.,'••• . UNITED „'STATES;. - .. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON SURVEY OF OdTQBER, 1928 No. 86 COMPILED BY BUREAU OF THE CENSt)$ IN COOPERATION WITH BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE BUREAU <3F STANDARDS IMPORTANT NOTICE In addition fo figures given from Go^ernme^t sour ces^ There ape also incorporated for completeness of service figures from other sources generally accepted by the ttades} the authority and responsibility for^hicft are noted in the "Sources o/ Data" on pages 139-142 of the dugu/t, $928)semiannual issue Subscription price of the SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS is 21.50 a.-ye^Q single copies, (mohthlyj, 10 cente, semiannual issues, 25 cents. Fpreign ^bscriptbns, $2.25; single copies (i^onthly; issues), including postage* 14 .cents; semiannual issues^ 36 cents. Subscription price of COI*MERCE REPORTS is 34 a^ear; with t^e SURVEY, $5.50 a year. Make remittances only to Superintendent of Document ngto^n^ D, C, by postal &bney order, express order, or New York draft. Currency at sender's risk.; Postage stamps <k JfSreiga x ! v '>''' ' ' ^ ' ' ' ' • ' money not accepted \ , -. , '\' -\ i 0 -\ \ , V. S. COVERNHENT PRtNTIHO OFFICB. l»2» INTRODUCTION The SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS is designed to designed to show the trend of an entire group of present eadh month a picture of the;business situation industries or for the country as a whole, instead of for by setting forth the principal facts regarding the v^ri- the single commodity or industry which the relative ous lines ;qf "tifadd and industry. The figures reported number covers. Comparisons ^th the base year or ; are'yery. largely ^those already iiis existence*/ The with other periods are made in the same manner o& in < * chief function of the <Je]partnient is to. bring together case of relative numbers. these }dat& \^hieh', if available, ait all, are scattered jri huBdr^dLs-of fiifferent/publicfitioii's. A portion of RATIO CHARTS these data are collected by Government departments, In most instances the charts used in the SURVEY, other figures are compiled >by 'technical journals, and OF CURRENT .BUSINESS are of the, type termed " Ratio .still others are ^ported by trade associations. Charts" (logarithmic scale), notably the Business ^At.s^miahnuftl intervals detailed tables ^re pub-' Indicator charts on, page 2. These charts show the Ii$he4 giving,"for each item, monthly figures for the percentage ^ increase and allow direct comparisons past two ^e^sane)^ yearly comparisons, where avail- between the slope of one curve and that of any other able, baek;to 191$; alk> l>lank lines sufficient; for six curve regardless of, its location on the diagram; that : rnonths fiave been; Mt at the bottom of, each»table, is, a 10 per pent increase in an item is given the same ^enabling those who careTto do so to ent;>er new figures vertical movement whether its curve is near the bot- as soon &s they Appear (s&e August, 1928, issue). < In the tom or near 'the top of the chart. The difference iat^rveiiing months the niore important comparisons between this and the ordinary arithmetic form oi; only are friveVin the table entitled- ^Treriii<)f busi-J chart can be made clear by an example. If a certain *9 ^ -.->.' * „ - ' , , ^ ^ "l item having a relative number of 4&0 in one month increases 10 per cent in the following month, its WEEKLY SUPPLEMENT relative number will be 440, and on ;an ordinary ( ^ Realizing thjat Current statistics are liigbty parish- chart would be plotted 40 equidistant scale points ^ ,abje and that to Ife of use they must rekch the business higher than ? the preceding monthis. , Another move- * tf$iari at tite earliest possible foment, the Department ment with a relative number of, sky, 50 also increases rh&s arranged, to disiribHte supplements^very week to 10 pet cent, inaking its relative number 55. On the subscribers in the United States* Th$ supplements are ordinary (arithmetic) scale this intern would rise only 5 ' usually mailed;*m Saturdays $nd,.gfere such information equidistant joints, whereas the previous item rose 40 Vast has been receiyiBd, dtiring the week ending on, the points, yet each showed tlje same percentage increase. preceding Tuesday.\ The monthly information ,con- The ratio charts avoid difficulty and give to each V tained in theise bulletins is republished in the SUBVBY, of the two movements exactly the same vertical rise, and the supplements also contain charts arid tables and hence the slopes of the two lines are directly qf weekly dat$. ' .'-', '/•''- - comparable. The ratio charts compare percentage s ; changes, while the arithmetic charts compare ^absolute RELATIVE AK& INDEX NUMBERS f changes. t, To fa6ilitp,te comparison between different impor- RECORD BOOK tant items und to ch^rt series expressed in differesiu As ,an aid to readers in comparing present data units, 'relative : numbers (often .called ^injiex num- with monthly statistics in previous years, the depart- bers^'' a t^rm referring, mofe particularly to, a special ment is^ .compiling a . RECORD Boo& OF BUSINESS / jkintl of nuinbey described below) have be^n ealcu- STATISTICS^ in which data now carried in the SURVEY lated. TBe monthly average for ,1923-19^5 has OF CURRENT BUSINESS are shov^n by months as far usuaBy been used is & base equal to 100.^ , back as 19Q9, if available. Full descriptions of the Tjie r^ativ^ numbers arfe competed by allowing the figures and Deports of how the data are used in actual monthly average for the base year or period to equal practice by business firms axe contained in the RECORD 100. If the movement for a current, month is greater BOOK. ,The sections covering textiles and metals have than theSase; the relative number npilTbfe greater tlian already been issued and may be obtained for 10 cents 100, and vice, vers^. The difference between lt)0 and per copy from the Superintendent of Documents, Gov- i the relative jitimber willi; give at on^e, £he percent ernment Printing Office, Washington, D. C, (Do not ; increase or 3e4rea^e compared,with the' base period. send stamps.) Notices of other sections will be given (Thus a relative number of 115 m^arfe an incrM&e of 15 in the SURVEY as they are issued: {per <?tot otei; th0\ b^se period, wl^ile^a relative* number ; "of 80 mean(a a decrease of 20 per drent from the base. / METHODS OF USE "Relative numbers trtay also be us^d to caloi]ila.te the Methods of using and interpreting current business \ ;appro^imate percentage increase or decrease in a move- statistics have been .collected by the department ment from on© period to the, next. Thus, if a relative from many ' business concerns and- are described in a f.numblir at pne,mopth is 12Q and for a Jatei* month it booklet entitled "How to Use Current Business is 144'there ha^ been an increase of 20 p^r\cent. , Statistics," together with methods of collecting sta- \When twb or more series of relative numbers afe tistics. This booklet may be obtained from the combined ,by a system of weightings, the resulting Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing . seri^s/is, dendtnxn^ed an^ index number. The index Office, Washington D. C., at 15 cents per copy. (Do ^number, bfy c^olhbining. many relative nic(ibersi is not send stamps.) This issuefpresents practically complete <fa#a for the month of August and contains text covering the early weeks of September (page /)> for which tfoe basic figures In table and chart form are presented regularly in the weekly supplements* A» most dafacom^hg^a particular month's business are not, available until horn 15 to 30 days after the close of the month, ja complete picture of that monies operations c.an not be presented at an early date, but the weekly supplements give every iffeek the latest, data available. ",',-; UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS COMPILED BY BUREAU OF THE CENSUS IN COOPERATION WITH BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE AND BUREAU OF STANDARDS No. 86 WASHINGTON October, 1928 CONTENTS SUMMARIES INDEX BY SUBJECTS Text Table Page page page Preliminary summary for September 1 Textiles . 9 22 Business conditions in August 4 Metals and metal products 10 24 Monthly business indicators (table and chart) 2,3 Fuels 11 28 Wholesale prices (table and charts) 6,7 Automobiles and rubber 11 27,29 Indexes of business 15 Hides and leather 11 30 Automobiles, building, mining, manufacturing (charts). Paper and printing 11 30 Electric power, transportation (charts) Building construction and housing __ 12 31 Lumber products 12 32 NEW DETAILED TABLES Stone, clay, and glass products 12 34 Commercial price indexes: Chemicals and oils 12 35 Dun's 18 Foodstuffs and tobacco 13 36 Bradstreet's 18 Transportation and public utilities _. 14 40 Business failures by groups. 19 Employment and wages 5 42 Imports of raw cocoa 47 Distribution movement (trade, etc.)- 14 43 Ohio employment 48 Banking, finance, and insurance 14 43 Foreign exchange and trade 14 46 PRELIMINARY SUMMARY FOR SEPTEMBER The volume of business during the early weeks of week but cotton prices were lower. Prices for iron September, as reflected by check payments, was and steel showed continued slight recovery but were greater than in the same period of last year. Early still below a year ago. Copper prices averaged higher figures covering the value of new building contracts than in either the previous month or September of also show larger activity than a year ago. Operations last year. at steel plants averaged higher than in either the Stock prices averaged higher than in either the preceding month or the same period of last year.