MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT TO COMMERCE REPORTS UNITED STATES DEPAR1"MENT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS MARCH, 1924 No. 31 COMPILED BY BUREAU OF THE CENSUS BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC C0~1MERCE BUREAU OF STANDARDS In addition. to f:.gu.res gi'Ven from Goven-<ment sm.trces, there are also incorporated Jor completetU?ss of service the figures from other soztrces generally accepted by Il _______________aw__ u_a_de_._s._t-he--au_t_.h_or-ii_J_·a_nd __ r_e_sp_o_n-sw_·_u_•t_y_~_r_u_·J_u_ch __ a_n_~_to_kd_·_~_n __ tM__ te_x_t ______________ , Su:>scription price of the SuRVEY OF CuRRENT BusiNESS is $1 a year; single copies, 10 cents. Foreign subscrip.ions, Sl.SO; single copies, including postage, 20 cents. Subscription price of CoMMERCE REPORTS is $3 a ye<tr; with the Survey, $4 a year. Make remittances only to Superintendent of Documents, \Vashington, D. C., by pu,tal money order, express order, or New York draft. Currency at sender's risk. Postage stamps or foreign money not accepted INTRODUCTION. The Sm:v;:;y- •w Cnn:)·::--;T Bus1.:-a:ss i ...; dPsignetl to figure.; for the pm-wat· yen:-s •tre not aY;tilabit~, :wd in present each month n pieLure of the busine::;s situation suel1 cases the ye,l.r 1 iJ ll) has usually lJOen taken as by setting forth the principal facts regarding the vari­ the base. For some industrie::; 1919 can not be .nus lines of tradc~nnd industry. At quarterly intervals reganh•d a..-> a proper ba-.e, due to extraordinary con­ Jetailed tables are published giving, for f•;<eh item, ditions in the industry, and some more repre"entative monthly figurh; for the past two years and yea.rly com­ period hu.s been cho~.etl. In n few cases ol.hcr base parisons, , ...-here l1Ynilnble, back t.o un:3. In the inter­ periods are used for speei1tl reason::>. In all cases the vening months tlw more important compari,;ons only base period is dearly indicated. are given in tlw table entitled "Trend of business The index num.hers are computed by allowing the movements,. I p. :;o). In quarterly numbNs {sPe issue monthly a veragn fot' the base yc:lr or period to equal for Februnr.v, 1H24, No. :30) blank lines covering the 100. If the lltOYemcnt for a eurrent month is gTI'ater next thrN• months have been left at the bottom of than the base, the index number will be greater than each detailed table ·,d1ich will enable those who care 100 and vice versa. The difference hetween 100 and to do so to ent!•r Ilf:YW figun•s as soon ns tiwy nppear. the index rmmber will give at once tlw per cen; increase , or decrease compared with the base period. Thus nn ADVANCE SEEETS. index number of 115 means nu increase of L') per cent Healizin~ that cmT<'nt statistics are highly perish- 1 over the La~'e period, ·while an index numl•er of 80 uble and that to be of usc they must rca.eh the business · means a decrease of 20 per eent from the babe. man at the earliest possible moment, the department Index numbers may also he used to eale 1late the lu:-s itrranged I o dic;tribu tc ad nH1cc leaflets three times 11pproximu.te percentage increase or decre:.k;e in a move­ each month to those subscribers who reque:st. them. mt'nt from one period to the next. Thus if an index The leaHeLs an' usually mailed on Saturdays_. the first number at one month is 120 and for a later month it being issued abont the Uith of the month, gi·ving such is 144 then' has been an increase of 20 per ceat. information us has been received up to that. time. .Ftu·tlwr set.;, of sheets are mailed in the two follo·wing BUSINESS INDICATORS . >vecks, each ;r.i,-ing those figures received during the The diagm:ns on pa~e 2 have been prepa;:-ed to eurront wcel·;. 'l'he information contained in ti1ese fiwilitate cnmpnrisons bntween a fe1v of the more leal!ots is nlso published in "Comme:rec Repbrts," impo!'tant business moYenwnt.s. Tho lirws nrc plotted issued weekly hy tbe Bureau of Foreign and Domestic on what are known as ratio chart:~ \lo~~ari t.lnLic seale). Commerce. The eomplete bulletin is dist.ributed us These charts show the pereenta.g-e incn•u::;e nnd aHow qaiekly :v it C<"tll be complet:'d and printed. direct comparisons hetwcwn Llw slope of one curve and that of u.ny other cun·e rcgllrcHPss of what prrL of the BASIC DATA. di:1gm:n it i" located in; that is, a 10 per cent increase The figure·' n~port.cd in tlle accompanying tables arc in an item is given the same vertien.! n onmwnt n~rx large1y tbose al1·eady in existence. Tlw chief whether its curve is n:)al' the boLtor:1 or rten'· the top -(unction of t.he department is to bring together these of the chart;. data whid1, if available at alL are seatf.ercll in lJan­ The difrerence between this ~vhl the onEnl!'.Y for~n drds of dii!en~nt publications. A portion of these of a ch,trt can be ntado clc:tr b_v an example. If a data ar-e ;·uUected by Govcmtncllt depart mcnb, other certniu item has an in(icx munb:w of 'Hi() in one month i:igur('S are c-mnpilod by t.eehnieal journals, and :;till tlnd it inemases 10 per eent. its iildex numlh r '.Viti he others ar1' rep,n·Led !Jy trade associations. 4'10, and on an ordinary ehu.r't t.he next mmd1 would be plotted 40 scale point:::; hi~_;fwr t.h~tn tlw p·ot'(•ding IND:ZX NUI\iBERS. month. .Another mon;:nC'nt 'Yit.h cl.a ind:'.'~ :uunbcr To hcililate cnwpn.rison between different· items and of, say 50, also incrC\a,-;t'S 10 pN· eenl;, :n:tking i 1s index ron<kr the tn•nd of a movement more apparent, index nurnhor 55. On the ordinary (n.rithmeti::) ;.;c:dt' this or r0lut.ive nucn!wrs han~ been ealeuhtted. The index item would risl' only 5 poi~1t:-~, wlwn•a,; the previous numbers enai)k I he render to see at a glance the general item rose 40 points, yet each showed Li:e s:mw rwr- 11pvmrd or do'.Ynv.-ard tendene,v of a movement. which centnge inereaso. The ratio eh;trts avoi1l tili~; di:Ti- can not so O<lsily be grasped from the actual Jjgures. 1 culty and give to e:u~b of the two movement; exnetly In computing tllese .inrlex numbers the last pre-war the s::tme vertical rise, and hene;~ t.lw slopes of the two year, 1() 1:~, or in some instances n fi n:-_\'ear a \'erage, lines are directly eomparable. The rn.tio ehLr!.s emn­ 1 \JO\l-1 \) 1:3, has been used as n base equal to 100 pnre percentage changes, ·while the aritiu1wtie churt:; wherever possible. In many in&tances eomparable compare absolute eltanges. 'fhis issue presents practically complete data for the rnonth of Januaru and also, on pa.ge 24, items cover<r..g Pcbnwry received up to l'lfarch 12. <is most data covering a particular month's business are not available until from J;> 'n 30 days after the close of the mont-h, a complete picture ot that month's operations, including index numbers, cumulatil·e iutals, text, and charts, can not be presented in printed form under 45 da!Jtl after its clo.~e, but the ad!lance leaflets dc,~crilied above gh•e considerable information as early as 15 days after its close and present almost every tccek the latest data <H'ili:able. MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT TO COMMERCE REPORTS 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. 31 MARCH 1924 CONTENTS Page. ·Summary for January ____________________________ . 1 Trend of business movements-Continued. Page. Business indicators (diagrams and tables) ______________ . 2 Food:;tuff~-- _-----------------··· 3!) Comparison of wholesale prices (diagram and table)______ 4 , Toba<·<·o _______________________________ _ 41 Production of specified commodities in 1923 (diagram)--_ 6 i Transportation __________________ . -- __ -- .. - .. ------ 41 Graphic summary of 1923 (diagrams)__________________ 7 Public utilities __________________ ------ _______ ---_ 42 Business conditions in January ______________________ -. 8 Employment ______________ --- _--- ---- -- -- -- --- -- 43 Cotton consumption in northern and southern mills Distribution movement- ______ .. ___ - .. -_ .. ----- .. ----- 43 (diagram) ____________________________________ -- 10 Public finance ________________ ~------------------ 44 Debits to individual accounts (diagrams and tables) _ _ _ __ 19 ! Banking and finance ___ -------------------------- 44 Comparison of wholesale prices and national bank failures_ 23 Foreign exchange and trade _______ --- .. ----- .. ------ 46 Februarydata _______________________________________ 24 Trade and industry of foreign eountries ____ _ 47 Indexes of business (production, prices, sales,' etc.)_ 26 Detailed tables: Trend of business movements: Earnings and hours of labor__ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ __ __ _ _ __-. 48 Textiles_____ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 30 Gasoline ________________________________ -_------ 49 Metals_ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ 32 Crude petroleum _____ -- _________ -- -- .