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Monthly Review F E D E R A L R E S E R V E B A N K DECEMBER 1, 1945 Survey of Current Conditions Three months after the end of the war, physical reconversion of the nation's industrial plant is al most complete. Retooling work, adjustment of pro duction processes, and general planning for peace time production are for the most part accomplished, and the nation's factories stand ready to expand rapidly the output of civilian goods. Despite the speedy physical reconversion of plant, the actual progress in turning out goods has been somewhat disappointing. The Federal Reserve in dex of industrial production stood at 164 in October (1935-39=100), a further decline from the Sep tember level of 171, and there appears little pros pect that the November index will show any gain. The principal difficulties in the way of expanding production at the moment appear to be the short labor supply and work stoppages in certain key industries. Delays in obtaining essential raw materials or vital semi-finished parts have led to curtailment of operations at the later stages of production in a number of important lines. Un certainties with respect to price-cost relationships have also tended to hold down production schedules in some industries. Although income has declined since the end of the war, consumer purchasing power remains high and new records are being established in retail sales. Prices of real estate and securities have also continued to advance. With the supply of goods still short and with high current incomes supple mented by the huge backlog of liquid savings, the threat of inflation is probably more pronounced today than at any time during the war years, EM PLOYM ENT The current employment situation in this district is in a state of flux. The number of persons at work is substantially below the wartime peak and the number of unemployed, although less than was ex pected, is much higher. Total nonagricultural em ployment in the district is increasing at present, but so is unemployment. Under these conditions the labor market should be fairly easy, but employers are finding difficulty in obtaining workers. A con siderable number of jobs are listed at U. S. Em ployment Service offices for which workers cannot be found. Unemployment compensation claims are increasing but their number is still well below esti mated unemployment. There are several reasons for these seemingly in consistent conditions. Large numbers of return ing service personnel are entering the civilian labor market, and while employment is rising, it is not increasing fast enough to absorb all of them im mediately. The district labor market is still tight in terms of particular skills despite the fact that the latest USES report classifies St. Louis, Louis ville, Memphis and Little Rock as regions with sub stantial labor surpluses, and Evansville as an area with considerable unemployment. A recent study showed that the labor market had been inflated during the war by inclusion of many workers who (Continued on Page 8) Arkansas Plans For The Future In Arkansas a movement is afoot that is being watched with keen interest in sections of the South and in other regions where a low-income agricul tural economy should be balanced with higherincome industry. The Arkansas plan to increase industry has evolved as a result of a carefully directed statewide effort on the part of business, agriculture, and government, integrated from com munity to state. Its aim is industrial development based on the use of Arkansas raw materials, labor, and capital. Use of Arkansas raw materials is expected to have a two-sided effect on income. In the first place, their presence is expected to attract the industries that can utilize them advantageously; secondly, processing them rather than shipping them in basic form will keep in the state the value added by manufacture. between manufacturing and other industrial pur suits such as mining, construction, transportation, and public utilities. About half of the remaining workers were in various service activities and the balance mostly in trade. Tw o out of three workers in manufacturing were employed in some phase of woodworking, from basic timber products through paper products. Light industrial activity, such as food processing, apparel, and chemicals, accounted for the balance of manufacturing employment. The people of Arkansas are working together to carry out the Arkansas plan. Each community’s problems are seen not only as the problems of that community but also as problems of the entire state. Each community’s achievements are a source of pride to all Arkansans. The citizens are convinced that the state has a great potential future. They are equally confident that the potentiality can be realized through their cooperative effort. Raw Materials—Arkansas is rich as a source of raw materials, particularly wood, certain minerals, and agricultural products. Her forest lands cover 22 million acres. Pine and oak predominate with more than half of the timber cut being pine and about one-quarter oak. Arkansas ranks third in the South and seventh in the nation in output of forest products. Coal reserves are estimated to be between 1 and 1.6 billion tons. Oil reserves are fixed at 400 million barrels, and gas reserves at 1,000 billion .cubic feet. Arkansas contains virtually all of the bauxite found in the United States and has the only dia mond mines in the nation* It also has sizable de posits of antimony, lead, manganese, mercury, zinc and other metals. Many nonmetallic minerals are also found in the state in quantity; asphalt, clay, gravel, gypsum, limestone, marble, mica and sand are the more important. In 1944, Arkansas agriculture produced 1.4 mil lion bales of cotton and 560,000 tons , of cottonseed. Some 14.5 million bushels of rice, 3.6 million bushels of soybeans and 2.0 million bushels of sweet pota toes were grown in that year, as well as consider able quantities of other field and truck crops, many of which (especially fruits and berries) are suitable for processing. At the beginning of 1945 there were 1.3 million cattle, 1.2 million hogs, and 9.7 million chickens on Arkansas farms. Income— Generally speaking, the level of per capita income in a state varies with its degree of industrialization. For the United States as a whole, about one-third of those gainfully employed in E C O N O M IC BACKGROUND Arkansas is mostly Old South, but it is also partly New Southwest. Eastern and Southern Arkansas represent the typical South. The Ouachita and Ozark regions, constituting almost half of the state, have more of the characteristics of Eastern Okla homa and Southern Missouri. In 1940; almost two million persons lived in Arkansas, about half in the Old South section and half in the balance of the state. Only two of every ten Arkansans lived in urban communities (towns or cities with 2,500 or more population). Almost 60 per cent of the state’s people actually lived on farms, while another 20 per cent lived in rural towns largely dependent for their being upon agriculture. Negroes constituted one-quarter of the total popu lation. Most of them lived in the Delta counties and in Southern Arkansas. Employment— In April, 1940, there were 585,000 persons gainfully employed in Arkansas. More than half of those working, some 300,000, were in agriculture or forestry. About one-sixth were in dustrial workers, who were divided about equally Page 2 Such industry as existed in prewar Arkansas was generally engaged only in the first processing steps to make raw materials into finished goods. It was left to outside industry to carry on the production processes to turn out goods for the ultimate con sumer. 1940 worked in manufacturing, mifiing or construc tion, and only 20 per cent in agriculture, forestry or fishing. Per capita income in the nation in 1940 was $575. As a region, the South had the reverse of the national pattern with only one-fifth of its workers in industry and about 40 per cent in agri culture. Per capita income in the southern states in 1940 was $322. The South has long bitterly complained of its status as an economic colony and supplier of raw materials. If the South as a whole had any basis for its complaints, Arkansas had much more. Per capita income in Arkansas in 1940 was $252. Only four states in the Union had less industrial employment in relation to total workers, its southern neighbor, Mississippi, and the three Great Plains states of Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Only Mississippi had a lower per capita income. Appraisal of Arkansas industry and general in come level in the prewar years did not make any Arkansan very happy. For the ten year period, 1930-1939, Arkansas per capita income averaged $204, or only 42 per cent of the nationwide per capita income of $491. The only redeeming feature revealed by an income study was that Arkansas per capita income was gaining relative to the coun try as a whole all through the 1930’s. In 1931, per capita income in the state was 34 per cent of the national average. In 1939, it was 46 per cent. ARKAN SAS AND TH E W A R The impact of the war on Arkansas intensified the relative income gains that had occurred during the 1930’s. In the five years from 1940 through 1944, per capita income in the state rose from $252 to $601, a gain of 139 per cent. In the same period, per capita income in the United States barely doubled. As a result, Arkansas per capita income in 1944 was 54 per cent, and for the five year period averaged 50 per cent, of the national figure. Four factors accounted for the great increase in income in Arkansas during the war years. First and most important was the gain in wages and salaries, a direct result of the wartime industriali zation of the state. Income payments from wages and salaries in 1940 totaled $229 million, or 46 per cent of total income payments. In 1944, wage and salary income amounted to $514 million, well over double that of 1940, and accounted for 48 per cent of total state income payments. The interior location of Arkansas plus the pres ence of a considerable pool of available labor prompted the location of several large war plants in the state early in the defense-war period. Arkan sas Ordnance and Maumelle Ordnance were located on the outskirts of Little Rock. Southwest of Little Rock at Hurricane Creek and Jones Mill, large alumina and aluminum plants were built to process Arkansas bauxite. At Pine Bluff, southeast of Lit tle Rock, a chemical warfare arsenal was erected, and at El Dorado in the extreme south-central por tion of the state, an ammonia plant, Ozark Ord nance, went into operation. In the fall of 1944, a tremendous rocket assembly plant was begun at Camden in southern Arkansas. Some $325 million was spent to erect these major war plants. At peak production they employed about 25,000 workers. In addition to these large specialized war plants, numerous other new plants were established in the state, and many previously operating plants ex panded their production and their employment. As a result, manufacturing employment in Arkansas rose to a peak of 85,000 at one time during the war years. Overtime work, upgrading, late shift pre mium pay, and other factors combined with this increased employment to lift wage and salary in come to the level indicated. A second factor acting to raise income during the war years was the great increase in agricultural production plus the substantial rise in farm prices. In 1940, cash farm income in Arkansas was $164 million. In 1944, it was $354 million, or 116 per cent larger. Proprietors’ and property income in Arkansas mostly reflects income from agriculture. In 1940, income from these sources was $220 mil lion and in 1944 was $420 million. Despite the huge gains shown by farm income, however, the relative share of total income pay ments attributable to this source declined during the war years. In 1940, about 45 per cent of total income payments consisted of proprietors’ and property income, or about the same as was ac counted for by wage and salary payments. In 1944, the relative share of proprietors’ and property in come was 40 per cent. On a per capita basis, however, the gain in agri cultural income was very significant. The number of persons employed in agriculture in Arkansas in 1945 was about a third less than before the war. Consequently a doubling of income to be shared among two-thirds of the number employed in the prewar period raised per capita income on the farm to about three times its prewar level. The third factor tending to increase per capita income payments in Arkansas in the past few years was the gain in other income. This income com ponent includes payments from pensions, relief pay ments and the like, and during the war years in P age 3 eluded net pay of the armed forces, family-allowance payments, voluntary allotment of pay to indi viduals, and mustering-out pay. In 1940, miscel laneous income payments in Arkansas amounted to $44 million, or 9 per cent of total income pay ments. In 1944, they were $134 million, or 12 per cent of the total. The greatest rise in this com ponent occurred in 1943 and 1944 when payments to dependents increased sharply. The fourth factor which caused per capita in come in Arkansas to expand in the war years was a decline in population of about 200,000. While the excess of births over deaths in the state in the past five years was about 150,000, this was com pletely offset by withdrawal of some 150,000 men for military service. In addition to this, about 90,000 Arkansans left the state to seek work elsewhere, and many of them took their families with them. The population loss was confined mostly to rural areas. By and large, the towns and cities which had war industry or industry supporting the war effort increased their populations substantially de spite withdrawals for the armed forces. This fact leads obviously to two conclusions. First, the increased employment in industry raised income directly by increasing payrolls. Second, it indirectly raised per capita income on the farm by reducing the agricultural labor force. Under the stimulus of higher prices, agricultural production increased despite fewer farm workers. In these conclusions seems to lie the solution to the problem of increasing income in Arkansas— more people in industry and less in agriculture, but with continu ation of high agricultural production and reason able farm prices. which, in conjunction with the Resources and De velopment Commission, a state agency, and the Bureau of Research of the University of Arkansas, has spearheaded the movement to promote more rapid industrialization of the state. Arkansas Economic Council— Organized as a “ body of citizens dedicated to the task of convert ing the resources and energies of Arkansas, now completely devoted to winning the war, to peace time pursuits,” the Arkansas Economic Council drew its greatest strength from the fact that it was a statewide movement. Every county in the state was represented by one or more Council members, who were leaders in commerce, industry, agricul ture, labor and the professions. The Council stressed cooperation with all other agencies which were working for a better Arkansas. The Council was organized into 17 primary com mittees whose work was coordinated by an execu tive committee composed of the primary committee chairmen. Among the 17 committees were those on agriculture, city planning, education, finance, flood control and conservation, forestry and wood products, housing, industry, minerals, public health, public works, oil and gas, recreation, rural develop ment, reconversion, research and transportation. The Council began a grass-roots and crossroads program of organization throughout the state. In every county it hammered home the message that local organizations were needed to plan for com munity welfare, and that benefit from the growth of an individual community would be reflected throughout Arkansas. Through these actions, 70 of Arkansas’ 75 counties organized county councils. P L A N N IN G F O R T H E F U T U R E — T H E O R G A N IZ A T IO N INCOME PAYMENTS - ARKANSAS Arkansas was quick to recognize that the indus trialization brought about by the war created a favorable situation for the development of indus try after war ended. It was apparent that for the first time in its history, Arkansas in the postwar era would have a surplus of factory-trained labor to man new peacetime plants. The record of Arkan sas labor in the war plants was an enviable one and demonstrated that the people of the state were qualified to learn and learn quickly the discipline and methods of factory work. In March, 1943, a few of the business leaders of Arkansas met informally in Little Rock to dis cuss methods for taking advantage of the favorable opportunity to industrialize the state. Out of this meeting grew the Arkansas Economic Council, 1929 SOURCE US DEPT Of COMMERCE Page 4 1934 1939 1944 Resources and Development Commission— The program of the Economic Council was well under way when the state government, early in 1945, moved to streamline the efforts of the several state bureaus concerned with economic development. Eight separate bureaus were combined into the Resources and Development Commission. For the first time, the bureaus of agriculture and industry, planning, state information, geology, flood control and conservation, and forestry and parks had consistent over-all direction. The Commission’s functions were to formulate plans for orderly re employment, study state institutions, cooperate in planning state public works, publicize information concerning industrial opportunities, promote river navigation and hydro-electric power, stimulate travel in Arkansas, cooperate with existing civic organizations and, in general, bring labor, industry and agriculture into the closest and fullest accord possible for the development of Arkansas resources and the furtherance of its industry. The new Commission conceived its major func tion to be coincident with that of the Economic Council— to industrialize the state and increase Arkansas income. As a result, it has cooperated fully with the Council’s program and thus the full weight of the state government has been added to the effectiveness of the Council. Bureau of Research—The Council and Com mission, working jointly, constituted the action section of the movement to increase Arkansas in come by industrializing the state. These organi zations could and did call for community planning, and offered the cities and towns of the state every facility at their disposal. Planning, however, they found needed technical direction. The Council alone had made some progress to ward solving this particular problem. It had rec ognized early that it might use research as a basis for its planning, and had brought educators and state and national agency heads into its organiza tion. Late in September, 1943, a conference on re search for industrial development met in Little Rock. The conference recommended a program of research to determine Arkansas’s advantages and disadvantages for particular industries. Surveys were specifically suggested for cotton textiles, grain dehydration, secondary manufacture of wood prod ucts, further processing of farm commodities, and handicraft work. Trade area surveys were also planned and projected. Early in 1945 and almost coincident with the establishment of the Resources and Development Commission, the state government moved to en large the Bureau of Research of the University of Arkansas by making substantial funds available to it. For the two year period beginnng July, 1945, the Legislature appropriated $200,000 for the Bureau of Research, and presumably this appropriation will be continued in subsequent bienniums. In addition to this state appropriation, the Bureau has received some $35,000 a year from other sources. The Bureau’s function is to provide the research talent and facilities for the Arkansas program. Its projects involve laboratory work, field studies, marketing studies and the like. It is still in process of enlargement, and its projected work is much more ambitious than its present staff can carry. Sections have already been set up for research in processing of agricultural products, forest products and mineral products. In addition there are units devoted to chemical engineering, agricultural sta tistics, and over-all economic analysis. TH E TH EM E AND THE PLAN The Arkansas plan depends basically upon the coordination of government, business and research from the community to the state level. It aims at the establishment of a favorable climate for industry expansion supplemented by integrated statewide community planning. It calls for full utilization of Arkansas raw materials, which involves careful research on resources and markets. In seeking new industry, the Arkansas plan calls for location of industry by reason of economic fac tors. It recognizes that such industry is more sound and is more likely to be retained as a continuous income source. Arkansas thus is trying to apply the old economic law of comparative advantage in her movement toward industrialization. If a region or country by reason of special factors of labor, land, and materials offers advantages to a particu lar industry, that industry can be located there more advantageously than elsewhere. While the Arkansas plan calls for industry that will use Arkansas labor, materials and money, this does not mean that only industry which fulfills all three conditions will come into the state. Such industry will, however, be sought more strongly than other. Undoubtedly, branch plants of national concerns will come into Arkansas, and obviously such plants will be financed mostly with outside capital. Many plants will not confine their opera tions to processing Arkansas raw materials, but will supplement such materials with others brought from outside the state. Presumably, however, out side raw materials would largely come from nearby Page 5 regions, while closeby markets might well be ex ploited more intensively for the finished products. At the same time, it is felt that the wealth of Arkansas raw materials and the pools of labor re serves for factories will make the state more attrac tive to industries which can use both local materials and labor. For example, Arkansas trees can be processed from raw lumber through to finished furniture or paper products, Arkansas bauxite may well be processed from the mining stage through the finished utensil stage, Arkansas cotton can be woven into textiles and then made into shirts and dresses. The people of Arkansas not only wish to use the state’s raw materials as a means to attract new industry, but they realize that the processing of such materials will give them the value added by manufacture which they lose by shipping out their products in basic forms. This added value would mean increased returns to the producer of raw mate rials, to management, to labor and to those who supply the fuel, power and capital. If new Arkansas industry needs financing, the state as a whole now has plenty of liquid funds. Arkansans have perhaps $1 billion more in liquid assets, currency, bank deposits and Government securities, than they had five years ago. Arkansas banks can supply working capital needs. RESU LTS TO D ATE In the last five years, some 860 new industries, exculsive of war plants, have been located in Arkan sas. Many of these came into the state before the advent of the Economic Council and the coordinated statewide effort now being exercised. A good share, however, resulted directly from the work of the Council, and more recently from the combined ef forts of the Council, the Commission, and the Bu reau of Research. In the ‘first ten months of 1945, some 160 new industries or expansions of existing industry were projected in various Arkansas cities and towns. These 160 industries, many of them already in operation, are scattered throughout the state with no one area showing any particular predominance. This in itself is an indication of the thorough co ordination of efforts on a statewide basis. Four of each ten new industries are agricultural product processing plants, including fruit, vegetable and poultry packing and freezing, meat packing, rice drying, feed dehydration, cottonseed mills, and the like. Another 40 per cent consists of various types of woodworking plants, about half sawmills and the balance in other phases of wood processing. Of Page 6 the remaining plants, more than half will process materials found in Arkansas, such as petroleum, glass sand, cotton, stone, and other products. In other words, nine of every ten new plants to be established this year can use Arkansas raw ma terials, and every plant will use Arkansas labor. The Council recently has been sending out specification sheets on small industries suitable for small towns. In very simplified form, these give in formation on a particular industry’s requirements for fixed and working capital, equipment, raw materials and labor, on market outlets and on pros pective profits. As previously noted, the Bureau of Research is carrying on much more extensive and detailed studies with regard to particular industries. Currently available for release is a survey on frozen food processing, which points up production and marketing problems of the industry. The full result of the effort to industrialize Arkansas is still in the future since the program is quite young. At the same time the fact that, so far in 1945, some 160 expansions are either in opera tion or in process bears witness to the effectiveness of the program even in its initial stages. S P E C IF IC C O M M U N I T Y P L A N S The Arkansas story would hardly be complete without detailing some specific community ventures in industrializaton. In Little Rock and in the ad jacent region southwest, the major question of the moment is the continued operation of the great alumina-aluminum plants which were operated in wartime by Alcoa. All of Arkansas is deeply con cerned about the maintenance of these plants and hopes that the question of future ownership is de termined quickly. If the plants remain in pro duction, there is every indication that other alum inum-using industries can be attracted. At El Dorado, the Lion Oil Company is currently negotiating for the large Ozark Ordnance works. If it is secured, Lion Oil intends to use it as a fer tilizer factory. A ready market for the product is close at hand. In southeastern Arkansas lies Crossett, the home town of Crossett Industries which owns thousands of acres of forest lands. Crossett itself is a com pany town and in it are located the three major branches of the concern, sawmills, a wooddistillation plant and a paper mill. Crossett In dustries practices planned reforestation and cuts no more timber in a year than it grows. It established its wood-distillation plant to utilize scrub hardwoods and its paper plant to use pines of pulping quality left from saw-log operations, and small pines re moved for better reforestation practices. Basically, however, it is only in the first production stage from raw material to finished product. Present plans call for establishment of a paper bag factory in proximity to the paper mill. This factory will be a branch of a national concern, since Crossett wishes to continue concentrating on pri mary processing. The bag plant will further pro cess Arkansas materials with Arkansas labor. In the future there may well be many additional de velopments of this kind in Crossett. At nearby Hamburg, the Council is calling at tention to the opportunity that awaits an aggressive manufacturer of wooden handles. Crossett In dustries owns a considerable stand of hickory which will be made available to a handle producer. The citizens of Hamburg stand ready to provide much of the necessary capital. The Hamburg project is an excellent example of the coordinated cooperative effort typical of present-day Arkansas. People from all parts of the state are working diligently to secure this industry for Hamburg. Fordyce has a new woodworking plant which is producing dimensional parts for furniture manu facture. This venture began early this year when six men combined to found a small firm to produce under a war contract. When that contract was cancelled, they turned to their present endeavor and have a modern $50,000 plant. It will use mostly Arkansas lumber, much of it coming directly from the sawmill located in the town. Pine Bluff is attempting to confine its new in dustry to projects that fulfill all three conditions for new Arkansas plants. It wants them to use local labor and materials and to be financed with local funds. Currently in prospect are a $350,000 pack ing plant which will slaughter 1,000 cattle and 1,500 hogs each week, a broom factory to employ dis abled veterans, a creosote plant, a freezing unit, a plant to prefabricate lumber for truck trailer bodies, and a sweet potato dehydration plant. The latter is of particular interest for it ties in directly with a livestock development program for the surround ing country. Dehydrated sweet potatoes are a high carbohydrate animal feed and with Arkansas some what dependent upon outside sources for corn be cause of relatively low corn yields, such a product should be successfully marketed in the locality. Up in Jonesboro a five-year campaign for a $100,000 development fund is being carried on at present. Half of this sum is expected to come from the local utility which for all practical purposes operates as a municipally-owned plant. The balance is being raised by popular subscription. The fund will be used for surveys and research to determine Jonesboro’s advantages for particular industries. Seven new industries have recently come to Jones boro. Among them are a shoe plant, a cotton hosiery mill, a glass factory, two rice driers and a wood-distillation plant. The shoe factory and the hosiery mill do not use Arkansas materials since there are a number of processing steps between the raw products grown in Arkansas and the materials used for these final consumer goods. The other plants do use Arkansas raw materials. Some $15,000 was given to the shoe plant and the hosiery mill to get them started. However, both are Arkansas concerns. Jonesboro currently wants a meat packing plant to utilize the $7 million worth of livestock that passes annually through the local stockyards, and a brickyard to use Craighead County clay. Several Arkansas towns have been more interested in getting large initial payrolls than in developing local industry. Offering a supply of local labor, Batesville, Conway, Newport, Pocahontas and Searcy have raised approximately $100,000 apiece to provide buildings for branch shoe plants. In most cases the shoe producer will pay a nominal rental and provide a guaranteed payroll. In at least one case, however, there will be no rent and no guarantee. At Walnut Ridge a fund of $65,000 awaits a con cern that can bring a substantial payroll to the town. Walnut Ridge raised this sum to secure a shoe factory, but the deal did not go through. The town is now looking for a textile or garment plant. These latter examples are not fully typical of the Arkansas plan, for they merely represent branch plant expansion that will utilize local labor. This does not mean that they will not benefit the towns, however, for they will bring large payrolls. Possibly they will lead to establishment of additional and complementary industry in the future. S U M M A R Y A N D C O N C L U S IO N S For many years competent observers have agreed that the South must expand its industrial employ ment or reduce its population if it is to increase its extremely low per capita income. Before the war, too many people in the South were trying to make a living from farming, a large proportion of them on poor land and using inefficient methods. In certain sections of the South,. considerable progress had been made in building up industry, notably in North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, but the industrialization process for the region as a whole was all too slow. The war greatly ac celerated the process. Huge new war plants were Page 7 erected in places where industry had never ex isted before. As a result, thousands of new workers were trained to factory tasks. Whether or not they can be absorbed into industry that has a sound economic basis in a period of peacetime activity is one of the major problems facing the South. Arkansas, in common with the rest of the South, hopes to capitalize upon its wartime experience to speed the development of industry in the state. The Arkansas plan for promoting new industry suited to the economic characteristics of the state repre sents a new approach to the problem. Without question, the further processing of Arkansas raw materials with Arkansas labor would keep a greater share of the value added by manufacture in the state and thus raise income. It would help solve the problems of providing work for an over-crowded agriculture that must find nonagricultural employ ment if the level of per capita income on the farm is to be bettered through increased productivity. The thorough integration of the planning efforts of business; agriculture and government, the statesupported system of research, and the establishment of action organizations at the community level has further stimulated interest in the movement. This type of approach has made it possible to bring home to all of Arkansas the importance of planned industrialization. The ultimate success of the Arkansas plan will depend upon the thoroughness and consistency with which it is carried out. Mark Twain once observed that everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it. To some extent this phrase might be turned to any venture which is still pri marily in the planning stage— everyone talks about increased industry but few do anything about it. Arkansas is doing something about it. Frederick L. Deming. C U RREN T CONDITIONS closed, power requirements and consumption are considerably reduced. (Continued from Page 1) had learned only a single skill, and that there are now few, if any, peacetime jobs calling for these limited skills. Most jobs offered are relatively low-skilled and low-paid, and most openings are for men while many of the unemployed are women. Further explanation is found in the relative im mobility of labor itself and the natural slowness to change location and type of work. During the balance of this year, district em ployment may be expected to increase in wholesale and retail trade in response to seasonal demand. Construction employment has increased slightly since V-J Day, but no major expansion is expected until next spring. Employment in the service in dustries has changed little in the past three months, largely because workers are reluctant to accept the comparatively low-pay jobs offered in such lines. IN D U S T R Y Industrial activity in the Eighth District during October and early November was characterized by mixed trends. In the aggregate the level of activity appears not much changed from September but well below that of October, 1944. Manufacturing— Consumption of industrial elec tric power in the major cities of the district during October rose somewhat from September, partly reflecting the longer work month, but was down considerably from October, 1944. A year ago the major district war plants were consuming a large amount of power, and with these plants now mostly Page 8 Some munitions manufacture is still being car ried on in the district, notably in rocket am munition and in aircraft. For the most part, how ever, output of munitions stopped on V-J Day or shortly thereafter. Consequently, October muni tions production represented only a fractional part of October, 1944 output. The district’s steel mills and foundries operated at about the same rate in October as in September, but production was below that of a year ago. Ingot producing furnaces operated at 68 per cent of capacity in October. During the last quarter of 1944 the operating rate approximated 80 per cent and in the comparable period of 1943 about 100 per cent. Civilian orders for steel are back-logged far into the future, and some district plants are sched uling orders as late as fourth quarter 1946. The major factors operating to curtail steel production in this district are lack of labor and concern over price-cost relationships. Other important district industries whose cur rent behavior is similar to that of steel in that ac tivity is fairly stable at present but well below a year earlier include whiskey, lumber and machinery. At the close of October, 33 Kentucky distilleries were in operation, one less than a month earlier, and 18 less than on the comparable date in 1944. Material supply problems continue to plague dis tillers since allocations of corn are substantially less than could be used at capacity operations. Pro duction of bourbon whiskey, which requires corn, is well below the volume which current demand would justify. Output of southern pine and hardwood at district mills continues below last year's level, which in turn was far below wartime peak. Labor short age in the lumber industry is given as the major factor holding down output. Animal slaughter and shoe production are in creasing seasonally at this time. Packing house activity is running into the heavy period of the year, but total slaughter is well below that of a year ago reflecting the much smaller pig crop of this year. Shoe production on the other hand is running ahead of last year's output. For the first ten months of 1945 production of shoes in this district was 1 per cent more than in 1944. Mining and Oil— During October, mining activ ity in this district was down from September and was well below the level of October, 1944. The decline in the last month reflected labor disputes at coal mines and in the oil industry, and sharply reduced operations in nonferrous metal mining. District coal mines in October produced 13.5 million tons of coal as compared with 14.7 million tons in September and 15.9 million tons in October, 1944. The daily average rate of crude oil production in October was 11 per cent less than in September and 10 per cent less than a year ago. Oil exploratory activity in the district also de clined in October. Through November 3, 1945 the number of new wells drilled this year in district fields totaled 2,285 as compared with 2,631 in the same period in 1944. This is in direct contrast to national experience where exploratory activity this year is running well ahead of last year. The number of wells drilled so far in 1945 is smaller than in 1944 in every district state, but the most pronounced decline has occurred in Kentucky. Construction— Dollar value of building permits granted in the major cities of the district in October was 18 per cent more than in September and 152 per cent more than in October, 1944. According to F. W . Dodge figures, the total value of construction contract awards of all types let in the district this year is about three times that of a year earlier. The upturn in building activity following the close of the war was anticipated and, in fact, it was ex pected that construction work would increase even more sharply. Factors tending to retard new con struction are material supply problems, difficulties in securing construction workers, and substantially inflated costs. The tremendous increase in con struction costs may conceivably dampen a con struction boom even in the face of the exceptionally high potential demand. TRADE Dollar sales in the various retail trade lines re porting to this bank rose more than seasonally in October and were well above the October, 1944 level. This gain occurred despite the substantially reduced income of displaced war workers who either have taken lo w e r -p a y in g jobs or are unemployed. While some of the increase in dollar volume can be attributed to buying to meet the mid-month deadline on overseas gifts, the second half of October showed a sharply higher volume A G R IC U L T U R E IN D U S T R Y C O N SU M P T IO N OF E L E C T R IC IT Y Oct., 1945 Oct. No. of Oct. Sept. 1944 compared with Custom• 1945 1945 (K. W . H. Oct., ’ 44 ers* K .W .H . K .W .H . K .W .H . S ept.,’ 45 in thous.) 8,052 4 -6 % . — 39% 4,925 40 4,664 Evansville ... 3,252 3,059 - 0 3,239 34 Little Rock.... + 6 — 13 82 14,998 17,197 14,074 Louisville ... 4- 7 — 18 6,795 31 5,539 5,316 Memphis . . + 4 8,363 1,573 3,215 — 51 — 81 19 Pine Bluff__ — 7 62,612 +13 71,023 76,451 127 St. .Louis...... 101,310 93,120 Totals.......... 333 ^Selected industrial customers. 119,917 + 9 — 16 LO A D S IN T E R C H A N G E D F O R 25 R A IL R O A D S A T ST. L O U IS First nine days Oct., ’45 Sept., *45 Oct., ’ 44 Nov., ’45 Nov., ’ 44 10 mos. ’ 45 10 mos. ’ 44 120,172 114,748 159,728 36,732 47,73 T 1,485,008 1,592,182* Source: Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. * Revised. CASH F A RM IN C O M E fin Totals ................. 13,531 Sept., ’45 5,717 2,076 5,548 1,408 14,749 Oct., ’44 6,065 2,350 5,716 1,751 15,882 Oct., ’ 45 comp, with Sept., ’ 45 Oct., ’ 44 +14% + 7% — 23 — 32 — 26 — 28 — 5 — 23 — 8 — 15 1945 Arkansas ..............$ Illinois Indiana ..... ......... Kentucky .. Mississippi .... ..... Missouri Tennessee .. ......... Totals .... 1944 1945 1944 1943 28,867 76,515 60,583 21,316 49,199 55,436 21,622 $ 35,533 78,072 61,358 20,584 47,248 67,913 23,054 $ 165,514 815,125 482,269 302,146 175,178 484,558 207,453 $ 168,211 848,977 500,802 254,129 154,808 497,232 207,947 $ 165,307 808,334 477,173 225,737 173,328 449,230 183,180 313,538 337,762 2,632,243 2,632,106 2,482,289 RECEIPTS AND S H IP M E N T S A T N A T IO N A L STO C K Y A R D S Shipments Receipts Oct., 1945 C O A L P R O D U C T IO N (In thousands Oct., ’ 45 of tons) Illinois .................... 6,497 Indiana ................. 1,593 Kentucky ............... 4,100 Other Dist. States- 1,341 Cumulative for 9 months September of dollars) Sept., 1945 Oct., 1944 Oct., 1945 Sept., 1945 Oct., 1944 Cattle and Calves-259,890 Hogs .....................107,706 Horses and Mules 3,913 Sheep --------_____ 110,596 202,582 75,389 2,972 103,507 232,652 229,530 3,266 79,933 124,277 36,341 3,913 37,000 106,352 26,876 2,972 49,288 116,794 50,030 3,260 15,123 ....482,105 384,450 545,381 201,531 185,488 185,207 Totals....... Page 9 R E T A IL T R A D E D E P A R T M E N T STORES Stocks on Stock Turnover ____________Net Sales_________ Hand October, 1945, 10 mos. ’ 45 Oct. 31, ’ 45 J a n .1 ,to Oct. 31. comp, with compared with to same Sept., ’45 Oct., ’ 44 per'od ’ 44 Oct. 3 1 ,’44 1945 1944 3.92 3.69 —m Ft. Smith, Ark....] + 1 8 % 4-30% 4-13% 4.62 4.05 —6 Little Rock, Ark... 4-12 4-17 4-15 4-16 4.80 4.26 Quincy, 111........... 4-17 4-27 4-14 Evansville, Ind...... -j-28 4- 4 4 -2 +1 4.95 4.26 Louisville, K y...... 4-27 4-15 4-13 3.97 3.73 St. Louis Areal.... 4-20 4-22 4-14 4- 9 3.97 3.73 St. Louis, M o.... 4-20 4-22 4-15 4- 9 E. St. Louis, 111. 4-13 4-11 4 -6 —6 Springfield, M o.... 4-30 4-27 -j-19 4. *33 3.52 4.37 4.05 Memphis, Tenn.... 4-22 -j-16 -j-12 4- 4 *A11 other cities.... -[-21 -[-25 4-10 4.02 3.77 4- 1 8th F. R. District 4-21 4-19 4-13 4.20 3.87 4- 5 * El Dorado, Fayetteville, Pine Bluff, A rk .; Alton, Harrisburg, Jacksonville, Mt. Vernon, 111. ; New Albany, Vincennes, Ind. ; Danville, Hopkinsville, Mayfield, Paducah, K y .; Chillicothe, M o .; and Jackson, Tenn. 1 Includes St. Louis, Mo. ; East St. Louis and Belleville, 111. Trading days: October, 1945— 27; September, 1945— 24; October, 1944— 26. Outstanding orders of reporting stores at the end of October, 1945, were 35 per cent greater than on the corresponding date a year ago. Percentage of accounts and notes receivable outstanding October 1, 1945, collected during October, by cities: Excl. Excl. Instalment Instal. Instalment Instal. Accounts Accounts Accounts Accounts Fort S m ith............. % 68% 77% Quincy ............. ...37% Little Rock .... 36 65 76 St. Louis ....... ...50 Louisville ....... 46 65 Other cities .... 44 66 Memphis ......... 59 65 8th F. R. Dist. 48 71 IN D E X E S OF D E P A R T M E N T STO R E SALES AND STOCKS 8th Federal Reserve District Oct., Sept. Aug., Oct., 1945 1945 1945 1944 255 234 221 194 Sales (daily average), Seasonally adjusted1.. 248 213 225 215 121 118 120 115 112 108 121 102 1 Daily Average 1935-39 = 100 2 Monthly Average 1923-25 = 100 S P E C IA L T Y STORES Stocks Stock Net Sales on Hand Turnover October, 1945, 10 mos., ’45 Oct. 31, ’45 Jan. 1, to compared with to same comp, with Oct. 31, Sept.,’45 Oct.,’ 44 period,’44 Oct. 31,’44 1945 1944 Men’ s Furnishings-4-53% Boots and Shoes ......... 4- 3 4-51% 4-22 4-18% 4-17 -32% 3.43 2.45 -1 2 8.99 6.92 Percentage of accounts and notes receivable outstanding October 1, 1945, collected during October: Men’s Furnishings................... 71% Boots and Shoes................... 67% Trading days: October, 1945— 27; September, 1945— 24; October, 1944— 26. R E T A IL F U R N IT U R E STORES Inventories Net Sales Oct., 1945 Oct., 1945 Ratio of compared with compared with Collections Sept., ’45 Oct., *44 Sept., *45 Oct., ’ 44 O ct.,’45 O ct.,’44 St. Louis Areal.... 4-44% 4-25% 53% — 3% — 0— % 44% St. Louis.......... 4-46 4-28 — 3 — 0— 54 43 Louisville Area2.. 4-33 — 2 4-27 4-15 37 32 Louisville........ 4-37 — 1 4-30 35 31 4-11 4-37 4-12 — 3 4-23 27 27 4-13 4-12 36 4-15 31 4- * 9 * 4-34 — 7 37 41 * * * * 4-42 4-37 8th Dist. Total3.... 4-39 — 0— 44 4-19 39 4-8 * Not shown separately due to insufficient coverage, but included in Eighth District totals. 1 Includes St. Louis, M issouri; IJast St. Louis and Alton, Illinois. 2 Includes Louisville, Kentucky; and New Albany, Indiana. 3 In addition to above cities, includes stores in Blytheville, Arkansas; Evansville, Indiana; Henderson, Hopkinsville, Owensboro, Kentucky; Greenville, Greenwood, Mississippi; Cape Girardeau, Hannibal and Springfield, Missouri. P E R C E N T A G E D IS T R IB U T IO N OF F U R N IT U R E SALES Oct., ’ 45 Sept., ’45 Oct., ’44 Cash Sales............... ................................ ' 25% 25% 22% Credit S ales.............................................. 75 75 78 100 100 100 Total Sales............................. .............. Page 10 of sales with the increase holding during the first half of November. This large volume of purchasing reflects heavy consumer demand and the gradual reappearance of many items, either previously in short supply or unobtainable. Department store sales during October were 21 per cent above the previous month and 19 per cent greater than in October, 1944. The 13 per cent gain over 1944 department store sales for the first ten months this year is slightly higher than the rate of increase for the like period of 1944 compared to 1943. The rise for the year to date is greater than in the comparable period of 1944 in St. Louis, Little Rock, and Evansville, and gains in other major cities of the district equal those made last year. Sales at men’s apparel stores, influenced to a marked degree by the return of men from the armed services, show gains of 53 per cent and 51 per cent over September and over October, 1944. Women’s apparel stores increased their sales 6 per cent and 22 per cent over the previous month and comparable period last year. Sales of shoe stores during the month were virtually unchanged from a month earlier, although 22 per cent greater than the same month last year. Furniture store sales, with the return of some durable goods to the consumer market, registered a more than seasonal increase of 39 per cent over September and were 19 per cent greater than in October, 1944. In the various retail lines, stocks figures indicate an easing of shortages in department stores, shoe stores and furniture stores. W om en’s apparel store inventories are slightly lower than last year while stocks of men’s apparel stores are about one-third smaller than a year ago. A G R IC U L T U R E The weather over much of the district in the past month has been favorable to maturing of fall crops and to harvesting of beans and corn, although cotton picking in parts of Arkansas has been re tarded by rains. Seeding of fall grain has made* good progress and is completed in most areas. Despite unfavorable early conditions and inter mittent bad weather throughout much of 1945, total agricultural production in the district has been good. The November 1 indication of total crop pro duction varied little from that of a month earlier. Cotton production on November 1 was indicated at 177,000 bales less than the October 1 estimate. Present outlook is for a district crop of 2,990,000 bales, which compares with a 1944 crop of 3,741,000 bales. District corn prospects improved during October by 1,350,000 bushels, raising the 1945 esti mate to 364 million bushels as compared to the 367 million bushel output of 1944. District tobacco pro duction estimates also increased during October, and the crop is now expected to reach 380 million pounds, which compares with 384 million pounds produced in 1944. Estimates for other crops re mained about the same. For the country as a whole the only significant changes in November 1 crop prospects from those of the previous month were in cotton, corn, and tobacco. An estimated reduction of 411,000 bales lowered the total 1945 cotton crop estimate to 9,368,000 bales, which compares with a 1944 output of 12,230,000 bales. Corn prospects decreased slightly during November to a total estimated pro duction el 3,074 million bushels as compared to a 1944 harvest of 3,228 million bushels. Tobacco estimates increased slightly in the month, raising the total indicated 1945 crop to 2,050 million pounds as compared with 1,950 million pounds produced in 1944. In the aggregate, farmers have again produced a bumper crop that compares favorably with the record crops of 1942, 1943, and 1944. Cattle slaughter so far this year has been at a record rate and this promises to continue. H og slaughter, on the other hand, has been reduced sharply from the levels of the past few years. Sheep slaughter has been about the same as last year and is slightly higher than the average for recent years. In the first ten months of 1945 about 12 million head of cattle were killed, 6 per cent more than in the comparable period in 1944 and 25 per cent higher than the five-year average for these months. Calf slaughter in the period totaled 5.7 million head, 9 per cent less than last year but 18 per cent more than the five-year average. The hog kill of 31 million head so far in 1945 is 47 per cent under last year and 31 per cent less than the average for recent years. Sheep slaughter in the first ten months this year totaled 17.6 million head or only 2 per cent less than in the same period a year ago and 6 per cent above the five-year average. Feeding operations apparently will be much heavier this year than last. The number of cattle on feed is materially increased over last season, and by January 1, 1946 promises to be near a record. Movement of cattle to feed lots throughout Novem ber and December is expected to continue high. For the eight states in which records of total in shipments are available, 669,000 feeders entered feed lots in October of this year as compared to 525,000 in October last year. The high previous October movement was 610,000 head in 1940. For the four W H O L E S A L IN G W H O L E S A L IN G Lines of Commodities Net Sales Stocks October, 1945, Data furnished by Bureau of Census, compared with U. S. Dept, of Commerce.* Sept., *45 Oct., '*'44 Automotive S upplies__....___ Drugs and Chemicals...._____ Dry Goods ________ ._______ Groceries + 2% 4* 8 +33 +14 +14 +13 +12 + 6 +19 +16 Total all lines**.. * Preliminary. ** Includes certain lines not listed above. Oct. 31, 1945, compared with Oct. 31, 1944 +31% 4- 5 — 5 +37 +H 4* 1 + 8 +11 — 9 + 1 — 16 +16 — 9 4- 5 +56 + 6 — 3 C O N S T R U C T IO N B U IL D IN G P E R M IT S New Construction Repairs,, etc. (Cost in Number Cost Number Cost thousands) 1945 1944 1945 1944 1945 1944 1945 1944 34 19 $ 125 $ 21 180 104 $ 90 $ 53 Evansville ................... Little Rock................. 81 30 284 76 224 242 191 60 Louisville ................... 118 80 1,898 201 39 32 19 44 Memphis ..................... 552 409 1,673 545 218 209 111 70 St. Louis ....... ............ 214 95 1,234 326 244 182 281 374 Oct. Totals................... Sept. Totals................. 999 686 633 5,214 1,169 424 3,208 790 905 727 769 778 692 561 601 510 B A N K IN G CHANGES IN P R IN C IP A L ASSETS A N D L IA B IL IT IE S F E D E R A L R E S E R V E B A N K O F ST. L O U IS Change from Nov. 21, Oct. 24, Nov. 22, (In thousands of dollars) 1945 1945 1944 •ndustrial advances u:j<»er Sec. 13b........ ................................................. Other advances and rediscounts............... 42,045 + 24,540 + 24,320 U. S. securities......... .................................. i 056,053 + 12,604 +340,524 Total earning assets.............................. 1.098,098 + 37,144 +364,844 606,012 Total reserves..... ..........—.............................. Total deposits...........-............................. — 664,070 F. R. notes in circulation....... .................. \ 041,873 + 18,541 — 160,969 + 37,176 + 63,468 + 17,291 4-135,035 Industrial commitments under Sec. 13b........................................... — 55 P R IN C IP A L R E SO U R C E AND L IA B I L I T Y ITE M S O F R E P O R T IN G M E M B E R B AN KS Change from (In thousands of dollars) Nov. 21, Oct. 24, Nov. 22, 1945 1945 1944. Total loans and investments.... ......*.....—$2,020,672 + 92,788 +284,127 Commercial, industrial, and agricultural loans* ____________ -__________ __ 296,462 + 38,952 + 41,339 Loans to brokers and dealers in securities ............. .............. ...........9,1.07 + 499 + 1,690 Other loans to purchase and carry . . securities .... ................... :................. -..... 54,406 + 12,574 + 29,142 Real estate loans.......................................... 68,623 4314 4- 2,506 Loans to banks............................ ...........— 2,285 — 926 — 105 91,907 + 2,064 + 12,673 Other loans’..................................:.... ........—• Total loans...................................... -....... 522,790 + 53,477 + 87,245 Treasury b ills.................. ..............- ........ 50,067 + 16,544 — 510 Certificates of indebtedness............... —~ 216,898 — 6;774 — 124,725 Treasury notes............................................. 313,707 + 2,090 + 77,749 U. S. Bonds................................................. 780,390 + 25,971 +236,689 Obligations guaranteed by U. S. Government .................................... -...... . 362 — 0— -— 19,611 Other securities........................................... 136,45.8 + 1;480 + 27,290 Total investments................................... 1,497,882 4- 39,311 4-196,882 Balances with domestic banks----- .......... 113,163 — 307 + 842 Demand deposits— adjusted**...... . 1,115,098 — 15,369 4- 34,517 Time deposits..........................................-.... 337,151 + 2,184 4- 67,750 U. S. Government deposits................. . 256,275 + 47,353 +118,162 Interbank deposits...................................... 641,947 4- 47,919 4- 54,885 Borrowings .................................................. 39,485 + 24,675 4- 22,025 * Includes open market paper. ** Other than interbank and Government deposits, less cash items on hand or in process of collection. Above figures are for selected member banks in St. Louis, Louisville, Memphis, Little Rock and Evansville. Page 11 months, July through October, total shipments into the eight states were 1,315,000 head as compared with 1,234,000 head last year. Much of the demand for feeding cattle has resulted from extensive frost damage to corn in leading corn belt and feeding states in late September and early October. The immediate price outlook for most farm pro ducts continues favorable. Demand for agri cultural production can be expected to remain relatively strong during the next several months even though a more liberal supply will be available to domestic consumers. Some few products, for example, eggs, are faced with an immediate prospect of oversupply at present prices. B A N K IN G A N D F IN A N C E The Victory Loan drive swung into the intensive phase of its campaign for individual subscriptions during November. Prior to November 15, the issue date of the marketable bonds offered in the drive, banking developments in this district were char acteristic of an interdrive period. Private deposits continued to gain and Government balances to decline, since Government expenditures were out running receipts. On N6vember 14, demand de posits of individuals, partnerships and corporations at weekly reporting banks in this district were about $20 million greater than four weeks earlier. After November 15, however, as payments for individuals’ subscriptions increased, the trend was reversed. In the week ending November 21, private demand de posits were down $34 million while Government P R IC E S D E B IT S T O D E P O S I T A C C O U N T S W H O L E S A L E P R ICE S IN T H E U N IT E D STATES Bureau o f Labor Statistics Oct., Sept., Oct., Oct., *45 comp, with <1926 = 100) 1945 1945 1944 Sept., ’ 45 O c t.,’44 All Commodities....... .. 105.9 Farm Products..... 127.3 Foods ....________ _ 105.7 Other ................... 100.1 105.2 124.3 104.9 99.8 104.1 123.4 104.2 98.7 4- 0.7% + 2.4 4- 0.8 4 - 0.3 4- 1.7% 4- 3.2 4- 1.4 4- 1.4 COST O F L IV IN G Bureau of Labor Statistics (1935-39 = 100) Oct. 15, Sept. 15, Sept. 15, Oct. 15, ’45 comp, with 1945 1945 1942 Sept. 15, ’ 45 Sept. 15,’42 United States........... St. Louis............... Memphis ............... * Not Available 128.9 126.9 * 128.9 126.8 131.6 117.8 - 0 -% 4-94% 116.6 4- 0.1 4- 8.8 119.3 COST O F FO O D Bureau of Labor Statistics (1935-39 = 100) Oct. 15, Sept. 15, 1945 1945 U. S. (51 c itie s)-. 139.3 St. Louis ............. .141.4 Little Rock ......... .133.5 Louisville ........... .138.3 Memphis ..............148.6 139.4 141.4 139.3 133.5 148.1 balances gained $36 million. This transfer of funds from private to Government deposits should continue during the balance of the drive and be especially pronounced after December 3 when sub scriptions will be received from nonbank investors other than individuals. As in past drives, the growth in time deposits ceased during the actual drive period as individuals bought securities instead of building up savings ac counts. Time deposits on November 21 at weekly reporting banks were virtually unchanged from a month earlier, while in the previous month they had gained $7 million. Bankers’ balances rose through out October and early November as receipts from farm marketings swelled country bank deposits, some of the funds being transferred to city corre spondents. Bank investment portfolios increased slightly in the four weeks ending November 21. There was some shift in the proportion of Government secur ities held, with bond accounts increasing and cer tificate holdings declining. In this district pre-drive security sales by nonbank investors to banks were relatively small. The past month saw some growth in outstanding loans at banks in this district. Prior to November 15, the increase was confined largely to commercial, industrial and agricultural loans, most of it re flecting financing of this year’s cotton crop and being concentrated in the Memphis banks. After mid-November, there was some rise in loans for purchasing or carrying Government securities. Sept. 15, Oct. 15, ’45 comp, with 1942 Sept. 1 5 ,’45 Sept. 15,’42 126.6 126.7 129.2 124.2 129.7 — 0.1% -0— 4.2 4-3.6 -j-0-3 4- 10.0% 4-11.6 4- 3.3 4-11.4 -4-14.6 (In thousands of dollars) Oct. 1945 Sept. 1945 EJ1 Dorado, Ark__ $ 11,606 $ 10,428 $ 24,387 Fort Smith, Ark__ 28,566 Helena, Ark........... 5,516 5,273 81,226 Little Rock, Ark.... 90,319 Pine Bluff, Ark.—. 19,826 16,331 Texarkana, Ark.-Tex. 7,744 7,492 Alton, 111.................... 14,942 13,290 £.St.L.-N at.S.Y.,Ill. 73,146 83,118 Quincy 111................... 18,434 16,832 Evansville, Ind.......... 73,540 73,568 Louisville, K y........... 356,226 315,018 Owensboro, K y .......... 22,204 17,785 Paducah, K y.............. 9,530 8,612 .................... Greenville, Miss........ 13,635 7,964 6,123 Cape Girardeau, Mo. 5,289 Hannibal, M o............ 5,084 5,180 Jefferson City, M o.... 33,116 28,378 St. Louis, M o.......... 1,034,336 946,257 Sedalia, M o................ 7,031 6,014 Springfield, M o......... 40,046 34,797 Jackson, Tenn........... 13,508 9,706 Memphis, Tenn.......... 359,335 216,526 Totals ..................... 2,253,785 1,923,499 Oct. 1944 9,568 23,316 6,038 81,626 22,459 11,434 12,687 81,308 16,678 96,741 318,848 17,975 8,097 11,586 5,859 4,971 30,528 986,444 5,833 33,073 13,524 342,024 2,140,617 Oct., ’45, comp, with Sept., *45 Oct., '44 4-11% 4-17 4- 5 4-H 4-21 4- 3 4-12 4-14 4-10 -0 4-13 4-25 4-11 4-71 4-16 —. 2 4-17 4- 9 4-17 4-15 4-39 4-66 4-17 4-21% 4-23 — 9 4-11 — 12 — 32 4-18 4- 2 4-11 — 24 4-12 4-24 4-18 4-18 4- 5 4- 2 4- 8 4- 5 4-21 4-21 -04- 5 4- 5
@FedFRASER