UNITED STATES mi DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ill WASHINGTON SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS JUNE, 1926 No. 58 1'SW,,1 If.i COMPILED BY ' <i ^ BUREAU OF THE CENSUS BURJBAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE BUREAU OF STANDARDS IMPORTANT If OTICE In addition to figures given from Government sources, there are also incorporated for completeness of service figures from other sources generally accepted by the trades, the authority and responsibility for which are noted in the "Sources of Data" on pages 159-155 of ike February, 1926, issue Subscription price of the SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS is $1.50 a year; single copies (monthly), 10 cents; semiannual issues, 25 cents. Foreign subscriptions, $2,25; single copies (monthly issues), including postage, 14 cents; semiannual issues, 36 cents. Subscription price of COMMERCE REPORTS is $4 a year; with the SURVBY, £5.50 t year. Make remittances only to Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D, C., by postal money order, express order, or Hew York draft Currency at sender's risk. Postage stamps or foreign money not accepted. WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT P.RINTINQ OFFICE ! 1986 I INTRODUCTION THE SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS is designed to per cent over the base period, while a relative number present each month a picture of the business situation of 80 means a decrease of 20 per cent from the base. oy setting forth the principal facts regarding the vari- Relative numbers may also be used to calculate the ous lines of trade ana industry. At semiannual inter- approximate percentage increase or decrease in a move- vals detailed tables are published giving, for each item, ment from one period to the next. Thus, if a relative monthly figures for the past two years and yearly com- number at one month is 120 for a later month it parisons, where available, back to 1913; also blank is 144 there has been an increase of 20 per cent. lines sufficient for six months have been left at the In many instances comparable figures for the pre- bottom of each table enabling those who care to do war years are not available, and in such cases the year so to enter new figures as soon as they appear (see 1919 has usually been taken as the base. For some issue for February, 1926, No. 54). In the intervening industries 1919 can not be regarded as a proper base, months the more important comparisons only are due to extraordinary conditions in the industry, and given in the table entitled " Trend of business move- some more representative period has been chosen. ments." In many cases relative numbers of less importance ADVANCE SHEETS have been temporarily omitted. Most of the relative numbers appear in a special Realizing that current statistics are highly perish- section of the semiannual issues, as in Tables 107 to able a,nd that to be of use they must reach the business 127 of the February, 1926, number, thus allowing easy man at the earliest possible moment, the department comparison on a pre-war base for all items for whicn has arranged to distribute advance leaflets every week relatives could be computed. to subscribers in the United States. The leaflets are usually mailed on Tuesdays and give such infor- INDEX NUMBERS mation as has been received during the preceding When two or more series of relative numbers are w0@k. The information Contained in these leaflets is combined by a system of weightings the resulting also reprinted in "Commerce Reports/' issued weekly series is denominated an inde^s: number. The index by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. number, by combining many relative numbers, is The mqnthly bulletin is distributed as quickly as it designed to show the trend of an entire group of in- can be completed and printed. dustries or for the country as a whole, instead of for the single commodity or industry which the relative BASIC DATA numbet covers. Comparisons with the base year or The figures Reported in the accompanying tables are with other periods are made in the same manner as in the case of relative numbers. •, ' • very largely (those already in existence. The chief function of the department is to bring together these RATIO CHARTS data which, if available at all, are scattered in hun- dreds of different publications. A portion of these In many instances the charts used in the SURVEY data are collected by Government departments, other OF CURRENT BUSINESS are of the type termed ''Ratio figures are compiled by technical journals, and still Charts" (logarithmic scale), notably the Business otners are reported by trade associations. Indicator charts on page 2. These charts show the percentage increase and allow direct comparisons be- RELATIVE NUMBERS tween the slope of one curve and that of any other curve regardless of its location on the diagram; that To facilitate Comparison between different items and is, a 10 per cent increase in an item is given the same tender the trend of a movement more apparent, rela- vertical movement whether its curve is near the bot- tive numbers (often called "index numbers," a term tom or,near the top of the chart. referring more particularly to a special kind of number The difference between this and the ordinary form described below) have been calculated. The relative of a chart can be made clear by an example. If a numbers enable the reader to see at a glance the certain item, having a relative number of 400 in one general upward or downward tendency of a move- month, increases 10 per cent in the following month, ment which can not so easily be grasped from the its relative number will be 440, and on an ordinary actual figures, ch&rt would be plotted 40 equidistant scale points In computing these relative numbers the last pre- higher than the preceding month. Another move- war year, 1913, or in some instances a five-year aver- ment with a relative number of, say, 50 also increases age, 1909^-1913. has been used as a base equal to 100 10 per cent, making its relative number 55* On the wherever possible* ordinary (arithmetic) scale this item would rise only 5 The relative numbers are computed by allowing the equidistant points, whereas the previous item rose 40 monthly average for the base year or period to equal points, yet each showed the same percentage increase. 100. H the movement for a current month is greater The ratio charts avoid this difficulty and give to each than the base, the relative number will be greater than of the two movements exactly the same vertical rise 100, and vice versa. The difference between 100 and and hence the slopes of the two lines are directly the relative number will give at once the per cent comparable. The ratio charts compare percentage increase or decrease compared with the base period. changes, while the arithmetic charts compare absolute a relative number of 115 means an increase of 15 changes, This issue presents practically complete data for the month of April and also items covering the early weeks of May, received up to May 24* (See charts and table, pp. 4 and 5.) As most data covering a particular month's bust" ness are not available until from IS to 30 days after the close of the month, a complete picture of that month's operations cannot be presented at an early date, but the advance leaflets give every week the latest data available* UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS COMPILED BY BUREAU OF THE CENSUS BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE : BUREAU OF STANDARDS No. 58 JUNE 1926 CONTENTS SUMMARIES INDEX BY SUBJECTS Text Table Page page page Preliminary summary for May 1 Textiles 11 25 Course of business in April 9 Metals and metal products 13 27 Monthly business indicators (table and chart) 2, 3 Fuels 14 29 Weekly business indicators (table and chart) 4, 5 Automobiles 14 30 Wholesale price comparisons (table and charts) 6, 7, 11 Hides and leather____ 15 31 Indexes of business: Rubber 32 Condensed summary 9 Paper and printing 15 32 Text and chart 10 Building construction and housing 15 33 Detailed indexes (production, prices, sales, etc.) 20 Lumber products 15 34 Basic steel and related products (charts) 8 Stone, clay and glass products 16 36 Chemicals and oils 16 37 NEW DETAILED TABLES Foodstuffs and tobacco 17 38 Transportation and public utilities 18 42 Life insurance, new business (revised) 23 Employment and wages 11 43 Distribution of corn sirup and starch 24 Distribution movement (trade, advertising, etc.)- 18 44 Furniture, Grand Rapids district 24 Banking, finance, and insurance 19 45 Cost of living indexes for fuel and light 24 Foreign exchange and trade, gold and silver 19 47 Natural gas gasoline production 24 Canadian trade and industry 48 PRELIMINARY SUMMARY FOR MAY Reports for the early weeks of May indicate increases Loans and discounts of Federal reserve member in business activity as compared with the same weeks banks were declining in May as compared with last of 1925. Larger production of bituminous coal and month but were well above last year. Prices of stocks beehive coke, larger awards for building construction, averaged for the third week of May were higher than greater receipts of wheat and cotton, and a larger in the preceding week and a year ago. Call-loan distribution of merchandise, as measured by carload- rates for the same week were stronger than in any ings, were reported during this period compared with previous week during the month, being higher also the corresponding weeks of 1925.