SCB_021934

FEBRUARY 1934

SURVEYOF

CURRENT BUSINESS

UNITED STATESDEPARTMENT OF COMMERCEBUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE

WASHINGTON

V O L U M E 14 N U M B E R 2

Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

The National Income? 1929-32A short summary of the report on the national income which

was recently presented to the United States Senate by the Bureau ofForeign and Domestic Commerce is presented on pages 17 to 19,inclusive.

The complete report, which contains over 200 detailed statisticaltables and numerous charts, is being printed as Senate Document:No. 124 and will be available in Government depository libraries.When printed this document will be for sale by the Superintendentof Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.


Volume 14 F E B R U A R Y 1934WEEKLY DATA THROUGH JANUARY 27, 1934

MONTHLY DATA THROUGH DECEMBER

N u m b e r 2

SURVEY OFCURRENT BUSINESS

P U B L I S H E D BY

U N I T E D STATES D E P A R T M E N T OF C O M M E R C EB U R E A U O F F O R E I G N A N D D O M E S T I C C O M M E R C E

W A S H I N G T O N

CONTENTSSUMMARIES AND CHARTS Page

Business indicators 2Business situation summarized 3Comparison of principal data, 1929-33 4Commodity prices. 5Domestic trade. 6Employment 7Finance 8Foreign trade 9Real estate and construction 10Transportation 11Survey of individual industries:

Automobiles and rubber 12Farm and food products 13Forest products. 14Iron and steel 15Textiles I 16

SPECIAL ARTICLEThe national income, 1929-32 17

STATISTICAL DATANew and revised series:

Canadian sales of ordinary life insurance; shipments of autoaccessories and parts; registrations of new commercial cars; andairplane travel 20

Weekly business statistics 21

STATISTICAL DATAContinuedMonthly business statistics: Page

Business indexes. 22Commodity prices 23Construction and real estate. . . . 24Domestic trade 25Employment conditions and wages 27

v Finance 30Foreign trade ' 34Transportation and communications 35Statistics on individual industries:

Chemicals and allied products 36Electric power and gas 38Foodstuffs 1 tobacco 39Fuels a- >ducts 42Leatf iucts. 44Lumi..

SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS February 1934

Business I n d i c a t o r s1923-25=100

160^INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

160FACTORY EMPLOYMENT AND PAYROLLS

40

160 TOTAL FREIGHT CAR LOADINGS

ZOO DEPARTMENT STORE SALES

200 VALUE OF EXPORTS

200

100

BANK DEBITS OUTSIDE NEW YORK CITY

{UNADJUSTEDv-xv

1 929 1930 1 9 3 1 1 93Z 1933

160

100

40

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

^ MA NUFACTVffES (ADJUSTED)91

^MINERALS (ADJUSTED)^

200 - CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS AWARDED

160 FREIGHT CAR LOADINGS L.C.L.

160

100

40

200

WHOLESALE PRICES

-FARM PRODUCTS

ALL COMMODITIES

VALUE OF IMPORTS

160

100

FEDERAL RESERVE MEMBER BANK LOANS*

0 ADJUSTED FOR SEASONAL VARIATION * REPORTING MEMBER BANKS


February 1934 SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS

Business Situation SummarizedDECEMBER statistics reveal an improvement inbusiness activity, following several months of re-cession. Industrial production and freight-car load-ings fell off by less than the usual seasonal amount, re-tail trade was higher, and foreign trade and construc-tion contracts awarded recorded contraseasonal in-creases. Except for the construction industry, theDecember gains were not large, and there was a fur-ther slight decline in factory employment and payrolls. Data available at this time on January move-ments are not sufficiently comprehensive to indicatedefinitely the extent of change for that month. Auto-mobile production, although retarded by new modeldifficulties, has increased sharply.as compared withDecember. Steel-mill activity has not expanded asis usual in January, although operations are at a levelconsiderably higher than in January 1933. The ad-justed index of electric-power output, which rose dur-ing December, receded during the first 3 weeks of theyear. Construction contracts awarded in the period,January 1-15, revealed a continuation of the favorabletrend of recent months.

The recession in output in both the manufacturingand mineral industries in December was less than usu-ally occurs, and the combined index, adjusted for sea-sonal variations, advanced slightly over November.The marked curtailment in the textile industry andthe recession in the foodstuffs industry, were impor-tant factors in the movement of the general index asseveral important industries, including steel, automo-biles, and tobacco, recorded relatively large increases.

Sales in retail stores during December increased bymore than the usual seasonal amount. The adjustedindex of department store sales was about 6 percenthigher than in November, and daily average sales were13 percent greater than in December 1932. Chainstore and mail order house sales also showed fairlysubstantial gains over the corresponding month of lastyear. Although figures are not available on the aggre-gate physical volume of retail business, a comparison ofdollar sales through the channels for which statisticsare obtainable, adjusted for price changes, appears toindicate that the December volume was below thecomparable 1932 figure.

Commodity prices have undergone only moderatechanges in recent weeks. The general level of whole-sale prices averaged slightly lower in December, butthe upward trend was resumed in January. Availabledata on retail prices also record only minor changes.

After irregular movements in December, the stockmarket moved higher during January and particularlyfollowing the announcement of the new monetarymoves of the Government. Bond prices moved rapidlyupward during December and January with only atemporary interruption. Outstanding bank loans havenot expanded in recent weeks, although excess reservesof the member banks have been maintained at anexceptionally high total. Fluctuations in the foreignvalue of the dollar have been relatively narrow duringJanuary, with the average quotation for the month interms of the French franc around 63 cents. Thecapital-issue market has remained inactive.

MONTHLY BUSINESS INDEXES

Year and month

1931' December1932: December1933:

JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJuly _ - _AugustSeptemberOctoberNovember

: December :

Monthly average:19291930 * . .1931*19321933

Industrial production

Unadjusted *

1 iiM

fl

g

Adjusted *

1 1GB

1

Factory em-ployment

and pay rolls

J^2~&s^ OB

a

*

kItIfI s

4 SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS February 1934

Comparison of Principal Data, 1929-1933

BANK DEBITS OUTSIDE NEW YORK CITY - (BILLIONS OF DOLLARS)150 200 250 300 350

CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS AWARDED -(BILLIONS OF DOLLARS)

STEEL INGOT PRODUCTION - (MILLIONS OF TONS) .

AUTOMOBILE PRODUCTION- (THOUSANDS OF CARS)

FREIGHT CAR LOADINGS - (MILLIONS Of CARS)


February 1934 SUEVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS

Commodity PricesFOLLOWING recessions in the month of December,wholesale commodity prices moved upward duringthe first 3 weeks of January. The index of wholesaleprices for the week ended January 20 stood at 72.3,exceeding the 1933 high of 71.7 recorded in the thirdweek of November. The rise of 2.7 percent in whole-sale prices during the 4 weeks following December23, more than offset the decline during the 5 preced-ing weeks. At 72.3 the price index was at the highestpoint reached since the second quarter of 1931.

Prices of products on the farm, which receded be-tween mid-November and mid-December, recoveredpart of the decline in the succeeding month. Pricesof cotton, grain, apples, potatoes, cattle, and lambshave improved in recent weeks, while eggs havedeclined seasonally, and prices of dairy products,chickens, and hogs have remained low.

The National Industrial Conference Board's indexof the cost of living declined six tenths of 1 percent inDecember, mainly by reason of the drop in food prices.The index was 8.1 percent higher than the low reached inApril and was also higher than in December 1932. Theretail price index of department-store articles showedno change in December, which was the first monthsince last April in which the index failed to increase.

The December decline in the wholesale price levelwas largely due to the widespread declines in the farmproducts and manufactured foods groups. Over onehalf of the commodities which showed declines for themonth were from these two groups. Livestock andpoultry prices decreased 7.8 percent and meat pricesdropped 4.6 percent. The hides and leather productsand the metals and metal products groups of commodi-ties recorded price gains due to marked increases inthe price of hides and skins, iron and steel, and agri-cultural implements.

December wholesale prices were 13 percent higheron the average than in the same month a year ago andwere 18 percent above the low point of February 1933.In the period from December 1932 to December 1933>prices of finished products rose 9.4 percent, prices ofraw materials increased 19 percent, and prices of semi-manufactures went up 25 percent. This wide diver-gence is characteristic of the irregular movements ofthe various components of our price level. Consider-ing the commodity groups the variations were evenmore pronounced, ranging from a 44 percent increasein the price of textiles over the year's interval to a 1.9percent increase in the price of the chemicals and drugsgroup.

INDEXES OF COMMODITY PRICES

Tear and month

1931: December1932: December1933:

JanuaryFebruary. _ _ .MarchApril .. ..May.JuneJulyAugustSeptember -October _ _ _NovemberDecember '..

Annual index:192Q19301931 ..19321933

Wholesale (Department of Labor)=8aalr>35!B&*tI1

Economic classes

I

i1

S3

Groups

I 1 f 1

ftJ

i!%v1S-J2i8o

M

6JD

aCeEB

!31

1ocei

1

M

S00

S|SoIM Ml

SI

"rtM>

8.a"Has,A

9g

1o>

!i

Monthly average, 1926=100

68.662.661.059.860.260.462.765.068.969.570.871.271.170. 895.386.473.064.865.9

73.368.466.765.765.765.767.269.072.273.474.875.475.274.894.588.077.070.370.5

60.252.150.248.449.450.053.756.261.860.661.761.862.461.997.584.365.655.156.5

63.757.756.956.356.957.361.365.369.171.772.972.871.472.393.981.869.059.365.4

55.744.1

42.640,942.844.550.253.260.157.657.055.756.655.5

104. 988.364.848.251.4

47,031.732.932.736.044.852.857.473.464.663.958.261.360.497.478.353.039.453.1

69.158.355.853.754.656.159.461.265.564.864.964.264.363.599.990.574.661.060.5

63.249.449.550.250.550.352.352.450.851.051.551.048.246.0

109. 198.475.458.250.0

72.369.067.366.065.865,366.568.972.274.176.177.277.277.591.685.275.070.271.3

75.770.870.169.870.370.271.474.779.581.382.783.984.985.695.489.979.271.477.0

76.172.371.671.371.271.473.273.773.273.172.772.773.473.794.289.179.373.573.6

68.369.366.063.662.961.560.461.565.365.570.473.673.573.483.078.567.570.366.3

79.869.668.968.068.169.476.982.486.391.792.389.088.289.2

109. 1100.086.172.980.9

78.573.672.972.372.271.571.773,474.877.679.381.281.081.094,392.784.975.175.8

82.279.478.277.477.276.977.779.380.681.282.183.082.783.5

100.592.184.580,279.8

60,853.051.951.251.351.855.961.568.074.676.977.176.876.490.480.366.354.964.8

66.863.461.259.258.957.858.960.864.065.465.165. 365,565.782.677.769.864.463.5

Cost

of liv

ing

(Nati

onal I

ndus

-

tria

l Con

fere

nce

Boar

d)

Mo.average,1923=

100

83.175.173.772.171.871.572.172.875.276.977.978.077.877.3

100.096.286.777.774.8

Farm

,

com

bine

d In

dex,

27

com

modi

ties

(Dep

artme

ntof

A

gricu

lture

)

Mo.average,1909 to1914-

100

6652514950536264767270707168

138117805763

Retail

*4 '

|!w

Mo.average,1913=

100

11499

959191909497

105107107107107106

157147121102100

igfi!~

Dec.1930(Jan. 1,

1931) =100

83.571.871.169.969.769.470.472.376.182.586.087.188.088.0

90.975.877,5


SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS February 1934

Domestic TradeDISTEIBUTION of goods through retail channelscontinues to show gains in dollar volume over ayear ago, and scattered reports indicate that Januarysales showed somewhat less than the usual seasonaldecline from December. Reports of retail orders takenat the New York Automobile Show have been unusuallysatisfactory, while reports of individual dealers through-out the country indicate a high degree of public interestin new models.

Department-store sales advanced sharply in Decem-ber as a result of holiday buying. Adjusted for sea-sonal variations, the Federal Reserve Board's indexwas about 6 percent higher than in November. Saleswere approximately 7 percent above December 1932,and when allowance is made for the additional tradingday in December of last year, the gain was about 13percent. However, prices of goods commonly sold indepartment stores averaged about 22 percent higherthan in December 1932,

This class of trade as compared with a year agoshowed considerable variation among the 12 reservedistricts. Without allowing for the extra trading daylast year, sales in the Boston district showed no changefrom December 1932, while increases in the other dis-tricts ranged from 4 percent in New York and Phila-delphia to 21 percent in Atlanta, 22 percent in KansasCity, and 23 percent in Dallas.

The Federal Reserve Board reports that department-store sales for the year as a whole were about 3 per-cent less than in 1932, with all districts except Dallasshowing smaller total values.

Mail-order and store sales of 2 important companiesincreased about 19 percent to a total value of $61,971,-000 in December. For the year as a whole the valueof mail-order-house sales was 4 percent above 1932,but 16 and 28 percent, respectively, below 1931 and1930. Sales of a comparable group of variety storesin December showed a gain of 6 percent over Novemberand an increase of 11 percent as compared with a yearago. Grocery chain-store sales were 4.3 percent greaterthan in November and 2 percent above December 1932.New passenger-car sales were 47.2 percent less than inNovember and 9.7 percent below a year ago, a reflec-tion of the slow appearance of 1934 models rather thana lack of buying interest.

Freight-car loadings in less-than-carload lots de-clined by approximately the usual seasonal amount.Since May this index has failed to record any signifi-cant change. The number of commercial failures wasslightly lower in December than in the precedingmonth, while the liabilities involved were about 7percent higher. For the year 1933, both the numberof failures and the liabilities involved were substan-tially lower than in 1932, a condition resulting fromthe improved trend of business and the very heavymortality rate in the several preceding years.

Lineage of newspaper advertising declined about 3percent while that of magazine advertising decreasedseasonally. For the year as a whole they were 9 and12 percent, respectively, below the 1932 totals.

DOMESTIC TRADE STATISTICS

Year and month


JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJune...July _August _September _OctoberNovemberDecember

Monthly average:19291930193119321933

Betaii trade

Department stores

Sales

Unad-just-ed i

Ad-just-ed 2

Stocks 3

Unad-just-ed

Ad-just-ed 2

Monthly average, 1923-25=100

1431064949506867644959737775

121111102926967

8260606057676768707770706569

7356525455555656566273777863

10094826661

7760585754535557606470706965

Chain-store sales

Com-binedindex(19 com-

panies)Avg. samemo. 1929-

31=100

79807675787882868485848388

8483

Variety stores

Unad-just-ed

Ad-just-ed

Monthly aver-age, 1923-25=

100

279226

100103110129126125123129137141136253

164160157135134

144117135138121140130137142139151132130135

Mailorderandstore

sales, 2houses

Thou-sands

of dolls.

58, 82151, 556

26, 95826, 17627, 55435, 36537, 77838, 98633, 56640, 32743, 21953, 55052, 03761, 971

61, 24955, 22547, 21438, 34439, 791

Wholesaletrade

Em-ploy-ment

Payrolls

Monthly aver-age, 1929=100

83.777.075.374.173.173.374.075.776.979.782.183.583.483.3

100.096.086.678.277.9

77.862.661.758.657.156.057.457.359.160.862-. 366. 064.164.5

100.095.983.667.060.4

Freight-carloadings, mer-chandise I.C.I.

Unad-Just-

.edAd-just-ed 2


100

7764656463656867706970706863

10597877267

8369696662636667706968666767

Commercialfailures

Fail-ures

Num-ber

2,7582, 4692,9192,3781, 9481,9211,9091,6481,4211,4721,1161,2061,2371,133

1,9092,1962, 3572,6521,693

Liabil-ities

Thou-sands

of dolls.

73, 21364, 18979, 10165, 57648, 50051, C9847, 97235, 34527, 48142, 77621, 84730, 58225, 35337, 20040, 27155, 69061, 35977, 35941, 903

Advertisinglinage

Maga-zine

Thou-sands

of lines

2, 1701,6411,1161, 4901,6301,729,732,544,272,184,407

1, 8701,8991,7913,3842,9842,4091,7631,555

News-paper

Mil-lions oflines

7761524750606261495462706664

10288806458

1 Corrected to average daily sales. 2 Adjusted for seasonal variation. s End of month figures.


February 1934 SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS

EmploymentFACTORY employment and pay rolls declined inDecember for the third consecutive month. Theusual seasonal tendency during this period is moder-ately downward and after allowing for this factor, em-ployment in manufacturing establishments declinedfrom September to December by 3.4 percent. Despitethe falling off during the last 3 months of the year,the factory employment and pay-roll indexes in De-cember were 19 and 30 percent higher, respectively,than in the same month a year ago. Employmentwas also higher than in December 1931. Factoryemployment in 1933 averaged 6.8 percent abovethe 1932 level, while factory pay rolls were 4.9 percentgreater than in the preceding year.

The year 1933 was marked by wide variations in thetrend and extent of changes in the field of employment.In most industries employment and pay rolls declinedduring the first quarter of the year and in Marchreached the lowest level of the depression. Duringthat month there were more persons unemployed thanduring any other month for which statistics are avail-able. The following 6 months were characterizedby a rapid upward swing which brought employmentand pay rolls in September to higher levels than at anytime since the middle of 1.931.

Declines from November to December in factoryemployment and pay rolls of 2.2 percent and ninetenths of 1 percent, respectively, were only slightlymore than the usual seasonal drop for the month. The

largest gains during the month were recorded in thetransportation equipment industries in which bothemployment and aggregate pay-roll disbursementsincreased 14 percent. Of the 89 specific industrialfields surveyed monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statis-tics, 25 reported increased employment in December.The three industries reporting the largest increaseswere automobiles, electric and steam railroad cars, andagricultural implements. The next three largestincreases were reported for the shipbuilding, hardware,and engines-turbines-tractors industries. Sharp de-clines during December in the clothing industries wereof seasonal character.

Employment increased 15 percent from November toDecember in the field of retail trade due to the Christ-mas trade activity. In addition to retail trade, 5 ofthe 16 nonmanufacturing industries surveyed reportedemployment gains and 9 reported higher pay rolls forthe month. The crude petroleum producing and thehotel industries both reported substantial advances inemployment and pay rolls.

The project of unemployment relief undertaken bythe Civil Works Administration in December con-tinued to afford direct empl6yment for some 4,000,000persons during January. Arrangements were under-way before the end of the month to extend this workfor a short period beyond the original date of termina-tion which had been set at February 15.

STATISTICS OF EMPLOYMENT, PAY ROLLS, AND WAGES

Year and month

1931: December1932: December _1933:

JanuaryFebruary. MarchApril __ _ _ _MayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctober _ _ _ _NovemberDecember

Monthly average:19291930193119321933

Factory employmentand pay rolls, F.R.B.

Employment

Unad-justed Ad-justedi

Payrolls

Unad-justed

, Monthly average,1923-25=100

67.959.658.159.256.757.860.064.168.973.476.675.872.671.0

101 187.874. 462.066.2

69.460. 659.459.456. 657.760.664.870.173.374.373.972.471.8

55.840.939.240.036.938.642.046.249.955.757.657.453.653.1

107.787.466.045. 347.5

Nonmanufacturing employment and pay rolls

Anthracitemining

Em-ploy-ment

Fayrolls

Bituminouscoal mining

Em-ploy-ment

Fayrolls

Power, light,and water '

Em-ploy-ment

Fayrolls

Telephoneand telegraph

Em-ploy-ment

Fayrolls

Retail 'trade.

Em-ploy-ment

Fayrolls

Monthly average, 1929=100

79.862.352.558.754.651.643.239.543.847.756.856.961.054.5

100.093.480.562.551.7

78.456.243.256.848.837.430.034.338.246.660.761.647.844.3

100.095.375.453.745.8

81.270.069.869.367.663.761.261.363.268.671.868.074.875.4

100. 093.483.267.467.9

52.337.736.137.230.726.626.929.233.643.344.144.150.750.8

100.081.357.535.637.8

90.378.4

77.777.476.976.976.977.377.578.180.382.282.681.8

100.0103.095.683.078.8

91.273.273.071.671.969.469.969.970.070.971.876.274.574.4

100.0104.396.779.872.0

83.174.874.673.973.272.370.169.268.568.168.368.768.969.4

100.097.986.679.170.4

92.773.571.771.971.667.868.566.666.766.164.667.067.767.7

100.0102.993.781.168:2

106.295.276.973.471.478.677.078.374.678.186.089.691.6

105.4100.095.989.480.981.7

94.173.662.758.455.160.459.560.558.162.769.272.372.680.3

100.096.286.669.464.3

Trade-unionmem-

feers em-ployed

Percentof total

members7066656666676769696971737271

8879746869

Wages

Factory 2

Aver-age

weeklyearn-ings

Aver-age

hourlyearn-ings

Dollars

20.7416.3716.2116.1314.5615.3916. 7118.4919.1519.2519.4619.4618.5118.5828.5425.9022.6017.1017. 66

0.538.467

.468

.464

.460

.460

.453

.452

.455

.497

.531

.540

.545

.548

.589

.589

.564

.497

.489

Com-monlabor

Centsper

hour

33323232323333333435373738383939363235

1 Adjusted for seasonal variation. 2 National Industrial Conference Board.



FinanceGENERAL improvement in security prices, theusual seasonal movement in money in circula-tion, a firming tendency in short-term money rates,and a further rise in the excess reserves of memberbanks have characterized financial markets in recentweeks. Overshadowing these factors was the Presi-dent's budget message on January 4, in which he an-nounced that it would be necessary for the Govern-ment to borrow before the close of the present fiscalyear approximately $6,000,000,000 of new funds andan additional $4,000,000,000 to meet maturing issues.

During December the trend of stock prices waserratic; but since the beginning of the new year, gainshave predominated. Aside from the temporary weak-ness in the middle of December, bond prices have ad-vanced steadily for the past 2 months, the gains in the" averages " over this period being about 10 percent.

Brokers7 loans moved to appreciably higher totalsduring December, but the gains failed to continueafter the first week of January. Loans and invest-ments of member banks declined during the periodunder review, and excess reserves have continuedto mount to new high levels.

An Executive order of January 15 terminated theReconstruction Finance Corporation's sale of its notesfor gold and transferred the gold-purchase function tothe Treasury. Simultaneously, the President sent toCongress a proposed bill providing for the fixing ofpermissible limits within which any ultimate revalua-tion of the gold dollar would take place. Under itsprovisions these limits would lie between 50 percentof the present gold parity, the maximum devaluationprovided for in the act of May 12, 1933, and 60 percent

which is provided in the new bill as the upper limit.In accordance with these provisions, the Treasuryestablished its daily buying price of gold on January16, at $34.45, thus bringing quotations in line with theupper limit of proposed revaluation. Foreign quota-tions on the dollar moved downward following thisannouncement, but the range for the month wasrelatively narrow. The value of the dollar, in termsof the French franc, averaged about 63 cents.

The proposed legislation would also authorize thePresident to control the value of the dollar with a viewto stabilizing domestic prices and protecting foreigntrade. It provides for acquisition by the Treasury ofthe gold held by the reserve banks through exchangefor gold certificates, thus permitting the Treasury torealize the profits of devaluation. Directly related tothis profit is the provision whereby $2,000,000,000would be set aside as a "stabilization fund" to beemployed by the Treasury whenever necessary forthe purchase of gold, foreign currencies, and Govern-ment securities in maintaining the stability of thedollar within the limits provided.

Of outstanding importance among financial develop-ments was the initiation of the guaranty of bankdeposits on a Nation-wide scale. The temporaryguaranty provisions of the Glass-Steagall bill ofJune 16, 1933, went into effect on January 1. Pur-chases of preferred stock and capital notes of banks bythe Reconstruction Finance Corporation, made largelyfor the purpose of strengthening the capital structureof the banks in enabling them to meet the eligibilityrequirements of the Federal Deposit Insurance Cor-poration, aggregate approximately $900,000,000.

CREDIT AND BANKING STATISTICS

Year and month

1931: December __1932: December1933:

JanuaryFebruaryMarch. . _.AprilMay . .JuneJulyAugustSeptember.OctoberNovemberDecember __

Bankdebits

outsideNewYorkCity

Reporting memberbanks, Wednesdayclosest to end ofmonth *

Loanson

securi-ties

Allotherloans

In-vest-

ments

Condition of Federal Reserve banks, end ofmonth

Reserve bank credit outstanding

TotalBillsdis-

count-ed

Billsboughtin theopen

market

UnitedStates

Govern-mentsecuri-

ties

Totaldeposits

Mem-ber

bankreserve

ac-count

Totalbank-er's ac-cept-ancesout-

stand-in,gs

*end ofmonth

Netgoldim-

portsin-

cludinggoldre-

leasedfromear-

mark 2

Moneyincircu-lation

De-posits,NewYorkState

savingsbanks

Millions of dollars17, 11212, 82012,05310, 4019,608

10, 61211, 50912, 96913,87812, 37512,21513, 02711, 92713,388

3,789

3,7513,7273,6443, 6983,7133,7483,7723,7663,6873,6043,5693,620

5,082

5,0314,5544,6884,7064,7724,7044,7744, 7674,8534,9894,9994,765

7,910

7,9747,6197,6697,8847,9418,2138,0118,0747,9898,1568, 1048,300

1,8532,1452,0772,7942,5722,4592,2182,2202,2092,2972,4212,5492,5812,688

63823527458242643530216416715312811611998

3393331

33630517120489777

24133

8171,8551,7631,8661,8381,8371,8901,9982,0282,1292,2772,4212,4322,437

2,1252,5612,5542,2362,1332,3802,3942,4942, 5442,6752,7482,8852,7963,865

1,9612,509

2,4462, 1411,9492,1322, 1672,2922,2942,4092,4382,6852,5732,729

974710

707704671697669687738694715737758764

33.9171.937.0

-169.4113 323.71.0.3.6

-.9-7.4-5.5.53.7

5,6115,699

5,6315,8926,9986,1375,8765,7426,6755,6165,6325,6565, 6815,811

5,2555,3145,3175, 2695,2205,1645, 1135,1305,0855,0595,0795,0495,0295,064

PostalSavings,bal-

ance tocreditof de-

positors

Thousandsof dollars

605, 112900,796

943, 3771,007,0801, 113, 9221, 159, 7951, 180, 3361, 187, 1861,176,669-1,177,6671, 180, 6671, 189, 5811, 199, 2811,209,435

* 90 cities. 2 Net exports indicated by (-).


February 1934 SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS 9

Foreign TradeBOTH exports and imports increased about 4 per-cent in value during December, which was contraryto the usual seasonal trend. Ordinarily, the value ofexports falls off about 8 percent in December, while thevalue of imports declines 1 percent. Heavy receipts ofspirits and wines, which were valued at $10,880,000in December, were responsible for the increase in theimport value. Total imports exclusive of beveragesdeclined by more than the usual seasonal amount.Larger shipments of a wide range of commoditiescontributed to the gain in exports.

Leading commodities exported in larger quantitiesduring December and the respective increases in valueover November were as follows: Unmanufacturedtobacco, $7,000,000; automobiles, including parts andaccessories, $2,000,000; wheat, $1,900,000; furs andmanufactures,$1,600,000; sawmill products, $1,200,000;iron and steel-mill products, $1,100,000; and cannedfruits, $600,000. Raw cotton exports, following the usualseasonal pattern, declined $4,500,000. Other large de-creases included dried and evaporated fruits, $2,000,000;coal, $1,900,000; and petroleum products, $1,800,000.

For the year 1933, exports increased 4 percent andimports 9.6 percent in value. The quantity of exportswas approximately the same as in 1932, but importswere about 10 percent larger. Despite the increase inprices during the latter half of 1933, the unit value ofexports for the year as a whole advanced only slightly.The average unit value of imports was approximatelythe same as in 1932.

Notable factors in the increase in the value of exportsas compared with 1932 were the advance in prices ofraw cotton and the increase in quantity shipments ofcrude petroleum, iron and steel-mill products, andlumber. Mainly by reason of larger sales of automo-biles and rubber tires, exports of finished manufacturesregistered a gain during the latter half of 1933, whichwas sufficient to bring the total to a position 4 per-cent above the 1932 level. The reduction in wheatexports from 55,000,000 bushels in 1932 to about8,000,000 bushels in 1933 was the most importantfactor in the drop of about 45 percent in crude foodexports. A decrease of about one third in wheatflour exports was the major cause of the reduction ofabout 2 percent in the quantity of manufactured foodexports.

The increase in imports last year was due chiefly toour purchases of crude materials and semimanufac-tures which were 12 percent and 27 percent, respec-tively, greater in quantity than in 1932. Leadingcommodities increases were as follows: Flaxseed, 75percent; hides and skins, 79 percent; wood pulp, 31percent; tin, 80 percent; nickel, 112 percent; unmanu-factured wool, 216 percent; diamonds, 22 percent; andfertilizers, 38 percent. Crude foodstuffs approximatedin quantity the imports in the preceding year, whilemanufactured food imports were about one eighthlarger. The quantity of finished manufactures im-ported was approximately the same as in 1932.

EXPORTS AND IMPORTS

Year and month

!

1931: December-.1932: December.1933:

JanuaryFebruaryMarch .AprilMay - --June - --JulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember

Yearly totals:19291930193119321933 -

Indexes

Totalex-

ports,ad-justed^

Totalim-ports,ad-justed i

Monthly aver-age, 1923-25 =100

4633312928293236433840424248

21152 84253

235237

4830292626253240485048464049

2114279254234237

Ex-ports,in-

clud-ing

reex-ports

Exports of United States merchandise

Total

Crude mate-rials

TotalRawcot-ton

Foodstuffs

TotalFruitsand

prep-ara-tions

Semi-man-ufac-tures

Finished manufac-tures

TotalMa-

chin-ery

Auto-mo-biles,parts,and

acces-sories

General imports

TotalCrudema-

terialsFood-stuffs

Semi-man -uf ac-tures

Fin-ishedman-ufac-tures

Millions of dollars

184.1131.6120.6101.5108.0105.2114.2119.8144.2131.5160.1193.9184.3193.6

5, 241. 03, 843. 22, 424. 31,611.01, 675. 9

180.8129.0118.699.4

106.3103.1111.9117.5141.7129.3157.5191.7

-181.3189.8

5, 157. 13.781.22', 378. 01, 576. 21,648.1

68.452.242.331.829.428.635.040.351.542.063.682.571.373.1

1, 142. 4829.1566.8513.7591.4

47.439.029.720.618.116.926.129.336.828.245.354.348.844.3

770.8496.8325.7345. 2398.4

27.116.016.212.813.411.313.013.415.416.918.723.524.134.3

753. 9541.2373.9241.5203.0

6.64.84.63.83.92.93.82.94.35.66.8

11.09.78.3

136.0109.7108.276.567.6

20.615.715.813.216.515.317.618.221.420.521.324.624.238, 5

729.0512.8317. .6196.7337.1

64.745.044.341.547.047.946.245.753.450.053.961.161.863.9

2, 531. 81, 898. 11, 119. 7

624.2616.7

17.69.79.28.59.48.89.19.3

10.110.911.713.516.015.9

606.8515.5316.8131.7133.4

8.05.16.56.36.97.47.47.07.58.18.38.67.39.3

541. 4279.1148. 176.390.6

153.897.196.083.894.988.4

106.9122.3143.0155J)146.7150.9128.5133.3

4, 399. 43, 060. 92, 090. 61, 322. 81,449.6

49.828.727.221.123.621.124.934.346.450.748.346.937.336.3

1, 558. 61, 002. 2

642.2358.3418.0

36.628.230.730.033.632.840.036.938.835.431.234.830.643.1

962.2693.6527.1406.9U8.9

25.316.716.213.614. 813.518.327.831.035.233.533.227.837.3

885.1608.2372.0217.0393.1

42.023.421.919.122.920.923.623.326.833.733.636.032.837.7

993.5757.0549. 3340.6333.3

1 Adjusted for seasonal variation. 2 Annual index.

34969-34-2



Real Estate and ConstructionBUILDING operations during 1933 did not sharethe marked improvement which occurred in mostother major lines of activity. Contracts awarded inthe last 6 months of the year, however, showed a sub-stantial increase, primarily as a result of public worksundertakings. The value of awards in that periodwas 90 percent greater than in the first half of the year,and was 20 percent above the corresponding monthsof 1932. The increase over a year ago in these lattermonths, however, was insufficient to offset the severedecline which occurred in the first half of the year andthe total value of contracts in 1933 for the 37 Statesincluded in the Dodge Corporation statistics, amount-ing to $1,256,000,000, remained slightly below therelatively small 1932 total of $1,351,000,000. Thevalue of contracts awarded in 1929 was more than fourand a half times as large as in 1933.

Public works activity has been an increasingly im-portant factor during the depression. Whereas in1929 these contracts comprised only 16 percent of allreported operations, by 1933 their relative value hadadvanced to 40 percent, and in the final quarter of lastyear it was over 55 percent. On the other hand,except for a slight rise during 1931, the relative valueof residential building showed a decline during thisperiod. In 1929, the value of this type of constructionaccounted for one third of all activity, and in 1932 and1933 the ratio had declined to one fifth. The valueof public utility contracts awarded in 1933 was 27 per-cent higher than the drastically reduced total for 1932,

but only one fifth of the amount of such undertakingsin 1929.

In January, contracts awarded continued to showimprovement. Contracts amounting to $102,000,000were let in the first half of the month, a total con-siderably in excess of the $83,000,000 total for theentire month of January 1933. Residential awardsamounted to $8,300,000, and nonresidential building,$31,200,000. December contracts were the largestfor any month since October 1931. Residential con-tracts during that month were nearly twice as largeas in December 1932.

Progress in highway construction carried on withthe aid of National Recovery Act funds has been con-tinuous since the Government program started latelast summer. In December, projects under wayinvolved 10,500 miles with an estimated cost of$159,575,000. Nearly one fourth of the work wascompleted by the end of the month.

No long term real estate bonds were publicly floatedin 1933, excepting a relatively small amount issued inFebruary, and the usual channels of private financinghave been the source of only a limited amount of funds.

Shipments of building materials were seasonallylower in December, although the major series continuedto show some improvement over a year earlier. Opera-tions in the building supply industry, however, re-mained at a relatively low level at the end of the yearwith the Public Works and Civil Works programcontributing the major source of support.

BUILDING MATERIALS, CONSTRUCTION, AND REAL ESTATE

Year and month


JanuaryFebruary . _ _ _ _ _ _MarchApril-MayJuneJulyAugustSeptember _. _ . .OctoberNovember.December

Monthly average:1929 .1930 _193119321933...

Construction contracts awarded

F.R.B.indexad-justed *

Monthlyaverage,1923-25=

100

3828

221914141618212430374861

11792632826

All types ofconstruction

Num-ber ofproj-ects

5,9514,205

3,8003,8846,3037,2549,4099,1868,2298,1867,5967,4766,3327,677

14, 34811, 2729,1846,3447,111

Mil-lions ofdollars

13781

8353605777

10383

106120145162207

479377258113105

Residentialbuilding

Mil-lions ofsquare

feet

8.83.4

3.23.14.85.88.48.37.46.46.36.96.45.9

32.319.215.96.16.1

Mil-lions ofdollars

36.213.0

12.011.816.019.126.527.823.621.921.521.523.633.9

159.691.867.623.330.8

Pub-lic

utili-ties

Pub-lic

works

Millions ofdollars

11.06.58.04.72.52.45.65.04.1

19.43.47.06.9

34.0

43.758.424.66.38.6

39.536.9

34.712.515.111.213.419.414.832.057.385.7

104.199.2

77.980.373.042.941.6

Explo-sives,new

orders

Thou-sands ofpounds

19, 51818,985

17, 97116, 51016, 17916, 19716, 49720, 32723, 83425, 08625, 10725, 08423, 25623,318

40, 38335, 41027, 12018, 95920,781

Building materialshipments

Maplefloor-ing

Oakfloor-ing

Thousands offeet, boardmeasure

1,9281,590

1,4961,3181,2462,0972,7154,3844,3263,3862,6223,. 2362,3003,334

5,7343,6002,9742,1773,697

12, 9764,327

4,4336,0747,5739,479

14, 54917, 72313, 67612, 7939,5638,624

10, 0176,417

37, 05824, 98521, 42310, 34210, 077

Ce-ment

Thou-sands ofbarrels

4,1422,835

2, 5022,2783,5104,9496,7097,9798,6975,9946,5176,7504, 4633,738

14, 12013, 22910, 5396,7155, 341

High ways un-der construc-

tion

FederalAid

High-waysAct

Na-tionalIndus-

trialRe-

coveryAct

Thousands ofdollars

216, 850250, 978

252, 372260, 185265, 678269, 489260, 736242, 107222, 452191, 040158, 443121, 70990, 368

233, 430255, 619303, 835229, 780

34, 96292, 215

134, 491159, 575

Con-struc-tion

costs,Eng.

News-Rec-ord 2

Month-ly av-erage,1913=

100166.2158. 5

158.4159.3158.4160.2164.4163. 4165.5167.0175.5187. 7190.1193.1

207.0202.9181.4157. 0170.3

Long-termreal-estatebondsissued

Thou-sands ofdollars

3, 185200

0900

0000000000

27,82314, 2569,574

306..... ,75

1 Based on 3-month moving average and adjusted for seasonal variation. 2

First of month. Jan. 1, 1934 index 191.3.


February 1934 SURVEY OF CUREENT BUSINESS 11

TransportationT? HEIGHT moved by the railroads in DecemberJF declined by less than the usual seasonal amount,and the adjusted index advanced for the second suc-cessive month. The December index was the highestof the year with the exception of July, and was about6 percent higher than in the final month of 1932. Thetrend of traffic in the first 3 weeks of January showed nomarked variation from the level of the preceding month,although the tendency was slightly upward.

The improvement in loadings in December wasmainly the result of the sharp gain in the adjustedindex of miscellaneous loadings, which advanced about8 percent above November. Four of the other sevengroups, including coal, were lower than in November.Coke and ore were the groups, aside from miscellaneous,recording increases, while the index of l.c.l. loadingswas unchanged. Pullman passengers carried in Decem-ber were 7 percent above December 1932.

As a result of the increase in freight traffic in 1933,which amounted to about 2.8 percent, the operatingstatistics of the roads reveal some improvement over1932. Roads with 8 percent of the mileage of the classI carriers failed to earn their fixed charges in 1933,compared with 52 roads with one fifth of the mileagein 1932. The improved returns in net operating incomewere possible by reason of the continued rigid controlof operating expenditures since gross operating revenuesfrom all sources were 1.2 percent less than in 1932.Revenues from freight traffic were up 1.7 percent, but

there was a further shrinkage of revenues from pas-senger, mail, express, and other sources. ,Net incomeof the carriers, however, amounted to about $470,-000,000, an increase of nearly 50 percent over thepreceding year. This income was equivalent to a returnon the property of the carriers of about 1% percent.

Notwithstanding the higher level of earnings in thepast year, and the assistance of governmental agenciesin meeting their financial obligations, receivershipswere numerous and involved several companies witha considerable mileage. The mileage of roads in thehands of receivers at the end of 1933 was 42,400, ac-cording to the statistics of the Interstate CommerceCommission. This was approximately double thecorresponding total at the end of 1932.

The necessity for the carriers to hold their expendi-tures down to a minimum was reflected in the lack ofactivity in the railroad supply business. The normalchannels of meeting their financial requirements haveremained closed and the capital needs of the carriershave been financed mainly by the Government. Suchassistance has been largely confined to caring for re-financing, although an allotment of $135,000,000 fromthe public works fund has been made for loan to theroads for construction and the purchase of necessaryequipment. Actual expenditures by the class I roadsfor maintenance of way and equipment in the 11months ended November were $848,000,000, com-pared with $898,000,000 in the preceding year.

RAIL AND WATER TRAFFIC

Year and month


JanuaryFebruaryMarch __AprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember

Monthly average:19291930 _193119321933 _ .

Freight-car loadings

F.R.B

TP

index

1f


100

6152515148515660666568666155

10692755658

6958565450535660656160586063

11

1 I

$11"8&

4siPrt 531|

OBa

23fa

%

05

1

i

OBJ3

Thousands of cars *

555.0496.7477.6489.5460.3500. 9532. 0566.3621.8625.7640.9651.4591.5513. 1

1, 015. 9879.2714.4541.9556,9

115. 4125.0107.1123.191.479.579.690.5

112.1123.5125.0125.0125.5114.1

174.9151. 9124.9102.7108.0

5.85.65.26.24.53.43.84.96.66.77.06.76.46.7

12.29.36.34.35.7

17.013.2

13.713.714.617.220.825.126.827.224.724.423.418.162.545.228.317.320.9

27.126.526.625.326.035.537.036.744.929.631.229.830.935.9

46.143.438.931.831.8

21.016.617.215.413.016.516.615.515.016.620.323.220.515.127.324.722.318.317.0

178.4155.1153.4154.6156.1160.5165.3163.6166.4170.0168.4172.6166.7148.5254.0234. 1210.6174.4163.1

3.51.7

1.81.82.03.27.7

11.122.134.236.827.87.43.9

43.931.916.84.1

13.5

186.7152.9152.6149.4152.7185.2201.2219.0227.8217.9227.6242.0210.7181.9395. 1338.7266. 4189.1198.0

751647692650681619553454393398380385441

46.3235467615692509

Pul

lman

p

asse

ng

ers

carr

ied

Thou-sands

1,6771,248

1,158952872974951

1,2011,2241,3511,5921, 2561,0541,333

2,7862,4471, 9151,3121,143

Financialstatistics

I M

fcfi*

1!-!;nfc

>.z


Automobiles and RubberPRODUCTION of automobiles was graduallyincreased during January as the mechanical diffi-culties retarding the production of new models wereovercome. Output for the month is expected to exceedthe total for the corresponding month of 1933 althoughthe number of cars assembled by several of the majorcompanies will be considerably below original schedules.Retail sales of new passenger cars, which declinedsharply in December, were also very low in Januaryas dealers in many instances were not in a position todeliver new models.

December output was considerably below the corre-sponding month of 1932 when new model assemblieswere much further advanced. Truck assemblies werehigher than a year earlier, as the major 1934 lines werein production. Employment and pay-roll totals in theindustry were about 16 percent higher than in Novem-ber, and these indexes were 30 and 36 percent higher,respectively, than a year earlier, notwithstanding thelower output as compared with December 1932.

Production during the year 1933 was substantiallyhigher than in the preceding year when output droppedto approximately one third of the 1923-25 average.Passenger car assemblies during the year showed anincrease of 41 percent; truck output was half again aslarge; and the number of taxicabs produced was threetimes the small total reported in 1932.

Although total output of automobiles in 1933 was43 percent larger than in the preceding year, itwas only slightly more than one third as much as in1929. Nevertheless, the volume of business realizedpermitted the industry to report substantial profits.

Retail sales of cars in the latter half of the yearheld up particularly well in agricultural areas, andin some States, such as Texas and North Carolina,the peak month of new passenger-car registrationswas in October.

Exports of automobiles increased last year for thefirst time since 1929. Passenger cars exported ex-ceeded the volume shipped in 1932 by 5 > percent,while the increase in truck exports amounted to 74 per-cent. Since dollar prices on cars were not moved upuntil the 1934 models were announced and then byonly a moderate amount, foreign buyers enjoyed asubstantial reduction in prices in the last three quartersof the year due to the decline in the exchange value ofthe dollar.

Preliminary estimates of tire production in 1933indicate an increase of more than 10 percent over 1932.Reports of employment by the leading tire manufac-turing companies during January indicated a sharppickup in activity. Since the automobile industry isplanning on a substantial increase in the first quarterover the production in the same period of 1933, salesfor new equipment are expected to be well above thelevel of the opening months of 1933.

Domestic consumption of crude rubber in 1933 wasat the highest level since 1929, and was 23 percentgreater than the 1932 figure. The volume of cruderubber imports was only slightly larger than in 1932,and the increased consumption resulted in a reductionin the crude stocks held in the United States. Worldstocks of crude rubber, however, continued to increaseand at the end of the year were at a record high level.

AUTOMOBILE AND RUBBER STATISTICS

Tear and month


JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptember ... .OctoberNovemberDecember __ _ _ _ _

Monthly average:1929193019311932___1933

Automobile production

United States

F.R.B.index,ad-justed'

Month-ly av-erage.1923-25=100

66604833274451

' 66706156463247

13585603548

TotalPas-sen-gercars

Thousands

122107

1301071181812182532332361961386484

447280199114163

9786

1089199

1531852111951951611084353

38123116495

134

Taxi-cabs Trucks

Canada

Total

Automobileexports

Passen-ger cars Trucks

Newpas-

sengercarreg-istra-tions

Number

1,144291

515266041154354

689

631,6111,299

1,46674550393

364

23,64421,204

21, 71815, 33318, 06427, 31733,60541, 83938, 06541, 34335, 18230,41219, 47530, 145

64, 25247, 60334, 72119, 59929,375

2,4322,139

3,3583,2986,6328,2559,3967,3236,5406,0795,8083,6822,2913,263

21, 94112,8496,8855,0685,494

5,7532,757

7,0595,5215,5285,6625, 0934,7575,5466,5166,3305,9063,5273,066

28, 28712, 7566,8713,4535,376

3,3332,221

3,0843,1362,5282,6562,4452,4783,5823,7924,6145,5673,1766,460

16, 3977,0434,0212,0803,637

77, 56445,683

79, 82169, 46478, 741

119, 909160, 242174, 190185, 660178, 661157, 976136, 32694, 18058,000

323, 354218, 832159, 01391, 367

134,430

Automobilefinancing

Bywhole-

saledealers

Retailpur-chas-

ers

Millions ofdollars

2920

302828415557587051391817

5655462841

5027

312934455866657163584433

135100794550

Pneumatictires

Pro-duc-tion

Do-mesticship-ments

Thousands

2,1151,5861,8061,8711,6302,4994,1514,8804,5713,9953,1992.7432,432

a 4, 776s 3, 502 3, 353s 2, 771*3,071

2,1711,405

2,0111,7641, 616.2,8744,0774,3204,3243,6742,7141,9431,686

o 4, 6129 3, 480o 3, 312a 2, 727"3,818

Crude rubber

Do-mesticcon-

sump-tion,total

Im-ports

Worldstocks,end ofmonth

Long tons

19, 69615,63119, 92818, 82515, 70122, 81738, 78544,65443, 66039, 09731, 04727, 75825, 37135,306

35, 23528, 56726, 75624, 00629, 412

53,81832, 016

30, 66322,96928,47521, 03426, 73623, 50445,24345, 41346, 25546, 03441, 82140, 751

46, 98540, 54441, 81634, 55634, 908

619, 906621,078

614,851618,299622, 142617, 490620, 586632, 565619, 752603, 711619, 019624, 516635,893645,000306, 541434,996549, 360611, 240623, 819

1 Adjusted for seasonal variations. ff Eleven months' average.



Farm and Food ProductsA CCORDING to preliminary estimates of the

/ % Department of Agriculture, gross farm incomeapproximated $6,400,000,000 in 1933, including theestimated benefits distributed by the AgriculturalAdjustment Administration. This income, which,shows a marked improvement over 1932, was other-wise the lowest for any year for which data are avail-able back to 1909. The increase in gross income fromcrops was largely responsible for the increase in farmincome, as income from livestock and livestock prod-ucts about equaled the 1932 figure. The acreage offield and truck crops harvested in 1933 was about 9percent lower than in 1932. This decrease was causedto a certain extent by the failure of 14,000,000 acres ofwinter wheat, bad weather at planting time, drought, andthe taking out of cultivation of 10,000,000 acres of cotton.

Processing of foodstuffs for 1933 was well above theaverage for the past 2 years and was equal to the 1930results. After increasing in the second and thirdquarters, activity fell off in the final quarter and the ad-justed production index in December was only slightlyhigher than the low of the year. Employment in theindustry also declined in the final quarter of 1933, inconsonance with the trend of production. The re-cession was moderate, however, and the number em-ployed in December was 13 percent greater than inthe final month of 1932.

Consumption of food products has been well main-tained through the depression, and the difficulties ex-perienced in marketing have been largely due to extreme

price declines, the low level of exports, and excessivesupplies.

Stocks of foodstuffs in storage at the end of the year,with very few exceptions, were higher than a yearearlier. Cold storage holdings of all meats and prod-ucts totaled 775,000,000 pounds. This was 34 per-cent greater than the same period of 1932, and was 7percent above the 5-year average (1929-33). Thevisible supply of corn was the highest on record.Wheat stocks provided an outstanding exception to thetrend as the small 1933 crop resulted in a reductionby the end of 1933 to the lowest level since 1927.

Stocks of dairy products remain unusually high.Butter in storage on January 1, 1934, amounting to111,000,000 pounds, was considerably above a yearago. Stocks of cheese, although reaching a lower levelthan at the end of November, were the greatest year-end inventory on record. Cold storage holdings ofpoultry were 11 percent higher than at the end of 1932.

The quantity of exports of agricultural products,exclusive of cotton, increased about 18 percent fromNovember to December, chiefly as a result of an in-crease in foreign shipments of wheat and tobacco.Unmanufactured cotton exports declined 11 percent,in accordance with the usual seasonal trend. For theyear 1933, the quantity of agricultural exports droppedabout 10 percent below the volume in 1932 andreached a new postwar low level. The dollar value ofagricultural exports in 1933 showed an increase of 6percent as compared with 1932.

FOODSTUFFS STATISTICS

Year and month


JanuaryFebruaryMarchApril

, MayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember

Monthly average:1929193019311932. _1933

Food products

F.B.B.indexes

S-,.2*S-S519335338

i8.Thou-sands

of bags

1, 203945911i,osa

1, 109922

1, 187977865

1,128834

1, 019-838

1,U4

9361, 0101,099

948-l,00t

Adjusted for seasonal variation* 2 Kevised* Earlier data may be found on ps 19 of June 1933 issue* a includes receipts from Hawaii and Puerto Rica.



Forest ProductsFOLLOWING marked declines in new orders andproduction of lumber during the final 2 weeks of1933 which carried the indexes far below the peak levelsof the year, statistics for the early weeks of 1934reflected gains in both production and shipments.Production during the first 3 weeks of January wasabout a third higher than the output during the sameperiod last year. Production has exceeded the volumeof new orders continuously since the middle of Novem-ber, although the ratio of orders to production hasimproved since mid-December. The sharp reductionin stocks earlier in the year, however, was responsiblefor a better inventory position at the beginning of1934 than a year earlier.

Lumber production in December was the same as inNovember, but the seasonally adjusted index advanced6.7 percent. Production in December was 60 percentabove the year's low in February but 30 percent belowthe high of July and August. As compared with thecorresponding months of 1932 and 1931, the Decemberindex showed a gain of 39 percent and 14 percent,respectively.

Lumber exports increased sharply in December andexceeded the November figure by 34 percent. The98 millions of feet exported was the largest volumeshipped abroad in any 1 month since August 1931, andthe total was nearly double the volume exported inFebruary of last year.

Lumber prices continued to move upward inDecember and the rise has been uninterrupted since

January 1933. Whereas the general price level ofall commodities fell off during November and De-cember, the price of lumber increased 1.7 percent.The January to December rise in lumber prices of 57percent was equal to more than three times the gainrecorded in the combined index of wholesale pricesand was one of the largest increases recorded for anymajor commodity during the year.

Employment and pay rolls declined in December inthis industry relatively more than in all manufacturingindustries combined. After adjustment for seasonalvariations, employment dropped 2.5 percent. Payrolls fell 8.3 percent. Both indexes show considerableimprovement over the March low. In that month,pay rolls dropped to 14.3 percent of the 1923-25monthly average which was the lowest point reachedby any of the industrial groups included in the FederalReserve Board's indexes.

The year 1933 witnessed extremely wide variationsin the activity of the lumber industry. The levels ofFebruary and March in production, employment, andpay rolls were well below the depths reached in mostother industries, but the rise during the summer andfall months generally exceeded the gains of otherindustries. Physical production and pay rolls morethan doubled from the year's lows in the spring to thehigh points of October and November. Employmentalso moved upward rapidly and wholesale prices almostdoubled. For all these series the 1933 monthly averageswere higher than the corresponding figures for 1932.

FOREST PRODUCTS STATISTICS

Year and month


January..FebruaryMarch..AprilMayJune.. -. . .JulyAugust .SeptemberOctoberNovember-December

Monthly average:1929193019311932

. 1933 _ _

General operations

Lum-berpro-duc-tion,ad-

lusted i

Em-ploy-ments

ad-justed*

Fayrolls,

unad-justed

Navalstores,mar-

ketings

Monthly average, 1923-25=100

2823

26202224303846463633303%

9164412532

45.436.835.034.432.533.335.740.043.846.649.449.947.946.788.269.152.238.741.4

31.218.8.

16.316.314.315.618.021.724.628.933.133.530.021.5

90.665.841.522.1'33. 3

90.470.3

31.723.032.969.4

122.2134.6135.3125.3101.398.581.073.7

125.1122.4106.474.286,0

Car-load-ings,forestprod-ucts 2

Thou-sands of

cars

17.013.213.713.714.617.220.825.126.827.224.724.423.418.162.545.228.317.320,9

Lum-ber ex-ports,

alltypes

Southern hardwoods

Pro-duc-tion

Neworders

Un-filled

orders

Douglas fir

Pro-duc-tion

Neworders 2

Un-filled

orders,end ofmonth

Southern pine

Pro-duc-tion

Neworders

Un-filled

orders

Millions of feet, board measure

90687150

. 68758995957876807398

1981471037079

864960606471

135169165150143131135

10568799098

14623318412812812814371

367252

238230226247

264240208200211234218

20.516.423.424.421.128.834.435.049.037.734.233.025.6

74.956.538.622.5

23.021.2

26.424.328.333.657.349.538.624.532.829.532.9

75.556.341.826.6

85.585.1

120.9109. 7107.9120.4195.2203.7218.9105.6112.8116.4120.9

317. 6204.4145.985.1

78-7585788789

11612112613311410410396

22613293

104

7368'9676

11311318015912011898919173

210147111111

5144575564679288817160555553

146866367

Householdfurniture 3

Ship-ments

Un-filled

orders,end ofmonth

Number days'production

116675666

1013131397

25181498

12675557

1117181812

, 9

4824161010

1 Adjusted for seasonal variation. 2 Weekly average. 3 Grand Rapids district.



Iron and Steel IndustryFOLLOWING the substantial rise in Decemberoccasioned by heavy deliveries against contractsexpiring in the last quarter, early January advances insteel-mill operations fell short of the usual seasonalimprovement. Scheduled activity was curtailed inthe week ended January 29, with operations droppingto 32.5 percent of capacity, as compared with theJanuary peak of 34.2 reached in the preceding week.Production during the month, according to the weeklyestimates, was below the December level. Supportcontinues to come primarily from miscellaneoussources. Placements during January by industriesusually supplying the bulk of support to the industrycontinued relatively small. Delays in new modelproduction adversely influenced the volume of ordersfrom the automobile manufacturers. Railroad andpublic-utility specifications likewise have been slowin developing.

The increase in steel-ingot production duringDecember, amounting to 18 percent, was the first tooccur in that month since 1927, and not since 1928has the tonnage of pig iron increased in this period.The stepping up of schedules was reflected in the 30percent increase in the Federal Reserve Board'sadjusted index of production. As a result of thepressure for deliveries before the new quarter's higherprices became effective, shipments continued heavythroughout December. The increase over Novemberin the tonnage of finished products shipped by theUnited States Steel Corporation amounted to 40percent. The smaller relative advance reported in

steel-ingot production indicated a considerable por-tion of the deliveries represented a withdrawal fromstocks on hand.

Practically all branches of the iron and steel industrymade notable progress in 1933. While the percentageincreases over the record low levels of 1932 made animpressive showing, a comparison of activity with thehigh levels of 1929, and even the initial depressionyear of 1930, indicates that operations in 1933 werestill at a relatively low point. Production during theyear was at 55 percent of the 1923-25 average level.Export markets absorbed over twice the tonnage ofiron and steel shipped in the preceding year. Thenumber employed by the industry averaged 10 percenthigher in 1933 than in 1932, and the amount paid outin wages increased 30 percent. Employment and payrolls in December were approximately 8 and 6 percenthigher, respectively, than during last July, notwith-standing the sharp drop in productive activity duringthe intervening months.

Among the miscellaneous sources which have con-tributed to recent tonnage have been the implement,hardware, and certain sections of the machinery in-dustries. Activity in the machine tool industry, forexample, has picked up to a marked extent in recentmonths, partly as a result of export orders. Accord-ing to the data collected by the National MachineTool Builders7 Association, new orders in Decemberwere the largest since September 1930. A little morethan half of the new business reported for the monthwas for foreign shipment.

IRON AND STEEL STATISTICS

Year and month

1931: December _ . _1932: December1933:

JanuaryFebruary _ _ _ _MarchAprilMavJuneJuly ..A ugustSeptember _ _ . .OctoberNovemberDecember -

Monthly average:1929193019311932 _ _ _1933

General operations

Produc-tion,ad-justed i

Em-ploy-ment,

ad-justed i

Payrolls,

unad-justed

Monthly average,1923-25=100

4228303122354972

100806661

* 4761

13094603155

65.452.850.651,448.350.052.558.166.373.274.773.672.071.498.987.171.756.061,8

41.024.222.724.722.424.429.5 I36.242.452.749.049.344.444.8

106.084.455.428.436.9

Iron andsteel

Ex-ports

Im-ports

Pig iron

Pro-duc-tion

Thousands of longtons

5754576481

100123103

1 88i 119

1091651581852531658150

, 113

26292220222826345347564729316245353235

980546569554542624887

1,2651,7921, 8331,5221,3561,0851,1833,5242,6171,523

7241,101

Fur-naces

Inblast

Num-ber

5642454538486390

1069889797675

203148885271

Stee! ingots

Pro-duc-tion

Thou 'sands

of longtons1,301

8611,0301,087

9101, 3632, 0022,5983,2042,9012,3132,1121,5411,8204,5263,2742,0991,1101,907

Per-cent

ofca-pac-ity

24151821162534485949413727338963382034

Steel sheets 2

Newor-ders

Ship-ments

Thousands ofshort tons

10077

768183

1191442471741591457988

11031722315088

125

10367797375

10011915317417416417599in

32121815891

125 i

UnitedStatesSteel

Corpo-ration,finished,prod-ucts,ship-

ments

Longtons

351, 211227, 576285, 138275, 929256, 793335, 321455, 302603. 937701, 322668, 155575, 161572, 897430, 358600,639

968, 691639, 729331, 172480, 079

Prices

Ironandsteel,com-posite

Steelbillets,Besse-mer(Pitts-

burgh)

Steelscrap(Chi-cago)

Dollars per long ton

30.3228.9328.6928.3128 3528.1628 4528.7329 8130 0131 3031.5931.5932.4336.4933. 5631.1629.4629. 79

28.8026.0026.0026. 0026.0026.0026.0026. 0026.0026.0026. 0026.0026.0036.0034.6631.8429.3626. 52 '26. 00

7.805.255.255.255.256.008.458 91

10. 4110.459.849.338.568.94

14.7912.068.896. 258.05

Finishedsteel,com-posite

Dollarsper 100pounds

2.162.142.122.102.102.062.082.092.172.172.202.262.262.312.542.322.202.152.16

1 Adjusted for seasonal variation. 9

Black, blue, galvanized, and full finished.



Text i le I n d u s t r yREFLECTING the general curtailment of activityfor the purpose of reducing stocks and thusbringing supply into closer relationship with demand,the December statistics record a sharp drop in outputin all branches of the textile industry. Certain restric-tions placed into effect by the code authorities alsoapplied to January operations; however, there was asharp pick-up in the cotton goods industry. Theadjusted index of production for December dropped12 percent, to 78 percent of the 1923-25 average, thelowest figure since last March.

Despite the gradual lowering of textile mill opera-tions in the latter half of the year, most branches ofthe industry made distinct progress as compared with1932. The silk industry failed to improve during theyear, due to the further contraction in demand, andDecember silk mill operations continued at an extreme-ly low level. Raw silk deliveries to mills were sub-stantially lower than in December 1932, while stocks offinished goods mounted to a point that necessitatedthe 25-percent cut in machine activity ordered by thecode authority in December. Raw silk prices havetended to reflect the lack of demand and, following thesharp rise in June and July, dropped rather steadilyuntil by December they were substantially below thelevel of a year ago. The cotton, wool, and rayonindustries recorded extensive improvement during theyear as a result of greater demands and an improvedprice trend.

While cotton consumption in December dropped tothe lowest figure since July 1932, the total for the yearwas the largest since 1929 and was nearly one fourthin excess of the total for 1932. Spindle activitydropped to 74 percent of capacity in December on asingle shift basis compared with 96 in November and apeak of 129 in June. The reduction in operations wasfairly uniform in the New England States and thecotton growing States, with the average spindle hoursper spindle in place dropping 25 percent for all regions.Weaving and finishing operations were also curtailedduring the month.

Wool manufacturing activity followed the generaltrend of the industry, with the operations of all classesof machinery sharply lowered. Combing operationswere reduced by 26 percent, and while spinning activ-ity was not reduced to the same extent the active hoursof operation were much less than in November, andwere generally lower than in December 1932. Woolconsumption was the smallest since April, and was8 percent below the level of a year ago.

Silk mill activity fell off in December, and thegeneral curtailment of production ordered on Decem-ber 22 was effective for 30 days. Raw silk deliveriesto mills were the smallest for any month since themiddle of 1924, and for the year were 15 percent lowerthan in 1932. Total deliveries last year were also thesmallest for any year since 1924. Activity in rayonmills was reduced in line with the general movement.

TEXTILE STATISTICS

Tear and Month


January.. _.FebruaryMarch _ _AprilMayJune -JulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember

Monthly average:19291930193119321933 .

Prod

uctio

n in

dex,

ad-

justed

t

Month-ly av-erage,

1923-25=100

8891

87837685

108133130114999189

,7811591948398

Cotton,raw

Mill

consu

mp-

tion

Run-ningbales

415, 401440, 439470, 182441, 203495, 183470, 359620, 561697, 261600, 641588, 570499, 486503, 873475, 368348, 393587, 491448, 149453, 655418, 084517, 590

Cotton and manufactures

Spin

dle activ

ity,

tota

l

Mil-lions ofspindlehours5,9576,3866,7916,2867,0506,5708,3299,2998,1287,9427, 0587,2616, 7965,0958,3256,3906,4845, 8557,217

Cotton clothfinishing

Prod

uc-

tion

Sto

cks,

end

of

mo

nth

Thousands ofyards

55, 79179, 17588, 30093, 77395, 74674, 46388, 278

100. 47990, 10675, 32957, 47171, 66964, 334

75, 20259, 25267, 90468, 504

76, 98181, 933HO. 09782. 27280. 44680. 7fi581 74075, 39572, 90982, 94392. 301

103,371103, 574

83, 07874, 77473, 27374, 117

Who

lesa

le pr

ice,

cott

on go

ods


10056.451.750.149.150 050.757.967.180.293.591.388.886.085.598.884.766.154.071. 2

Wool

Con

sum

ptio

n

*

Thou-sands ofpounds

31, 62536, 53235, 51033. 27824. 94328. 7014fi. 89858, 68857, 37755. 69450, 46751,03743, 46633, 57048, 79735, 84242, 81232, 12743, 302

Wool manufactures

Spinningspindles

Woo

len

Wor

sted

Looms

Nar

row

1Percent of active hours

to total reported

39555960425377

10010899826863547856575072

4857565732357292968369

604667546250B4

2533

363628294653545148413927

6141382741

44585968434266879787736264576448565067

Wh

ole

sale

pr

ice,

woole

n an

d w

ors

ted

good

s


10063.954.253.453.253.253.361.568.872.378.982.784.584.4.84.388.379.068.257.769.3

Silk

Deli

verie

s to

m

ills

Bales of133

pounds

48, 43240, 54846, 20432, 66538, 93441, 91047, 15153, 62744,59742, 85231, 18528,52134, 82226, 95951, 64648, 51949,57446, 15239, 119

Operations, machin-ery activity

Bro

ad

loom

s

Nar

row

loom

s

Spin

ning

spin

dies

Percent of active hoursto total

89.483.289.780.656.659.275.474.882.9

100.392.186.667.0

41.834.2

37.236.836.342.246.053.053.2

64.448.842.542.1

51.755.556.848,938.249.852.362.878.4

65.363.552.346.5

Who

lesa

le pr

ice,

raw

, Ja

pane

se,

13-1

5(New

York)

Dollarsper

pound1.9701.5501.3051.2011.1821.3241.5862.1552.2731.8811.889L6471.4651.4164.9333.4152.4011.5611.610

1 Adjusted for seasonal variation* 2 Printed only (mill and outside). 3 Grease equivalent.



The National Income, 1929-32OUR economic system carries on two types ofprocesses at the same time. It produces com-modities and services of utility to consumers, and itdistributes incomes to those contributing to the pro-ductive processes. These incomes form the purchas-ing power with which the products are acquired.Thus the flow of economic goods and of incomes goeson continuously. The measurement of these twoactivities, either the total of goods and services pro-duced, or of incomes distributed, is called the nationalincome. In periods of relative stability, the measure-ments on the two bases are approximately equal, butin times of considerable fluctuation in economic activ-ity, they may be quite dissimilar.

National Income, Paid Out and Produced

Item

Income paid out __ .Business savings or losses....Income producedU.S. Bureau of Labor Statis-

tics cost of living indexU.S. Bureau of Labor Statis-

tics wholesale price index

Millions of dollars

1929

81,0401,998

83, 037

1930

75, 438-4, 95570, 484

1931,

63, 289-8, 63954,652

1932

48, 952-10, 603

38.349

( i _

Percentages of1929

1930

93.1

84.9

97.4

90.7

1931

78.1

65.8

88.9

76.6

1932

60.4

46.2

80.4

68.0

NOTE.Subject to minor corrections.

The detailed measurement of the national incomeover a period of time provides an indication of thefunctioning and development of the economic system.When studied in detail, the estimate indicates not onlythe general trend, but shifts as among the various in-dustries and the comparative payments made by in-dustry for the different types of productive effort andfacilities utilized.

During the past few years, the United States incommon with most other countries has experienced amarked recession of business activity from the hightide of 1929. Consequently, estimates of the final net

National Income Paid Out, By Types of Payments

Item

Salaries (selected industries) i_Wages (same as in line 1) *Salaries and wages (all other

industries) -Total labor income 2 _DividendsInterest _ ._ _Total property income 3Net rents and royalties -Entrepreneurial withdrawalsTotal entrepreneurial income. _Total income paid out

Millions of dollars

1929

5,70217, 180

29, 12952, 8675,9635,687

12, 2153,835

12, 12115, 95681, 040

1930

5,66014, 209

27, 90248, 6885,7955,826

12, 2383,237

11, 27514,51275,438

1931

4,73810, 541

24,75941,0274,3115,662

10,5082,4949,259

11, 75363, 289

1932

3, 3826,839

20, 36731,5952,5905,5068,4891,6917,1818,872

48, 952

Percentages of1929

1930

99.382.7

95.892.197.2

102.4100.284.293.091.093.1

1931

83.161.4

85.077.672.399.686.065.076.473.778.1

1932

59.339.8

69.959.843.496.869.544.159.255.660.4

1 Include mining, manufacturing, construction, steam railroads, Pullman, railwayexpress, and water transportation.

2 Includes also employees' pensions and compensation for injury.3 Includes also net balance of international flow of property incomes.Note.Subject to minor corrections.

3496934 3

product of industry in the form of income have becomeof special importance as an indication of the extent ofthe contraction and its impact upon the various indus-tries and occupations and upon the different factors ofproduction.

The total income distributed to individuals, accord-ing to a recent study1 amounted in 1929 to 81 billiondollars. By 1932 this had declined to 49 billions, adrop of 40 percent. The total income produced interms of goods and services amounted to about 83billion dollars in 1929 and declined drastically to 39billion dollars, about 54 percent in the 4-year period.

The estimates of income produced and, therefore, thenet differences between this item and the amount dis-tributed by economic enterprises, are subject to aconsiderably larger margin of error than the data forincome paid out. However, some significant conclu-sions are tentatively indicated by these estimates. In1929 the difference between the flow of production and

Income Paid Out, by Industrial Divisions

Item

Agriculture. -.Mining ._Electric light and power and

gas _ManufacturingConstructionTransportation _. _ .C ommunicationsTrade .FinanceGovernmentServiceMiscellaneousTotal

Millions of dollars

1929

6,3612,1231,306

18, 1573,1356,660

91211, 23810, 0606,4568,6436,288

1930

5,7201,779

1,50316, 1412,8256,202

94310, 4249,2786,7638,1985,913

1931

4,5171,278

1, 46112,4901,8965,236

8879,1037,9486,7926,9594,913

1932

3,459837

1,2168,373

8644,020

7977,3266,1446,7975,4343,804

Percentages of1929

1930

90.083.8

115.188.990.193.1

103.492.892.2

104.894.994.093.1

1931

71.060.2

111.968.860.578.697.381.079.0

105.280.578.178.1

1932

54. 839. 4r

93.146.127.660.487.465.261.1

105. 362.960.560. 4r

NOTE,Subject to minor corrections.

the flow of income distributed amounted to nearly 2billion dollars in favor of income produced, indicatingthat this amount was retained by business enterprisesin the form of surplus and additions to assets. Insubsequent years, however, industry paid out into thevarious income streams an amount that was in excessof the net value created under the above definition,By 1932 the amount paid out in excess of the incomeproduced had mounted to over 10 billion dollars. Inother words, in large areas of the economic system,,enterprises paid out in wages, dividends, interest, rents,and the like, more dollars than they received for thegoods and services which they produced. Such with-

1 Prepared for the United States Senate by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic-

Commerce, with the cooperation of the National Bureau of Economic Kesearch,The 1932 data are preliminary. The estimates here presented are, insofar as possible,for the Continental United States. Certain items that might be classified as incomeunder concepts other than those employed by the investigators have been excludedfrom the totals presented, i.e., imputed income from ownership of durable goods(including owned homes), the imputed value of services of housewives and othermembers of the family, earnings from odd jobs, relief and charity, earnings from'illegal pursuits, and changes in value of assets not derived by groups professionallyoccupied in the handling of assets.


18 SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS February 1934drawals represent a draft upon previously accumulatedsurplus and assets and are possibly derived in part fromthe creation of new debt obligations, which would be ineffect a withdrawal currently of anticipated futureincome. For corporations alone the excess paid outamounted to about 7 billion dollars; this was almostthree times the net dividends paid and the majorportion must, therefore, have gone to sustain otherpayments, such as salaries and wages and interest.

There was, even in 1929, a considerable differencebetween the various industries in the extent to whichthey were accumulating reserves or making incomepayments in excess of current income produced. Themanufacturing industry and agriculture led in theaccumulation made in 1929, while finance and miningdistributed net amounts greater than the sums ofincome each produced in that year. In 1932 thegreatest volume of payments in excess of amountsof |income created during the year were made by

BILLIO90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

O

INCOMEBY FORM OF PAYMENT

NS OF DOLLARS

VsTOTAL Pi

0 .^^ ^

o .. -o >

the manufacturing, agricultural, trade, and financeindustries.

The extraordinary extent of the contraction in dis-tributed income in the 3 years subsequent to 1929 canbe only partially accounted for by money value fluctua-tions. When a rough allowance is made for the pricefactor by correcting for the fall in purchasing powerwith the Bureau of Labor Statistics cost-of-living index,the decline to 1932 is found to have been fully a fourth.

The shares in the total income going to labor, entre-preneurs, and property owners are presented in table2. Salaries and wages and other labor income (com-pensation for injuries and pensions) accounted for 65percent of the total in 1929. The "withdrawals ofindividual entrepreneurs" is a term used to cover suchindividuals as farmers, small storekeepers, and the like,who combine in a single person management and labor,and sometimes landlord and capitalist. This sectionof the national income, which cannot segregate the

INCOME BY FORM OF PAYMENTALL INDUSTRIES

NET RENTS & ROYALTIESNET INTERNATIONAL

OTHER SALARIESAND WAGES

WAGES*(Selected Industries]

,. SALARIES *(Selected Industries]

I9Z9 1930 1931

EXCESS PRODUCED

EXCESS WITHDRAWN

10

0

10

20# For /ndusfr/es for which a segregation or sa/ar/'es and w&jes is possible.

D.D.7476 .



return for labor on the part of the individual and thereturn for his investment and enterprise, accountedfor 15 percent. Between 1929 and 1932 both of theseshares declined somewhat as a proportion of the totalpaid out. Interest and dividend payments combinedaccounted for another 15 percent of the total in 1929,while net rents and royalties made up the remaining5 percent. The interest and dividend totals includea correcting item adjusting for the net internationalflow as between the United States and othercountries.

The total movement of income distributed obscuressome very significant differences in trends among thedifferent types of payment. Disbursements in theform of salaries and wages and other labor income de-clined about 40 percent from 1929-32, while pay-ments distributed to property owners in the formof interest and dividends fell off only 30 percent in thisperiod. Entrepreneurial withdrawals declined by about

PERCE120

MO

100

JO

80

TO

6O

5040

0

* For

TREND OF INCOME PAID OUTBY FORM OF PAYMENT

^fr

^v^

__..o

^^ Si,-..^^T^

^

:^S;

, ' '"v

1" -0 INTEREST

^^ft^^ - TOTAL LABOR ^VssJOowf

X _ ENTREPRENEURIAL

'"**^**ROWlTrS &^MomOfNOS

i i - -1989 ' 1930 1931 I93a

the same extent as salaries and wages. The trendin this latter iiem is strongly influenced by the incomeof farmers, who account for over half of all individ-ual entrepreneurs and almost half of total entre-preneurial income.

In the industries for which salaries paid and wagespaid could be separatednamely, manufacturing,mining, construction, and some branches of transpor-tationthere was a greater rate of decline than in thetotal of these items for all industries; but the separatetrends are perhaps representative of the difference inthe behavior of these items, and afford an interestingcomparison. In the 4 years under review, salaries paidin these industries fell off 40 percent, while wages werecurtailed to the extent of 60 percent. Reduction inthe salary item appeared much later in the depressionthan did the decline in wages.

An even more pronounced divergence is noticeablein the movements of dividend and interest payments.Interest, which by nature is a more stable type of claimupon income produced, has recorded a very small

decline, occurring primarily in 1932. Dividend pay-ments, on the other hand, after declining slightly in1930 fell off more rapidly in later years than didsalaries and wages paid.

A considerable portion of the decline in salaries andwages paid since 1929 has been due of course to unem-ployment rather than the reduction of salary andwage rates. In the manufacturing industry, forexample, total salaries and wages paid declined 54percent between 1929 and 1932. Employment inthis industry fell off, however, about 37 percent inthis period, so that the average salary and wagereceived by those still on the industry's pay rollsshowed a decline of only 26 percent.

A study of the comparative declines in net incomeoriginating in, and distributed by, the various indus-tries bears out the observation, already suggested bydata relative to employment and the volume of busi-ness, that the most drastic contraction since 1929has taken place in the producers' or durable goodsindustries. The greatest decline registered took placein the construction industry, in which activity hadalready started to slacken before 1929; income paidout in this industry in 1932 was only 28 percent ofthe 1929 volume. The mining industry, which pro-duces goods mainly for industrial consumption orfurther industrial elaboration, paid out in 1932 only40 percent of the 1929 amount. In manufacturingthe level in 1932 was about 45 percent below that for1929, with the greatest falling off in the heavy goodsbranches. These data compare with a total fallingoff of only 40 percent for all industries combined.

Industries which made a better than averagerecord in the general downward tendency were pri-marily those serving consumers directly, and par-ticularly those whose revenues were of a monopolytype and not subject to the full force of competitiveoperation. The various Government units, whenconsidered as a whole, showed a slight increase inannual income distributed from 1929 to 1932, withan expansion of employment and salaries paid andof bonded indebtedness and interest payments. Theelectric light and power industry, with rather in-flexible rate structures and a relatively stable demand,suffered a loss of only about 5 percent in gross income,and income paid out declined less than 8 percent by1932, after increasing in 1930.

The complete report from which the above dataare taken presents over 200 tables of detailed analysisand will be published as a Senate document. Whenprinted, the study will be available from the Super-intendent of Documents, Government Printing Office,Washington, D.C.


20 SURVEY JOF CURRENT BUSINESS February 1934CANADASALES OF ORDINARY LIFE

INSURANCEl[Thousands of dollars]

SHIPMENTS OF AUTOMOBILE ACCESSORIESAND PARTS1

[January 1925=100]

Month

JanuaryFebruary _ _ _MarchAprilMay__ _ _ _ _JuneJuly _August _ _ _ _SeptemberOctober _ .. -November. __December

Total for year

Monthly average

1929

49, 17246, 43547, 33751, 04449, 88352, 77954, 06640,46142,59050, 26355, 03753, 343

592, 410

49, 368

1930

44, 45243, 33548,40851, 17348, 38153, 65245, 91635, 53538, 53244, 11445, 63348, 529

547, 660

45, 638

1931

40, 76739,89846, 52045, 30240,95445, 86039, 51035, 20229, 77935, 59438, 54146, 385

484, 312

40, 359feftigU.h

1932

36, 99037, 78337, 17933, 41130, 67940, 75734, 31028, 370