecting the lingering effects of
the depression of the early 30's and the recession of 1938,
was less than in 1929. In 1944 and 1946, however, after
deduction of greatly increased income taxes, total disposable income was more than twice as great as in either of
the earlier years. Disposable per capita income followed
the same general trend, but reflected in its smaller ratios
to the 1929 base the effects of increasing population.
TABL E 8. DISPOSABLE INCOME OF INDIVIDUALS IN T HE SOUTHWEST FOR
SELECTED YEARS
_____ Total disposable income - P er capita dispos.'lble incomeMillions of Percen t. change
Percent chnnge
1929
1940
1944
194.6
dollarn
from 1929
Dolla rs
4,984
4,712
10,331
10,683
0
-6
107
114
452
387
832
821
from 1929
0
- 14
84
82
SOURCE: Computation, Luscd on dab r,om Unit ed States Dcpmtmcnt
of Comm"".
om" of Bu,in'" l!:conorui",.
Disposable income may be thought of as either nominal or real. Changes in the nominal disposable
income of individuals in the Southwest between 1929 and 1946 were noted in the preceding paragraph.
The Consumers' Price Index, computed by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics on the basis
of 1935-39 as 100, provides a means of analyzing changes in real disposable income, since the nominal
disposable income for each of the years shown in Table 8 can be measured in terms of a common
denominator-the purchasing power of the consumer dolTABLE 9. REAL INCOME OF INDIVIDUALS IN lar in 1935-1939. Measured by that standard, the real income of individuals in the Southwest changed from 1929
THE SOUTHWEST FOR SELECTED YEARS
to 1946 as shown in Table 9.
(Common denominator = consumer purchasing
power of 1935-39 dollar)
Comparisons between Tables 8 and 9 will reveal that,
whereas
nominal income in 1940 was smaller than in 1929,
Year
dollars
£rom 1929
dol!a.rs
from 1920
real income was 16 percent greater in total and five percent
1929
4,069
0
369
0
1940
4.703
16
386
5
greater on a per capita basis. Both tables show a definite
1944
80
8,232
102
663
gain in the income of individuals between 1929 and 1946,
1946
7,669
88
589
60
but when nominal is converted into real income, the gain
SOURCE: Computations based on data from th e United 5t,a Les Department
of Commerce and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
of 114 percent in total income is reduced to 88 percent,
and the gain of 82 percent in per capita. falls to 60 percent.
The gains shown above in real income of individuals were computed from the price index of
"all items" of consumer incomes, and the unit of value might be termed the "general consumer dollar"
of 1935-39. When computations are made on the basis of a comparison of the "food dollar" in 1935-39
and in 1946, real income in 1946 on a per capita basis drops to $ 514. Similarly, in terms of power to
purchase clothing, real income per capita in 1946 was $512.
--Total real income-.- - :Per capita. real inr.omeMillions of Percent change
1935-39
Percen t c.hange
To resolve doubts as to the occurrence of the notable gains shown above in both the nominal and
the real disposable income of the Southwest between 1929 and 1946, two facts, one statistical and
the other economic, may well be borne in mind. First, the figures presented are aggregates and per
capita averages, which may be widely at variance with the experience and current status of particular
individuals or of wage and salary earners in certain occupations or establishments. Second, the rise in
standards of living, that is, in conceptions as to the kinds, quality, and quantity of goods and services
essential to satisfactory living, which has occurred during the past two decades has so expanded and
multiplied the economic wants of the people that it required considerably greater real incomes in 1946
than in 1929 to achieve even the same relative degree of satisfaction. This fact goes far toward explaining why the average person in the Southwest with greater income had as hard a time "making ends
meet" last year as he or his prototype had in 1929.
Throughout 1947 incomes have been rising, and currently they are running at a rate which
suggests an increase for the year in total income payments to individuals in the Nation as a whole of
approximately 10 percent over 1946. Prices of consumer goods also have been going up at a rate which
gives rise to the question (which cannot yet be answered) as to whether the real income of individuals
in the Nation and in the Southwest will equal that of 1946 and will compare as favorably as the 1946
income compared with that of 1929.
185
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
Review of Business, Industrial, Agricultural, and Financial Conditions
DISTRICT SUMMARY
General rains during the second half of November brought
belated encouragement to farmers and ranchmen in important
sections of the district where drought had retarded the planting
of winter wheat and had caused deterioration of pastures and
ranges, with consequent decline in the condition of cattle and
sheep. Harvest of field crops, including a record production of
rice and a larger than average Texas cotton crop, was nearing
completion under favorable weather conditions before the coming of the rains. Record crops of grapefruit and oranges from
the Lower Valley and fall and winter vegetables from commercial garden areas, which made their appearance in trade channels in the latter part of October, moved to market in increasing
volume during November.
Dollar volume of sales at district furniture and department
stores during October moved at levels little changed from tbose
of a year ago and of the preceding month. The sharp gain which
occured during October in total bank debits in leading cities of
the district, as well as the more rapid turnover of deposits, seems
to indicate rising levels of general business and industrial activity
and the heavy marketing of agricultural commodities at high
prices.
Pressure of rising demand for petroleum and its products,
which accounted for a new peak in daily average production
of crude oil in tbe district as well as in the United States during October, is stimulating activity in exploratory and developmental drilling and in extension of pipe lines to transport oil
from any areas which are now producing below maximum
efficient capacity. The value of construction contract awards in
t he dist ric t during October reached the highest total since May
1946, and the volume of construction being started or already
under way indicated that the decline in building activity during
the remainder of the fall and winter would be less than seasonal.
BUSINESS
The dollar volume of department store sales in the district
during O ccaber showed a moderate gain of three percent over
the same month a year ago and of six percent over September.
A sharp rev ersal during the last two weeks of the downward
trend obs=rva ble in weekly sales during the first half of the
m onth accounted for the relatively favorable month-long perform ance. TI,e gain in cumulated sales during tbe first ten
months of the year rose to five percent, or one point higber than
for the fi rst nine mon ths. The ratio of cash sales to total sales
during October was 36 percent, compared with 37 percent the
prev ious month.
Net sales of reporting retail furniture stores in the district
showed a gain of eight percent in October over the same month
in 1946, but a slight decrease from the preceding month. The
contras t bet ween these relatively small changes in October and
gains in Sep lember of 18 percent over a year ago and of 17 percent o\·er the previous month probably reflects the slackening
of the impetus giv en to furniture sales in September by the
cashing of large numbers of Armed Forces Leave Bonds. The
volume of cash sales in October declined II percent from a
year ago, but increased slightly over the previous month, while
instalment sales showed an exact reverse of those trends in relation to t he comparable periods. Credit sales constituted 74 percent of total sales, as compared with 73 percent in the preceding
month and 72 percent a year ago.
Although collections at furniture stores during October
showed a gain over the same month of last year, their rise was less
marked than that of accounts receiva!;le. Collections on instalment accounts at department stores during October amounted
to 29 percent of instalment receivab ,es. On charge accounts
collections constituted 56 percent of outstandings, indicating
an average collection period of 54 days.
WHOLESALE AND RET,UL TRADE STATISTICS
Retail trade:
Department stores:
Total II tb ViA .. ...
Number
of
reporting
finna
48
4
7
4
7
5
3
l8
perc e,"n~ta,!ge~c~h~.n~..~in-==sit;k*==
.:===4~
Net aales-Stocks t
October lQ47 from
October
Sept.
1946
1947
3
6
1
7
- 1
1
7
8
7
13
- 2
5
6
1
4
9
Jan. 1 to
Oct. 30, H147
from 1946
5
4
- I
6
6
3
7
13
October 1947 from
October
Sept.
1946
ID47
8
12
9
0
- 2
9
21
7
23
25
- 3
l4
Dallas .•.• • •. . •.•.
Chriati .... .
Fort Worth . .. .... .
Houston ..... _. . .. .
San Antonio . ..... .
Shreveport. I.e.••• • •
8
Other cities ....... .
Retail furniture:
- I
10
Total 11th Din... . .
46
8
-4
Dallas ... . ... . . .. .
4
10
-8
Houston . ..••. . •. . •
- 4
6
D
5
Port. Arthur ..•• . •.
4
11
-36
j
San Antonio ...... .
10
- 6
Wholeole trade:Drugs (inel. liquors)
I)
17
29
t
- 13
Grocenf>s . ...... , ..
23
18
8
16
38
6
Hardware.... . ....
10
8
9
18
41
- t
Tobacco & products.
9
- 2
- 1
3
- 2
·Compiled by United States Bureau of Census (whoh.'\le trode figures prelimlnary,)
tSt.ocks at end of month.
tlndicatM changa of less tha.n one-ha.lf of one per cent.
CorpUl
is
INDEXES OF VEPARTME)!T STORE BALES ANV STOCKS
Daily ,,·erage l3!es- (1935-1IJ39- 100)
Adjusted
_ - - - Unadju!lloo ·
August October
October
Sept.
AugW:lt October October Sept.
11)46
1947
1946
1947
1947
1947
1947
19.n
351 r
376
327
:160
368
DistricL. . . '
395
387
386 r
349
362
:147
351
Dallas .
382
3S9
308
384
355,
390,
361
376
419
331
:181
385
Houston . . . .
8'00b-( 1931>-1939 - 1(1O)
AJjusled- -- UnadjustedSept .
August October
Ortober Sept.
August Oetober October
1947
1947
1946
l!}4i
1947
1947
1946
1911
:lOG
285
282
2H
345
319
318
30.
Dist rict. . .
r-Revised.
·Unadjusted for IICl\SOnal variation,
A continuation of cautious inventory policies in both department ond furniture stores was reflected in increases of eight percent and 10 percent, respectively, in the value of merchandise
stocks as compared with October I ·H6, and of 12 percent
and three percent, respectively, in comparison with September
of this year. Orders outstanding at department stores, down 19
percent from a year ago and three percent from September,
indicated the same cautious attit ude.
An increase in total bank debits at banks in 24 leading cities
of the district during October, amounting to 23 percent over
the same month in 1946 and 13 pe,·cent over September of
this year, reflects in part the curren 1 high level of wholesale
and retail trade activity throughout the district. Higher prices,
especially for new automobiles and Sl)me other durable goods
and for many items of food and c!othillg, doubtless account for
a considerable increase in the turnover rate of consumer deposit
currency. However, the magnitude of the increase in recent
months, together with a continuing rise in all forms of consumer
credit, suggests that the total unit volume of goods flowing
rhrough retail channels to consumers is probably rising.
AGRICULTURE
Weather conditions in the district prior to general rains at
mid-November were mostly fa vorable for the harvesting of
crops, but unfavorable for the seedmg of small grains, the
development of late feed crops, and "he improvement of pas-
186
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
tures and ranges. November 1 estimates showed cotton production in Texas to be appreciably larger than had been expected
a month earlier and the largest in a decade. Estimates of production of corn, grain sorghums, peanuts, and pecans were considerably below those of last year, but record crops of rice,
grapefruit, and oranges were forecast. The outlook at midNovember for production of winter vegetables was generally
good, except where affect ed adversely by lack of surface moisture and by extreme temperatures. The condition of cattle and
sheep continued to decline throughout October and early November as the result of very short pasture and range feeds.
The November 1 Cotton Report of the United States Department of Agriculture forecas t a 1947 crop for the United States
of 11 ,505,000 bales. This forecast, which is fractionally below
the October 1 estimate, compares wi th a 1946 crop of 8,640,000
bales and a 10-year (1936-45) average of 12,3 90,000 bales. The
indicated yield per acre for 1947 is 261.2 pounds of lint, or
about II percent above the yield of last year and approximately
four percent above the 10-year average. The staple length of
upland cotton ginned prior to November 1 averaged shorter
than during the same period last year, due largely to the dry
weather that prevail ed during the growing season in some sections of the Cotton Belt and to increased production in areas
which produce a relatively high proportion of the shorter
lengths. The grade, however, was higher as the result of the
generally favorable harvest weather that prevailed in most sections. Ginnings through October this year were 8,361,685 bales,
or 46 percent larger than for the same period last year, and
represented about 73 percent of the indicated production as
of November I, compared with the ginning of 66 percent of
the crop by the same date last year.
TEXAS-COTTON PRODUCTION BY CROP REPORTING DISTRICTS
(ThOU!8Jlds of 500·pound porns! weight balM)
~ov . 1, 1947
I-N. North High Plains ... " ...•.•....
1-9. South Hi'i:h Plains ........... . . . .
2. PertUill1l Plains . . . , ..•.•.•..
3. North CentraL ... . ...... .
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
g.
10.
Northern Texas Prairies .. .
East Tetsa . ...... . ..... .
Traus,Pecos . .... . ... . . . .
Edwllrds Plateau .. .
Southem Texas Prame!
Coostal"Pra iric!I ....... . . •.•
South TCXfL3 ..•...... . . .• , .
forec ast.
70
825
450
IS
830
105
135
30
320
125
285
1946
35
198
2iO
14
482
96
99
15
185
46
229
lO·ye..'l.r average
1936-H)45
55
462
5.19
51
816
383
74
52
327
133
129
State total........ . ........
3,250
1,669
3,021
ROURCE: United States Dcpartmrnt of Agriculture, Bureall of A;(riculturuJ Er.onomil'l.
The Texas cotton crop was estimated on November 1 at
3,250,000 bales, or 100,000 bales above the estimate of a month
earlier. This estimate, which indicates the largest crop since
1937, is 95 percent above the 1946 production and eight percent above the 10-year average. The forecast yield of 189
pounds of lint per acre is 41 percent above the 1946 yield
and 13 percent above average. Texas cotton ginned prior to
November 1 was considerably higher in grade and shorter in
staple length as compared with the same period last season. The
grade index through October 31 was 100.2, compared with
96.6 for the same period last year. The average staplc length
was a littl e more than 15 / 16 of an inch, or slightly shorter
than for the same period last year. Upland cotton ginned in
Texas prior to November 1 amounted to 2,320,379 bales, representing 71 percent of the indicated crop, compared with 1,247,596 balcs, or 75 percent of the crop, ginned during the same
period last year.
Total corn production in Texas this year was estimated on
November 1 at 48,672,000 bushels, or about onc and one-half
million bushels below the October 1 estimate. This low estimate, which is about 12 perccnt less than laSt year's crop and
32 percent below the 10-year (1936-45) average, is attributed
to both lower yields and fewer acrcs this year than last. Virtually all the crop was harvested by November 1. Thc production of grain sorghums was estimated on November 1 at 57,849,000 bushels, somewhat above the 10-year average but 22
percent below last year's crop. Harvest was well under wayan
the High Plains and nearing completion in many counties at
thc first of November. Dry wcather favored harvesting activities but cut down production on late-planted fields. Thc
November 1 estimte of rice production was 23,373,000 bushels, compared with an October 1 estimate of 22,491,000 bushels.
CROP PRODUCTION-{Tbousands of units)
_ _ _ _ Tex..'l8
States in Elevcath Di3trict·~
Average
Estimated A'lerall:e
Estimated
Ullits
1936-45
1946 ~ov.1,l947 1935-45
1948 Nov . l,1947
Cotton ......... Bales
3,021
1,669
3,250
4,529
2,478
4,420
Winter wheat . . . Bushels 41 ,287
62,916
129,420
102,467t 154,3!J3t 244.492t
Com .... ... . . ... Bushels 71.963
55,012
48.672
124,624
08,502
86,838
Oats........... Bushels 33,236
36,366
31,248
63.484
65,022
65.374
Barl,y .... ...... Bush,),
3.913
2,610
2.672
11.6171
8.0051
9.0041
All hay.
. Tons
1,348
1,454
1,:310
4,102
4,649
4,690
Potatoes, Irish ... Bushels
4,009
5,883
4,488
9.576
] !,SlO
9.329
Potatoes, sweet,. Bushels
4,828
6•.570
5,270
13,753t
17,890t
12,965t
Rice
. . Bushcls
14,877
17,716
23.373
:l6.120§
40,392§
44,408§
Grain sorghums,. Bushels 50,164
73,742
57,849
62,414
84,072
66,964
·Flj.!;urca lire combined Lot.als ror the five state" lying wholly or partly in th.e Eleventh
Federal Reserve District: Arizona, J.ouisir'lna, New Mf'Xlco, Oklahoma, and Texas.
tArizouu, New Mexico , Oklahoma, a.nd Texas.
tLouisiauu, Oklahoma, aud TeXt'S.
§LouisiulUl a.nd Texas.
SOURCE: United States Department of Agriculture.
This year's rice crop, the largest ever produced in Texas and
32 percent above the previous high reached in 1946, is the
result of both higher yields and increased acreage. Harvest was
nearly completed on November 1. The estimate of Texas peanut production, unchanged from the October 1 forecast of
319,600,000 pounds, is about 19 percent below last year's crop.
Harvest was either complete or under way in all areas at the
first of November. This year's pecan crop, estimated at 21,000,000 pounds, is seven percent below that of last year and 18
percent below average, due to extensive damage from case-bearer
and drought in all excep t extreme northern counties and a few
scattered areas elsewhere. Pecan harvest was under way in all
areas during November.
The Texas grapefruit crop was estimated at 24,500,000 boxes
on November I, or 500,000 boxes less than on October 1. The
crop has not made the usual progress, and small sizes predominate. Despite reduction in the estilTlate, however, it appears
that this year's crop will be more than 50 percent above the
10-year average and will exceed the previous record of 23,300,000 boxes established last yea r. The orange crop, estimated at
5,600,000 boxes, is an all-time high in T xas, 600,000 boxes
above last year's crop and n early twice the 10-year average.
In the Texas commercial vegetable areas conditions during
the latter part of Octobcr were favorable for the progress of
fall-crop plantings. Rainfall was limited, and restricted to a
small area, but practically all fall-crop plantings are on irrigated
tracts. High temperatures during October were favorable for
grow th and maturity of beans, green corn, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, and squash. While conditions favored
the development of most tender crops, the progress of hardytype winter crops was retarded in nonirrigated areas because of
inadequate moisture. Some of the early plantings in these areas
were lost as a result of lack of surface moisture and continued
hot weather, but in the irrigated areas of the Lower Valley
field work and ha rdy-type vcgetables made good progress, considering the warm weathel". This rathet· pl"omising general outlook for vegetables at the beginning of November was dimmed,
however, by a cold spell the morning of November 8 which
covered the Eagle Pass and thc La Pryor-Batesville sections of
thc \'(finter Garden arca, causing severe damage to all tender
187
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
crops, including thc important peppcr and tomato corps, both
of which were being actively harvested. The Laredo and Lower
Valley districts were out of the area of low temperatures and
frosts, and in those sections harvesting of all tender vegetables
continued. Practi cally all vegetable areas received some moisture
around the middle of November, with the most effective rains
falling in the nonirrigated Coastal Bend, where all planting
operations had been delayed because of lack of moisture.
Prices received by farmers for most farm and ranch products
at October 15 had made sharp, but varied, changes compared
with a month earlier. Prices received for wheat, rice, cottonseed,
hogs, turkeys, eggs, and hay showed significant gains, while
prices of cotton, beef cattle, veal calves, sbeep and lambs, chickens, and butterfa t declined moderately.
Range conditions continued to deteriorate in October and
ea rly November as normal autumn rains failed to materialize
to break the drought which had prevailed since early summer
over much of the grazing area of the district. Late October
rains in westcentral, northern, and northeastern counties of
Texas replenished water supplies in some localities and improved
prospects for small grains, winter weeds, and grass, but most
of the State continued dry. Reports in early November indicated
that much intended wheat acreage had not been seeded because
of dry soil conditions, and at that time prospects for wheat
pasture in the Plains continued unfavorable. Range feed conditions in Texas on November I, seven percent bclow a month
earlier and 15 percent below average for the time of the year,
were the lowest reported for this season since the very dry year
of 1934. Rainsfell, however, on the 14th of November throughout most of the range and grazing areas of the State, and reports from various localities indicate anticipated improvement
in the range feed situation.
(Thousands of dollars)
1947-----,-'Total rece i p t s - - - _Receiptfl from- Sept.
Sept.
Jan. I to Sept. 30
Cropa Liv68tock·
lQ47
1946
1947
1946
Arlzona, •.... , ... . .. . .• . I 5.333 I 8.147 I 13.4 80 I 6.137 $ 120.802 $ 105.390
Louisiana ..• , .•. . . . . . . . . .
38.433
17.557
55.990
29.525
176.018
I 26.4S9
New Mexico . ... . ,., ...•.
6.882
7.M4
14.426
11.203
92.354
60.879
Oklahoma ...•...........
17,909
63.066
70.965
35.624
482 .058
310.148
Teras ........... . ,., .. . . 167,711
76.823
244.534
128.867 1.303.1 53
910.696
Cattle and sheep in Texas, having experienced considerable
loss in weight and condition during the late summer and fall
months because of the dry ranges, are going into the winter
much thinner than usual even though supplemental feeding has
been heavy. Most ranchers, in order to take advantage of favorable livestock prices, have culled herds closely and marketed
the lower-quality animals. The condition of cattle and calves
in Texas on November 1 was eight percent below the reported
condition on the same date last year and six percont bclow the
I O-year seasonal average. Sheep are going into winter in unusually poor flesh except in some western and central counties of the
Edwards Plateau that received showers in October. The general
condition of sheep and lambs on November 1 was nine percent
below that of a year ago and eight percent below average for
the season of year.
LIVESTOCK RECEIPTS--(Numm.r)
_--For~ Worth , - : - - - - - S a n
Catlle ...
Calves ..
Ho~ ... .
Sheep ... .
OctoUcr
J!l47
100,169
68,257
40.347
135.918
October
1946
102,82696.227
41.097
116.282
Sept.
1947
91.7 13
51 ,080
36.11!3
115,947
Odober
1947
62.201
.. O,M!)
6.1 15
51.Sol1
Antonio
October
1946
3R.l00
35,009
8.228
53.157
--_
Sept.
1947
46.914
33,558
6.677
85.148
COMPARATIVE TOP LIVESTOCK I'RICES
(Dollars per hundred w~ght)
- - - F o r t Worth
San Antonio - - October October
Sept .
October October
s.pt.
1947
1946
J!l.I7
1M7
1946
1M7
Beer IIteers .... . . ........
127.00
$23.00
128.00
524.50
$22.00
124.00
22.60
17 .50
22.50
Stocker st.tel'8 ..
Heifers aod yenrU'u'is'
27.00
27.50
21.00
24.25
16 .50
23:00
Butcher COWl ••.
17 .60
16 .50
18.00
17.00
16 .00
IUO
22.50
24.00
20.00
20.50
19.00
23.25
Calves ..
Hogs .. . .. : ............. '9.75
26.25
29.00
28.50
25.00
27.75
Lambs . . .......•.•.....• 22.50
21.00
23.50
20.00
18 .00
22.00
Total receipts of livestock at Fort Wortb and San ~ntonio
were six percent higher in October than in September and
slightl y above October last year. Receipts of all major types
of li vestock were higher at Fort Worth in October than in
September, but on the San Antonio market hog receipts were
slightly and sheep receipts substantially lower. The increase in
total marketings of li vestock in Texas was in keeping with the
usu3.1 scasonJI lUOVClllcnt.
CASH ~·ARM I:;COME
..........--...~ptember
Total. ........ 1236.268 1163.127 1399.395 1210.356 $2 .174.386 11.519.60S
·Iocludes receipts from the sale or livestock nnd livestock products.
SOURCE: United Statea Deportment. or A\triculture.
Reports from spot commodity markets indicate that from
October 15 to tnid-November prices of cotton, calves, and
lambs made slight gains, while grains and slaughter cattle remained virtually lmchanged in price and hogs decl ined considerably.
FINANCE
During the five weeks ended November 12, changes in t he
condition of weekly reporting member banks in the district
were accented by a marked elCpansion in loans and deposits and
a moderate increase in investments. Total loans rose $79,066,000, and on November 12 stood at a record high of $973,833,000. This increase resulted mainly from an expansion of $70,402,000 in commercial, industrial, and agricultural loans which
reflected the continuing high level of prices and business
activiry and a strong demand for bank credit to finance the marketing and processing of agricultural commodities, the production of which has been unusually large in the district this
year. This type of loan has now moved upward £or five consecutive months at a progressively accelerated rate, and the adva nce during the current reporting period was more than twice
that for the corresponding period of last year.
"All other" loans, which include loans for purposes of consumption, showed a significant rise of $8,116,000. The bulk
of this increase occurred, however, during the last two weeks
of October before the termination of instalment credit controls
on November 1. Real estate loans declined for the second consecutive month . Loans to brokers and dealers, which had risen
during the preceding three months, declined slightly during
the fi ve weeks ended November 12, while otber loans for security trading rose for the fourth consecutive month.
An increase of $123,845,000 in aggregate deposits of the
reporting banks during the live weeks brought the total on
November 12 to $2,978,134,000. Demand deposits adjusted
and interbank deposits showed significant inct·eases of $64,876,000 and $74,684,000, respectively. The increase in the
latter type of deposit reflected a heavy gain in deposits at country banks, resulting from the large marketing of crops at
high prices, and the shifting of a portion of their surplus funds
to correspondent banks. The large gains in these deposits were
counterbalanced to some extent by a small decrease of $2 ,778,000 in time deposits and to a greater extent by a decline of
$12,937,000 in Government deposits, which was largely due
to the calls made on war loan accounts by the Treasury Department in connection with the cash redemption of Treasury bills
and certificates dUl·ing the first week of November.
188
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
Total investments of the reporting banks, which had shown
a downward trend during the period between August 13 and
October 8, reflected a gain of $ I 9,486,000 during the current
period and totaled $1,300,534,000 on November 12. This
change directly reflected increases in Treasury bonds and in
all other stocks, bonds, and securities of $16,275,000 and $3,925,000, respectively. Treasury notes and certificates declined
more than $18,000,000, but the decline was largely offset by an
increase of $17,786,000 in holdings of Treasury bills. This rise,
by far the largest of the year to date in this item, indicates that
the attractiveness of the current yields on Treasury bills is inducing some banks to make increased use of these securities for
secondary reserve purposes.
CONDlTION STAT[STICS OF WEEKLY REPORTING MEMB}o;l\ BANKS
IN LEADING CITIE8-ElcYeotb Federal Reserve District
(ThoU83oda of dollan)
Nov. 12,
194;
Total loans and investment.!.
12,274.367
Total loans . . . . ....... , ....................... .
973.833
Commercial, industrial, and agricultural loon•••.•
to brokers and dealers in securities .. . . . . •.
Otber loans ror purchasing or carrying secutitiee ..
LoaOI
Real estate loalls .... . .. . .................... .
Loans to banks ...•.. , . , , , ..... . •.
AU other loaos ...........•.......
investments . ..... . ..... . ... .
To~1
U. S. Treasury bills ...... . ........... .. .
U. S. Trcasury certificates or indebtedness
U. S. Treasury notes ... . . . ........ . .... .
U. S. Government bonds (inel. gtd. ob!.) ..
Other securitiel . . ...... . . . ............ .
Re9Crve8 witb Federal Reserve Bank
Balaneea witb domestic banka. .... . . . . ... . ..... . .
Demand deposits-adjusted· .. ... . .
ft1E1it~~~G~~'emme~t d~p~ts·.·. · .. .... ...... .
Interbank deposits .............. . . . . . . . ..... ,
Borrowioga from }I'ederal Reserve Dank . . . ' . , . .
674,046
7.355
72,600
74,786
161
144,885
1.300.534
36.553
11ll,235
llO.266
850,360
112.120
499.820
325.135
1,850.963
375.406
28.055
723.710
1,500
Nov. 13,
1946
12,203,743
823,294
524,950
11,776
102,324
57,486
1,497
125.261
1,880,449
56.318
290.851
182.738
770,763
79,779
453.753
254.660
1,708.095
353.029
109.239
620,994
None
October 8,
1947
12,175,815
894.767
603.644
7,613
71,072
75,542
127
]36,769
1,281.048
18,767
191,914
128,087
834.085
108,19.5
487.099
313.646
1,786.087
378.184
40.992
649,026
None
·Includes all demand deposits other than interbank and United SLates Government. le!lll
cub itema reported
all
on hl\lld or in process of col1cl.'tion.
GROSS DEMAND AND TIME DEPOSITS OF MEMBER BANKS
Eleventh Federal Reserve District
(Average of daily figures in thousands or dollars)
Reserve city bank.!
Combined total
GrollS
uemsnd
October
1945 .. ........ 14,562,119
1946.
October
4,845,188
June
1947. ....... .. 4,549,262
July
1947.
... 4,7.\8,677
1947 ..
August
.. . 4,845,031
September 1947 ..
4,925,009
1947 ..
October
5,100,591
Gro..
Country banb
G....
Time
demand
Time
Time
demand
1438.106 12,200,933 1278,9ll1 52.271,186 1159.205
500,813 2,342.242 311,424 2,602.946 183,389
040,000 2.234.857 338,684 2.414,405 201,316
M2,C83 2.288,215 339,500 2.470,462 202,493
540,172 2,324,633 338,401 2.520,398 201,171
Me,fill 2.360,7'\'\ 337.863 2,564,204 202.648
541,504 2,437,292 337,197 2,66.1,299 204,307
creases ran as high as 21, 26, 30, and 39 percent, respectivcly,
at Abilene, Corsicana, El Paso, and Lubbock, Texas. Cit ies
reporting small increases of five percent or less included Austin, Galveston, San Antonio, and Tyler, Texas, and Shreveport,
Louisiana.
BANK DEBITS, END·OF·MONTH DEPOSITS, AND ANNUAL RATE OF TURNOVER
OF DEPOSITS
(Dollar figures in tbouaands)
Annual rate of turnover
- - - -Debita--- Pctg. change over
October October Sept. End-(J{-mooth October Oct.ober Sept.
1946
1947
City
1947
1946
1947
deposits·
1947
TUC80n, Ariz .. . . , . , .. I 58,619
19
14
8 .6
7.8
7.7
I 82.124
10.1
36,180
11
41,205
10 .8
9.1
Monroe, La, .. . . , ..
24
150, 161
10.1
9.0
10.2
Shreve/i.rt, La•... . . . 123,965
14
t
14,308
9.4
8.8
9.2
19,116
Roswe ,N. M ..... . . .
7
t
Abilene .......... . . .
21
40,273
11.3
8.9
9.6
36,966
26
Amarillo ..... . . . . . . .
84,800
13.3
11.8
11.6
92,313
30
18
104.276
11.6
10.7
11 .8
Austin . . . . ... . . , . .
100,000
16
2
94,5{).;
10.9
9.7
10.4
Beaumont . . , . , . , . . . .
82,684
21
10
Corpul Chriati . . , . .
76,681
-1
72,738
12.6
10.9
13.0
20
Corsicana ........
20,212
6.7
6.8
13,877
26
8.4
33
Dal1aa .. , .. ,.,., ..
691,076
17.3
13.9
15.4
989,808
27
16
&1 Paao ........ . ..
119,590
107,974
13.4
11.6
10.6
16
30
Fort Worth . . ...
279,652
14 .4
11.6
13.0
332.908
22
13
Galveston .... . ... . ..
21
7.6
8.3
90,669
8 .4
63,479
2
HOUlton . , ......... ,. 945,153
796,331
14.3
11.8
12.7
28
14
Laredo .. . , .. ", .. . , ,
15,640
20.540
9.2
9.1
8.8
6
t
61,130
15.7
10.3
11.9
Lubbock" .. " . .. . , .
77.631
63
39
Port Arthur, .. , .....
33,124
7
39,825
10.1
8.6
9.6
14
San Angelo .... , . ... ,
17
15
39,246
9.8
8.4
8.9
32,092
San Antonio ..... " .. 242,671
12
320.091
9.1
8.0
8.8
5
Texarkanat ......... .
16,375
14
15
22.158
9.0
7.2
7.8
37,707
11
48,949
9.2
9.1
9.0
5
9.0
54,107
13
14
67,160
9.8
9.0
Wicbita Fall1l ....... ,
60,000
17
9
75,122
8.0
7.4
7.6
~I::::::::::::::::
Total-24 cities, ... . . S3,646,658
23
13
Total . . ..
102
514,727
1384,254,424
2.5
-
0.1
The high level of business and banking activity was re£Jected
further in the bank debit figures reported by banks in 24 leading
cities of the district. These data showed a significant rise of
13 percent during October, which pushed up the an nual rate
of turnover to 13.1, compared with 11.9 in September. Corpus
Christi was the only city to show a decline in debi ts, while in-
13.1
10.9
11.9
On November 15 Government secuntles held by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas t otaled $1,009,5 21,000, or $37,000,000 more than on October 15. Discounts for member
banks on November 15 were $2,700,000, and re£Jected the f act
that some member banks were borrowing for a short period for
the purpose of adjusting their reserve positions.
From the middle of October, the amount of Federal R eserve notes of ·the Dallas Bank in actual ciruclation, though
showing frequent minor dips, exhibited a strong season al upCONDlTfON OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF DALLAS
(Thousands of dolla!'9)
Nov. 15,
1947
I 530,6ll
2,700
1,247
1.009,521
1,013,468
841 ,167
628,078
SAVINGS DEPOSITS
Reporting Danh---Eleventh Federal Reserve District
October 31,1947
Percentage change in
savings depol!lits from
Number
Number of Amount or
reporting
aavingll
savlngll
October 31.
Sept. 30,
banks
depoaitors
depoeits
1946
1947
Beaumont . . ...... , . . . . .
3
12,377 I 6,638,766 -12 ,fI
- 2.3
Dallas . . . , . ........ . ,
8
134,763
78,129,408
4.3
0.1
El Paso ............ ,.
2
34,566
1.9
23,603,608
- 0.3
Fort Worth ....... . . . . . ..
3
42,283
34,489,147
3.0
- 0.2
Galvellton .. , .....
4
23,125
22,121,230
7.1
- 0.3
Houston .... , ..... , . .
70,031,248 - 1.0
8
106,908
- 0.5
Lubbock ............
2
1,250
1,871.538 -13.9
1.3
Port Arthur ........ ,
2
6,193
5,054,994 - 5.8
- 0.6
San Antonio .... ,.,. , ....
5
39,424
47,184,536
5.2
0.5
Shreveport, La .... , •• , •••
3
32.921
0,1
26,255,633
- 0 .5
Waeo .... . . , . . . ..
3
9,832
9,615,017
6.1
- 0.5
Wichita Fall.e .. . , . . .
3
6,897
4,690,134 -0.1
- 0.2
All other, ....... . . ..
56
64,188
54,569,165
4.8
0 .6
13,369.423
·Demand aud time dcposita at the end of the month include eerti6ed and officers' checka
outstanding but exclude deposits to Lhe credit of bauks.
tlneludes only one bank in Texarkana Tena. Total debit.!! for all banb in Texarkana ,
TeDII·ArkanS8.ll, including two banb locat;} in the Eighth Diatrict, amounted to $28,189.
flndicates change of less than one-half of one percent.
Total gold certificate reserves.
Discounts ror member banks.,
Foreign loans 00 gold,. , . . . . . .
U. S. Government securities . . .
rfo~~I~r~~t:=~~ 'd~POOi~
.
Federal Reserve Not.es in actual circulation
..
Nov. 15,
1946
5C3,059
2,275
4,474
913,147
919.896
770,506
606,387
October 15
1947
522,315
100
1,139
972.536
973.775
822.587
621,229
MEMDER DANK RESERVES AND RELATED FACTORS
Eleventh Federal Reserve Di~trict
(Millions of dollars)
Changes in weeki ended
Nov. 12,
1947
- 10.3
Federal Reserve Credit-locaL,
Interdistr ci ~;;';~;e'r ~ial &'
fiolln(' illl transactiolls ..
20.4
Treasury opcrutions . . ..
-12 . i
Currency tmnsac:tions ,. , . . - 4.0
Cumulative changes
Nov, 5,
1947
0.1
Oct,29,
1947
- 3. 8
Oct. 22,
1947
3 .0
4 weeks
ended
Nov. 12,
[947 .
- 11.0
14.7
21. 7
4.2
26 . 9
- 16.2
- 1.5
- 35 . 1
13 . 9
- C.1
-
26 . 9
6.7
9 .8
-
-
0.2
0.3
0.9
2. 6
-
O~:d~yoa~~!et~eank,.
0 .2
Other Federal Reserve
Accountll . . . . . .... , ,
Member Bank reserve
balances ..... , .. . , .
- 6.4
Note: Amouct8 preceded by a mieu.
0 .1
0 .8
0 .9
o1
1.3
0.1
Jan, 1 to
Nov. 12.
1947
-29.8
- 368.4
463,5
15 . 3
-
33 .3
6 .3
-lfI.7
13.5
62.9
liln reduce re",n'ea; otbers iocrease reMrves.
189
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
ward trend. On November 13, note circulation reached a new
all-time peak of 631,639,000, which was $4 ,610,000 above
the previous record of $627,029,000 set in December 1945.
A slight post-Armistice decline then set in, and note circulation
stood at $628 ,078,000 on November 15, or $6,849,000 higher
than on October 15,
proved reserves of crudc oil are located with in its borders, but
present rates of production are probably equal to maximum
efficient recovery rates in most fields in the Southwest.
CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION- (B,melo)
Incre<l!le or decrease in d'lily
ave-mge production rrom
Daily avg.
production September 1947 October Hl46
24 ,403
163
4,953
162,073
1,328
17,015
492,658
6,432
42,294
259,507
11,357
44 ,820
41,053
193
1,172
319,803
10,603
3,\09
11 8,300
205
15,777
43,721
2,636
10,269
40,661
499
13,235
645,695
8.095
150,58.\
135,929
7.744
6,277
89,147
2,81'2
4,197
2,372,950
37,78.\
323 ,7().\
117,127
11 8
17,429
103,1 11
2.273
13.875
2,593,188
39,940
35.1.009
2,659,652
14,455
159.9M
5,252,840
54,395
514 .984
October 1947
NEW MEMBER BANKS
The First State Bank, Junction, Texas, a newly orgtmjzed illstitution located in tbe territory served by the San
Antonio Brallcb of tbe Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas,
opened for business 011 N ovelllber 8, 1947, as a ",enlher
of tbe Federal Reserve System. This bank bas total capital
f'mds of $75,000, including capital $50,000, surplm of
$15,000, and undivided profits of $10,000. Its officers
are: C. C. Chessber, Presidmt; Cecil H. Allen, Vice President a1ld Casbier; and G1!orge O. Cox, Assistant Cashier,
On Nov e'mber 13, 1947, the Texas Bank and Trust
Co·mpany of Dallas, T exas, was admitted to 11U!1nbersbip
in the Federal Resen'e System. This bank bas total resOitrees of $20,400,000 and total capital fum/s of $1,281,000, including paid in capital of $500,000, mrph.s of
$ 500,000, alld undildd'ed profits of $281,000, Included
among its officers are: \\7. W, OvertOlI, Jr., CbaiNnan
of tbe Board; p, B. Garrett, President; Mike F. Reed,
Execlttive Vi ce Presidmt; C. B. Peterson, Jr., Vice Presidmt; M. R, FortS01I, Vice President; Robert Re)",o/ds,
Vice Presidellt; C. S, Bisbop, Vice President; R, McRee
Davis, Vice President; J. N. Fanni1lg, Vice Preside1lt;
Irving Hitt, Vice PresidC1lt; R. H. Collier, Vice Presidenl; and Roy R oberts, Cashier and Auditor.
NEW PAR BANK
Tbe First State Bank, Hawkins, Texas, a newly organized /l07mlember bank located in tbe territory served by
the H ead Office of tbe Federal R eserve Balik of Dallas,
lVas added to tbe Federal Reserve Par List all its openillg
date, Novell/ber 8, 1947. Tbis bank bas capital of $40,000,
surplus of $ 10,000, and "ndivided profits of $4,000, Its
officers are: C, C. Sims, President; J. E. Green, Vice
Presid""t ; and Jobn T, Hai/mark, Cashier,
I I DUSTRY
Daily average production of crude oil reached new peaks in
October in the Eleventh District and in the United States
for the third consecutive month. In the United States, produ ction increased to approxjmately 5,253,000 barrels daily,
exceeding that of a year ago by 11 percent and the 1939
average by about 50 percent. In the district, daily production
averaged approximately 2,593,000 barrels daily, or about 16
percent above the rate during October 194 6, and 74 percent
above the 193 9 rate.
The importance of this district in supplying domestic requirements for crude oil has increased substantially during
recent years. The district now aCCOUnts for 49.4 percent of
total United States production , as compared with 46.8 percent
during October 1946, and 43.1 percent in 1939. Potentially,
the district is able to supply a still larger portion of total
domestic requirements, since approximately 60 percent of the
Total
production
Di!trict 1. .... . ". . ....... .
750,000
2 .. " .. ,' , . • . .... ,
5.024,250
3.... .. .. .... ..... 15,272 ,400
4.... .. . ... , ......
8.044.700
5.... . .......... . .
1.272.650
6.... ........... ..
0.013.900
Other 6.... .. ... .. .. ... .
3,607.300
7b.. .
. , _, _, _. . . . .
1,355,350
?c .... . . • . , _,_. . . . .
1,250,500
8.. ..
............ 20,01 6.550
9.... . .............
4,213.800
10 .. :. .. . . . . .........
2,703 ,550
Tolal Texas ... ....... :... . 73,561,450
New 'Mexico . .. . .... " .......
3,630,950
North Louisian&....... .... .. .
3, 100,450
Tolal Di.kict.. .. . . .. .... .. 80,388.850
Out.8ide District. .. .. .. .. .. . . . 82.449,200
Uni'ed Sta,.................. 162,BaS,().\()
SOURCE: Elltimated from American Petroleum lnatitute weekly report3.
Acceleration of developmental drilling activity, development of new producing areas, and extension of pipe lines to
tap those few areas whjch now arc producing below maximum
efficient capacity may permit some increase in output to meet
expanding requirements without reducing ultimate recovery
from the natural reservoirs. Such developments can not be carried through rapidly, however, and, when completed, they
may not increase substantially the quantity of oil which can
be obtained without injury to the fields. Moreover, the outlook
for important increases in production in areas outside the district js, on the whole, even less optimistic.
The value of construction contracts awarded in the Eleventh
District during October rose to $70,765,000, substantially exceeding the high le\·el reached in August. Preliminary estimates
for the year indicate that total awards in the district probably
will be in excess of $600,000,000, as compared with $564,VALUE OF CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS AWARDED
(Thousands of !.lollnrs)
Year
1937 ..
1938
1930 ....
1940 ..
1941. .
1942 .. .
1943 ... .
1944 .. .
1945.
1946 ................ ..
First ten months 1946.... .
First ten months 1947 .... .
ElcvcDth District
'51 ,660
187,523
199,110
273,692
44 6,043
914,205
356,925
178,224
278,044
564,394
491,306
561 ,059p
SOURCE: F. W. Dodge Corporation.
37 St..~ tes
2,913,060
3, 196,928
3,5.10, 543
4,003,957
6.007.474
8,255,061
3, 273,990
1,9114,016
3.299,303
7,489, 722
6,528.699
6,41 9,397
Eleventh
Di ~tri ct
Pen!cut of 37 SUites
5 . 21
5.87
5 .61
6.84
7.44
11.07
10 .90
8.94
8. 45
754
7.53
8. 74
p-Preliminary.
000,000 in 1946, and an annual average of $ J49,000,000 during the 1935-1939 period. As the accompanying table indicates, the Eleventh District accounted for a somewhat larger
portion of total awards in the 37 states east of the Rocky
Mountains during the first t en months of this year than in
1946, and a much larger portion than during the prewar years.
Even when differences in dollar costs of construction are
taken into account , 1947 appears to be establishing a new
record for physical volume of construction activity during a
peacetime year in this region. The number of residential projects started has increased in rate as 1947 has progressed, although the value of residential awards has declined slightly,
Contrary to earlier indications, a larger number of privately
financed permanent nonfarm dwellings may be started this
190
MONTHLY BUSINESS REVIEW
year than in 1946, when a record 68,000 units were started in
Texas and about 95,000 units ' were started in the five southwestern states. Moreover, improved flow of materials and an
expanded force of construction workers have permitted acceleration of building schedules, making possible the completion of much larger numbers of permanent nonfarm dwellings
in the district this year than in any prior year of record.
VALUE OF CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS AWARDED
(Thousands of dollars)
Eleventh District- total.. .
Re8idcntial. ......... . .
All other., .. ... .. . ... .
United Statcs·-total. . .. .
Rc8idential.
AU other ............ .
October
H.l47p
$ 70.765
22,603
48,162
793,286
349,490
443,796
October
11M6
$ 47,337
10,059
37,278
573 ,206
23~,068
338,138
p-Preliminary.
·37 states east of the Rocky Mountains.
SOURCE: F. W. Dod.. CO'lXlralio•.
September
HI47r
$ 38,807
13,447
25,360
649,996
268,543
381,453
January 1 to October 31
1947p
1946
$ 561,059 $ 491,306
202,824
204,107
358,235
287,199
6,419,397
6,528,699
2,636,757
2,727,624
3,782,640
3,801,075
initiated. The total value of such awards in 1947 probably will
reach a new peak for a peacetime year, and the volume of new
construction of this type initiated may exceed that of any prior
year except 1942, Commercial and industrial buildings have
been important components of this year's large volume of
nonresidential construction, but the expansion in this kind of
construction as compared with 1946 has reflected principally
large increases in awards for public works and utilities projects.
Although many of the larger residential, commercial, and
industrial projects which have been important sustaining influences during 1947, are nearing completion, work initiated
during the fall will sustain building activity at high levels during the winter months, and impressive backlogs of plans for
residential, commercial, and utilities construction are reported
to be ready for initiation in the district early in 1948.
r-Revised.
DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION AND STOCKS OF COTTON-(B.lee)
October
The cumulated value of awards for nonresidential construction projects in the district thus far this year has increased
at a rate substantially above that of any prior year except
1942, when large military and wartime industrial facilities were
Consumption at:
Texas milla . . ....... .
United States mills ..
U. S. st.ocl<s--end of month:
1947
13,827
826,216
[n cOll.suming eetabm't8 ... 1,479,136
Publicstg. & com presses ... 5,]01,358
October September August 1 to October 31
194.6
Hl47
This season Last season
21,087r
11.646
37,360
58,664r
933,615
727,448 2,264,265
2,609,044
2,019 ,236
5,913,230
r-Revised.
BUILDING PERMITS
\
October 1947
No.
Valuation
Percentage
Percentage change J••. 1 IoOel.31, 1947 chan,e
valuation from
valuatton
Sept.
October
No.
Valuation from 10'6
1946
77
211
18
42
137
141
109
63
03
183
122
97
50
72
108
44
1947
-35
23
-4
16
131
-4
-18
-36
-46
31
-30
-10
-2
-39
-13
Total. ..... 7,341 $30,225,967
109
fCbange less than one-haIr of ODe per cent.
-t
A~lene ..........
84$
Amarillo ••...• .•• 201
Austin ., .... , ..... 291
Beaumont ..... . .. 360
C0lf: Chriati . ... 392
Da ..... " .... 1,670
&1 Pa.so.' ." ..... 177
Fort Worth .......
699
Gdveeton . .......
160
Houaton .... ,
835
Lubbock ....
220
Port Arthur ......
202
Ban Antonio ...... 1,400
Shreveport, lA.... 378
Waco ............
187
Wichita Falla ..•. .
85
318,400
1,025,365
1,561,740
562,446
2,243,044
6,873,440
834,505
2,611,797
19R,059
8,289,053
640,142
191,373
2,68 1,3 10
1,098,153
905,200
191,040
-----
1
918 $ 3,721,052
1
1,817
7,160,811
9
16,589,798
4
3,483
5,412,411
66
3,615 13,362,988
48
14,254 48,612,760
16
1,358
6,317,526
61
6,461 22,529,892
8
1,597
2,160,543 -4
7,162 59,343,444
23
2,0<17
9,383,376
16
1,705
1,943,997
3
12,379 22,471,953
10
3,491
9,790,278
22
1,543
7,781,01 8
73
725
2,171,766
25
4,410
66,9S5 $238,743,613
19
COTTONSEED AND COTTONSEED PRODUCTS
_-- TcX'a.~--~_-·Untte<l
August ] to October 31
Augu,'!t 1 to
This scuson
708,997
Cottonseed received at mills (tons) .... .
312.741
Cottonseed-crushed (tons) ............ .
450.684
Cottonseed on hand October 31 (tons) ..
Production of proUuct.s:
93,658
Crude oil <thousand pounds) .. . ......
147,697
Cake and meal (tons) .....
69,438
Hulls (tons) ..................
104,637
Linters (running bales) ........
Stock!! on hand October 31 :
14,268
Crude oil (thousand pounds)
13,272
Cake and meal (tons) . ... . .
26,019
H ul15 (tons) ............
42,684
Linters (running bales) ..
SOURCE; United States Bureau of Cen8us.
Last season This season
351,967
2,452.91 8
186,012
1,094.707
223,209
1,4~7,739
States-October 31
Last season
1,033,191
034,451
916,546
6:J,431
333,291
504,5142<9,370
339,333
2.;6,828
367,095
191,862
262,760
14,870
13,082
18,739
3 1,656
54,654
62,121
71,842
151,761
52,946
54,240
87,967
41,189
~B,396
M,989
144,832
@FedFRASER