.TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW A MONTHLY SUMMARY OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN TEXAS BUREAU OF BUSINESS RESEARCH COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS = Vol. XX, No. 1 February, 1946 ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR TEN CENTS PER COPY Compliments of THE REPUBLIC NATIONAL BANK, DALLAS, TEXAS TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW Published monthly by the Bureau of Business Research, College of Business Administration, The University of Texas, Austin 12, Texas Material contained in this publication is not copyrighted and may be reproduced freely, Acknowledgment of source will be p.ppreci!)ted. .. ' . ' · . · E'ntered as second class matter on May 7, 1928, at the post office', at ·j\u~tin, Texas, ufider the Act of August 24, 1912. , Subscr~ption .$1rQO ;per year J. Anderson Fitzgerald -----------------------------------------------------------------Dean STAFF OF THE BUREAU . OF Bt.JSINESS RESEARCH Robert W. French J ohn R . Stockton Director Statistician F . A. Buechel Elmer H. Johnson Economic Analyst Industrial Geographer Clara H . ·Lewis Helen Woodcock . Editori~l Assistant Secretary Business Research Council J. Anperson Fitzgerald John H . Frederick (ex officio) Transportation and Industry Banking and Insurance E. Karl McGinnis Robert W. French (ex officio) Business Law and Real Estate Everett .G. Smith George W. Stocking ·Maiclieting Economics Aasistants Eyelyn Balagia Mariorie Campbell Loraine Campbell Bess Gunn Dorothy Jo Akridge Kenneth Irwin Doris Coffee Audrey Jackson Bettye Decatur Marjorie Kidd Nellie Dyer Evalyn Limmer Alpha Elam Nora Dell Massey Mrs. Ada Fenlaw Neal McDonald Fay Ferrell Mary McLain Mary Grann Albert Scasta Mrs. Theda Hardwick Meta Ann Scott Ila May Taylor TAHLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Crude Petroleum Production _____________________________________Cover Figures for the Month_____________________ _____________________ _________ 2 The Business Situation in Texas__ ___________________ _____________ 3 Trade Retail Trade ·-·-···········------------­--'-···················-··-··--­5 Wholesale Trade --------····------·­··-······-----'··'·--··-·-·--·-····· 7 Production Manufacturing ········-·····-·-----------··········--·--··-········-­7 Construction ··-·····-----------·-·-···-·--------­-----·······----­----­8 Public Utilities ·-·····-------·­··-···----···--·--·-···-····----­8 Natural Resources -------······-··-·--········-···-··-······-···-·· 9 Agriculture Income -·-····------···············--···-·····-·-·········­·-··-··-········· 9 Prices -··-···-······-···--····-·-----····-···-·-···-·-···-···-·---·····--··· 10 Marketings ···-····-········-···-·······----·--···-·--··-·······--------­10 Livestock lnventori@s -·--···---·-----·····-·····--·------·-······--·· 11 Planning for Cotton in 1946 ···-····-···-­-···--········--·-·· 11 Finance Charters ··-----···----·-··--···--------------····-·-·-·-·-····--·-----­12 Failures ----·······-·-···----·-····-····-····--···--·········-·-----­-···· 12 Credits and Collections ···­····--··-----------······-·-···­··-·­12 Labor Employment ····--··-··---------····--------------------­--·-­12 Pay Rolls ------------­----·-····---·-··-··---·----····-·-·······----·····-·· 14 Indexes for Business Activity in Texas__________________ _______ 15 ANNOUNCEMENT THE DIRECTORY OF TEXAS MANUFACTURERS 1946 EDITION The new Directory of Tezao Manufacturera containing a com­plete list of all manufacturing firms in Texas, indexed by cities and by products, will be ready about April, 1946. This will be the first edition published by the Bureau of Business Research since 1941. Orders are now being received to be invoiced when the directories are shipped. The price is $2.50 per copy postpaid. Since only a limited number of copies will be printed t he Bureau will appreciate receiving orders for the Directory 'as early as possible. FIGURES FOR THE MONTH January December January 1946 1945 1945 (;OMPOSITE INDE~ OF BUSINESS ACTIVITY (1930=100, adj. for · · seasonal variation) ······················································--·-·-····-· 166.1 162.7 220.6 · TRADE *'.Index of ·department store sales (1930=100, adj. for seasonal variation)···-·········-------·-···-·····-­249.2 221.6 223.1 Retail sales of 742 independent stores----··--------------··--····-·--····-··-----------··-····-----·-····-·--·-····--­$18,834,495 $28,849,121 $16,512,367 Ratio of credit sales to net sales in department and apparel stores-----------------------·-·---------------­40.2% 38.9% 39.7% Ratio of collections to outstanding accounts in department and apparel stores---·····--····-·---·--···· 65.6% 68.0% 66.3% P!)stal receipts in 50 cities---·--·-····--·······-----------··-····------------·-···--··-····-··--------------­$2,685,138 $3,460,141 $2,858,892 *Index of misc. carloadings in Southwestern Dist. (1930=100, adj. for seasonal variation)...... 99.8 95.7 141.l PRODUCTION ~Index of manufactur.ing emplo.yment (193CJoclOO) ··-·-··········-----------------------------··------·---­97.6 101.7 14(.7 *Index of manufacturing pay rolls (1930=100) -----··-···-----------------··---··-··--·--------·-------------------­160.9 169.4 285.4 ,' C~~d~ petroJeu.m i;iroduct~O? (daily average, in barrels> ---····························-·······-··-······--------···-· 2,036,850 1,920,650 2,127,750 · Bmldrng permits ·rn 44 c1t1es.-----------------------------------------···----···-------------······-············-·-------$26,248,692 $38,687,102 $3,325,652 *lndex of electric power consumption (1930=100, adj. for seasonal variation) _________~---··-···-···-273.5 · 265.l 311.8 '; *lndex of runs of qrude oil to stills (1930=100, adj. for seasonal variation) ------------···········--·­310.8 276.5 300.7 . Man,ufacture of dairy products (1000 lbs. milk equivalentl ----·······-···--·-------·-·---·---·--···-···-------78,110 51,340 57,308 AGRICULTURE ' Index of agricultural.income (1935-39=100, adj. for seasonal variation) __________________________________ 224.3 234.1 385.5 Shipments ·of livestock (carloads) ---------------------·-··-----·····-····---------------------·-······-,----·-···-·-6,219 7,913 7,324 j FINANCE Domestic'co-rporation charters· issued (number)-·······-··-·-····----------·--··-··-···--···--·-----­.172 131 24 ..., Business..failure&,(Dun arid Bradstreet, number)·····--·--····-·-----------------------····----------1 1 .t:1i~ \.ll 1 '.OJtielUde~+ 15.4 -48.5 Other ··············-······'···········-········-········· 49 + 13.8 -21.7 Shoe stores -----·-··················-···-1-'l.c.<" 15 f"3-7.7 -39.1 WESTERN CROSS TIMBERS (Dis­~ Women's~pecialty shoE_s . ::_ ... ..>.~~·t 25 1GI."+ 1.6 -28.3 trict 3) ···-···-·····-··-····-·--·--········--····--··· 31 ' + 15.8 -32.1 AUTOMOTIVE* -············-·-·--·················· 56 + 33.6 + 24.9 BLACK AND GRAND PRAIRIES Motor vehicle dealers --~-·-·········-···-·-· 52 + 33.0 + 26.3 (District 4) ··-·······-··--····-··-··········-···· 173 + 13.8 -34 .9 COUNTRY GENERAL --················--·· 62 + 3.3 -25.7 Dallas _ ········--·-·-···············-·-···-···-·············· 22 + 26.9 -24.9 DEPARTMENT STORES ··················-47 + 10.3 -49.2 Fort Wovth ····-·-·····-·······----···-················ 23 + 4.6 -44.8 DRUG STORES ·········-·--·····-··-·········-··· 83 + 16.2 -29.0 Waco ···············-···-·············-·-····-············· 24 + 7.4 -36.7 DRY GOODS AND GENERAL MER-Ot her ····--·········--···································-··· 104 + 20.2 -22.7 CHANDISE ·············-······-········--······ 22 +~ -52.0 EAST TEXAS TIMBERED PLAINS FILLING STATIONS ···----····--·--·········. 18 .£llW + 48.9 (District 5) ·-·····················-·-··-··--·-··· 86 + 18.9 -40.6 FLORISTS ·-···················-·-····-·--····---······ 20 + 14.9 -42.2 TRANS-PECOS (District 6) .............. 23 + 4.6 -36.3 3.1 EDWARDS PLATEAU (District 7) .. 41 + 17.1 -41.3 FOOD* ····························-·-·········-·-············ 96 + 18.4 Grocery stores ·-················-·-·-···-·-····-·· 25 + 4.4 -5.9 SOUTHERN TEXAS PRAIRIES \ Grocery and meat stores ···--···--·--·-67 + 21.5 -3.4 (District 8) ·························-·····--····· 136 + 21.6 -35.3 "· FURNITURE AND HOUSEHOLD*_ 49 + 31.7 -13.5 Austin ············-····-··································· 11 + 15.2 -49.4 ' Furniture stores ---·--··-·-··--------·------------47 + 31.4 -13.3 Corpus Christi ···-···················-············· 23 + 14.6 -30.9. JEWELRY ........ ··········-······-·--···-·-···--·· 21 + 33.2 -72.3 San Antonio -····························-··········· 32 + 19.6 ­ 37.9 ' LtTMBER, BUILDING, AND HARD-Other ··········-·····-···-···-··················-········ 70 + 44.6 -8.1 WARE* -·-··-···············---··--······--···----· 133 + 20.4 + 19.5 COASTAL PRAIRIES (Dis trict 9) .... 74 + 3.0 -38.9 Farm implement dealers .................... 15 + + ·······-················-9 -12.2 -40.1 · Hardware stores ·····-········-····-·············· 42 + 22.2 -12.0 Houston ···--····--·--······-········--···-······-······· 28 + 11.6 -43.4 Lumber and building material deal-Other ...................................................... 37 -5.4 -26.1 ers ·······-·····-·-···-···························-···-74 + 19.7 + 33.6 SOUTH TEXAS PLAINS (District RESTAURANTS ····-······-········-········--·· 31 + 16.6 + 5.1 10) ·········-··········-····························-······ 22 + 16.5 -24.7 ALL OTHER STORES -·-······-············· 7 + 31.6 + 0.9 LOWER RIO GRANDE' VALLEY (District 10-A) ................................ 32 + 36.4 -8.6 *Total includes kinds of business other than the classification listed. 25.9 25.2 Beaumont -···················-· artd hardware (19.5%), dealers in automobiles and auto accessories (24.9%), and filling stations (48.9%.) All districts in the State reported larger sales in January this year than a year ago with increases ranging from 3% in the Beaumont-Houston area to 36.4% in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Gains for the several dis­tricts, however, tended to group in a range from 14 to 22%. Small increases were recorded for the Abilene area (9.7%), the Lubbock area (6.2%), and the Trans­Pecos area ( 4.6%), in addition to the Beaumont-Houston area. Because of the seasonal downturn in retail sales all districts showed decreases in January compared with December. Eight of the 12 districts turned in declines of from 32 to 42% for the month. Smaller decreases were reported for the Abilene district (25.8%) , the South Texas Plains district (24.7%), the Amarillo dis­trict ( 15.6% ), and the Lower Rio Grande Valley (8.6%). The largest retail sales gains for January, 1946, over January, 1945, were in Texas cities of less than 2,500 population. There the retail stores did 23.6% more business this past month than they did a year ago. Cities with a population of more than 100,000 registered an increase of 15.1 %. Medium-sized cities reported average advances of 5 to 8% in sales. In the comparison of January, 1946, sales with December, 1945, sales the cities with more than 2,500 people showed decreases of from 37 to 39% on the average. The smaller cities (less than 2,500 population) in the State experienced only a 22.8% decline in sales for the month. RETAIL SALES OF INDEPENDENT STORES ~y SIZE OF CITY Sobrce: Bureau of Business Research in co-operation with the Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce Percent change Number of--------­establish-Jan. 1946 J an. 1946 Size of city ments Jan. 1945 Dec. 1945 Over 100,000 population ---------------------105 + 15.1 -38.9 50,000-100,000 population ---------------------101 + 5.4 -37.1 2,s(i0-50,000 population -------------------------53 + 8.2 -36.9 Le•s than 2,oOO population -------------------483 + 23.6 -22.8 Several significant tendencies have appeared in the credit ratios of Texas department and apparel stores in recent months. The ratio of credit to net sales which began to fall in October and broke sharply in December rose to 40.2% in January. This percentage was frac­tionally higher than the ratio for January, 1945. Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston stores showed somewhat higher ratios than the average for the State. In general it was the larger department stores in Texas that accounted for the rise in this ratio. The ratio of collections to accounts outstanding in department and specialty stores fell slightly in December and then dropped sharply in January to 65.6%. This decline put the ratio for January, 1946, slightly below the ratio of 66.3% for January, 1945. Stores in Bryan, El Paso, and San Antonio exerted a downward pull on the State ratio. Again it was the larger department stores of the State that led the decline. For the third successive month there was a rise in the ratio of credit salaries to sales on credit. The ratio for January, 1946, was 1.7% compared with a ratio of 1.5% for the same month a year ago. There was considerable variation in this ratio among stores in different parts of the State. Dallas department and apparel stores, for example, paid out credit salaries which amounted to only 1.2% of credit sales, while similar stores in Bryan showed a comparable ratio of 2.9%. Women's specialty shops recorded the lowest ratio ( 1.3 % ) on this basis and stores selling dry goods and apparel the highest (2.1%). As usual stores with the smallest volume of business (less than $500,000 in 1943) paid out the largest amount of credit salaries in relation to credit sales. CREDIT RATIOS IN DEPARTMENT AND APPAREL STORES (in percent) Ratio of Ratio of Ratio of credit sales collections to credit salaries to net sales• outstandingt to credit salesi Number------------­of Jan. J an. Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan. Classification stores 1946 1945 1946 1945 1946 1945 ALL STORES -------------55 40.2 39. 7 65.6 66.3 1. 7 . 1.5 STORES GROUPED BY CITIES Austin -------------------------6 37.4 39.1 65.2 65.0 1.9 1.8 Bryan ------------------------3 41.5 43.1 58.7 55.2 2.9 2.4 Corpus Christi -----------4 37.9 38.4 75.1 73.7 2.4 2.7 Dallas -------------------------4 42.4 45.4 69.8 66.4 1.2 1.1 El Paso -------------------3 38.3 37.3 57.8 60.0 1.9 1.5 Fort Worth ---------------4 42.9 41.8 67.1 64.4 1.9 1.4 Houston ------------------5 45.0 43.3 65.6 64.8 1.9 2.1 San Antonio --------------5 86.7 33.6 63.3 67.4 1.8 1.6 Waco -------·--------------------6 46.1 49.4 66.l 68.5 1.4 0.8 Other ---------------------------16 37.6 38.0 73.6 76.7 1.3 1.2 STORES GROUPED BY TYPE OF STORE Department stores (annual sales over $500,000) ---------14 41.6 41. 7 63.8 64.4 1.8 1.5 Department stores (annual sales under $500,000) ----------------10 37.8 38.1 68.6 75.9 1.8 1.5 Dry goods-apparel stores ---------------------4 37.9 33.9 76.4 76.6 2.1 1.9 Women's specialty shops ---------------------14 41.3 · 35.8 69.7 71.0 1.3 1.4 Men's clothing stores 13 32.0 38.2 69.1 65.2 1.6 1.7 STORES GROUPED BY VOLUME OF NET SALES (1943) Over $2,500,000 --------15 42.2 41.1 64.1 65.4 1.6 1.4 $1,000,000-$2,500,000 .. 11 34.5 36.8 73.5 68.6 1.0 0.8 $500,000-$1,000,000 ----14 36.0 35.8 70.9 69.4 1.0 1.0 Less than $500,000 .... 15 33.9 35.3 66.9 59.8 2.6 2.9 *Credit sales divided by net sales. t Collections during the month divided by the total accounts unpaid on the first of the month. +Salaries of the credit department .divided by credit sales. Important changes in retail store operation were also revealed in reports on employment and pay rolls turned m to the Bureau this past month by 388 Texas stores. The number on the pay rolls of these stores was only 3.1% larger in January, 1946, than in the same month of 1945, but the amount of weekly pay roll averaged 18.2% higher. The number on pay rolls in these stores declined 17.4% in January from the previous month but the amount of pay roll decreased only 16.3%. The national index of department store prices for January prepared by Fairchild's publications was almost TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW unchanged from the December index and from the index for January, 1945. Gasoline sales as indicated by taxes collected by the State Comptroller were 129,900,938 gallons in December, 1945. Sales to the Federal Government during the month were 48,210,624 gallons, or 37.l% of the total, according to the reports of motor fuel distributors in the State. Total sales in December, 1945, were 1.3% lower than sales in the previous month and 23.6% above sales in December, 1944. Another common indicator of retail trade and general business activity in Texas is postal receipts. The total receipts of the post offices in 50 Texas cities were 6.1 % POSTAL RECEIPTS Percent change Jan. 1946 J an. 1946 City Jan. 1946 Dee. 1945 Jan. 1945 Jan. 1945 Dec. 1945 TOTAL ................ 2.685,138 3,460,141 2,858,892 -6.1 -21.3 Abilene 30,810 40,820 46,757 -34.1 -24.5 Amarillo --··········· 57,528 78,217 65,047 -11.6 -26.5 Austin ................. . 115,985 144,459 118,172 -1.9 -19.7 Beaumont ----------48,725 69,561 65,426 -12.1 -30.0 Big Spring ......... . 11,681 14,250 16,354 -28.6 -18.0 Brownsville ---------­14,783 15,091 14,166 + 4.4 -2.1 Brownwood --------14,983 27,472 34,759 -56.9 -45.5 7,920 11,731 11,175 -29.1 -32.5 Bryan ············-······ 4,451 9,178 7,464 -40.4 -51.5 Childress ······-······ 5,472 8,722 6,803 -19.6 -37.3 Coleman ............... . 4,415 5,123 5,347 -17.4 -13.8 Corpus Christi ... . 73,913 93,887 80,031 -7.7 -21.3 Corsicana -----------10,566 12,888 12,094 -12.6 -18.0 Dallas ·················-· Cleburne ·-·-········ 665,635 758,925 626,188 + 6.3 -12.3 Del Rio ............... . 5,942 6,456 8,159 -27.2 -8.0 Denison ---------·-----­ 11,064 14,410 12,376 -10.6 -23.2 Denton ................. . 14,229 14,955 17,534 -18.9 -4.9 Edinburg ··-········ 5,913 6,950 6,641 + 4.8 -14.9 El Paso ········-····­ 102,245 132,827 114,732 -10.9 -23.0 Fort Worth ....... . 280,524 332,401 300,130 -6.5 -15.6 Galveston ........... . 53,251 180,657 55,260 -3.6 -70.5 Gladewater ········­5,020 5,632 5,840 -14.1 -10.9 Graham ····-··-······ 4,434 5,024 4,408 + 0.6 .:.... 11.8 Harlingen ----------­16,236 18,633 18,220 -10.9 -12.9 Houston ··············-436,955 558,812 448,109 -2.5 -21.8 Jacksonville ....... . 6,415 6,601 6,425 -0.2 -2.8 Kenedy ····--·-······ 2,247 2,435 2,506 -10.3 -7.7 Kerrvllle ·-··········· 5,054 6,847 4,913 + 2.9 -26.2 Longview ---------­14,937 18,024 17,416 -14.2 -17.1 Lubbock ········-···· 35,708 44,262 44,483 -19.7 -19.3 Lufkin ................. . 7,965 9,819 9,892 -19.5 -18.9 McAllen ............... . 10,000 13,967 10,341 -3.3 -28.4 Marshall 11,263 14,039 13,703 -17.8 -19.8 Midland ............. . 15,867 22,708 15,859 + 0.1 -30.1 Palestine ··-·········· 8,508 10,529 10,152 -16.2 -19.2 Pampa ................. . 10,846 14,128 14,713 -26.3 -23.2 Paris --------------------11,380 16,197 30,372 -62.5 -29.8 Plainview -----------6,799 9,050 7,164 -5.1 -24.9 Port Arthur ....... . 24,719 40,595 31,113 -20.6 -39.1 San Angelo ··-···· 25,001 35,087 28,328 -11.8 -28.8 San Antonio ....... . 263,458 346,111 284,591 -7.4 -23.9 Seguin 5,245 5,734 4,552 + 15.2 ,-8.5 Sherman ............. . 13.395 19,546 15,159 -11.6 -31.5 Snyder ···············-· 19,500 2,941 3,351 +481.9 +563.0 Sweetwater ......! ••• 8,704 14,568 8,379 + 3.9 -40.3 Temple 14,980 23,914 18,568 -19.3 T 37.4 rexarkana -·········· 82,425 39,880 39,883 -18.7 -18.7 Tyler ................... . 25,808 38,152 33,502 -23.0 32.4 -Waco ················-·· 56,320 76,111 62,524 9.9 -26.0 Wichita Falls ..... . 45,914 61,815 50,821 -9.7 -25.7 less in January this year than in the same month a year ago. Only a few cities including Brownsville, Dallas, Graha~, Kerrville, Midland, Seguin, and Snyder, regis· tered mcreases for the 12-month interval. Between December of last year and January of this year the total postal receipts for the same 50 cities fell 21.3% . An increase for January over December was reported by Snyder; the remaining cities without exception reported decreases. Miscellaneous freight carloadings increased 1.1 % in January in comparison with December but since there !s normally a seasonal decline in Jandary the adjusted ~ndex rose 3.2%. In comparison with a year ago the mdex of miscellaneous freight carloadings declined 29.2 %. Wholesale Trade During January 140 Texas wholesalers reported a 1.9% increase in employment over January, 1945. The amount paid out by these same wholesalers in pay rolls was 12% more this past January than in the same month of last year. B:tween December, 1945, and January, 1946, there was httle change in either the number on or the amount of pay rolls for Texas wholesalers. Employ­ment declined 0.3% and pay rolls rose 1.9%. PRODUCTION Manufa.cturing _The avera?e weekly production of lumber per unit for mills reportmg to the Southern Pine Association rose 5.3 % in January of this year over December 1945 to bring the January, 1946, production up to 4.3% ~ver January a year ago. Weekly shipments, however, fell 8.1 % from December to January of this year when they were 4.9% under shipments recorded for January, 1945. U~filled orders at the end of January, 1946, were one­thud less than at the same time last year. There was almost no change in the volume of unfilled orders at the close of business this past month and at the end of December. LUMBER PRODUCTION IN SOUTHERN PINE Mll.:LS (in board feet) . ·'· Source: Southern Pine Association Percent chan~e Jan. 1946 Dec. 1945 J an. 1945 Jan. 194~ Jan. 1946 Jan. 1945 Dei:, l9fi Average weekly pro­ '" duction per unit___ 159,689 151,700 153,17~ +u ' +, 6.3"_; Average weekly ship­ments per unit .... 147,054 159,927 : 154',6~4' Average unfilled ,._ 1 ,/, orders per. unit, ~ 1, 1, ;:lJ li i:. end of month ...... 1,044,876 1,043,215 1,,577,775 . .-:jl,8.8 r d· ,O.~ .:, ,, '' l'­ The above data were compiled from reports received by the Southern Pine Association on the activities of pine mills in Texas and other southern states. Tl;e total milk equivalent of dairy products manu­factured in Texas during January was 78,110,000 pounds, or 52.1 % more than the milk equivalent for December, 1945, production. Compared with January, 1945, this past month's dairy production was 36.3% larger in terms of milk. Creamery butter production was off 16.1 % from December to January this year, but ice cream production was up 20.2% and American cheese production was up 17.9%. The production of ice cream during January, 1946, was also 17.7% greater than pro­duction in January, 1945, but 23.6% less butter and 39% less American cheese were produced in this State in the same period. MANUFACTURE OF DAIRY PRODUCTS Percent change Jan. Dec. Jan. Jan. 194& Jan. 1946 Product 1946 1945 1945 Jan. 1945 Dec. 1945 TOTAL MILK EQUIVA­LENT• (1000 lbs. ) __ 78,110 51,340 57,308 +36.3 +52.1 Creamery butter (1000 lbs. ) ................ _ _ _ Ice creamt (1000 gal.) ........ American cheese (1000 lbs.) 1,181 1,425 475 1,408 1,186 403 1,546 1,209 779 -23.6 + 17.7 -39.0 -16.1 + 20.2 +17.9 •Milk equivalent of dairy products was calculated from production data. tincludes sherbets and ices. From the standpoint of employment 560 Texas manu· facturing companies reported 3.4% fewer persons on their pay rolls in January than in the previous month and 3.1% fewer than in January of 1945. Excluded from the latter percentage change were five shipbuilding estab­lishments that suffered a 63.6% decrease in employment from January of last year. Manufacturing pay rolls in general were also down 7.4% for the month and 5.5% for the 12·month comparison excluding the same five shipbuilding concerns. These firms showed a drop of 77% in their average weekly pay roll from January, 1945, to January, 1946. More detailed information on the shifts in employment and pay rolls in various types of Texas manufacturing establishments appears in the table on page 13. Construction Despite strikes and bottlenecks of one sort and another, the construction industry in Texas is enjoying boom times. The value of the building permits issued in 44 Texas cities during January totaled $26,248,692. Com­pared with $3,325,652 in January last year, this figure represented better than a seven-fold increase. Never· theless the value of the building permits issued in Jan· uary of this year was 31.9% lower than the total value of those issued in the preceding month. The only one of the 44 cities to record a smaller dollar volume of building permits this January than in the same month a year ago was Denison. Increases and decreases were fairly well scattered among the various cities of the State in the December, 1945-January, 1946, comparisons, but the decreases in the values of permits issued by Houston and San Antonio brought down the State total for the month. In Houston the value of building permits fell from $17,516,291 in December to $8,085,235 in January; in San Antonio the fall was from $6,841,525 to $2,605,085. It must be remembered that the value of building permits customarily leads the series showing actual con· struction activity and is confined to permits to build within municipal limits. BUILDING PERMITS City J an. 1946 Dec. 1945 Jan. 1945 TOTAL ---------------$26,248,692 $38,687,102 $3,325,652 Abilene 526,415 165,530 12,935 Amarillo -------------------682,163 694,490 151,788 Austin ---------------------­ 1,397,612 1,028,183 164,223 Beaumont 229,270 157,632 74,867 Big Spring .................... 104,910 48,615 21,815 Brownsville -33,605 55,130 14,952 Brownwood 24,000 34,100 2,850 Bryan 146,724 80,120 18,105 Childress 47,125 20,435 13,390 Cleburne --------------44,890 22,933 1,800 Coleman -------------------­ 75,150 14,600 Corpus Christi 751,153 425,336 177,632 Dallas ------------------5,874,439 5,502,254 497,720 Denison ----------------62,587 71,655 130,667 Denton 101,600 574,450 1,861 Edinburg 100,670 62,110 870 El Paso ------------405,756 580,410 100,469 Fort Worth -------------1,155,367 --1,970,305. 361,047 Galveston 156,000 102,933 53,192 Harlingen 132,100 213,150 15,844 Houston ---------------8,065,235 17,516,291 622,503 J acksonville 56,300 7,900 4,150 -----· Kenedy 44,000 2,600 Kerrville 97,525 35,000 15,605 Longview 29,015 45,627 2,275 Lubbock 425,849 1,125,240 146,128 McAllen 156,375 105,730 21,280 Marshall 411 ,741 15,765 43,072 Midland --------------224,200 494,650 32,113 New Br aunfels 27,799 19,821 10.054 Palestine 52,778 50,832 3,270 Pampa 28,600 87,200 25,000 Paris 32,450 18,305 6,920 Plainview 80.000 24,925 11,141 Port Arthur ----------291,906 213,871 26,804 San Antonio 2,605,085 6,841,525 415,979 Seguin 38,350 50,670 1,825 Sherman 72,359 8,935 -·-­ ---------30,089 Sweetwater 74,440 41,000 4,175 Texarkana 89,723 49,689 22,210 Tyler -------------------------256,399 197,092 21,947 V ictoria 13,100 2,450 -----------------49,000 Waco 212,346 37,189 --------------------------140,500 Wichita Falls -------369,390 141,600 24,600 Public Utilities According to reports from nine leading power com­panies in the State of Texas, there was a 4.4% increase in the consumption of electric power from December, 1945, to January, 1946. Industrial use was down slightly (1.6% ) for the month, but this decrease was over· balanced by a 3.9% advance in commercial use and gains of 12% and 17.6% for residential and all other purposes, respectively. January, 1946, consumption was U.2% under the figure reported for January, 1945, however. The 25.2% drop in industrial consumption offset respective increases of 1.7%, 17.1 %, and 3.6% in commercial, residential and other consumption. ELECTRIC POWER CONSUMPTION* Percent change Jan. 1946 Jan. 1946 Use Jan. 1945 Dec. 1945 TOTAL -11.2 + 4.4 Commercial -·----·-­-----··-·-------------·-----------------­ + 1.7 + 3.9 Industrial ---·-----·-·---·---------------··­-------------­------­ -25.2 -1.6 Residential -------------­-------------------------­----­ + 17.1 + 12.0 Other ---------------------------------------------­ + 3.6 +17.6 Prepared from reports of nine electric power companies to the Bureau of Business Research. In the face of these figures it is significant that 155 utility companies in Texas reported a 7.7% rise in employment f~r January, 1946, over the preceding month and a 19.9% mcrease for January, 1946, over January, 1945. An upward trend in pay rolls was also reported by these same companies. The December-to-}anuary advance in average weekly pay rolls was 2.4%, while the January-to-January gain was 28.5%. Natural Resources Crude petroleum production in Texas rose 6.1 % in January over December on a daily average basis, better­ing the national increase of 3.2% almost two to one. Texas production for January, however, was still 4.3 % below daily average production in the same month a year earlier, whereas the nation's daily average production was off only 1.9% . Every producing district in the State shared in the general rise in production during January over De­cember, with the exception of the Panhandle where daily average production in January and December were equal. Percentagewise and in absolute figures Coastal Texas showed the greatest gain for the month. DAILY AVERAGE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PETROLEUM (in barrels) Source: American Petroleum Institute Percent change -Jan. Dec. J an. Jan. 1946 Jan. 1946 District 1946 1945 1945 Jan. 1945 Dec. 1945 UNITED STATES_. 4,626,300 4,484,300 4,715,500 -1.9 + 3.2 TEXAS -----···-----·---2,036,850 1,920,650 2,12_7,750 -4.3 + 6.1 Coastal Texas*---­ 511,800 469,850 552,600 - 7.4 + 8.9 East Central Texas -------------­-­ 142,650 132,800 144,050 - 1.0 + 7.4 East Texas ----·--·­ 320,000 307,000 378,300 -15.4 + 4.2 North Texas -----­ 152,800 149,650 143,150 + 6.7 + 2.1 ' Panhandle ---------­ 81,000 81,000 88,700 - 8.7 0 Southwest Texas__ 338,000 314,550 342,350 - 1.3 + 7.5 West Texas ----­ 490,600 465,800 478,600 + 2.5 + 5.3 •Includes Conroe. Contrary to the over-all State decrease in crude petro­leum production between January, 1945, and January, 1946, the daily average production of crude petroleum went up 2.5% in West Texas and 6.7% in North Texas during this period. Among the several districts the largest decrease in terms of gallons and percentage occurred in the East Texas district. The 44 firms engaged in crude petroleum production and reporting to the Bureau registered a 2.1 % increase in employment from December to January and a 13.5% increase from January of last year to January7 1946. Pay rolls in the industry were up about the same amounts -1.6% period. for the month and 11.4% for the 12-month AGRICULTURE Income The computed cash income from agriculture during January was nearly $58,000,000 compared with approxi­mately $98,000,000 during January, 1945, a drop of nearly 41 %. The decline in cotton ginnings from 362,000 bales during January last year to 33,000 bales during the corresponding month of the current year, together with a similar decline in marketings of cotton­seed accounted for practically all of the drop in income. Since cotton marketings normally are insignificant from February until the opening of the new cotton season in August, year-to-year cash income comparisons for the remainder of the current year are expected to be quite favorable. The decline in the income from cotton and cottonseed is reflected in the State index of income which dropped from 386 in January, 194.S, to 224 in January of the current year. The particularly abrupt drop in the in- FARM CASH INCOME * Indexes, 1935-1939= 100 adjusted for seasonal variatiOn Actual cash income in t housands·of do1la.rs. · District Jan. 1946 Dec. 194J) , Jan. 1945 .J;m. 1946 Jan. i9451· STATE 234.1 385.5 57,756 97,630 ---------·--224.3 1-N --------··------347.6 260.4 375.0 7,477 8,093 1-S --·-----------­---212.4 148.7 637.1 4,052 12,684 2 ------------­--------­222.6 248.9 935.2 4,287 18,498 3 -----------­--­------­178.3 321.5 336.0 2,120 3,955 4 ----------­--.--­-160.9 210.2 ·329.2 6,719 13,402 5 ------------­---­184.1 232.6 400.2 2,483 5,215 6 ---------------------­209.3 286.0 226.6 3,544 3,764 7 --------------­------178.1 240.9 270.4 2,583 3,839 8 ------­----~­207.3 198.5 342.3 4,324 6,918 9 ---------------­--11:i.1 277.6 209.0 4,~40 5,440. 10 ---­---­---­----­-----292.0 502.5 459.1 2,450 3,700 10-A ---------­-----­400.13 433.t 381.4 13,07,7 12,122 *Farm cash income as com~uted by the Bureau understates actual farm cash income by from six ..to ten percent. This Situation results from the fact that means of securing complete local marketings, espe­cially by truck, have not yet been. fully deve!Oped. ·In addition, means have not yet been developed for computing cash it1come from all agri­cultural specialties of local importance in scattered ar~as. This , situa-. fion does not impai·r the accuracy of the indexes. . t Changes made in the January, 1945, index and incon\e figu'res are dtl'e to rice estimates as the actual rTiarketing 1 fi_gl:tres wer~ iiot .available 'a:t the time the report was prepared. ,. · · ' dexes from January last year in the Southern High Plains (district 1) and the Red Beds Plains (district 2) reflects the abnormalJy large percentage of ginnings during Jan­uary, 1945, as a result of labor shortages during the cotton-picking season together with the smaller-than­normal ginnings during January of the current year, resulting from both a very short cotton crop and earlier harvesting. To a le11ser extent the influence of a short cotton crop during the current season and an earlier har­vesting of cotton is reflected in the indexes of income in other districts in which cotton is important. Prices Average farm prices during January showed no radical change from the corresponding month last year except for cabbage, which dropped from $31.00 per ton to $21.50. Cotton lint gained two cents per pound, while cottonseed was down $1.00 per ton from a year ago. For the most part feed crops and livestock registered gains in prices, the increase for grain sorghums being most marked. Moderate gains were registered for grape­fruit, carrots, and spinach, while the increase for oranges was quite sharp. PRICES OF TEXAS FARM PRODUCTS Source: Bureau of Agricultura l Economics, U.S. Department of Airriculture Commodity Unit Jan. 1946 Dec. 1946 Jan. 1945 Cotton.·--·············· lb. $ 0.21 $ 0.21 $ 0.19 Cottonseed.... ---···­ton. 63.79 63.26 64.77 Corn.................... ­ bu. 1.25 1.24 1.22 Grain aorirhuma.... bu. 1.20 1.20 0.86 Oats·-·­-·-·····-·····­ bu. 0.77 0.76 0.79 Rice....·-··-···········-·· bu. 1.86 1.84 1.88 Cattle... ·--······-········ cwt. 11.60 11.32 10.72 Calves_________.......... cwt. 12.76 12.56 11.99 Hoga_______________ cwt. 13.96 14.10 18.61 Sheep_ .................... ­cwt. 7.96 6.96 7.87 WooL------····· lb. 0.38 0.41 0.40 .Mohair---··-·········· lb.Eggs_____________ doz. 0.62 0.41 0.66 0.61 0.60 0.38 Butterfat·-·············· lb. 0.49 0.48 0.49 G'1'Pefrult.-_--······ crate 2.26 2.60 2.20 Oranges.. ---------­-­crate 8.10 3.26 2.66 Beets---­---·-············ crate Cabbaire__ : __________ ton 2.36 21.60 2.26 19.00 2.78 81.00 Carrots -------------­ crate 2.71 2.72 2.85 Spinac'1----·············· bu. 1.11 1.06 0.96 INTERSTATE RECEIPTS OF EGGS BY RAIL AT TEXAS STATIONS" (in carloads) Jan.. 1946 Dec. 1946 Jan. 1945 TOTAL RECEIPTS-SHELL EQUIVALENTt --'-·--·····-····-­18Shell ·:.___________:___________ 10 497 8968 Frozen -----------------------­· 4 21 18 Dried -----------·_:·­·'-----­ 0 0 0 *These data are furnished by railway officials to the Division of Agri­cultural Statistics, Bureau of Airricultural Economics, U.S. Department of Airriculture, · through airents at all stations which originate and receive carload shipments of poultry and eggs. The data are compiled by the Bureau of Business Research. tDried eirgs and frozen eggs are converted to a shell-egg equivalent on the followinir basis: 1 rail-carload of dried eggs=8 carloads of shell eggs and 1 carload of frozen egp=2 carloads of shell egirs. Marketings The sharp drop in cotton ginnings from January a year ago has already been mentioned. Declines also are to be noted in the foilowing table in the forwardings of cattle, calves, hogs, and sheep; but the cash income from these products was welJ maintained since the decline in marketings was largely offset by the increases in prices. Moderate declines also occurred in the marketings of dairy products, poultry, and eggs during the month of January. RAIL SHIPMENTS OF POULTRY AND EGGS "FROM TEXAS STATIONS• (in carloads ) Jan. 1946 Dec. 1945 Jan. 1945 · TOTAL SHIPMENTS Chickens ····················-·······-··············· 20 10 34 Turkeys --·-·····-··-·············-················· 4 152 16 Eggs-Shell equivalentt .................... 154 149 722 Shell ······-······················-·················· 20 3 16 Frozen ···············-····················-······· 7 33 25 Dried ······-······················-·················· 15 10 82 INTRASTATE SHIPMENTSi Chickens ······-··-·····--················-····· 0 0 5 Turkeyg ········-'-··-·-············-····-·· 1 3 2 Eggs-Shell equivalentt ·····-····-······· 7 66 167 Shell ·········-·············-·······-········-····· 7 0 Frozen ····-····-··············-··-···-·····­ 0 13 14 Dried ·················-···-·············---···­ 0 5 17 INTERSTATE SHIPMENTSi Chickens ······-·····················-·············­ 20 IQ 29 Turkeys ··-·-·························-···-········ 3 149 13 Eggs-Shell equivalentt ·········-········· 147 83 556 Shell -·-··············-·-·········--····--·-· 13 3 13 Frozen ·------········-···------------­ 7 ·20 11 Dried ·····-·----------­-------­ 15 6 66 *These data are furnished by railway officials to the Division of Agri­ cultural Statistics, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through agents at a ll stations which originate and receive carload shipments of poultry and eggs. The data are compiled by the Bureau of Business Research. t Dried eggs and frozen eggs are converted to a shell-egg equivalent on the following basis: 1 rail-carload of dried eggs=8 carloads of shell eggs and 1 carload of frozen eggs = 2 carloads of shell eggs. iThe destination above is the first destination as shown by the original waybill. Changes in destination brought about by diversion factors are not shown. More specifically the total shipments of livestock dropped from 7,913 cars in December, 1945, to 6,219 cars in January, 1946, a decrease of 21.4%. This de­cline was almost exactly as large as the drop in the ship­ments of cattle, its principal constituent, and in the ship­ments of sheep. The 39.1 % fall in the shipments of calves was approximately offset by the 37.1 % rise in hog shipments. Compared with January of 1945, shipments of live­stock in the corresponding month of 1946 were off 15.1 %. Cattle shipments for this interval were down only 6.9%, hut shipments of calves, hogs, and sheep declined 28.4%, 26.3% and 45% respectively. Shipments of poultry and eggs reflected different tendencies during the first month of the year. Chicken shipments were up over December, 1945, turkey ship· ments were way down and the shipments of eggs (shell equivalent) were up slightly. TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW Measured against January, 1945, the shipments of chickens, turkeys, and eggs were down considerably. Interstate receipts of eggs by rail at Texas stations fell from 89 cars in January, 1945, to 49 cars in December, 1945, and to 18 cars in January, 1946. Livestock Inventories The number of cattle in Texas on January 1, 1946, totaled 8,058,000 head compared with 7,900,000 head on the corresponding date last year, according to a recent report of the United States Department of Agri· culture. For the entire country there was a decline from 81,909,000 to 79,791,000 head. Inventories of milk cows, hogs, sheep, and goats in Texas as of January 1, 1946, were moderately below those of a year ago, while for the nation at large a decline was registered for milk cows and sheep but an increase for hogs. The figures released by the Department are as follows: Milk cows ----··-···-········· Hogs -························--· Sheep ------------------------­ Texas United States (Thousand head) (Thousand head) 1,641 1,575 27,674 26,785 2,019 1,857 59,759 62,344 10,116 9,868 47,780 44,241 Moderate increases in chickens in Texas (from 33,972,­000 to 34,134,000) and of turkeys (from 856,000 to 959,000) took place between January 1, 1945, and Jan­uary 1, 1946, while the number of horse!! and mules continued the downward trend that has long been under way. For the United States the January 1, 1946, chicken inventory was 525,536,000 compared with 510,939,000 a year earlier. For turkeys on the corresponding dates the inventories were 8,734,000 and 7,323,000, respec· tively. .s·1hrMiNTs ·bF L'lviStacK• U' . •• ,,; .. ·, · .. ' :, 0 • .'' (i~ c~~r~~d~fr• 1~; .; ..M·· ,) f.I :i> ! .r ~: ' J •1·•1,·' :, ..). . ·1.: f .~ · f · -_' A·· 1> .' ~ d.· ~ \;. r't,rc~i,it ~h.a'9_g~,; ~. ·~ J'1m/ .·ne.;r ~-'~! J'an. , J,;,n.: 194:6.\Jan:' l946 ( L -1~,4~ . .! ~~45, 0, "1~.~5,11 ,.)'aii; 1945, .Pec.}~45 ··' TOTAL.. SHIPMEN-TS ____; :6,2!!! Cattle ----------·········:...:.__ 4,641 Calves ------------------­ 698 Hogs ---------·-·······­ 506 ·; Sheep ---·-------------------· 374 INTERSTATE PLUS FORT WORTH _____:__ 5,082 · · 7;9.13· • ~ 'h82.4: :~.;15.f tv --::?!.-•.-•-., 5,924 ., l.~'6:9 . ,< -.L 2i:7.:.• ·, j~:9s~1 ·• 1,146 974 -28.4 -39.1 369 687 -26.3 +37.1 474 679 -45.0 -21.l 6,'522 6,379 . . ---'20.3 " .. .::...22.1 =====================';::=~::;::::: Cattle .............·-~-·-----------8,715 4,784 .4,297 ·'· -13.5 ..:_22.3 .. I · _34j ·· Calves ...........·-··-··--··----···· 557 963 845 , -42.2 3~1 .. 654' ''-27.0 . +36.2 Hogs ····-·····-····-··-··········· 478 Sheep ........____________ _________ 332 424,. ' 588 '-'-43.1 -2l.7 INTRASTATE MINUS FORT WORTH! _______ 1,137 1,3,91 { 945 . ' +20.3 -18.3,_ t============~============ 926 ·1,140 --. -. ( 6S7 .:.-+34.8..: ,......,18:8 .. Calves ---······----·-··-···-···­141 ...lg~ · . , ·129: .• ..+-.9.3 . '. '-23.,0. J. Hogs ----···--------------­Cattle -···---------------------­ 28 18 ' '33 • ~15.2 ..+5'5.6 Sheep ------------·-·······-···· 42 50 96 -56.3' . -16.0' .. •These data are furnished by railway 't>fficials ,to·the .Bureau of Agri­cultural Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through more than 1,500 station agents, representing eve,.Y 'livestock ..shfpping ·point .in. the·' State. The data are compiled by the Bu.reau of Business Research. t Rail-car basis: Cattle, 30 head per car; calves, 60; hogs, 80 ; and sheep, 250. ·· · ·-· .. · ­ tintrastate truck shipments are ,. not .ihcluded. Fort Worth sJ:iipments · are combined with interstate forwardings in order that the bulk of· market disappearance for the month nlay be shown. ... Planning for Cotton in 1946 The dominant factor in the world cotton situation is the demand for cotton goods beyond the capacity of the world to manufacture owing to the destruction of manu­ • ..1, ~· COTTON BALANCE SHEET FOR THE UNITED STATES ,;., , (in thousands of running bales except as noted) ... ' ... " " Carryover Jmporta to Government estimate as of Consumption to Exports to ···, . . '· .. ~ :·! Billance· · as of.,. Year August 1 February 1 December 1l Total February 1 February 1 Totill · Februacy.1 · 1930-1931 ---------­--------------------­ 4,530 30 14,243 18,803 2,460 4,479 _6,939.. 11,864 1931-1932 ----------------------­ 6,369 47 16,918 23,334 2,626 4,957 7,583 .15,751 1932-1933 ---·­-------­-------­- 9,682 59 12,727 22,468 2,812 5,040 7,852 14,616 1938-1934 -------------­ 8,176 68 13,177 21,421 2,923 4,919 " 7:s42· ' °13,579 1934-1935 -----·-­---------­ 7,746 56 9,731 17,533 2,685 2;865 5,550 11,983 1985-1936 --------------­-­ 7,188 56 10,734 17,928 3,014 4;004 7,018 10,910 1986-1937 -------·----------------­ 5,897 72 12,407 17:8.76 -3,435 · S,848 . 7,283' . ··10,598 -·· 1937-1938 ------------------­ 4,498 46 18,746 28,290 . 3',078 8,832' · 6,910 16,380 1938-1939 __.. -­--------­--­11,538 77 12,008 23,618 8,397 2,192 . •• ~,5~9 : •• "18,02~ , 1939-1940 1940-1941 1941-1942 1U42-19'3 1948-1944 --­---------------------­13,033 -······--------·········-­10,596 -----------·······-··-­12,367 -·············-···--··-­10,590 __ _,,________ ........ 10,687 66 . 58 t t t 11,792 12,61iG . 10,976 12,982 12,120 24,891 23,340 23,343 23,572 22,807 4,042; 4,423 5,391 5,626 l>,144 4,170 .654 .793• t . 8,212 ;';r·• ,, · ;., , !~>~J9 5,077 18,26)1. .. 6,1s4 i :,(~9;" 5,621! 17,9:4.4 . -·. · i;,1H:: ... · y· i.1.663 :·. ~--, 1944--1945 1945-1946 ···-·-·-·······-·-····-···· 10,727 ······-·--··-"··----· 11,164 70• 162• 12,359 9,195 23,156 20,52i 4,877 ·uo7· ' ~ -! 850• 5,727 . 17,424 1.~1Jo• ·':· .''·.:·~.~oy -,' ":" ;·:rs,9n·~ · ' •Importa and exports to January 1 only, New York Cotton Exchange. tNot available. !In 600 lb. bales. ., . ­:,-.. - -~ ~ -• :, .., .:,. . ••. " ~ .... ' .~ ,...'"'-..:. ... : -: ... ,:··,).., :l 'L - • • -..... • . : :. 1 ; -; . ..... : . •.·· r ~·:! ' ~·, \ ·.· facturing capacity in 'rnr areas and to the slowness in making plans whereby countries like Italy, Germany, Japan, and China can acquire cotton for the mills they have intact. The important cotton manufasturing countries which produce little or no cotton are Great Britain, Japan, Italy, and some other European countries. These coun­tries even now have over half the cotton spinning spindles of the world. If means can be found speedily to enable these countries to buy cotton, the surplus in the world would soon disappear and contribute greatly toward world rehabilitation in the process. Since the loans contemplated are to be made by the United States, our surplus cotton in relation to demand would be the first to disappear. Judged on the basis of the present balance sheet for American cotton, its rapid consumption and greatly increased exports, the prospects are that the United States carryover August 1 this year will be the smallest since August, 1937. The outlook for cotton as a crop for 1946 needs to be judged in the light of the above facts and also on the basis of a guarantee of non-recourse loans of 90% of parity which alone will make cotton the best paying crop for 1946 on land that promises good yields at low cost. A strong demand for cottonseed and a more abundant labor supply are other factors to be considered. FINANCE Charters A total of 172 new corporations with a capitalization of $6,978,000 was chartered by the Secretary of State during the month of January. This total represented a substantial increase over the last month of 1945 but completely overshadowed the 24 corporations with a capitalization of $531,000 chartered during January a year ago. The principal classification for the new com­panies was merchandisinil. followed at a considerable distance by real estate, building. and manufacturing. Most (51 out of 172) were capitalized at less than $5,000 and only 15 for more than $100.000. Eight foreign corporations were chartered in January. Last year in the same month 20 foreigr. corporations received charters. CORPORATION CHARTERS ISSUED BY CLASS IFICATIONS Source: Secretary of State Classification Jan. 1946 Dec. 1945 Jan. 1945 DOMESTIC CORPORATIONS Capitalization (1000 dollars) -----------­6,972 4,721 531 Number ---------------------------------­ 172 131 24 Banking-finance _____ --------------------­ 8 2 Manufacturing --------------------------------­ 13 15 3 Merchandising ---------------------------------­ 72 36 4 Oil -------------------------------------­ 5 2 4 Public service ----------------------------------­ O 0 1 Real estate buildine; ----------------------------­ 22 23 6 Transportation ~-------·-----------------------------­ 9 8 2 All others ------------------­ 51 39 2 FOREIGN CORPORATIONS Number ----------------8 6 20 CORPORATION CHARTERS ISSUED BY CAPITALIZATION Source : Secretary of State Capitalization J an. 1946 Dec. 1945 Jan. 1945 Over $100,000 -----------------------------------­ 15 12 $5'000--,$100'000 -------------------------------­106 83 16 Less than $5,000 ---------------------------------­ 51 36 8 Failures Only one failure representing liabilities of $5,800 and assets of $4,800 was reported by Dun and Bradstreet for Texas during the first month of 1946. January was the fourth consecutive month in which but one failure was reported for the State. BUSINESS FAILURES Source: Dun and Bradstreet, Inc. Jan. 1946 Dec. 1945 Jan. 1945 Number Liabilit ies• -------------------------------------­5.8 76.6 10.0 Assets* -------------------------------------· 4.8 110.0 9.0 A verage liabilit ies per failure• ___ 5.8 76.6 10.0 *In thousands of dollars. Credits and Collections The retail credit picture as reflected in the credit ratios of department and apparel stores reporting to the Bureau showed several changes during January. There was a rise in the ratio of credit sales to net sales up to 40.2%. The ratio of collections to outstanding accounts ( 65.6%) fell somewhat during the month but remained high. On the other hand the ratio of credit salaries to credit sales has risen in recent months. It was 1. 77o in January of this year as compared with 1.5% a year ago. A more detailed analysis of the retail credit picture both in text and table is presented in the retail trade section. LABOR Employment Employment in tbe 1.443 establi<:hments from which reports were received decreased 4/-(, for January in comparison with December, 1945, while employment in the 561 manufacturing establishments decreased 3.4%. These reports were collected by the Bureau of Business Research in co-operation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, ll.S. Department of Labor, and the percentage changes in employment were computed for identical establishments for the two months. The comparison of employment for January, 1946, with January, 1945, showed an increase of 0.41/'(-for all establishments and a decrease of 3.1% for manufacturing establishments. In a comparison of January with the same month a year ago, five shipbuilding establishments included in the comparison of January with December were omitted. These establishments employed 17,353 persons in Jan· uary, 1945, but showed a decline in January, 1946, of 63.6% due to cutbacks in war contracts. Four govern· TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW ment-owned and contractor-operated ordnance plants that employed 13,889 persons in January, 1945, have ceased operations and were not included in either the compari· son of January with December or with January, 1945. The omission of ordnance and shipbuilding establish­ments shows the change in employment due chiefly to factors other than the cancellation of war contracts. Changes in employment are given separately for 19 industries employing 39,419 persons in January, 1946; the remaining 36,647 employees were not classified by industry. This miscellaneous group registered a decline of 15.2% in employment since January, 1945, and a decline of 7.1 % from December, 1945. Of the 19 in­dustries for which separate reports were tabulated, 14 had increases in employment over January, 1945. The manufacturers of building materials and furniture showed particularly impressive gains in employment. All groups of nonmanufacturing establishments except power laun· dries had increases over a year ago. The changes from December, 1945, revealed consid­erable variation between the various industry groups, although some of these changes were purely seasonal. Retail trade and cotton oil mills are examples of in· dustries with a seasonal decline in employment between December and January. The index of employment in Texas, shown graphically on page 15 of the REVIEW, indicates that employment of production workers in factories in Texas declined from PRELIMINARY COMPARISON OF EMPLOYMENT AND PAY ROLLS IN IDENTICAL ESTABLIS HMENTS Source: Bureau of Business Research in co-operation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Number on Pay roJl* Percent change Amount of weekly pay roll Percent change Number of~~~~~~~~ establish· J an. 1946 J an . 1946 J an . 194& Jan. 1946 Industrial group ments Jan. 1946 Dec. 1945 Jan. 1945 Dec. 1945 .fan. 1946 Dec. 1945 Jan. 1945 Dec. 1945 ALL ESTABLISHMENTS ...................... . 1,443 105,735 110,095 + 0.4t 4.0 $4,337,838 $4,656,449 + 0.11" 6.8 ============================================================== MANUFACTURING ------·············-··-···-··-560 76,066 78,705 3.1 3.4 3,303,684 3,565,943 5.5 7.4 Food products Baki•g ··-···-·····-·········----·--··········---···­ 14 541 564 + 4.0 - 4.1 22,279 24,417 + 9.3 - 8.8 Carbonated beverages ----------------------­ 42 489 522 - 9.'2 - 6.3 15,957J 16,285 1.0 -~ 2.0 Confectionery ----­---------·-····-----· Flour millinll ------------------·----------­Ice cream ----------------­-----------------------­ '-­ 7 14 13 168 1,133 468 . 197 1,1?1 471 -27.0 + 5.6 + 11.4 -+ 14.7 1.1 0.6J 3,689 43,333 14,483 4,289 42,853 14,126 2!5 + 17.1 + 8.8 -14.0 + 1.1 + 2.5 Meat packing ...................................... . 11 3,053 3,049 6.2 + 0.1 124,065 124,775 + 1.2 0.6 Textiles Cotton textile mills ··········-······--·····­ 17 4,887 4,855 + 5.6 + 0.7 155,548 152,941 + 21.6 + 1.7 Men's work clothing ······----·-······-······ 5 603 629 + 10.0 4.1 13,341 13,930 + 7.3 4.2 Forest products ·········-------·····-············-­Furniture -----------­-----------------------------­-­ 377 872 + 18.0 + 1.3 10,928 10,415 + 32.6 + 4.9 Planing mills ····---------····--·--------------­Saw mills ·········---·-·-············-·····---­ 11 8 349 2,074 346 2,090 + 22.9 + 0.6 + 0.9 0.8 13,745 56,053 13,193 57,704 + 30.7 + 6.0 + 4.2 2.9 Paper boxes ·--------------·-······-····-····­ 5 556 607 7.2 8.4 18,386 21,513 - 3.0 - 14.5 Printing and publishing Commercial printing --------------------­Newspaper publishing ·······-··------­ 20 290 725 286 735 + 16.9 + 9.4 + 1.4 1.4 13,909 37,150 12,981 42,129 + 38.6 + 22.3 + 7.1 -11.8 Chemical products Cotton oil mills ·········-·············--­ 38 1,241 1,411 4.7 - 12.0 39,817 44,397 6.8 - 10.3 Petroleum refining -----------------------­ 11 19,190 18,940 + 4.3 + 1.3 1,056,238 1,096,462 + 4.6 3.7 Stone and clay products Brick and tile.·-···--·-···------------­Cement ·····-·---·----·····---------­ 11 8 599 1,185 570 1,142 + 33 .0 + 33.6 + + 5.1 3.8 14,309 43,775 14,621 44,047 + 49.2 + 34.6 2.1 0.6 Iron and steel products Structural and ornamental iron ___ 10 1,491 1,364 + 20.6 + 9.3 64,388 58,944 + 16.8 + 9.2 Unclassified miscellaneous manufacturing ---------------------------­ 270 36,647 39,434 -15.2t 7.1 l,5•!2,291 1,755,921 -25.3"[ -12.2 NONMANUFACTURING Crude petroleum production ................ . 44 2,889 2,83 0 + 13.5 + 2.1 154,555 152,163 + 11. 4 + 1.6 Quarrying --------------·-----------­-----------------­ 16 1,520 1,521 + 1.9 0.1 70,610 75,165 - 1.2 6.1 Public utilities ·····-···-----------­······-·---------· 155 4, 868 4,520 + 19.9 + 7.7 208,382 203,475 + 28.5 + 2.4 Retail trade -·········-········---­---·------·· 388 11 ,103 13,443 + 3.1 - 17. 4 308,529 368,449 + 18.2 -16.3 Wholesale trade ···---·····-----·------· Dyeing and cleaning ----------------------­Hotels ··-····-···-····-----·--···---------­ 140 11 16 3,422 151 1,907 3,434 153 1,930 + 1.9 + 16.2 + 0.2 0.3 1.3 l.2 135,044 4,975 40,547 132,590 4,853 41,595 + 12.0 + 10.6 + 3.8 + 1.9 + 2.5 2.5 Power laundries --------------------------­Miscellaneous nonmanufacturing __ 16 97 838 2,971 808 2,751 -7.7 + 30.3 + + 3.7 8.0 17,126 104,040 16,374 93,388 -3.3 + 37.8 + 4.6 + 11.4 •Does. not include proprietors, firm members, officers of corporations, or other principal executives. Manufacturing employment comprises produc­ . t1on and related workers; nonmanufacturing employment comprises aJJ empJoyees. !Excluding five shipbuilding establishments that •eclined 63.6% In employment and 77.1% in pay rolls from January, 1945. TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 101.7 in December to 97.6 in January. This index indi­cates that employment in Texas manufacturing indus· tries dropped steadily from April, 1945, the last month before V-E Day, to November. November was the first month to show an increase over the preceding month. The greatest decline in one month was in September, which claimed more than half the decline from April to November. The comparison of the index of employment in Texas with the index of wage earners in all manufacturing industries in the United States, prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicates that employment in Texas paralleled that of the country as a whole. For the United States, employment declined from V-E day through October and rose slightly in November, with September showing the greatest decline of any month. The decline during this period was 31.l % for Texas and 22.6% for the United States. Pay Rolls The reports on employment collected by the Bureau of Business Research also give information on the amount of the weekly pay roll for each establi!!hment. The 1,443 establishments reported a decrease of 6.8% in pay rolls in comparison with December, and the 561 manu· facturing establishments reported a decrease of 7.4%. January, 1946, pay rolls of all establishments were 0.1 % greater than for January, 1945, and pay rolls of manu­facturing establishments were 5.5% less than for the same month a year ago. In computing these percentages, the five shipbuilding establishments were not included; their total pay rolls showed a 77.1 % decline from Jan· uary, 1945, to January, 1946. The data on pay rolls are classified for the same industries as for employment. The index of pay rolls for manufacturing establish· ments in Texas is shown on page 15 of the REVIEW on the same chart with the index of employment. This chart reveals the greater decline in pay rolls since V-E Day than in employment. The decline ~topped in October, and November showed a slight rise in both the index of employment and pay rolls. The index of pay rolls of wage earners in all manufacturing industries prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics also declined through October, and more rapidly than the index of employment. TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW