iTEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 

A. Monthly Summary of Business and Economic Conditions in Texas 
BUREAU OF BUSINESS RESEARCH THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 
VOL. XXX. NO. 11 TWENTY CENTS A COPY-TWO DOLLARS A YEAR NOVEMBER 1956 
Everything is just around the corner for 
Texas Metropolitan Shoppers 

Vertical expansion is the downtown keynote. Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, and most major cities are elevator-oriented. But traffic in and out of these skyscraping commercial centers overloads streets, especially where private automobiles are dominant. Parking congestion also follows. 
Horizontal growth came with the automobile. Excessive decentralization, though, shatters the house­wife's dream of one-stop shopping. Strip shopping concentrations along busy streets bring further traffic problems. Solution: planned shopping centers, offering variety of merchandise. 
Self-containment is one goal of planners. Space occupancy is carefully designed in centers. Most big centers have a major department store surrounded by specialized shops and copious peripheral parking areas. Texas examples: Gulfgate in Houston, Harris Center in Dallas, and others. 



Accessibility to consumers is imperative. 
Market analysts plot where metropolitan shoppers 
live, what locations are most easily reached by car 
from the largest number of customers' homes. Near­
ness to expressways, arterial streets is a top consider­
ation. Access lanes must be built. 
Now turn to page 8 for an analysis of how Texans are meeting the new challenge in retailing. 
The Business Situation in Texas 

The index of business activity compiled by the Bureau of Business Research declined in September for the fourth consecutive month. The preliminary value of the index for August (published in the October issue of the Texas Business Review) showed no change from July. But when complete data became available, the index value declined from 161 to 160. The preliminary value for Sep· tember again declined, bringing the latest value of the index to 159. 
The all-time high for the index, 174, was reached in February 1956. The average for the first half of this year was 171, compared with the 160 average for the third quarter. The average for the first nine months of 1956 was 167, while the average for the full year 1955 was 166. Al· though 1956 is still ahead of last year, the margin has be­come very small, and unless the index shows a distinct rise in the fourth quarter, the average level for 1956 will fail to top last year. 
The table below shows the change in the components of 
INDEX 01' TEXAS BUSINESS ACTIVITY AND COMPONENT SERIES (Adjiuted for aeaaonal variation, 19'7-49 =100) 
Sept Aug Percent Index Weight 1956 1956 change 
TEXAS BUSINESS ACTIVITY  
(COMPOSITE)  ................................ 100.0  159•  160*  
Retail sales, deftated ···············-···················  46.8  123•  135*  9  
Industrial electric power consumption......  14.6  316*  291*  +  9  
Miscellaneous freight carloadlngs ............  10.0  97  90  +  8  
Building authorized, deftated ......................  9.4  115•  116•  1  
Crude petroleum production ........... ....... ....  8.1  127•  131*  a  
Ordinary life insurance sales, deftated......  4.2  227  221  +  3  
Crude oil runs to stills ..................................  8.9  142  147  8  
Total electric power consumption..............  8.0  307*  299*  +  3  

•Preliminary. 
the index of business activity during September. The larg· est decline came in retail sales, which also receive8 the heaviest weight in computing the composite index. Crude runs to stills and crude oil production each declined 3%, while building authorized declined only 1 %. The remain· ing four component series registered increases, but a}. though the same number of series rose as declined, the greater weight assigned to the declining series resulted in a net decline in the composite index. 
Analysis of the behavior of the component series in· eluded in the index of business activity in Texas shows that the factors that have held down the 1956 level of buei· ness are building activity and consumer spending for dur· able goods. A further analysis of the data on building shows that residential building has been responsible for the decline in the total; nonresidential building for 1956 to date is above the level reached in 1955. 
Total retail sales for the first nine months, without ad· justment for changes in the price level, were 6% below the average of 1955. Sales of nondurable-goods stores have remained at the same average level in 1956 as in 1955, but durable-goods store sales during the first nine months of 1956 have averaged 15% lower than in 1955. The great· est decline has been reported by automobile dealers, but furniture and appliance stores and building material stores also have registered a decline in volume of business. For each of the last four quarters, sales of durable•goods stores · have been lower than in the preceding quarter. Over this same period, the sales of nondurable-goods stores have shown little variation. The four quarters of 1955 showed practically no deviation from the annual average; the first quarter of 1956 set a record, with the second quarter drop· ping off somewhat and the third quarter recovering almost 
to the level of 1955. 


1940 '41 '42 '43 '44 '45 '46 '47 '48 '49 '50 '51 '52 '53 '54 '55 '56 

It appears that the very high level of consumer income in 1956 has sustained the sales of nondurable-goods stores, but much consumer income has been taken to repay the ex­tremely large volume of instalment credit extended during 1955, particularly for the purchase of automobiles. The decline in durable-goods sales during 1956 is without much doubt related to the overexpansion of sales of dur­able goods last year. 
No change in the prospects for residential building ap­pears likely for the remainder of 1956. The index of resi­dential building compiled by the Bureau of Business Re­search from reports of building permits issued shows that the value of residential building during the first nine months of 1956 was 26% below the level of 1955, with no allowance made for changing building costs. At the same time, the value of nonresidential building increased 15%. The resulting change in the value of all building was a de­cline of 9%, but because of the rise in construction costs this represented a decline of some 13% in the volume of building. 
INDEX OF WHOLESALE PRICES IN THE UNITED STATES (1947-49 = 100) 
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor 
1956*  
Index  Oct 16  Oct 9  Sept 1956  Oct 195l  


ALL COMMODITIES ........ 115.1  115.0  115.3  111.6  
Farm products ..............................  88.4  88.1  90.2  86.8  
Processed foods ............................ 103.4  103.3  104.0  100.2  
All other commodities ··-·············· 123.0  123.0  122.9  119.0  

•Indexes shown a:re weekly and are calculated as a p ercent change for the latest published monthly comprehensive Index. The weekly index ia based on the actual weekly prices of a small sample (approximately 200 commodities) of the commodities included In the monthly index and on the estimated prices for all other commodities. 
Tightened credit continues to be a factor in the building industry. It does not seem entirely correct to state that the shortage of credit is curtailing building activity. Funds are still apparently available but not in sufficient amounts to permit financial agencies to continue the extremely liberal terms that have prevailed in the past. In other words, spec­ulative builders are not able to off er as liberal financing terms for their product, which means that the effective de­mand for housing has contracted. In spite of the high level of consumer income, many consumers already have exten­sive commitments that prevent their buying the houses now being constructed except on extremely liberal credit terms. There is no evidence that industrial, commercial, or pub­lic construction has suffered from the higher interest rates that are being charged. There seems to be good reason to believe that the very low interest rates of the past 20 years will no longer be available, but instead of saying that in· terest rates are now abnormally high, it is easier to de­fend the proposition that interest rates have been abnor­mally low since the early thirties. It seems likely that credit controls will continue to hold the expansion of busi­ness in check, although the gradual inflationary rise in the price level shows no signs of being reversed. 
Crude oil production ( +6%) and crude runs to stills (+8%) show substantial gains for the first nine months of 1956 over the level of last year. However, rising gaso­line stocks carry a warning that the present level of pro­duction may be difficult to maintain. In addition, any change in the Suez crisis might have an immediate effect on the industry in Texas. 
Industrial electric power consumption rose 9% in Sep­tember, after declining for two successive months. For the first nine months of 1956 industrial power consumption was at a rate 12% above the average for 1955. Total elec­tric power consumption was up 10%. The continued in­crease in electric power consumption reflects the expand­ing industrial activity in Texas. This phase of business continues to he the most dynamic segment of the economy and is probably the basic factor in the high level of busi­ness in the state. 
Industrial production in the United States has risen to match the record levels of late last year, as the seasonally adjusted index of industrial production compiled by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System rose from 142 in August to 144 in September. The rise reflected sharp increases in steel production and iron ore mining following the ending of the steel strike. The level reached by the production index represents close to full capacity operation for the industrial eystem. Any substantial in­creases in output will depend upon further expansion of plant capacity. Such expansion has been going on during 1956 at a record rate; the substantial share of this expan­sion that is being built in Texas is responsible for the con­tinued industrial growth of the state. 
The index of bank debits is constructed by the Bureau of Business Research from data collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas for leading Texas cities. It repre­sents the value of business transactions in these cities and serves as a measure of total business activity in the state. It fails to represent the changes in the volume of business activity, in that it is influenced by changes in the level of prices and by the fact that it does not include data meas­uring directly the changes in business outside the 20 cities covered by the Federal Reserve Bank. 
Bank Debits in Texas 
Index· Adjusted for seasonal variation -1947,1949-100 


250 
200 
150 
I 00 
50 
0 
1940 ·41 '42 ·43 ·44 ·45 '46 ·o ·4a ·49 ·so ·s1 ·52 ·53 ·54 ·5s '56 

The index of bank debits declined sharply in September after rising during recent months at a rate considerably above the rise in the index of business activity. The de­cline in September brings the index hack to a level approx­imately equal to the index of business activity, although the average for the nine months of 1956 is approximately 6% above the level of 1955. 
JoHN R. STOCE:TON 

TEXAS 


Editor -------------------------------------------·········John R. Stockton 
Managing Editor .................................... Robert H. Ryan 

CONTENTS 
Texas Metropolitan Shoppers ....................... ... I 
The Business SituaHon in Texas ........................ 2 
Construction -------------·······················-··-······-·--········ 4 
Retail Trade .... ----------------------·-··· ............................ 6 
Industrial Production ............. .................... ............ 11 
Labor Statistics .............. .... .... ............. .. .. ... .. .. . . .. ... 13 
Agriculture ............................................................ 14 

Finance -------------------------------------------------·-··············· 16 Local Business Conditions -----································· 18 Barometers of Texas Business .................................. 24 
BUSINESS RESEARCH COUNCIL 
William R. Spriegel, Dean of the Collece of Business Administra­tion<•= officio); J . W. Cashin; A. F. Etier; J. L. Hazard; Eaatin Nelson ; and G. H. Newlove. 
BUREAU OF BUSINESS RESEARCH 
John R. Stockton Stanley A. Arbingast Florence Escott Direct<w Assistant Director R_,.oh S"peniiaorRuources Specialist 
A. Hamilton Chute Richard C. Henshaw, Jr. Robert H. Ryan 
Retailing Specialist Statistician Ruearoh Aaaooiate 
Anne K. Schuler Marjorie T. Cornwell Jo Overstreet 
Research ASBooiate Administrative Clerk Seniot' Cle.-k 
Tina Piedrahita Sylva M. Bowlby J amea H. Keahey 
S tatistica.l Assiatant Research Assistant Editoria.l Assistant 
Judy Vaughan Jean J. Harrison Roberta Steele 
Senior Secreto.111 S61lior Secreta1'11 Cartographer 
Beatrice Friedman Calvin Jayroe Grace H. Cashat 
Statiatfoal Tech"icia" Offset Pf'eea OJ1erat<w Libra1'11 Auiltant 

Assistants 
Charles R. Akin, Jr., Pierce Arthur, Jr., Alice K. Bairhdasaarfan, Clifford McCormick, Jr., Marsha A. Murray, Candia Pattillo, Marie Payne, and Clyde R. Williams. 
·Published monthly by the Bureau of Business Research, College of Business Administration, The University of Texas, Austin 12. Entered as second class matter May 7, 1928 at the poat office at Austin, Texas, under the act of August 24, 1912. Content of thia publi­cation Is not copyrighted and may be reproduced freely. Acknowledire­ment of soYrce will be appreciated. Su~criptlon, $2.00 a yaar;
individual copies. 20 cent.a. 

CONSTRUCTION Lag in Housing 
The dip in bullding construction authorized during September in Texas brought the level 1 % below August 195'? and 5~ below September 1955 .. ~otal building au· thonzed durmg September was $73 million, and the Janu­ary-September value totalled $719 million. After adjust· ment for seasonal variation, the first nine months of 1956 slipped 11 % below the total recorded in the same peri~ of 1955 but was 6% better than the nine-month total for 1954. 
·euilding Construction in Texas 
Index· Adjusted for seasonal variation -1947-1949•100 
300 
2'° 
200 
1940 ·41 ·42 ·43 ·44 ·45 '46 ·47 ·4e ·49 ·so ·s1 ·52 ·53 ·s4 ·55 "'6 

Lagging residential building registered its lowest monthly total in September ($31 million) since January 1954. This decline, many authorities say, is caused by the increasingly pinched relationship between low down pay· ment and interest rates, long-term repayment, and increas· ing building costs. Some builders are allegedly obliged to shift from the FHA-insured and VA-guaranteed homes that most modest-income families purchase to more expensive, conventionally financed houses. Result: fewer houses for fewer buyers. 
Strong gains in nonresidential buUding authorized during September brought the monthly total in that cate­gory to $35 million, a jump of 48% over weak August Since 1942 only 13 months have topped the $35 mOlion September level in nonresidential building: December 1945; August, November, and December 1950; January 1951; April 1952; June and September 1953; September and October 1954; March 1955; and January and Sep· tember 1956. The highest monthly total was registered in December 1950, when total nonresidential building reached an estimated $62 million. 
Construction employment rose in September follow· ing the return of some workers who had been unemployed because of disputes, the Texas Employment Commission reports. Others, however, were still out. The construction business is now coming to the time of year when jobs on 
VALUE OF CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS AW.A.RDKD 
Source: Dodire Statistical Re9earch Servlc. 
Sept Aug ,Jan.Sept Classiftcation 1966 1956 
TOTAL CONSTRUCTION ........ 131,496  140,702  1,326,635  
ALL BUILDING ---······-····­-108,871 Residential building ...................... 48.094  102,640 68,847  1,069,708 676,789  
Nonresidential building ................  60,277  44,293  488,964  
PUBLIC WORKS AND  
UTILITIES  O• • • • • -OHO•••OO H•• • • •  28,126  88,062  166,982  


completed projects may not be matched by those on new starts. Receipt of government contracts has been fairly brisk to date, and the 1956 award total ($64.3 million at the end of August) has been about on a par with 1955. 
The achool boom continues to stimulate Texas build­ing. Educational structures authorized since January total $79 million in value, an 80% increase over January-Sep· tember 1955. Authorizations during September included five educational buildings at Fort Worth ($1.69 million) , three at Waco ($1.66 million), three at Houston ($1.32 million) , and two at Dallas ($1.20 million). Smaller cities authorizing large projects were Canyon (two permits for $974,000 plus plans for $1.3 million to be spent for two dormitories and a cafeteria), Sherman (two buildings for $900,000) , Denton (one for $750,000) , Monahans (four for $602,280), and Crane (six buildings for $600,000). At Beaumont, Lamar State College of Technology will be­gin work soon on a new $700,000 men's gymnasium. At Ozona, the Crockett County School District expects to complete 18 teachers' cottages, costing $144,000, by early November. A $3.91 million bond proposal has been ap­proved in the Port Neches School District to launch a pro· gram for a new junior high school in Groves, another in Port Neches, and elementary schools in both cities. 
A new School of Aviation Medicine is to be built at 

Brooks Air Force Base, San Antonio, under an $8 million 
appropriation. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers has 
called for bids to be issued November 15 on the first phase 
of the project. The first two buildings will house classrooms 
and a flight medicine laboratory. A research institute and 
altitude laboratory, to be built later, will complete the 
initial phase of the project. 
Oflice and bank building authorization& are run· 

ning 71 % ahead of the first nine months of 1955. Septem­
ber 1956 registered a $3.58 million total, 97% over 
August. During September, Houston authorized $1.37 mil­
lion worth of offices; Amarillo, $24 7 ,000; and Fort Worth, 
$195,700. Work is in progress in Dallas on the Exchange 
Bank Building, Braniff Building, Southland Center, Dallas 
Federal Savings and Loan Association, Mercantile-Dallas 
Building, Texas Bank Motor Building, First National 
Motor Bank, and many other smaller projects representing 
well over $50 million worth of construction. 
Factoriea and workahopa recorded the third largest 

categorical increase in nonresidential building from Janu· 
ary-September 1955 to the same months this year ( +44%). 
Total value of factories and workshops authorized in Sep· 
temher was almost $4 million, compared with $1.7 mil­
lion in August. Possible construction of a $34 million re· 
search and development center for the Houston area was 
announced in late September. Also planning a $50 million 
building program in Houston are two Dresser Industries' 
ESTIMATED VALUE OF BUILDING AUTHORIZED 
8ouree: Bureau of Buslneea Reaearch In ceoperation with t he Bureau 
of Labor Statlatlca, U. S. Department of Labor 

January-September Type and Sept Percent 
location 1956• 1956 1955 change 

CONSTRUCTION CLASS Thousands of dollars TOTAL CONSTRUCTION .... 72,975 718,652 810,909 -11 
New  construction  ........................... .  65,442  638,249  730,655  -13  
Residential buildings ................... .  30,789  359,900  490,881  -27  
Housekeeping dwellings ......... .  30,729  356,530  484,531  -26  
One-family dwellings  ......... .  29,791  337,640  465,286  -26  
Multiple-family  dwellings... .  938  18 ,890  19,245  - 2  
Nonhousekeeping buildings ... . N on residential buildings ........... .  60 34,653  3,370 278,349  6,349 239,774  -47 + 16  
Additions, altera tions, and repairs ..................................... ..  7,533  80,403  80,254  ••  
ME T ROPOLIT AN vs. N ON·  
METROP OLITANt  
TOTAL CONSTRUCTION  72,975  71 8,652  810,909  -11  

Total metropolitan  ..........................  53,614  536,266  610,672  -12  
Central cities ......................... ........  47,847  461 ,687  506,511  - 9  
Outside central cities ..................  5,767  74,579  104,161  -28  
Total nonmetropolitan ....................  19,361  182,386  200,237  - 9  
10,000 to 50,000 population..........  13,830  131,029  127,785  + 3  
L ess than 10,000 population........  5,531  51,357  72,452  -29  

Only building for which permits were issued within the incorporated ar ea of a city is included. Federal contracts and public housings are not Included. 
•Preliminar y. 
tAs defined in the 1950 Census. 
••Change is less than one-half of one percent. 

subsidiaries, Southwestern Industrial Electronics Com­pany and Lane-Wells Company. 
Average per capita building construction in 332 Texas cities amounted to $16.52 during September, down 3% from August and 4% from September 1955. Of the six major areas, Austin ranked first with $39.66 per capita. The Dallas area alone showed $24.83. The combined Dal­las-Fort Worth area, with 34 cities, reported $21.55. Hous· ton and 18 satellite cities showed $18.96 per capita; the Fort Worth area, with 15 cities, $16.06; the El Paso area, $14.38; and the San Antonio area, $9.74. 
North Richland Hills reported the top per capita build­ing level in the state, $1,145.00. Ranked in descending order were Crane ( $285.05), Piney Point Village ($280.00), Richardson ($277.71), Groves ($235.85), Canyon ($235.79), Farmers Branch ($213.11), Lake Jackson ($193.30) , Richland Hills ($175.00), Irving ($173.98), DeSoto ($157.72), Castle Hills ($135.61), Mesquite ($115.57), Spring Valley ($115.00), Robinson ($108.33), Monahans ($104.58), Euless ($104.00), and Mathis ($102.96) . 
Jo OVERSTREET 

Texas Industrial Expansion 
July-September 1956 A quarterly supplement to the Directory of Texas Manufacturers prepared by Stanley A. Arbingast, Assistant Director Ray Akin, Jr., Library Assistant 
Projects announced during t he quarter are listed with data on cost, employment, products. Mailing charge, fifty cents a year. 
RETAIL TRADE 

Survey of Texas Trade 
Reporting by cities, 316 Texas department and apparel stores slipped 1 %from August and 3 %from last Septem­ber but held a nominal 1 % lead for the nin~ months over January-September 1955. Of the 34 cities, 21 topped Au­gust, and 12 bettered both last September and the nine­month average. Best increases over August were at Breck­enridge ( +31 % ) , Plainview ( +30%), Paris (+27%), Temple ( +25%), and Denison (+23%). Big Spring, Brownwood, Corsicana, Greenville, and Sherman each rose 15% to 18%. Leaders in topping last September were Breckenridge (+ 18%), Galveston (+ 14%), El Paso 
(+9%). Beaumont, Big Spring, Corpus Christi, Marshall, Sherman, and Waco showed gains ranging from 5% to 8%. For the nine months through September, sales im­proved i? McAllen (+ 10%) ; Galveston (+9%) ; and Breckenridge, El Paso, and Henderson (each +4%). 
Among the 30 cities reporting enough retailers of var­ious types to be listed individually, only three topped Au­gust: Bryan (+16%) and Paris and San Angelo (each +3% ) . Three cities also bettered last September: San Angelo (+9%), Bryan (+8%), and Corpus Christi( + 1% ) . Likewise, three were ahead for J anuary-Septem­ber: San Angelo ( +6%) and El Paso and Paris (each +1%). 
In view of this situation, it may be noted that an un­favorable overall city average may mask favorable show­ings for particular lines. For example, El Paso (-13%) with September automobile sales off 32% showed gain~ in department and apparel stores (+9%'), drug stores ( + 12%), and lumber and building material dealers (+8%). Galveston (-7%), with furniture sales down 11%, reported increases for department and apparel stores ( + 14%), lumber and building material dealers ( +10%), and food stores ( +6%). (See pp. 19, 20.) 
Secondary trade indicator. Advertising linage in 26 
Texas newspapers averaged slightly under August and 6% 
below last September. Seven papers topped August, and 
three bettered last September. 
RETAIL SALES TRENDS BY KINDS OF BUSINESS 
Source: Bureau of Businese Reeearch in cooperation with the Bureau of 
the Census, U . S. Department of Commerce ESTIMATES OF TOTAL RETAIL SALES 
Percent change  
Number of  
reporting establish- Sept 1956 f rom  Sept 1956 from  J an-Sept 1956 from  
Group  ments  Aug 1956  Sept 1955  Jan-Sept 1955  

DURABLE GOODS  
Autom otive st ores ..............  293  - 16  -28  -21  
Furniture and household  
appliance stores -----··­ 163  - 15  -13  - 7  
Lumber, building material,  
and hardware stores........  328  - 8  -15  -12  
NONDURABLE GOODS  
Apparel stores  ·-------­ 228  +  2  + 16  + 17  
Drug  stores  ··-··-·--­ 163  1  + 7  + 10  
Eating and drinking p laces  107  4  + 5  5  
Food stores  .....  292  - 7  
Gasoline and service  
stations  .  942  9  4  + 9  
General mercha n dise stores  213  3  7  - 4  
Other r etail stor es .......  199  +  4  + 4  + 5  

P ercent change Millions of dols ----------­-----Sept 1956 Sept 1956 Jan-Sept 1956 
Type of Sept J an-Sept from from from --::":-:to_re_____19_5_6__1_9_5_G__A_ug:__l9_56 Sept 1955 Jan-Sept 1956 
TOTAL ······ 740.1 6,933.9 -7 -12 -6 

Durable goods ..... 227.0 2,266.4 -14 -23 -17 
Nondurable goods .. 513.1 4,667.5 -4 -5 •• 

••Change Is lesa than one-half of one percent. 

High-Level Sales 
September sales nationally slipped from August by 2% after seasonal adjustment, and about equalled Septembe; 1955. Consumer response to sales promotions has been good. Sales in soft-goods lines increased to offset a decline in automobile volume. Sales have continued above 1955 levels for _peneral me:ch?ndise, clothing, food, furniture, drugs, eatmg and drmkmg places, and gasoline service stations but declined for hardware and building materials, largely as a result of an 11 % decrease in residential build­ing. Volume in apparel has held at a high level, witli de· mand pointing to higher quality and prices. Yet, sales of both used cars and household appliances have been com· paratively more vigorous than demand for new equipment. Home furnishings, although at a high level, slipped below 1955 levels in mid-September. Electrical appliances slowed, except radio and television. In food lines, canned goods continued to yield volume to frozen foods. 
Retail Sales in Texas 
Index. Adjusted for seasonal variation. 1947-1949•100 
1940 ·41 ·42 .'43 ·44 ·45 '46 ·47 ·4a ·49 ·so ·s1 ·s2 ·53 ·54 ·ss -~ 

Markets alert and active. Market activity, on the whole, has held moderately above corresponding weeks of 1955. Active reorders for women's fall apparel have en· countered some delayed deliveries. Furniture and furnish· ings were ordered well, although demand slowed material­ly for floor coverings. By early October, electrical appli· ance lines, except refrigeration equipment, strengthened. 
Inventories reasonable. Neither wholesale nor retail inventories (except automobiles) changed materially dur­ing July. Retail stocks were only 1.7% over July 1955, de· spite threats of higher prices. Inventories of soft goods in· creased seasonally by $140 million during August. High interest rates tend to discourage anticipatory buying, and merchants are relying heavily on reorders for fall mer· chandise. Used car stocks are 15% below last year, and new automobile inventories are rapidly being whittled down to "normal" size. 

CREDIT RATIOS IN DEPARTMENT AND APPAREL STORES Merchants optimistic. Recent opinion surveys reveal that typical merchants are confident that holiday business Credit ratios• Collection ratiost this year will surpass 1955 and that satisfactory volume 
Number of 

reporting 	Sept Sept Sept Sept can he expected well into 1957. Apparel merchants look for 1956 1956
Classification stores 1955 1955 a 3% increase over last year, and gains are also antici­ALL STORES ... -------·-· 60 67.7 66.9 32.1 34.6 pated in department stores ( +4%) and house furnishings (+5% ). Higher prices are expected in coming months 
BY CITIES Austin -----------······· ----···-······--·--·····-64.9 62.5 47.8 50.4 (e.g., +5% in cars and +2% in household appliances) . 
Cleburne .......................................... 3 40.8 42.7 38.1 42.0 However, profit margins will probably he squeezed even Dallas ----------········ ---··········----·-········ 
71.9 69.8 31.9 36.4

8 	more than in recent months when poor ability to absorb 
Fort Worth ---···········----············---··· 3 68.1 68.6 30.4 33.1 
Galveston 	3 60.2 60.9 46.8 44.7 rising merchandise costs and greater expenses has con­
···········-·······-·-------········· ·-· Houston ··················-····-·········-----···· 67.2 68.4 29.6 29.6 tributed to an increasing rate of business failures, al­San Antonio ·····5 63.3 63.9 35.6 39.1
········------	though that rate is still low. 
4 63.3 60.8 49.8 61.7

Waco ·······--·· ··········-­
············· 
A. HAMILTON CHUTE 

Department stores (over $1 million) ------·······-------········ 
BY TYPE OF STORE 

19 68.4 67.5 31.0 33.5 Department stores (under $1 million) ·-·····----··-······----------19 60.6 60.7 38.0 40.5 
Dry goods and apparel stores...... 4 74.5 73.8 52.5 52.5 Women's specialty shops ............ 10 66.0 65.8 39.8 42.0 Men's clothing stores .... 8 65.9 64.5 41.9 45.5 
BY VOLUME OF NET SALES (1950) POSTAL RECEIPTS $1,500,000 and over ...................... 21 68.5 67.7 31.7 34.2 $500,000 to $1,500,000 .................. 14 59.2 58.3 41.3 47.0 Percent change $250,000 to $500,000 ···················· 12 48.5 
48.1 41.4 39.1 
Aug 25-	Aug 25­

Less than $250,000 ........................ 13 60.1 49.7 37.8 38.7 

Sept 21 Sept 21 1956 1956 from from*Credit sales as a percent of net sales. 

Aug 25-Aug 27-Aug 27­tCollections during the month as a percent of accounts unpaid on 
Sept 21 Sept 23 Sept 23 City 1956 Aug 1956 1955 Aug 1956 1955 

the first of the month. 
Alice . 10,811 t ll,638t 12,205t -7 -11 
Bastrop 1,850 l ,479t l ,75lt + 26 + 6 
Belton 4,719 3,707 5,453 + 27 -13 

Prices firming. Wholesale prices are near record lev­Brownfield 7,163 7,345 6,693 -2 + 26 Cameron 5,140 4,fi47 t 
els, about 4.8 index points over July 1955. They rose about 	7,613t + 13 -82 
Childress 	... 3,964 4,279t 4,606t -7 -14
3% since January, while retail prices increased about 3%. 
Cleburne 8,790 10,016 8,676 -12 + 3
It is probable that wholesalers and retailers can no longer Coleman 5,867 3,876t 5,504t + 51 + 7 continue to absorb price increases, even under heavy com­Crystal City 3,399 2,069 2,399t + 64 + 42 petitive pressure. Price advances have been noted in lines Cuero .... 3,603 3,988 3,755 -10 -4 
Eagle Pass 4,911 4,641 4,798 + 6 + 2
as widely divergent as mattresses, shoes and rubber heels, 
Edna 3,022 3,490t 3,790t -13 -20
clothing and hardware items, radio and television ( +1% El Campo 	9,375t -22
7,322 8,964t -18 
to + 10%), air conditioners ( +5% to + 10%), carpets Gainesville 9,880 ll,188t 12,217t -12 -19 
and bed linens, and used cars. Farm equipment and tire Gatesville 2,858 2,807 3,336 + 2 -14 

Gilmer 4,133 3,266 3,009 + 27 + 37
producers announced price increases despite declining 
Graham 4,453 4,973 6,904 -10 -25
sales. All items with steel components face probable price Granbury ....... . 2,089 1,958 1,597 + 7 + 31 increases. However, lumber and some textiles have been Hale Center 605 l ,242t l,119t -51 -46 experiencing price reductions, which are probably at an Hillsboro .. 4,934 4,176 4,922 + 18 •• 
Huntsville 8,132 6,738t 6,639t + 21 + 22
end. On the whole, price increases have not yet been suffi­
Jacksonville 13,019 11,963 11,542 + 9 + 13
cient to make any test of possible consumer price resist­Kenedy .... 2,987 3,192 2,772 6 + 8 
ance. Kermit 6,871 t 5,606t 5,807t + 5 + 1 
Kerrville .... 8,640 8,788 8,036 3 + 6

Indebtedness still growing. Consumer debt has been 

Kingsville .. 14,405 10,225 13,718 + 41 + 5
growing at an annual rate of $2.5 billion, contrasting with Kirbyville ............. . 2,219 2,406 1,454 -8 + 53 
the $6.0 billion rate of increase last year. Instalment debt La Grange ............. . 4,069 3,477 3,685 + 17 + 10 
on September 1 totalled $3.3 billion above that date in Levelland 5,591 6,020 5,658 -7 + 1 

Littlefield 6,191 4,152t 5,286t + 25 -2
1955. A larger proportion of car sales is being made on 
Lufkin 14,780 16,464 14,158 -4 + 4
an instalment basis this year. Gross personal savings are Luling 2,646 2,416 3,612t + 10 -21 
at an annual rate of $25 billion, as against a $22.5 billion Marlin 5,697t 6,203t 6,477t + 9 + 4 
rate in 1955. Some increased delinquency in payments is Mission 6,999t 6,480t 7,685t + 8 -9 

Nava~ota 3,120 8,561 8,156 -12 -1
reported, hut the rate is still lower than "normal." How­
Odessa 43,240 39,973 39,300 + 8 + 10 
ever, 63% of families are said to have some form of debt. 
Pecos 15,218 7,104t 12,699t +114 + 20 
Hardware stores nationally are considering the offer of Pittsburg ........... . 1,435 2,405 1,297 -40 + 11 
some form of instalment credit. Various groups of manu· Ra ymondville 4,153 4,992t 5,066t -17 -18 
Taft ... ..................... . 1,626 2,396 1,401 -32 + 16

facturers (as in photographic and kitchen equipment, golf 
Terrell 6,838 6,662t 29,232t -16 -13 
clubs, and hardware) are helping dealers to develop meth­Waxahachie ......... . 7,930 9,724t 8,054t -8 -2 

ods for instalment selling and disposal of the paper to Yoa kum .... 8,784 10,049 10,149 -13 -13 
suitable financing agencies. Personal instalment loans are ••Change is less than one-half of one percent. 15% higher than last year. tTotal for calendar m onth, not four-week month. 

Everything is just around the corner lor 




Texas Metropolitan Shoppers 

Take a county. Plant a major city in it. Fringe the city with suburban residential and business developments. The result is a metropolitan area. Texas already has 14 by Census Bureau definition; for practical purposes, there may be even more. The key to the metropolitian area is automobile transportation. And one product of this highly concentrated and mobile population cluster is the planned shopping center. 
Texans pioneered in the development of the planned metropolitan shopping center. Even before World War I, Hugh Prather, a Texas realtor, set aside a 10-acre corner of his 1,300-acre development just outside Dallas for the development of an integrated, planned shopping center. Between 1916 and 1931, the plans materialized and con­struction was completed. The result was Highland Park Shopping Center, one of the main shopping areas of Dallas, with a total store area of 92,345 square feet. Shortly after­ward, Hugh Potter developed his River Oaks district in Houston, patterned along modern lines, in contrast to the Spanish Plaza style at Highland Park. 
These two, however, were not regional centers. They were never planned to serve metropolitan shoppers on the scale that newer centers do. In comparison with less than 100,000 square feet of stores in the Highland Park Center, two new centers in Paramus, New Jersey, a New York suburb, each have 1,500,000 square feet of store space. These have space for about 100 stores each and parking facilities for 8,000 to 10,000 cars. Other comparable cen­ters now dot the nation in major metropolitan areas. The first, opened in 1950, was Seattle's Northgate, a 230,000­square-foot center located in the rolling woods near sev­eral residential suburbs. Later, controlled regional centers grew up around Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles, San Fran­cisco, and of course New York. But what about Texas? Is metropolitan merchandising taking the same outside curve here? The answer is a qualified "yes." Texas retailers are concentrating their sales efforts on Suburbia, but they are not generally concentrating their stores in the tightly in­tegrated, hive-like centers being built in some areas. 
Bureau of the Census figures for 1954 are now being published for the first time. The changes they show in Texas retailing only document what retailers already knew: the big growth in sales is in stores outside central business districts. But while the downtown stores are barely more than holding their own, they still dominate the field in many lines of merchandise, particularly apparel. More­over, most of the overall increase in sales is being divided among hundreds of new, small stores in satellite business districts. 
As a case in point, the seven downtown Fort Worth de­partment stores averaged $8,573,000 in sales during 1954, while the five department stores not downtown averaged $2,369,000. Austin's downtown general merchandise stores averaged $756,000 for the same year; those not downtown averaged $63,000 in sales. 
Most downtown-oriented department stores in the state have increased their sales-a little. But they have not kept pace with the growth of retailing as a whole. Fort Worth department stores accounted for over 19% of the city's retail sales in 1948; by 1954 their share had shrunk to barely more than 15%. Where has the additional money tended to go? The largest part of it has been spent for food and automobiles. In 1948, food stores took 17.5 cents of the Fort Worth retail dollar; by 1954, their share was up to 23 cents. And food stores have been among the most conspicuous migrants to the suburbs. 
The overall trend is even more impressive. From 1948 to 1954, downtown retailers in Fort Worth increased their sales 11.9%, in Austin 8.8%, and in Corpus Christi 19.4%. But retailers away from the downtown areas of the same three cities boosted their receipts 70.9%, 71.0%, and 90.3%, respectively. As customers have moved out of the cities, retail businesses have followed them. The Bureau of the Census, moreover, foresees a long-range trend in this direction. By 1975, the Bureau estimates, the nation's met· ropolitan suburbs will have roughly 35 million more resi· dents than now. 
Suburban shopping, then, has followed two main trends: the shift of population to Suburbia and the increase in number of automobiles. Analysts point out that the auto· mobile is to the development of planned shopping centers very much as the subway and suburban railroad were to the development of cities being built forty years ago. 
Texas roughly parallels the national average increase of 40%in suburban population from 1940 to 1950, although the state has less than the national proportion of one-fourth of the total population living in suburbs. And, whereas in 1917 the State Highway Department reported only 194,720 motor vehicle registrations, the number had risen to 1,802,063 in 1940 and to a spectacular 3,781,235 in 1954. 
With the motorized age of shopping came a rise in fam· ily shopping, night shopping, one-stop shopping, and, con­currently, the planned suburban shopping center. How· ever, unlike the retail chains in the Northeast, it seems that Texas department store units were little inclined to enter into shopping center development until recently. Caution was practiced in Texas even more than in other parts of the nation. The reason for such reluctance on the part of major chains has been the failure of many small district shopping centers and the collapse of Massachusetts' massive regional center, Shoppers' World, the single major center that has gone into receivership. The smaller centers, largely l}Il• planned, encouraged cut-throat competition within the cen· ter and with other, larger centers nearby. Other factors such as excessive rentals, harmful clauses in leases, lack of strategic location, overexpansion or undersize, and prox· imity to other strong centers have all produced consterna· tion in the ranks of the national and state-wide department 
store chains. 

NOVEMBER 1956 
How does a chain decide whether or not to go into a specific shopping center? Top factors are: 
1. 
Analysis of the trading area, in terms of population, income, competition (now and in the future), potential continuity of income, age levels, racial composition, and number of families living within the area. 

2. 
Evaluation of the drawing ability of a specific cen­ter location, emphasizing driving time, not mileage dis­tances from the center. 

3. 
Evaluation of the area in terms of how well the popu­lation is already served. 

4. 
Analysis of the physical characteristics, such as ef­fective architectural construction, potential expansion room, topography, area per store, and relative uniformity. 

5. 
Cost analysis of construction and operation, leases, predicted sales, potential aid from the management, and relationship between the main stores of the principal ten­ants and their branches. 


In general, chains look first for location and follow with analysis of the other factors. Without a good location, no chain would seriously consider entering a shopping center unit, no matter how large it might be. Even the best mer­chandisers can seldom overcome the handicap of poor lo­cation, while good locations will offset many other mer­chandising deficiencies. Authorities disagree over the best location for particular centers. 
Economists use the term "friction of space and rent" to 

describe the interaction between locational convenience, 
usually found at the cost of high rent, and low rent, usually 
prevalent only in isolated fringe areas. The best rule seems 
to be that where land availability, transportation, driving 
time, and population and income concentration combine to 
promote favorable conditions, that is the best location. 
The factor of competition is uppermost in the minds of 

many prospective tenants in a shopping center. Although 
they are in agreement over limited competition within the 
shopping center itself, they are skeptical of neighborhood 
competition. Threats from larger centers located nearby 
and also the continuing menace of an improved central 
business district harass the suburban chain store executive. 
Tradition is strong, and the downtown business district has 
served chains well for years. So the chains have not yet 
scuttled their downtown operations for a complete subur­
banization of their units. They are moving in that direc­
tion, however, in the largest metropolitan zones. Only a 
few days ago, Sears, Roebuck opened its largest store in 
the South, with 200,000 square feet of floor space, in Pasa­
dena, a Houston satellite city. Large suburban branches, 
like this one, have proven that their pulling power can 
more than match that of small neighborhood centers. For 
the relatively high construction costs of small centers cor­
respondingly increase the risk of chain stores entering 
them. 
Recently, retail chains have begun to take an active role in shopping center development, beginning at the planning stage, to insure the necessary foundation for their opera­tions. Max Levine, president of Foley's in Houston, ex­pressed the opinion of many department store executives when he stated that the best way to meet the competition of suburban shopping centers was to join them. With these operations being planned and developed by the large chains, the incidence of failure among large and small centers alike should decrease. This fact has induced Joske's of Houston to expand into Gulfgate Shopping Center. A 
Harris of Dallas and Wolff and Marx of San Antonio have taken similar steps to locate in shopping center develop­ments. But Foley's has stayed downtown. 
Once basic research is completed to determine the in­come and expenditure potential of an area, together with future expansion or retraction, the most important consid­erations are location, highway and thoroughfare conges­tion and availability, type of stores, security from immed­iate competition, topography, layout of buildings, parking area, ~nd management. Later problems will include leases, financmg, expansion, and center promotion, all of which must be considered before a retail department store will enter a location. Stores base their plans on what they have experienced in the downtown district, adapted of course to meet the slightly changed conditions of suburban sell­ing. They want to know what to expect in the form of sales both tomorrow and five years hence. 
Thes~ ~onsidera!ions have all been examined by Allied Stores m. I!S move mto Gulfgate Shopping Center in Hous­ton. Dec1~mg on an area of 840,000 square feet, Allied felt that ~ ma1or dep~rtment store unit was t!rn sine qua non for a reg10nal shoppmg center. Thus, Joske s store will occupy the principal unit, surrounded by one hundred stores on a plot of more than 200,000 square feet. This $20 million center is planned for a parking turnover of 20,000 cars a day, establishing it as the largest in Texas and one of the largest in the nation. 
It has been fou.nd that regional centers have to "prove" themselves. That 1s, they are not immediately thriving suc­cesses. Despite contests, parties, circuses, and other center­wide promoti?ns, it takes ~t least five years for a regional center to achieve 90% of its total potential sales. Centers which fail to take this into consideration may follow the Shoppers' World example and fall into receivership. 
Shopping centers of the large regional type have not yet appeare.d in Texas, with the exception of the new Gulfgate Center m Houston. However, the district and community centers have sprouted like puffballs over the face of the land, especially in the Fort Worth-Dallas and Houston 
areas. 
In Dallas and Fort Worth, traffic congestion and lack of adequate parking facilties have led to the creation of many s~opping c~nters in t~e periphery, such as the twenty­
one-umt Oak Cliff Shoppmg Center in Dallas and the thirty-one units planned for Fort Worth's Westcliff Center. How have these new centers affected the downtown district? The widely publicized plan to remodel downtown Fo;t W:orth, drawn up by eminent shopping center architect Victor Gruen, calls for the creation of aplanned downtown district of 370 acres. It is to be complete with malls gardens, open-air courts, retail stores, and best of all-n~ cars. This combination of modern shopping center and New York's Rockefeller Center shows the real threat which shopping centers have posed to retail sales in a downtown area. 
Dallas has its own plan in the operational stage. Radios hawking four-hour parking for 25 cents every summer Saturday in "Texas' largest shopping center-<lowntown Dallas" indicate the suburbs have begun to hit hard at sales. Dallas' "City of Tomorrow," known as Exchange Park and already under construction, will eventually con­tain a 1,000-room hotel, four multistory office buildings, a medical center, the Exchange Bank and Trust Company, and 150 retail shops, complete with such shopping center 
TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 

innovations as air-conditioned pedestrian streets (already in use in San Antonio) . 
Can the chain stores find the conditions in Texas which permit them to enter shopping center locations and provide the impetus for regional centers of the type found in the Northeast? Populationwise, Texas has all that might be desired, at least in some spots. The optimistic prediction of some that any city of 50,000 can support a regional shopping center is doubtful. However, there are at least six areas in Texas where the population quantitatively and qualitatively meets the conditions required of a regional shopping center: Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San An­tonio, El Paso, Corpus Christi, and Austin. Other cities potentially might support a regional center-Amarillo, Lubbock, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Waco, and Galveston, but they do not offer the ideal conditions for one now. Texas in general offers a rising population, which is one of the essential prerequisites. It also offers a better-than-aver­age buying power index, ranging from Houston's .5272 to Corpus Christi's .1034 in 1955. Both indices show a rise from 1954, a healthy indication. 
The situation with regard to water is an indirect influ­ence on shopping center development which Texas shares with other Plains states. Shopping centers of the regional type usually do best in areas of intensive industrial activ­ity. In 1950 the total employment in manufacturing in Houston was 25%, in Dallas 19%, and in San Antonio 15%. This is sufficient to promote a regional center, but chains would do well to analyze the long-range potential of industry in Texas before setting up operations. The lack of water may curtail future industrial expansion, unless some form of reclamation is undertaken to utilize more surface water. Critical industries such as oil refining and chemical manufacturing require vast amounts of water, a substance which is rare enough for the basic agriculture in most areas of Texas. How soon Texas solves its water problem may well indicate how soon the growth of regional shopping centers will accelerate. 
What then must be the conclusion about potential shop­ping center development in Texas? Above all, the centers will be planned, cautiously and with complete considera­tion of the factors involved. Centers will not appear merely for the show with ultramodern trappings. Studies have in­dicated that shoppers prefer a modern, comfortable shop­ping area but do not enjoy weird or unusual effects. How­ever, there will be an emphasis on park areas, fountains, do-it-yourself conveniences, shrubbery, and music for shoppers. All this is an attempt to restore the easy, enjoy­able traditions of New England and Europe to shopping in the United States. · 
Lease arrangements and financing of the new centers will be so arranged as to give the tenant and owner the optimum advantages. In the case of leases, this means a minimum rental against a percentage of gross sales, thus protecting both the landlord in case of inflation and the tenant who secures a scaled rental. These percentages range from 1 % in a supermarket operation to 15% for theatre chains. Capable management will be merchandise-minded and interested in long-range investment, not a quick turn­over. 
The size of center which will be adopted in Texas will probably be of the community or district type rather than 
the smaller neighborhood center or the larger regional center. There will be exceptions, of course, especially in Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. But, by and large, the factors necessary for regional center development are ab­sent in Texas. 
The district center averages 100,000 square feet of build· ing space, meets the needs of from 25,000 to 100,000 con­sumers and specializes in shopping and specialty goods. The community center may have as many as two dozen stores which off er goods of a less specialized nature than the district center, occupying an average of 35,000 square feet and serving 10,000 to 25,000 persons. The majority of Texas cities can support these types of center-develop· ments, but the question of the "supercenter" is still un­solved. 
The big impetus to shopping center growth in the United States has been the shift of the national chain stores into centers. In 1955, 6% of the chain stores (over 10,000) were in shopping centers. Estimates for 1956 indicate that half the new stores planned will be located in shopping centers. Has this national trend taken place in Texas? Skillern's Drug Stores have located in shopping centers in Fort Worth's Edgewood Terrace Shopping Center and Fair Oaks Shopping Center, and in the Casa View Village Shop· ping Center in Dallas. Worthington's 5 cents to $1 variety stores have opened in Preston Shopping Center in Dallas. 
W. T. Grant has opened in the Village Shopping Center in Houston and both the Harris Shopping Center and the Oak Cliff Shopping Center in Dallas. Woolworth's five-and­dime operations have moved into the $4 million Palms Center in Houston, as well as to the Village Shopping Center, San Angelo, and the Lakewood Shopping Center, Houston. A hundred more examples might be listed for every one of these. 
Right down the line, the national and statewide chains are moving from downtown districts into planned shopping centers. This has resulted in a symbiotic relationship in many cases, in which both the downtown main store and the suburban branch store have experienced new highs in retail sales. This same trend could continue in most of Texas, resulting in benefits to all, but especially to the met· ropolitan consumer-shopper, who is now being sought after by many and varied shopping center developments. The real future of any shopping center development in Texas will ultimately lie with the more than 8 million consumers who constitute the Texas market. 
JACK D. L. HOLMES 
Wholesale Prices in the U.S. 
.'lndex•Unadjusted for seasonal variation • 1947-1949•100 

1?40 '4) '42 '43 'AA 'AS '46 · 'Al '48 'A9 'SO 'SI 'S2 'S3 '54 'SS '56 

NOVEMBER 1956 
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION 

New in Texas: Industrial Research 
Texas industries are rapidly becoming research con· scious. In the recent past, many industrialists strongly felt that research was a fairly esoteric activity, preferably to be quarantined in ivory towers and certainly not to be integrated with industry or encouraged as an independent business. But already thousands of Texans are employed in research laboratories, and industrial research facilities are certain to be greatly expanded in the future. 
Texas has a particularly big stake in research. Many of its major products, mineral and agricultural, are in great demand as raw materials for use by modern industry­such widely diversified commodities as cotton, oil and gas, wood, and various heavy chemicals. Significantly, these are the very materials that are yielding the richest variety of new products in the research laboratory. 
WELL COMPLETIONS 
Source : The Oil and Gaa Journal 
September 1956* January-September Reirion Oil Gao Dry Total 1956 1955 
TEXAS ........ 925 66 593 1,584 16,391 18,777 


Southwest .......... 108 17 91 216 2,386 2,855 Gulf Coast .......... 95 16 94 205 1,980 2,338 East ...................... 56 3 31 90 827 917 North Central .... 302 8 273 583 5,892 6,936 West .................... 309 0 92 401 4,304 4,753 Panhandle ---------· 55 22 12 89 1,002 978 
*For four weeks ending nearest the last day of month. 
Crude Oil Production in Texas 
Index. Adjusted for seasonal variation . 1947-1949·100 
ELECTRIC POWER CONSUMPTION 
Percent change  
T housands of kilowatt hours  
Sept 1956  Sept 1956  
Use  Sept 1956*  Aug 1956*  Sept 1955t  from Aug 1956  from Sept 1955  

TOTAL ... 3,421,235 3,467 ,053 3,269,527 + 5 
Commercial ............  457,850  479,073  507,838  4  -10  
Industrial  ..............  2,070,479  1,981,509  1,941,283  + 4  + 7  
Residen tial  ······-----­ 763,250  851,176  677,978  -10  + 13  
Other ...  129,656  155,295  142,428  -17  - 9  

*Preliminary-based on reports of 10 electric power companies reported to the Bureau of Business Research and leveled to Federal P ower Com· mission estimates. 
t Revised to preliminary Federal Power Commission data. 
The state already owes a tremendous debt to researchers. For example, it was the U.S. Bureau of Mines, working in conjunction with the Texas Power and Light Company, that developed the power-from-lignite process which made it feasible for Alcoa to establish its Rockdale aluminum plant. It was research, too, that developed the process for making lime from oystershell, a discovery that was the foundation for Texas' vital inorganic chemical industry. Again, it was researchers who discovered a way to make corn starch and corn sugar from grain sorghums, as is done in the Corn Products Refining plant at Corpus Christi. Researchers experimented with cottonseed until they were successful in making margarine, salad oils, iffid cooking fats-a development which adversely affected the dairy industry of such distant states as Minnesota and New York and depressed the export of olive oil from Southern Europe but which resulted in an increased income for cot­ton farmers in the South. 
Total Electric Power Use in Texas 
lSO 
so 

1so Index. Adjusted for seasonal variation. ]947-f949·100 
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'(\ 
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A 
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1940 ·41 ·42 ·43 ·44 ·4s '46 ·41 '48 ·49 ·s o ·s1 ·s2 ·s3 ·s 4 ·5s ·s6 
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During September Texas oil wells continued to flow at a higher rate than the average for any year before 1956. There seems little doubt that this year will mark an all-time high for Texas pe­troleum output. With combat flaring anew in the Middle East, Texas' 170,000 oil wells may be re­quired to produce even more heavily. Railroad Commission Chairman W. J. Murray, Jr., warns, however, that high drilling and production costs here make it unreasonable to expect Texas pro­ducers to maintain a wide emergency margin of potential output. 
1940 ·41 ·42 ·43 ·44 ·4s '46 ·47 '48 ·49 ·so ·s1 ·s2 ·s3 ·54 ·s s '56 
Electricity, like oil (left), is scoring a record year. Electric use so far in 1956 is 3.2 times the 1947-49 average. The only dip this year came in August, when a United Steel Workers strike hit Texas' aluminum industry. Aluminum reduction plants at Rockdale and Port Lavaca (Alcoa) and near Corpus Christi (Reynolds) not only place Texas second to Washington in light-metal out­put but also use more electricity by far than any other individual plants in the state. All three are being expanded. 
PETROLEUM AND GAS ACTIVITY 

Source: State Comptroller of Public Accounta and Railroad Commission of 
Texas 

January-September  
Percent  
Product  1956  1955  change  


CRUDE OIL  
Production  (1,000 bbls)  -------------­ 804,269  757,973  + 6  
Total value ($1,000) -----­-------­---­Runs to stills (1,000 bbls )  2,345,300 627,179  2,106,330 580,319  + 11 + 8  
NATURAL GASt  
Production ($1 ,000) ------­--------------­ 358,522  311,093  + 15  
SULFUR  
Recovered from gas (long tons) __  3,104  2,376  + 31  

t includea casinghead gas. 

Primarily, of course, the great advances made in pe­troleum and natural gas technology in recent years have affected Texans most, and many of the largest research laboratories in the state are those connected directly with the chemical and refining industries. 
Every manufacturer is faced with the need to compete with those who make similar products. Failure to spend money on product research may result in loss of markets; obsolescence of product and equipment is a constant worry. In Texas three major industries--chemicals, refining, and aircraft-are particularly beset with the fear that their executives may wake up one morning and find that one, or more, of their end products has been superseded. For that reason, all of the major companies operating here must funnel vast sums into basic and applied research as well as into improved production processes. 
Not all the major companies operating in the state con· centrate their research activities here. In fact, many of them do most of their laboratory work near their home offices-Pittsburgh, Wilmington, New York City, or else­where. On the other hand, such vast, expensive facilities as the multimillion-dollar W. R. Veazey Research Center, maintained near its Freeport plants by Dow Chemical, are becoming an integral part of Texas industry. 
It is wrong, however, to assume that research labora· tories need be located near a home office or plant site. There is a strong tendency for some companies to divorce research activities from actual plant operation. A Texas example: Jefferson Chemical's experimental setup at Aus­tin-located there, in part, because of its proximity to The University of Texas with its extensive research facilities. 
REFINERY STOCKS• 
Source: The Oil and Ga.a Jou,.,.al 

Percent chanire  
Thousands of barrels  
Product  Sept 1956  Aug 1956  Sept 1955  Sept 1956 from Aug 1966  Sept 1966 from Sept 1966  

UNITED STATES  
Gasoline  --·--·············  174,720  175,571  151 ,266  ••  + 16  
Distillate  ................  150,367  138,449  143,722  + 9  + 5  
Residual  ..................  47,499  46,783  46,754  + 2  + 2  
Kerosene ........ .. ........  33,817  32,401  35,413  + 4  -7  
TEXAS  
Gasoline  -·­-· -­-···-·-·-·­ 30,740  30,843  25,201  ••  + 22  
Distillate -----------------­ 19,830  18,513  18,507  + 7  + 7  
Residual ------·­-··--·-···  8,728  7,898  8,416  + 11  + 4  
Kerosene -----------------­ 4,554  4,311  3,943  + 6  + 15  

•Fhrurea shown are for t he week ending nearest the last day of month. ••Change is les1 than one-half of one percent. 
A survey recently completed by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council lists 106 different laboratories in Texas. Since not all the firms sur­veyed responded, the total may well be much larger, per· haps as high as 200. 
The largest employment in research was reported by locally owned Chance Vought at Dallas, which listed 8 chemists, 1,450 engineers, 85 mathematicians, 2 metal· lurgists, 83 physicists, and 150 other technical personne~ plus 400 additional persons working in the research division. 
Some of the 106 research units reported were very small; for example, some laboratories employed only two or three technicians. The laboratories were located in 34 different communities, with Houston reporting the largest number 
(30). Dallas (26), Fort Worth (12) , and San Antonio (7) followed in that order. Other communities with two or more laboratories include Austin, Beaumont, Borger, Corpus Christi, and Texas City. Not all research activities are con· centrated in or near large cities, however, for laboratory units are also located in such communities as Brecken· ridge, Clarkwood, Daingerfield, Diboll, Helotes, Newgulf, Pampa, Sugar Land, and Hoskins Mound. 
The range of interests of the reporting laboratories is impressive. It includes: techniques of underwater ex· ploration for oil, lumber treatment, poultry disease rem· edies, insecticides, manganese ores, synthetic detergents, construction technology, electronics, packaging, polishes, oxidation, pipeline technology, defoliants, polyglycols, styrene oxide, micromechanisms, gravity meters, applied 

PRODUCTION OF HYDROCARBON LIQUIDS FROM GASOLINE AND RECYCLING PLANTS 
(millions of barrels) 
Source : Oil and Gas Division, Railroad Commission of Texaa 

January-June  
Product  Jan 1956  Feb 1956  Mar 1956  Apr 1956  Ma:v 1956  J une 1956  1956  1955  
TOTAL PRODUCTION__ ___ ______ ________ ______  16,222,477  13,435,639  14,603,188  13,923,332  14,331,248  13,818,259  86,334,143  79,232,232  
Condensate-crude -------­----­---------------------------­-­-­Gasoline -------­--­-----­--------------­---­-----------­-­------­----­Butane-propane -­--­------------------------------------------­Other products____ ____ ______________________ ____ ________ _____ __ 
TOTAL GAS PROCESSED*----------·--·­-· Yield per Mcf in gallons ___ -·--····-·······--·-·­······  1,037,846 8,875,402 5,813,674 495,555 460,706 1.48  880,123 6,611,603 5,544,322 399,591 420,409 1.34  913,117 7,297,620 5,951 ,935 440,516 453,601 1.35  881,625 7,067,402 5,610,718 363,587 431,647 1.35  833,026 7,460,937 5,614,607 422,678 433,635 1.39  831,102 7,277,936 5,359,393 349,828 414,666 1.40  5,376,839 44,590,900 33,894,649 2,471,755 2,614,664 1.39  4,847,556 40,633,272 31,939,499 1,811,905 2,406,699 !.38  

•Millions of cubic feet. 

optics, wax products, livestock foods, nuclear-powered air­craft, and soda ash. And there are dozens more. 
Not all research of value to industry is carried on in the typical company laboratory. For example, scientists at The University' of Texas, at A & M College, and at the branches of both schools often assist industrialists with their prob­lems. The research laboratories at the University, some of which are supported with federal funds, employ hundreds. Other institutions active in research include Rice Institute, North Texas State College, the University of Houston, and Texas Technological College. The fact that Nacogdoches was the site of Stephen F. Austin State College was an important factor in the choice of that city as the location for a branch plant of Basson Industries. Officials of the college promised to cooperate with the company in setting up the firm's research facilities. 
Largest private nonprofit research setup in the state is 

undoubtedly that of the Southwest Research Institute at 
San Antonio, one of several such facilities spotted at stra­
tegic locations throughout the nation to aid industries 
with their problems. The San Antonio unit employs hun­
dreds and has ambitious plans for expansion. Directors of 
the Institute envision a $50 million "Science City" at their 
Culebra, Road site. If recent developments are any indi­
cation, their optimism is warranted. Within the past two 
months, construction plans for two new laboratories to be 
integrated into the Institute have been announced. Pratt and Whitney (home office: Hartford, Connecticut) plans to build a $600,000 "hot lab" to test the action of radiation on fuels and lubricants, and the U. S. Army Ordnance Corps (St. Louis District) has begun construction of a $750,000 unit designed to house facilities for research in engine fuels and lubricants. The Institute is also actively seeking the U.S. Quartermaster Corp's contemplated multi­million·dollar irradiated foods laboratory. 
Among new company-sponsored expansion projects which have recently been announced are the $1 million engineering laboratory' which Temco is building at Gar­land and new labs for Sun Oil and Magnolia Petroleum at Dallas and for Schlumberger in the Houston area. One of the largest facilities completed in recent years was Humble Oil Company's unit at Baytown. 
It is not too illogical to assume that both investment and employment in researcl.i activities in Texas may double within the next decade. Just ten years ago there were only about half as many laboratories in the state as there are in 1956. The rapid pace of technological advance will de­mand that greater emphasis he given to experimentation, and Texas companies cannot afford to be counted out in the race. 
STANLEY A. ARBINGAST 

Labor Statistics 
HOURS AND EARNINGS 
Source: Texas Employment Commis•ion In cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statlatlca, 

U.S. Department of Labor 
Average weekly aarnlnga  Averaire weekly houri  Average hourly earnings  
Industry  Sept 1956*  Aug 1956  Sept 1955  Sept 1956*  Aug 1956  Sept 1955  Sept 1956*  Aug 1956  Sept 1955  
ALL MANUFACTURING.______  $82.17  $80.75  $78.20  41.6  41.2  42.5  1.98  1.96  1.84  
Du.rable goods.________________ Primary metals__ Machinery, except electrical._ _______ Oil field machinery.____ _ ___ Transportation equipment_____ Fabricated metal products_____ Lumber and wood products.____ _  81.48 90.23 87.52 92.88 97.44 76.68 53.42  80.87 85.65 86.43 93.53 99.33 74.76 53.30  79.53 90.86 84.61 93.11 94.15 76.20 56.64  42.0 40.1 42 .9 42.8 42.0 42.6 42.4  41.9 37.4 43.0 43.5 43.0 42.0 42.3  43 .7 41.3 44.3 45.2 42.6 44.3 47.6  1.94 2.25 2.04 2.17 2.32 1.80 1.26  1.93 2.29 2.01 2.15 2.31 1.78 1.26  1.82 2.20 1.91 2.06 2.21 1.72 1.19  
Furniture and fixtures. Stone, clay, and glass_______ Nondurable goods _ --·-­Textile mill products.________  65.56 69.06 83.64 52.95  62.34 71.90 80.80 54.18  59.16 69.11 76.59 49.22  44.0 41.6 41.2 42.0  42.7 42.8 40.4 42.0  43.5 42.4 41.4 42.8  1.49 1.66 2.03 1.26  1.46 1.68 2.00 1.29  1.36 1.63 1.85 1.15  
Broad woven goods·---·---·--­Apparel and fabric products____ Food.______ Meat packing..____________ Paper and allied products.______ Printing._________________  51.05 42.69 75.65 87.34 96.36 83.47  52.15 42.69 73.92 87.78 90.52 83.00  49.76 87.60 69.28 81.97 86.29 83.42  41.5 36.8 42.5 41.2 44.2 37.6  42.4 36.8 42.0 41.6 42.3 37.9  42.9 37.6 42.5 41.6 43.8 38.8  1.23 1.16 1.78 2.12 2.18 2.22  1.23 1.16 1.76 2.11 2.14 2.19  1.16 1.00 1.63 1.98 1.97 2.15  
Chemicals and allied products.____ _  99.49  98.18  95.27  42.7  42.5  43.7  2.33  2.31  2.18  
Vegetable oil mills._______  55.10  55.93  53.50  47.5  47.8  53.5  1.16  1.17  1.00  
Petroleum and coal products_ 
_  __  112.44  104.54  103.07  41.8  39.6  40.9  2.69  2.64  2.52  
Leather________  48.86  48.09  41.29  39.4  39.1  39.7  1.24  1.23  1.04  
NONMANUFACTURING  
Mining  105.02  99.13  95.91  44.5  43.1  43.4  2.36  2.30  2.21  
Crude petroleum products.  106.80  100.39  97.63  44.5  42.9  43.2  2.40  2.34  2.26  
Sulfur  96.00  89.38  83.67  41.2  39.9  39.1  2.33  2.24  2.14  
Public utilities._ ___  75.33  74.34  70.62  40.5  40.4  39.9  1.86  1.84  1.77  
Retail trade·-------­..-·~­ 61.20  62.03  61.04  42.5  42.2  43.6  1.44  1.47  1.40  
Wholesale trade-------­---·­-- 80.04  78.30  74.99  43 .5  43.5  43.1  1.84  1.80  1.74  

Fi~res do not cover proprietors, firm members, or other principal executives. 
•Preliminary-eubject to revision upon receipt of additional reports. 


AGRICULTURE 

Farming: High or Dry 
Texas farmers have been making their dusty way through the most lingering drouth in their history-but also, in many areas, the most prosperous. Statewide surveys of farm income conducted by the U. S. Department of Agri· culture have continued to show high totals. In fact, the average agricultural income for the five dry years from 1951 through 1955 was 6% higher than the average for 1947-49. But what of this year? 
Although rains spotted the state in October with the coming of cooler weather, September 1956 rainfall was only 18% of normal. So far this year Texas has received less than half its normal precipitation. The Texas Board of Water Engineers says that water levels in the state's 35 major reservoirs were lower this year than at any end·of · September during the drouth's long siege, which in most areas has been going for six years. Water flow in the Trinity, Sabine, Neches, and San Jacinto rivers reached all-time lows this fall. Of Texas' 354 counties, 322 are now classified as "drouth disaster zones" for federal livestock aid. Yet, many Texas farmers are having a relatively successful year. 
Cotton production is expected to average a per-acre yield of 266 pounds-second highest since 1894. Total out­put of 3,460,000 bales is predicted, despite the reduced acreage. 
Citrus production for the 1956-1957 season is fore­cast at 3,500,000 boxes of grapefruit and 2,300,000 boxes · of oranges, 53% above last year and the largest crop since the 1951 freeze. 
Rice production is down from last year, but growers have still harvested a very successful 10,841,000 100­pound-bag crop. (See September Texas Business Review.) 
Clear evidence of the fact that not all farm commodities 
have been burned up by the drouth is the farm cash in­
come table ( p. 15) . As it shows, so far in 1956 total farm 

income for the state is running almost even with 1955. 
Thus in this, the sixth year of the drouth, farm income is 
holding its own. Moreover, the index of farm cash in­

come (which uses the pre-drouth years of 1947-1949 as 
an average period with a value equal to 100% ) shows that 
farm income has dropped only slightly since the beginning 
of the drouth. * In 1950, 1951, and 1952, the average index 
*Exceptions may well be taken to the use of farm cash income to 
show the state of Texas agriculture. Critics say that since it repre· 
sents gross income, not net, it says nothing about what actually 
goes into the farmers' pockets. They maintain that while it may be 
true enough that gross income has not decreased significantly dur· 
ing the drouth, still the cost of farming operations has increased 
greatly, leaving little or no profit. This objection is refuted in part 
by the fact that there is also a much smaller farm population to 
share these reduced profits. (Because of the great migration to the 
cities, Texas rural population decreased 57% in the period 1939 
to 1954). 
Another argument is that income alone does not tell the entire 
story-that it is being supported only through the sale of what 
financiers would call capital (i.e., materials needed for continued 
production, like breeding stock). The counter-argument is that such 
a situation could not be too widespread, since the drouth has been 
going on for six years and farmers would have run out of capital to 
sell off before now. Further, the latest U. S. Bureau of the Census 
count, for 1954, shows Texas farmers had far more cattle and calves 
in that year than in 1950 or in any decennial year since 1900. 
CARLOAD 8HIP!\'IENTS OF LIVESTOCK* 
Source: Bureau of Buainee1 Raearch In cooperation with Airrlcultural 
Marketlnir Service. U. S. Department of A1rr iculture 

Percent chanire 
Sept 1956 Sept 1966Sept Aug Sept from from
Classification 1956 1956 1955 Aug 1956 Sept 1966 
TOTAL ····----·----· 5,209 7,026 3,318 -26 + 67 
Cattle  3,60 1  4,654  2,400  -23  + 60  
Calves  831  1,289  445  - 36  + 87  
Hogs  ....................  3  0  + 100  
Sheep .................  771  1,080  47 3  -29  + 63  
INTERSTATE  -------·-·  4,726  6,569  2,899  -28  + 63  
Cattle  ..  --------------------­ 3,284  4,311  2,090  -24  + 67  
Calves  ...  788  1,241  424  - 37  + 86  
Hogs  ..... ----­--------­---­ 2  0  0  
Sheep  652  1,01 7  385  - 36  + 69  
INTRASTATE  483  457  419  +  6  + 16  
Cattle  ··--·­ 317  343  310  - 8  + 2  
Calves  ·················-·-·····--···--··  43  48  21  -10  +10s  
Hogs  ················· ···········----····  4  3  0  + 33  
Sheep  ················-·················  119  63  88  + 89  + 35  

*Rail-car buia: cattle, SO head per car; calves, GO; ho1rs, 89; and sheep, 
25 0. 
stood at 105, 112, and 112, respectively, registering the effects of the demand created by the Korean war. In 1953, with a truce in the war and a continuation of the drouth, income dropped-but only to an index level of 99. The cumulative effects of the drouth forced income down one index point each of the next two years. But, standing at 97 in 1955, it was not greatly below average. 
This situation (i.e., comparatively steady income despite six years of the worst drouth on record) raises some ques· tions: What effect has the prolonged drouth had on Texas farmers and ranchers? Are all segments of agriculture and all areas of the state suffering alike? And if so, what has supported income? 
A survey of the state gives the answer. Agriculture in Texas is a picture of extremes. The drouth has severely 
TEXAS 
FARM CASH INCOME 

Index . Annual Average • 1947-49•100 
100 
80 
60 
20 
The gradual rise and decline of Texas farm in­come, charted above, reflect the heavy dem~nd that came with war in Korea and the depressing influence of five consecutive years of drout~. Since 1956 marketings are far from complete•. it is still too early to compare this year's results with those of preceding years. 

hurt many people, and certain areas are receiving almost no income from farming. Yet, in other areas the farmers have been able to adjust to the lack of rainfall and main­tain their incomes. The principal weapon used against the drouth has been irrigation. Spectacular results have been achieved by irrigation in the Panhandle-South Plains re­gion. In the period 1950-1954, the number of wells in­creased from 14,000 to 27,500 and irrigated land from 1,860,000 to 3,500,000 acres. This year, farmers in the Lubbock-Amarillo area expect to account for more than one-tenth cif the nation's cotton, with a crop estimated at 1,400,000 bales. This cotton, all grown on irrigated land, should bring well over $200 million to the growers. In Crop Reporting District 1-S, the area between Lubbock and the New Mexico border, which has been put under ex­tensive irrigation in recent years, farm income rose some $30 million (from $240 million to $271 million) from 1951 to 1955. Similar successes on irrigated land are being made in the Trans-Pecos area, and irrigation has long been the key to the prosperity of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. 
Another adjustment to the drouth has been the increased use of rapidly maturing crop varieties that can be planted after the last freeze and will still mature before summer's searing heat parches the soil. This is the technique used in the area north of Corpus Christi, where farmers are sometimes harvesting their crops before planting is fin­ished in the Panhandle. 
Perhaps the most important adjustment in the long run is the adoption of careful water conservation methods. Drouth, in this case, has been the mother of invention. Farmers have been forced to learn how to get the most out of what rainfall they receive. This is mainly done by tak-
FARM CASH INCOME 
J anuary-September 
P er cent Commodity 1956 1955 change 
Thousands of dollars TOTAL ----------1,108,960 1,097,610 1
+ 

Cotton  -· ----------·--·­ 270,477  314,413  -14  
Cottonseed ················-··  26,251  32,927  -20  
Wheat  32,924  32,641  + 1  
Oat s  ·-------·--··--·---·-···--·--···  5,861  10,199  -43  
Corn  ----·--·-·········-··-··············-­ 13,803  13,677  + I  
Grain sorghum  __ _  44,095  40,228  + 10  
Flaxseed  ·----­-----------­ 340  1,635  -79  
Peanuts  ····-···-···-·· -·-······------­ 5,502  5,575  1  
Rice  --···········-···-······­·············  22,929  25 ,079  9  
Ca ttle  ·······-· ·---­-·  252,190  247,579  + 2  
Calves  ·-­----------------­-------­--­-­ 75,994  71 ,938  + 6  
H ogs ·-·-····························--···· Sheep and lambs  47,461 27,213  41 ,116 19,673  + 15 + 38  
Wool  ·-··-----­----·-----­-----------·--­ 13,946  12,911  + 8  
Mohair  -··-········­····-··············-·  8,999  9,144  - 2  
Poult ry ........... ·---­-­-·--·-·--······  47,578  38,591  + 23  
Eggs ... --­------------­--­------------­-­Milk a nd milk products ___ _  43,401 95,775  47,368 78,869  -8 + 21  
Fruit and vegetables -·-·--··  74,221  54,057  + 37  

Farm cash ineome as computed by the Bureau understates actual farm cash income by 6% to 10%. This situation results from the fact that means of securing complete local marketings, especially by truck, ha ve not yet been fully developed. In addition, means have not yet been devel­oped f or computing cash income from all a g-ricultural specialities of local importance in scattered ar eas. This situation does not impair the accur acy of the index shown on page 24. 
INDEXES OF PRICES RECEIVED BY FARil-IERS 
(1909-14=100) 
Source: Ag ricultural Ma rketing Service, U.S. Depar tment of Ag riculture 

Percent change 
Sept 1956 Sept 1956 Sept Aug Sept from from Index 1956 1956 1955 Aug 1956 Sept 1955 
ALL F ARM P RODUCTS ALL CROPS _......................  248 243  250 249  254 243  - 1 2  - 2 ••  
F ood gra ins --­--------------­ 223  211  217  +  6  + 3  
Feed gra in and hay ···--·-············· P ot atoes a nd sweet potatoes ___ ___ Fruit -·-·····-····-·····-··--·­··-···············-­ 182 238 103  176 278 103  142 142 119  + 3 -14 ••  + 28 + 68 -13  
Truck crops ····--·-···-­--------------------­ 353  378  323  7  + 9  
Cotton ............................................  244  250  259  2  - 6  
Oil-bearing crops ····-····-·-···-········  259  264  220  2  + 18  
LIVE STOCK AND  
P RO DUCTS  ·················-···-··  255  25 2  268  +  1  5  
Meat animals  263  265  287  1  8  
Da iry p roducts .... ·······················  256  250  250  +  2  + 2  
P oultry a nd eggs ···-· .................  224  215  247  +  4  9  
Wool ·····························  261  255  242  +  2  + 8  

••Change is less than one-half of one percent. 
ing steps to prevent heavy runoff and to reduce evapora­tion through such techniques as contour planting and ter­racing, which increase the depth of moisture penetration and the amount of water stored in the soil. By such prac­tices, the waste caused by erratic distribution of rainfall has been lessened and a maximum of water saved for crop use. 
Through these and other adjustments farmers in many parts of the state have been able to reach a certain degree of prosperity. Others have managed to hold their own. But there are areas where the drouth's severity has gone un­tempered. In the northernmost High Plains, formerly one of the chief wheat-producing areas of the country, farmers have not been able to reap a major wheat crop in the last five years. This year they may not even have enough mois­ture to plant their seed. The hardest hit region is the Ed­wards Plateau. There, range and pasture feed conditions are reported by the U. S. Department of Agriculture to be at their lowest level in history-even worse than during the drouth of 1934. Range grass is exhausted, credit and feed supplies are severely strained, and only courage and subsidies enable the ranchers to hold on. Many are doing so only by selling their foundation herds. From 1951 to 1955, farm income in the area dropped 45% (from $163 million to $88 million ) . Further declines are expected this year. 
So Texas agriculture is a combination of prosperity and paucity. V. C. Childs, chief agricultural statistician for the Agricultural Marketing Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Austin, sums the situation up by saying: 
"The average farm income for the state has declined only slightly despite the drouth ; but it is an average of extremes. It does not mean that all or even most farmers and ranchers are not suffering greatly. It does mean that at least some segments of agriculture are successfully com­bating the effects of six long, dry years. And it does point up the danger in sweeping generalities about 'state of Texas agriculture.' It brings to mind the story of the man who drowned in a river that his map had shown averaged only three feet of water." 
JAMES H. KEAHEY 
FINANCE 
Industrials 
Dresser Industries, Incorporated, share owners will vote November 19 on a proposed two-for-one stock split of the company's 2.2 million $.50-par common shares. Authorized shares will be increased from 4.4 million to 10 million, and one new share for each old share outstand­ing will be issued. Directors propose to increase dividend payments, for the fourth time in the last two years, from the present quarterly rate of $.75 a share to the equivalent of $.90 a share on the old stock after the split. 
Lone Star Cement Company directors have proposed a 2.5-for-l split of the company's stock to increase author­ized shares to 10 million from the present 4 million and reduce the par value from $10 a share to $4. There are now 
2.9 million shares outstanding. Pan American Sulphur Company reports consoli­
dated net income of $1.9 million from sales of $8.3 million for the fiscal year ending August 31. Net earnings for calendar 1956 are expected to total about $2.3 million 
after payment of an initial dividend of $.25 declared Sep­tember 18. Daily production of sulfur for the remainder of this year should total about 2,000 long tons, bringing total 1956 production to about 600,000 long tons. 
Anderson, Clayton and Company reports consoli­dated earnings per share of $3.82 for the year ended July 
31. Net income, $12.4 million after taxes, was over 50% up from the $8.2 million net earned in the preceding fiscal year. 
REVENUE RECEIPTS OF THE STATE COMPTROLLER 
Source: State ComptroU.r of Public Account. 
Sep tember !-September 30 
Percent Account 1956 1955 change 
TOTAL  ........ .  $59,383,082  $69,938,285  -15  
Ad va lorem, inherita n ce  
and p oll taxes  ······-···· ···· -------·-·········  329,712  575,759  -43  
Natural and casinghead gas  
production  taxes  ·····-·-·-·-·  2,809,709  3,235,438  -13  
Crude oil production taxes..................  11,363,949  10,936,604  +  4  
Other g ross receipts a nd  
production  taxes ......... --·------· ··········  343,482  341,109  +  1  
Insurance com panies and other  
occupation taxes  ... ------·-·············-·--·  25,882  25,392  +  2  
Motor fuel taxes  (net) ........................  13,798,695  11 ,058,959  + 25  
Cigarette tax and licenses ................  3,502,713  3,730,774  - 6  
Alcoholic beverage taxes and  
licenses  ·········-·----------·· ···-·---------·········  3,770,255  3,125,287  + 21  
Automobile and other sales  taxes....  1,483,434  1,684,116  -12  
All licenses and fees ............................  2,850,249  2,323,846  + 23  
Fran ch ise taxes ··--···--·­···········--­ 95,393  73,430  +  30  
Mineral leases, land sales, rentals,  
and bonuses  -·· ····-------······-·----·········-·­ 296,263  12,336,019  -98  
Oil and gas royalties ---­---· ·······----·······  762,668  2,251,349  -66  
Interest  earned  ·····------····-·----­·······-······  1,684,109  1,432,095  +  18  
Unclassified  receipts  ·--------­- 220,633  259,566  -15  
Other miscellaneous  revenue ............  2,653,097  2,162,291  +  23  
F ederal aid for highways ··-----·-····----·  2,862,039  3,842,094  -26  
Federal aid for public welfare..........  8,845,451  8,601,515  + 3  
Other federal a id  --·--·-····-···--······-··-·-···  1,636,040  1,926,820  -15  
Donatie>ns  and grants  --­---····--··········-­ 49,309  15,822  +212  

FEDERAL INTERNAL REVENUE COLLECTIONS 
Source: Internal Revenne Service, U.S. Treaanry Department 

July !-September 30 
Percent
Account and area 1956 1955 
change 
TEXAS ------·········· $466,204,182 $443,283,508 + 6 
Income ......................... Emple>yment ····---·····--·  208,119,951 2,697,603  183,859,839 3,863,764  + 13 -80  
Withholding  ·············· ---·-----­ 210,216,163  213,186,071  -1  
Other  -------·············-····-·-···-·--­ 45,170,465  42,374,834  + 7  
FIRST DISTRICT -­--Income ---·-· ··············-····--··-·--­ 262,427,163 107,310,014  226,275,485 92,121,009  + 16 + 16  
Employment ······················-·  53,968  139,886  -61  
Withholding  ······················-·  124,061,033  109,050,044  + 14  
Other  ··-·-----------------­-------­-----­ 31,002,148  24,964,496  + 24  
SECOND DISTRICT..  203, 777,019  217,008,073  -6  
Ince>me --------­----------·-----------­ 100,809,937  91,738,830  + 10  
Employment ----­---------·--------­ 2,643,635  3,723,878  -29  
Withholding  --------------­----­---­ 86,155,130  104,135,027  -17  
Other  ··-·--·----------------------------­ 14,168,317  17,410,338  -19  

Electric Utilities 
Southwest Public Service Company earned a net of $7.4 million during the fiscal year ending August 31. This was an increase of 7% over the preceding year. The com­pany's gross revenues, $38.6 million, increased 10% over the $35.1 million earned in fiscal 1955. Kilowatt-hour sales, 2.5 billion for the 1955-56 fiscal period, were up 11 %, and consumers of electricity increased to 173,000 from 167,000. 
Texas Utilities Company earned $.72 a share during the quarter ending August 31. For the fiscal year ending on the same date, per share earnings were $2.21, an in· crease of $.16 per share over 1955. Operating revenues of subsidiaries were $139.9 million for the year ending August 31, compared with $123.0 million for 1955. Much of the gain was due to the increased use of air conditioning and refrigeration during the summer. (The Dallas-Fort Worth area had 43 days of temperatures of 100 degrees or higher.) On August 16 the system served a peak load of 
2.0 million kilowatts, 19% above the 1955 maximum. 
Houston Lighting and Power earned $2.79 a com· mon share during the year ending August 31, a $.48 in­crease over 1955 and $.59 over 1954. Net income of $16.7 million for the year was $2.8 million above 1955. Common shares outstanding on August 31 totalled 5.8 million. 
Gulf States Utilities reports earnings of $2.22 a com· mon share for the year ending August 31, a $.19 increa;ie over 1955. The company's net for 1956 totalled $10.9 mil· lion, up $820,000 from 1955. 
Texas Power and Light Company plans to raise about $22 million by the sale of common and preferred stock and the issuance of first mortgage bonds. No-par· value preferred in the amount of $10 million dollars ( 100,000 shares) will be sold. An additional $2 million of common will be sold to Texas Utilities Company. The pro· ceeds of these issues will be used to retire short-term loans and to support a construction program. 

LOANI BY SAVINGS AND LOAN Al!IOCIATIONI 

Banking and Insurance 
louree: Federal Home Lean Bank of Little Rock Republic National Bank directors have proposed a 
5 % stock dividend on 127,500 shares of $12 par value.
Percent change 

Capital and surplus of the Dallas bank are to be increased from $70 million to $75 million. The dividend will in· 
Sept 1951i Sept 1956 Sept Aug Sept from from crease capital stock by $1.53 million. An additional $3.4 7 
Type 1956 1956 1955 Aug 1956 Sept 1955 

million will be transferred from undivided profits to 
Number 

surplus. The present monthly cash dividend of $.14 a share, ALL LOANS ...... 3,724 4,197 4,678 -11 -20 or $1.68 a year, will probably be continued. 
Construction ----------------739 800 1,060 -8 -30 
Republic National Life Insurance Company direc­

Purchase ---··················· 1,207 1,506 1,766 -20 -32 
tors have proposed a lS·to-1 stock split. At the same time 
Other ............................ 1,778 1,891 1,852 -6 -4 Thousands of dollars the par value will be reduced from $10 a share to $2. The capital account will be increased from the present $467,· 
ALL LOANS ----·· 21,537 24,535 30,541 -12 -29 

270 to $1,401,810 by transferring $934,540 from surplus. 
Construction ................ 6,735 7,126 9,803 -5 -31 

The company's growth to a total of more than $1 bil­

Purchase --------···-----------9,196 11,401 14,210 -19 -35 
lion of life insurance in force was cited as the reason for 
5,606 6,008 6,528 -7 -14

Other -----------------------------­
the action. FRANCIS B. MAY 
Oil and Gas 
General American Oil Company of Texas share· holders have approved an increase in authorized common 
CHANGES IN CONDITION OF WEEKLY REPOJlTING MEMBER

shares from 2 million to 4 million. Subsequently, company 
BANKS IN THE DALLAS FEDERAL RESERVE DISTRICT

directors voted a 100% stock dividend, payable November 
Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve S71tem

16 to holders of record on October 10 and a 15-cent semi­annual cash dividend on the common stock, payable Janu­
Percent change

ary 2 to holders of record December 2. This payment keeps 
Sept 1956 Sept 1956 Sept 1955

common stockholders' cash income at the same level as it 
from from from

was prior to the stock split. Owners' conversion privileges Account Auir 1956 Sept 1955 Auir 1955 on the 85,332 shares of preferred outstanding were ex­TOTAL ASSETS •• 2 + 2
·--··········· + 

tended to December 31, 1957, and the usual 15-cent divi· Loans and investments, less loans to banks and
dend on preferred was declared. 
valuation reserve ·······-------•• + 2 + 1 Loans, less loans to banks and
Shamrock Oil and Gm Corporation reports earn· 
valuation reserves ........ •• + 5 + 2


ings of $2.88 a share for the nine months ending August 31. 
Commercial, industrial, and This is an improvement over the $2.45 earned for the simi­agricultural loans ----------------------•• + 1 + 3 lar 1955 period. The total of net sales and other income, Loans for purchasing or carrying $39.6 million, was substantially above the $31.4 million securities -·--·------------··············-·-·· -1 + 29 4 
Real estate Joans + 2 + 3 3
·····················-········ 	+

for 1955. Net after taxes for the nine months ending last 
Other loans ·····················-···--··---------·· •• + 14 + 2

August was $6.6 million, as against $5.5 million for the Total U. S. Government 
comparable 1955 period. securities ----···-·---· -------··············· -4 -3 'Treasury bills 
----------------------············-· + 6 -35 -16 Houston Natural Gas Corporation shareholders have Treasury certificates of indebtedness ······ 9 5
approved a plan for financing the purchase of Houston 	·········-····-··-·-----+305 
Treasury notes + 3 -20 1
·······-···-·-···----------------­

Pipe Line Company from Atlantic Refining, which, in 
Bonds 	1 4 2
------·····---------··············--····-----·-····· ­

turn, recently acquired the $37.7 million company as part Other securities ·····················-····--1 -7 + I 
of a $200 million deal with Houston Oil Company. As part 	Loans to banks ·························· +300 -66 -14 Reserves with Federal
of the purchase price, Houston Natural Gas will assume 
Reserve Banks ·················· -5 + 1 + 1

about $11.7 million of long-term indebtedness of Houston 	Cash in vaults -8 -10 6
·························· 	+

Pipe Line. The $26 million balance will be paid to At· Balances with domestic lantic. As part of the financing plan, Houston Natural Gas banks ··-···--·························· + 15 + 8 + 12 
Other net assets ........................ -1 + 19 + 2


stockholders have approved a new class of 300,000 shares 
TOTAL LIABILITIES.... •• + 2 + 2

of $100-par preferred, subsidiary to the present outstand­Total adjusted deposits 
-3 2 + I 

ing preferred. One-third of this new stock will be offered Demand deposits .............................. -3 5 + 2 at public sale. Time deposits ·································-· + 1 + 5 -2 
u. s. Government deposits -18 + 14 15
-
Total interbank deposits + 12 13 

Lone Star Gas Company has been allowed to amend 	·······-··--+ + I 
Domestic banks ................................ + 12 + 14 + 4


restrictions on dividend payments contained in a loan 
Foreign banks .................................. -10 -10 + 5


agreement with the Prudential Insurance Company of Borrowings 
···································-+120 + 27 + 37 America to permit disbursement of a larger percentage of Other liabilities ···························· -2 + 33 + 7 the company's net income to share owners. Under the new CAPITAL ACCOUNTS ···-·-+ 1 + 12 •• agreement Lone Star can pay' out up to 95% of consoli· 
Percentage changes are based on the Wednesday nearest the end of the

dated net income accumulated after December 31, 1956. month. 
The previous maximum was 75%. ••Change is less than one-half of one percent. 

TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW . 


Local Business 


Percent change 	Percent change 
Sept 1956 Sept 1956 Sept 1956 Sept 1956 September from from September from from City and item 1956 Aug 1956 Sept 1955 City and item 1956 Aug 1956 Sept 1955 
BAY CITY (pop. 14,042') ABILENE (pop. 55,000r) 

Postal receipts ...........................................$ 9,240 + 3 + 20

Retail sales ..... ........................................... . 2 

Bank debits (thousands) ........................ $ 13,138 + 13 +

Department a nd apparel stores ........ . 2 3 

End-of-month deposits (thousands) t ... $ 18,906 + 8

Postal receiptst . $ 66,714 1 9 	+ 
Annual rate of deposit turnover ........... . 8.9 + 10


Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 1,010,948 -32 -30 + Bank debits (thousands ) .......................... $ 70,664 5 + 5 
BAYTOWN (pop. 22,983)
End-of-month deposits (thousands ) t ......$ 58,306 + 
Postal receipts ....... . ........................... $ 16,810 -10 + 12

Annual rate of deposit turnover..... 14.6 + 7 Building Permits, less federal contracts .S 2.60,000 -50 + 33
Employment ... . ................. . 30,500 + + 


7 Employment (area) ........................ . 416,300 + + 8

Manufacturing employment . 3,350 1 + 
Manufacturing employment (area) .. 92,550· •• + 8
Percent unemployed ......... . 4.4 6 + 5 

Percent unemployed (area) ................... . 3.5 •• + 13 


ALPINE (pop. 5,261) 	BEAUMONT (pop. 104,416') 
Postal receipts ............ $ 3,420 + 15 5 Retail sales* -9 2 
Building permits, less federal contracts $ 14,500 -34 19 Automotive stores* ............................... . -19 5 

Bank debits (thousands ) .. . ......... $ 2,270 -6 + 5 Department and apparel stores ......... . + + End-of-month deposits (thousands) L .. $ 4,394 + 5 + 28 Eating and drinking places* .. 4 + Annual rate of deposit turnover............. . 6.4 -10 -17 Food stores* .......................................... . + 2 
Lumber, building material, 

and hardware stores* ----................... -11 
AMARILLO (pop. 108,034') Postal receipt.s t ................ $ 82,663 -15 -1 
Retail sales* ............................................... . -9 -7 Building permits, less federal contracts S 1,748,166 + 38 + 79 

Automotive stores• ················-·······--·-·-···· -18 + 2 Bank debits (thousands) ......................... $ 134,025 + 
Department and apparel stores........... . 3 -10 Encl-of-month deposits (thousands H ....$ 102,423 + 
Drug stores• ........................................... 6 + 6 Annual rate of deposit turnover ............. 15.6 + 
Florists• ................................................... . + 4 -4 Employment (area ) .................................. 85,600 + 
Furniture and household Manufacturing employment (area ) .. 2.9,040 + 

appliance stores* ·····---------·· .............. . 13 11 Percent unemployed (area) -··-·····-·····-··-· 3.7 -12 -35 GasoJine and service stations* ---------··· 7 + 8 Liquor stores* -----------------------·····-······ 1 BEEVILLE (pop. 10,500r) 
Lumber, building material, 	Postal receipts ......................................... $ 6,968 -21 •• 

and hardware stores* ... . 31 -28 Building permits, less federal contracts.$ 79,755 -69 + 95 Postal receipts ........................ ................... $ 121,486 -9 7 Bank debits (thousands) ......................... $ 7,519 + 13 Building permits, less federal contracts .$ 1,456,292 -2 7 End-of-month deposits (thousands)t .... S 12,620 2 + 3 Bank debits (thousands) .......................... $ 144,501 12 8 Annual rate of deposit turnover . 7 .1 + 11 End-of-month deposits (thousands) j ... $ 104,856 + 2 1 Annual rate of deposit turnover ............ . 16.7 11 5 BIG SPRING (pop. 20,654') Employment .................................. . 47,200 + 1 + 4 Retail sales -------------------------------13 -26 
Manufacturing employment ............... . 5,360 + + 2 Automotive stores 	-23 ~42 

Percent unemployed ................................. . 3.8 10 7 	Department and apparel stores .......... + 16 + 8 Drug stores ................................................ + 1 Lumber, building material,
ARLINGTON (pop. 27,550') and hardware stores ............................ -15 Postal receipts ............................................ $ 20,073 4 + 12 Postal receipts ........................................... $ 16,173 -28 Building permits, less federal contracts .$ 425,553 9 -73 Building permits, less federal contracts $ 115,780 -53 -48 Employment (area) ................................. . 200,500 + + 6 Bank debits (thousands) .......................... $ 23,646 -18 + 2 
Manufacturing employment (area) ... . 64,950 •• + 14 End-of-month deposits (thousands) f .. $ 26,884 + 1 + 11 Percent unemployed (area) .. 3.8 7 -31 Annual rate of deposit turnover ............ 10.6 -17 -9 
·············-···················· 

BORGER (pop. 18,059) AUSTIN (pop. 168,500') Postal receipts ............................................ $ 12,377 -14 ~ 15 
Building permits, less federal contracts $ 80,655 -63 + 24
Retail sales ................................................... . 3 -12 

9
Bank debits (thousands) .......................... $ 15,706 +

Automotive stores ..................... . 	2 -27 

End-of-month deposits (thousands>+ . $ 15,754, + +
Department and apparel stores ........... . 7 -3


+ Annual rate of deposit turnover 12.0 +
Eating and drinkin" places ... + 19 2 
Food stores ........... . + 9 + 12 



BRADY (pop. 5,944)
Furniture and household 
Postal receipts .............................. ............ $ 3,290 -1 + 8 


appliance stores _ ..................... . 9 ~14 	+125

Building permits, less federal contracts $ 12,775 +287 
Gasoline and service stations ........... . -12 17 

Bank debits (thousands ) ......................... $ 3,356 + 43 -8 


Lumber, building material, 	7
End-of-month deposits (thousands) f . $ 6,695 •• + 
and hardware stores ......................... . 18 17 


-Postal receipts ..........$ 250,709 + -7 Iluilding permits, less federal contracts..$ 5,252,603 + 69 + 81 BRENHAM (pop. 6,941)Bank debits (thousands) ........................ $ 147,643 ** + 6 P ostal receipts . ·---···--·-···-··· 5,870 + 39 + 22 End-of-month deposits (thousands ) f ....$ 112,343 -5 Building permits, less federal contracts $ 25,170 -77 -64 Annual rate of deposit turnover ........... . 15.7 + + 10 Bank debits (thousands) 7,266 + 6 -7 
Annual rate of deposit turnover ........... 6.0 + 43 14 

······················· $ 

Employment ............................................... . 69,600 + + 5 End-of-month deposits (thousands) f ..$ 11,211 -13 ~16

..

Manufacturing employment ............... . 5,190 •• + 10 Annual rate of deposit turnover ............ 7.2 -31 
Percent unemployed ................................. . 3.7 3 3

+ For explanation of symbols, see page 23. 

NOVEMBER 1956 


Conditions 
Percent change Percent change 
Sept 1956 Sept 1956 Sept 1956 Sept 1956 September from from September from from City and item 1956 Aug 1956 Sept 1955 City and it.em 1956 Aug 1956 Sept 1955 
BROWNSVILLE (pop. 36,066) DALLAS (pop. 538,924u) 
Retail sales* .................. ............... . -15 -3 

R.etail sales• .................................... . -8 -11 Automotive stores* -12 -10 
Automotive stores• ............................ . -30 37 Food stores• . + 4 + 12 Department and apparel stores ... + 2 + 1 Lumber, building material, Drug stores• ........................................... . + 7 + 3 and hardware stores• -31 -8 
Eating and drinking places• ............. . 8 8 
Postal receipts .......................................... $ 20,793 -11 

Florists* ................................................... . 8 + 3 
Building permits, less federal contracts .$ 661,012 +368 +253 Food stores• ..................... . 2 

Furniture and householdBROWNWOOD (pop. 20,181) appliance stores• ______ 9 -23 Retail sales ................................................. . -10 ~11 
Gasoline and service stations• .. 1 Automotive stores __ -30 -22 
General merchandise stores• + 7 4 Department and apparel stores + 18 + 4 Liquor stores• ..................... . + + 8 Furniture and household Lumber, building material, appliance stores ..................... . -7 13 and hardware stores* ..... . -10 -31 Postal receipts .............. ... $ 16,342 -7 -15 Office, store, and school Building permits, less federal contracts.. $ 10,100 -9'1 -83 supply dealers• ......... . -1 + 6 Bank debits (thousands) ....................... S 9,408 -11 -9 Postal receipts .......................................... $ 1,542,246 -13 10 End-of-month deposits (thousands) j: . $ 11,976 •• -10 Building perm.its, less federal contracts..$10,369,794 + 42 -23 Annual rate of deposit turnover ...... . 9.4 ~ 10 •• Bank debits (thousands) ........................$ 1,902,607 7 3 End-of-month deposits (thousands) j: ..$ 993,328 + 3 2BRYAN (pop. 23,883r) Annual rate of deposit turnover ............ 23.3 9 Retail sales• ............................................... . + 16 + 8 Employment (area) .... ................... 834,200 
+ + 6 

Food stores• ............................................. . -8 Manufacturing employment (area) 86,100 + 10

+ 

Postal receipts ................................ ........... $ 16,921 -11 Percent unemployed (area) ............... 2.2 12 
Building permits, less federal contracts $ 212,985 -29 + 12 

CALDWELL (pop. 2,109) DENISON (pop.17,504) 
Bank debits (thousands) ........$ 1,802 + 6 -7 Retail sales . ~ 17 -16 
End-of-month deposits (thousands) j: .. $ 3,978 + •• Automotive stores ................................. . -24 -16 
Annual rate of deposit turnover 6.5 + 4 -10 Department and apparel stores + 23 •• 
Furniture and household 
appliance stores -36 -32

CISCO (pop. 5,230) 
Lumber, building material,

Postal receipts ...................... . .... $ 3,310 -6 -13 

and hardware stores ........ . -14 -49


Bank debits (thousands) ......................... $ 2,148 -17 -8 

Postal receipts .$ 12,556 -21 -15
End-of-month deposits (thousands)t ..$ 3,647 •• -13 
Building permits, less federal contracts .$ 211,959 •• +316
Annual rate of deposit turnover ........... 7.1 ~ 16 + 6 

Bank debits (thousands) .......... .$ 14,916 + 6 + 14 End-of-month deposits (thousands) :j: •. $ 16,716 2 + 4CORPUS CHRISTI (pop. 122~956u) Annual rate of deposit turnover ...... 10.6 + 6 + 7 Retail sales ................................. . -10 + Automotive stores ............ . -20 -10 Department and apparel stores 7 + DENTON (pop. 21,372) Lumber, building material, Postal receipts ......................................... $ 21,706 + -11 and hardware stores .......... . 4 + 23 Building permits, less federal contracts .$ 1,063,150 + 934 + 314 Postal receipts ........................................... $ 123,462 -12 -10 Bank debits (thousands) ....................... $ 12,601 + -5 Building permits, less federal contracts $ 919,666 -10 -44 End-of-month deposits (thousands) j .. $ 17,187 + 5 + 9 Bank debits (thousands) ........................ $ 172,440 -6 + 10 Annual rate of deposit turnover ........... . 9.0 •• ~ 13 End-of-month deposits (thousands ) t .. $ 109,644 •• + 2 Annual rate of deposit turnover .. 18.8 -7 + 8 Employment ............................................ . 64,500 •• + 2 EL PASO (pop. 182,505r) Manufacturing employment .............. .. 8,340 •• + 
R.etail sales* -7 -13
Percent unemployed ................... . 4.5 •• 4 

Automotive stores* .......................... . -13 -32 Department and apparel stores 4 + 9CORSICANA (pop. 19,211) Drug stores• + 2 + 12 Department and apparel store sales. .. + 15 -3 Lumber, building material, Postal receipts ............................ ..$ 12,274 -45 -26 and hardware stores• . + 5 + 8 Building permits, less federal contracts.. $ 106,995 + 29 +281 Piano and musical instrument Bank debits (thousands) .$ 16,580 + 11 5 stores• ...................... . + 10 + 2 End-of-month deposits (thousands) :j: .. $ 21,735 + 3 2 Postal receipts ............................................ $ 183,838 •• 15 Annual rate of deposit turnover ..... 9.2 + 8 3 Building permits, less federal contracts.. $ 1,884,948 8 -26 ----·-·----------------------Bank debits (thousands) ......................... $ 215,851 13 3 End-of-month deposits (thousands) t .. $ 132,787 
DEL RIO (pop. 14,211) + 4 + 2 
Annual rate of deposit turnover 19.9 14 3
Postal receipts ........................................ ... $ 7,921 -36 -39· 

Employment ............................................... . 79,200 

+ + 5

Building permits, less federal contracts $ 59,730 -61 -35 
Manufacturing employment . 12,860

Bank debits (thousands) .......................... $ 7,473 -15 •• + + 

Percent unemployed ................................. . 4.1 15 

+ 11 Annual rate of deposit turnover ........... . 7.9 -13 -4 
End-of-month deposits (thousands) j: .. $ 11,202 3 + 5 
For explanation of symbols, see page 23. 
TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 

LOCAL BUSINESS CONDITIONS 

Percent change Percent change 
City and item  September 1956 Sept 1956 from Aug 1956  Sept 1956 from Sept 1955  City and item  Sept 1956 September from 1956 Aug 1956  Sept 1956 from Sept 1956  
EDINBURG (pop. 15,993r) Postal receipts .......... ...............................$ Building permits, Jess federal contracts..$ Bank debits (thousands) .......................$ End-of-month deposits (thousands) j: ..$  6,543 45,770 7,616 6,673  + 3 + 15 -34. -27  -10 -49 + 2 2  GOLDTHWAITE (pop. 1,566) Postal r eceipts ............................................$ 2,928 Bank debits (thousands ) ......................... S 3,626 End-of-month deposits (thousands ) j: ..$ 3,096 Annual rate of deposit turnover ........... 13.8  +104 + 11 -3 + 15  + 18 + 18 + + 10  
Ann,ual rate of deposit turnover ...  11.5  -29  7  GONZALES (pop. 5,659)  
Postal  receipts  ..................................... ...$  3,756  + 9  -15  
FORT WORTH (pop. 315,578u) Retail sa.Jes* .......... Automotive stores* ...................... Department and apparel stores ..........  -12 -17 7  -8 -39 8  Building permits, less federal contracts $ Bank debits (thousands ) ......................... $ End-of-month deposits (thousands) j: ..$ Annual rate of deposit turnover  79,000 3,936 5,075 9.1  +645 -14 ~ 5 -11  +599 -26 -22 -9  
Drug stores• ..................... Eating and drinking places* .............. Furniture and household appliance stores* -·­-................. Gasoline and service station* Hay, grain, and feed stores* .... Lumber, building material,  3 3 -11 12 + 15  4 4 + 9 + 59  GRAND PRAIRIE (pop. 14,594) Postal receipts ............................................$ 16,402 Building permits, less federal contracts $ 268,505 Employment (area) .................... 334,200 Manufacturing employment (area) 86,100 Percent unemployed (area ) ... ... 2.2  -8 -12 + 1 + 1 -12  + 7 -48 + 6 + 10 -4  
and hardware stores• ............ Postal receipts .................................. .......$ Building permits, less federal contracts $ Bank debits (thousands) ....................... $ End-of-month deposits (thousands) j: .. $ Annual rate of deposit turnover ............ Employment (area) .................... Manufacturing employment (area) .. Percent unemployed (area) ... 544,62-0 3,687,815 628,221 372,319 20.3 200,500 64,950 3.8 GALVESTON (pop. 71,527u)  -+ - 11 8 39 8 ** 8 •• 7  -10 + 3 _ , 10 + 6 + 4 + 2 + 6 + 14 -31  GREENVILLE (pop. 17,500r) Retail sales* ............................................... Automotive stores• ................................ Department and apparel stores Food stores* Lumber, building material, and hardware stores>:< ...... Postal receipts ...................... ............$ Building permits, less federal contracts. S Bank debits (thousands) ........................$ End-of-month deposits (thousands ) LS  16,305 43,135 14,762 15,209  -2 -17 + 16 + 15 + 2 -69 + 15 + 4  -25 -55 -11 + 26 ~ 6 •• -67 _,  
Retail sales  ..................................................  -10  7  Annual rate of deposit turnover ............  11.8  + 13  +  
Department and apparel stores Food stores ..........  -11 ~= >:::  + 14 + 6  HARLINGEN (pop. 30,038r)  
Furniture and household  Postal receipts  ..........................  .......$  24,151  - 12  - IO  
appliance stores ----­----·--······ Lumber, building material, and hardware stores ... Postal receipts ............................  ..$  71,224.  + +  11  +  11 10 ••  Building Permits, less federal contracts .$ Bank debits (thousands) .......... $ End-of-month deposits (thousands ) t . $ Annual rate of deposit turnover ........  291,422 36,415 23,528 17.5  -31 -42 -11 -37  -1.. + -· 1  
Building permits, less federal contracts .S Bank debits (thousands) ......... .$ End-of-month deposits (thousands) j: ..$ Annual rate of deposit turnover ......... Employment (area) ................ Manufacturing employment (area) Percent unemployed (area) GARLAND (pop. 10,571)  731,996 85,128 73,696 13.9 47,800 11,710 5.6  +437 -22 + 1 -26 *..;' + + 6  + 39 + 6 + 5 + + 5 + 3 3  HENDERSON (pop. 6,833) Retail sales* ................ Automotive stores* Department and apparel stores . Food stores• ..................................... Postal recieptsf .............$ Building permits, less federal contracts. $ Bank debits (thousands ) ..........................$ End-of-month deposits (thousands ) t . $  8,252 249,500 6,221 14,338  -18 -31 + 6 + 17 -11 +376.. 
+ 1  -10 -19 -I + 25 + 4 +1123 -17 ••  
Postal receipts ...........................................$  12,925  - 5  - 4  Annual rate of deposit turnover ............  5.2  - 2  -19  
Building permits, less federal contracts..$  358,542  -13  -48  
Bank debits (thousands) ........................$ End-of-month deposits (thousands) j: ..$ Annual rate of deposit turnover ............ Employment (area) .................................. Manufacturing employment (area)  15,398 12,985 14.0 334,200 86,100  + + +  ** 3 1 1  + 13 + 7 + 6 + 1(}  HEREFORD (pop. 5,207) Postal receiptst ......... ...... ... .........$ Building permits, Jess federal contracts..$ Bank debits (thousands ) ................ S End-of-month deposits (thousands) t ..$  6,029 123,133 10,699 10,425  + 10 -19 -2 -11  -13 _, 44 + 12 + 19  
Percent  unemployed  (area)  2.2  - 12  4  Annual rate of deposit turnover  11.6  - 9  
GIDDINGS (pop. 2,532) Postal receipts ... ---················-····------........ $ Bank debits (thousands ) ........ $  2,051 1,762  14 6  -28 -3  JASPER (pop. 4,403) Postal receipts ..........$ Bank debits (thousands) ···-········· ............$ End-of-month deposits (thousands )t..$  4,402 5,473 6,673  -32 8 2  + + +  
End-of-month deposits (thousands)t ..$  3,449  ,;.,;.  ~ 15  Annual rate of deposit turnover ........  9.7  
Annual rate of deposit turnover ............ GLADEWATER (pop. 5,305) Postal receipts ............................................$ Bank debits (thousands ) ..........................$ End-of-month deposits (thousands ) j:.... $ Annual rate of deposit turnover .... Employment (area) ................................. Manufacturing employment (area) ..  6.1 4,094 3,549 4,667 9.7 25,350 4,790  -3 + 8 8 + 13 -13 + +  + 15 -30 -8 •• 8 + 4 + 18  KILGORE (pop. 9,638) P ostal receipts ............................. ...$ Building permits, Jess federal contracts.. $ Bank debits (thousands) ........................ $ End-of-month deposits (thousands) t ....$ Annual rate of deposit turnover.............. Employment (area) .................................. Manufacturing employment (area) .. Percent unemployed (area) ....................  10,796 102,258 15,938 17,043 11.7 25,350 4,790 3.6  + 13 + + + + •• ••  •• +m + 8 + 8 + + 4 + 18 -10  
Percent unemployed (area) ....................  3.6  -10  
For explanation of symbols, see page 23.  

NOVEMBER 1956 

LOCAL BUSINESS CONDITIONS 

Percent change Percent change 
Sept 1966 Sept 1956 Sept 1956 Sept 1956 September from from September from from City and item 1966 Aug 1966 Sept 1955 City and item 1966 Aug 1956 Sept 1955 
HOUSTON (pop. 700,508u ) LUBBOCK ( p op. 128 ,674r) 
Retail sales I -------------------------··-···---------·------6 Retail sales -·--······-·······--·-····--·------·----·-······ ••

-s -86 Automotive storesV ----··------··------····--······ 
-16 -15 Automotive stores ....................... . -46 Department and apparel stores ······----1 -2 Department and apparel stores + 8 5 Drug etoresV -------------·-------------···----------··· 
+ s + 7 Furniture and household Eating and drinking places! ............ . + 8 + 10 appliance stores .. 6 17 Food storesV -·-····----·-···------················-·· 6 2 Lumber, building material, 
Furniture and houeehold and hardware stores ...................... . + 24 -28 appliance storesU . ·······-····-··-······ ~ Hi + 6 Postal receipts ··········-·········-····-··············-··* 91,249 -21 -13 Gasoline and service stationsU .......... . 6 + 8 Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 1,774,480 + 4 5 General merchandise storesB + 2 8 Bank debits (thousands) ....................... $ 120,317 + 3 5 Lumber, building material, End-of-month deposits (thousands)).... $ 89,165 + 5 + 2 and hardware •tores( ....... . 9 Annual rate of deposit turnover............. 16.6 + Office, store, and school Employment _ ........................... . 48,550 + l + supply dealersU ................................. . -IO + 87 Manufacturing employment ... : ........... . 4,690 + 1 + s 
Postal receipts ··-·······---············--·-----····-·-·-··$ 1,016,135 -18 -1 Percent unemployed ................. . 4.8 + 14 Building permits, less federal contracts..$11,864,100 -19 + 26 Bank debits (thousands) -·---·-······-·····---.$ 2,109,106 + 7 McALLEN (pop. 25,326r) 
End-of-month deposits (thousands)+.. $ 1,288,974 + + 2 Retail sales --····---·--·-·······························-··· -19 -19 Annual rate of deposit turnover ............ 20.6 8 + 5 Department and apparel stores....... -23 + 2 Employment (area) -·--·-·-··-··-····-······-·····-416,800 + + 8 Postal receipts . ····-··-·····-····-···· .... .. .. ....$ 19,084 + + 15 
Manufacturing employment (area) ..$ 92,550 •• + 8 Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 92,960 -29 ---: 89 Percent unemployed (area) ---··---····--·-··· S.5 •• + 18 Bank debits (thousands) ........................$ 16,612 -18 + 3 End-of-month deposits (thousands) t .... $ 21,951 + 26 + 83 KILLEEN (pop. 21,076r) Annual rate of deposit turnover........ . 10.l -28 
Postal receipts ··-····-···-----·--·-·-----··-----··--------$ 15,476 -23 -40 Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 44,028 -46 -81 McKINNEY (pop. 10,560) Bank debits (thousands) .......................... $ 6,159 -18 -27 Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 27,360 -68 -88 End-of-month deposits (thousands) t....$ 5,476 8 -5 Bank debits (thousands) ............. $ 7,544 + l -19 
Annual rate of deposit turnover .............. 12.9 -7 -26 End-of-month deposits (thousands) t .... $ 12,211 + 2 + 4 

Annual rate of deposit turnover............. . 7.6 -28 LAMESA (pop. 10,704) Postal receipts ·--·-----········-----··------·-········-·-·$ 7,362 -7 + 18 MARSHALL ( p o p. 25,479 r ) Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 37,600 -86 + 73 Department and apparel store sales ....... . + 10 + 5 Bank debits (thousands ) 10,818 + 32 + 26 Postal receipts .......... . ...................... $ 15,916 •• -16
·······-······--·-------··' 

End-of-month deposits (thousands) i ....$ 12,881 + 10 + 22 Building permits, less federal contracts.. $ 79,129 -30 -85 Annual rate of deposit turnover.............. 11.0 + 28 9 Bank debits (thousands) .......................... $ 14,543 + 5 -2
+ 

End-of-month deposits (thousands)! ...$ 20,583 •• -3 LAMPASAS (pop. 4,869) Annual rate of deposit turnover ............. . 8.5 •• 
Postal receipts --------·-------·----····-··---·-------·---' 4,096 + 41 -4 
Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 29,900 -160 -85 MERCEDES (pop.10,081) Bank debits (thousands) -·--·-·······-·--····----·$ 4,464 -8 4 Postal receipts ... ·····--······--·-··-·-·--·---·$ 3,596 -39 -24 End-of-month deposits (thousands) i ....$ 6,856 + 3 6 Building permits, Jess federal contracts..$ 2,700 -57 + 800 
Annual rate of deposit turnover.............. 8.5 -10 + 4 Bank debits (thousands) .......................... $ 5,877 -83 + 10 End-of-month deposits (thousands) t ... $ 6,134 + 12 + 16 LAREDO (pop. 59,3SOr) Annual rate of deposit turnover ........ . 12.2 -38 
+ 

Postal receipts ·--·--·-··-----·--·-···-··---------·---·--··$ 22,337 -6 -6 ' 
MIDLAND (pop. 42,600r)
Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 97,676 -50 +141 
Postal receiptst ........................ .. ..............$ 52,504 -7 8

Bank debits (thousands) ........................ $ 20,834 2 + 6 + 

Building permits, less federal contracts..$ l,788,300 + 34 + 47End-of-month deposits (thousands) t....$ 18,972 + 2 3 
Bank debits (thousands) ........ . ........... $ 65,286 8 + 11

Annual rate of deposit turnover.............. 13.3 2 + 9 

End-of-month deposits (thousands) L .. $ 79,499 + 8 LLANO ( p op. 2,954 ) Annual rate of deposit turnover ... 9.8 7 + 3 
Postal receipts --·--·-·····---------··--··---·············$ 1,540 + -21 
MONAHANS ( pop. 6,311)
Building permits, less federal contracts. $ 2,500 
Postal receipts ............................................ $ 4,747 -I -23

Bank debits (thousands) 3,146 + 8 + 14
·········-·····-··--·-···' Building permits, less federal contracts.. $ 669,580 + 264 +761
End-of-month deposits (thousands) i.... $ 3,602 4 --l 
Bank debits (thousands) .......... ..$ 7,308 8 5

Annual rate of deposit turnover.............. 10.8 + + 12 

End-of-month deposits (thousands ) ! ... $ 7,240 + 3 
+ 

Annual rate of deposit turnover. 12.2
LOCKHART (pop. 5,573) 
Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 161,430 +893 + 89 

NACOGDOCHES (pop. 12,327)
Bank debits, (thousands) ........................ $ 8,380 + -11 Postal receipts ............................................$ 8,422 -26 -20 End-of-month deposits (thousands) t....$ 4,773 + 7 Buildinll' permits, less federal contracts.$ 38, 735 -45 41 Annual rate of deposit turnover.............. 8.5 + -7 Bank debits (thousands) ........................ $ 11,074 5 2
+ 

End-of-month deposits (thousands);.... $ 16,414 6
+ + 5

LONGVIEW (pop. 34,328r) Annual rate of deposit turnover.............. 8.3 7 2 Postal receipts ---------·-------------···-------···--·-··• 27,684 -l -7 Building permits, less federal contracta.. $ 793,640 + 231 + 69 NEW BRAUNFELS (pop. 12,210) 
Bank debits (thousands) .......................... $ 36,337 -2 5 Postal receipts _ ......................................... $ 18,616 -12 + 20 End-of-month deposits (thousands) i ....S 36,568 •• + 6 Building permits, less federal contracts.. $ 62,298 + 12 -87 Annual rate of deposit turnover............. 11.6 3 •• Bank debits (thousands) .........................$ 7,514 -11 + 2 Employment (area) ----····----·-·····------·--·---·· 26,350 + + 4 End-of-month deposits (thousands) t ....$ 9,791 + 5 7 
Manufacturing employment (area ) .... 4,790 + I + 18 Annual rate of deposit turnover.............. 9.4 -11 Percent unemployed (area) 3.6 6 
+ 
··············-··· -10 
For expla.natlon of symbols, see P8ll'e 23. 

TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 
LOCAL BUSINESS CONDITIONS 
Percent change Percent chan2e 

Sept 1956 Sept 1956 Sept 1956 Sept 1966 September from from September from from City and item Sept 1966
1956 Aug 1956 Sept 1955 City and Item 	1956 Aug 1956 
ORANGE (pop. 21,174) 

Building permits, less federal contracts. $ 140,018 -44 -46 ~~8~~~~.?...~~-~~-~--~:.~~-~9r) + 3 + 9 
Bank debits (thousands) ............ $ 18,958 8 -15 Department and apparel stores........... + 6 -2 
End-o!-month deposits (thousands) t ... $ 23,945 + 1 Postal receipts ............................................ $ 44,038 -11 -12 
Annual rate of deposit turnover............. 9.2 -20 Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 385,111 -22 -41 
Bank debits (thousands) ........................ $ 44,443 -1 .. 
PALESTINE (pop. l5,063r) End-of-month deposits (thousands) t .... $ 45,900 •• + I 

Postal receipts ............................................ $ 9,674 + -9 Annual rate of deposit turnover.............. 11.6 -3 •• 

Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 69,810 + 33 -44 Employment ............................................... . 23,050 •• + Bank debits (thousands) .......................... $ 7,189 + 8 Manufacturing employment ................ 2,870 •• End-of-month deposits (thousands ) t ... $ 13,694 + 1 + Percent unemployed 4.2 -16 +
................................ . 

Annual rate of deposit turnover.. 6.3 3 + 2 

SAN ANTONIO (pop. 449,52lu) PAMPA (pop. 20,448r) Retail sales• ................................................ . .......... . -4 Postal receipts ...........................................$ 19,299 + 10 + 15 -20
Automotive stores• ............................... . 


Building permits, less federal contracts .$ 823,390 + 280 +184 Department and apparel stores.......... . -2 
Bank debits (thousands) ..................... .. . $ 16,544 + 7 ......................... . -+

Drug stores• 	1 

21,321 + Eating and drinking places• .... 
End-of-month deposits (thousands) t .. . $ + 6 	-18 
9.4 + 2 Food stores• ................. . 	-2 

Furniture 	and household appliance stores• ............................... . 

Annual rate of deposit turnover............. . 	+ 

PASADENA (pop. 22,483) -22 -1' Postal receipts ............................................ $ 19,191 -18 + 14 General merchandise stores• ............... . + 2 -1 Building permits, less federal contracts.. $ 1,079,891 -10 11 Lumber, building material, 
+ and hardware stores• ............. ·........... 1 29

416,300 + 8 ­Manufacturing employment (area) .. 92,550 •• + 8 Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 3,562,930 -82 -21 Percent unemployed (area) 3.5 •• + 13 Bank debits (thousands) .......................... $ 431,662 -13 
Employment (area) -··-----------------------·-······ 
·········­
End-of-month deposits (thousands) L .. $ 341,405 -2 Annual rate of deposit turnover...... 15.0

PHARR (pop. 8,690) -12 
Postal receipts ........................................... $ 4,294 + -9 Employment 187,100 1 +

................................. + 
Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 36,600 + 32 Manufacturing employment .......... 23,250 -1 + 
Bank debits (thousands) .......................... $ + 1

3,168 -10 Percent unemployed ...... ................... 3.2 -16 -20 

End-of-month deposits (thousands ) t....$ 2,980 18 -15 Annual rate of deposit turnover 11.5 + 5 + 5 SAN SABA (pop. 3,400) Bank debits (thousands) ..........................$ 2,573 -16
PLAINVIEW (pop. 14,044) 	+ 
End-of-month deposits (thousands) t ....$ 3,649 -2
Retail sales ................................................... . -7 •• 

Annual rate of deposit turnover..... . 8.2 + -16

Department and apparel stores ........... . + 30 + Postal receipts ............................................ $ 13,223 + 5 4 Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 119,000 -18 -33 SEGUIN (pop. 14,000r) Bank debits (thousands ) .......................... $ 19,712 + 9 + 20 
Postal receipts ........................................ ...$ 7,949 + -8 Building permits, Jess federal contracts..$ 90,385 4 + 91 Bank debits (thousands) ........................ $ 7,057 6 -11PORT ARTHUR (pop. 82,150u) End-of-month deposits (thousands) L ..$ 15,366 •• -1 
Retail sales• ................................................ . .......... . 5 

End-of-month deposits (thousands) t....$ 17,487 6 16 

Annual rate of deposit turnover............. . 5.5 -7 -10 Automotive st<>res• ......... ··········--------· --2 Department and apparel stores .... 3 
SHERMAN (pop. 25,855r) 
Drug stores* ........................... . 	+ 

Retail sales ....................................... , ......... . -6 -16 

Eating and drinking places• Department and apparel stores ...... . + 17 + 5
Food stores• ............................ . 	6 

Furniture and householdFurniture and household 
appliance stores ................. . 	-15

appliance stores• .......... . 

Lumber, building material,Lumber, building material, 
and hardware stores ........... 	+ 2 -44 

and hardware stores• .... . 	14 
Postal receipts ............................................$ 22,463 -7 -27 

Postal receipts ...................... . ........... $ 32,282 + 1 

Building permits, less federal contracts.. $ 1,067,503 +914 +211 Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 443,797 + 3 
Bank debits (thousands) .........................$ 22,924 8 -16 

Bank debits (thousands) ...................... $ 51,798 12 

End-of-month deposits (thousands) t ....$ 17,098 -6 End-of-month deposits (thousands) t .... $ 43,967 1 
-12
Annual rate of deposit turnover...... . 16.0 

Annual rate of deposit turnover ........ . 14.0 -12 Employment (area) .................... . 85,600 -1 Manufacturing employment (area) 29,040 -1 SLATON (pop. 5,036) 
..

Postal receiptst ...................... ... $ 2,747 + 4 Building permits, less federal contracts.. $ 49,587 + 8 + 16 ROCKDALE (pop. 4,550r) Bank debits (thousands) ............... $ 2,269 + 21 + 9 
Percent unemployed (area) ................... . 3.7 12 


Postal receipts ............................................ $ 2,787 -16 -13 	+ 6

End-of-month deposits (thousands ) t .... $ 3,303 + 1 Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 25,725 +100 -3 
Annual rate of deposit turnover............. . 8.3 + 22 + 8 Bank debits (thousands) .......................... $ 3,392 7 -19 End-of-month deposits (thousands):.... $ 5,192 Annual rate of deposit turnover............. . 7.9 + 7 -+ 22 SNYDER (pop. 14,lUr) 
Department and apparel store sales.. + 27 -2 SAN MARCOS (pop. 9,980) Postal receipts ............... . ..... $ 10,310 + 11 -3 Postal receipts ............................................ $ 8,660 -5 -24 Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 57,400 -41 
+ 66 7

Building permits, less federal contracts.. $ 12,210 -40 -88 Bank debits (thousands) ........... . .. $ 11,285 -5 
Bank debits (thousands) ............ $ 5,378 -18 -80 End-of-month deposits (thousands);.... $ 14,372 + 3 -89 
End-of-month deposits (thousands) t.... $ 8,084 1 -10 Annual rate of deposit turnover............. . 9.5 
Annual rate of deposit turnover............. . 7.9 -16 -23 

For explanation of symbols, see page 23. 

NOVEMBER 1956 
LOCAL BUSINESS CONDITIONS 
Percent change Percent change 
City and item  Sept 1956 September from 1956 Aug 1956  Sept 1956 from Sept 1955  City and item  Sept 1956 September from 1956 Aug 1956  Sept 1956 from Sept 1955  
SULPHUR SPRINGS (pop. 9 ,870r ) Postal receipts ............................................$ 6,092 Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 15,800 Bank debits (thousands) ..........................$ 8,118 End-of-month deposits (thousands))....$ 10,938 Annual rate of deposit turnover.............. 9.0  + 12 -62 + 1 + 2 +  -12 -83 + 17 + 5 + 10  TYLER ( pop. 4 9,443r) Postal receipts ...... ............................. $ Building permits, less federal contracts..$ Bank debits (thousands) ........................$ End-of-month deposits (thousands) (....$ Annual rate of deposit turnover .............  60,646 864,896 74,659 58,428 15.5  + + + 81 ••  + 8 -38 + 3 + 4 +  
SWEETWATER (pop.13,619) POl!tal receipts ............................................$ 10,209  -19  - 7  VERNON ( p o p .  1 2,651)  
Building permits, less federal contracts..$ Bank debits (thousands) ..........................$ End-of-month deposits (thousandsH....$ Annual rate of deposit turnover.............. TAYLOR (pop. 9,071) Postal receipts ......................................... ..$  406,680 10,011 11,414 10.5 6,928  +172 + 11•• + 11 -17  -15 + 16 + 12 + + 7  Department and apparel store sales...... Postal receipts ............................................$ Building permits, less federal contracts.. $ Bank debits (thousands) ..........................$ End-of-month deposits (thousands ) t ....$ Annual rate of deposit tumover ..............  10,046 42,600 9,747 20,228 5.8  + + -4 41 7 5 •• 8  + 3 9 16 + 14  
Building permits, less federal contracts..$ Bank debits (thousands) ..........................$  23,165 7,296  -42 4  -90 -32  VICTORIA ( p o p . 4 9,164r)  
End-of-month deposits (thousands) t ....$  11,481  + 3  -17  Retail sales• ...............................................  9  -15  
Annual rate of deposit turnover..............  7.8  - 18  Automotive stores• ................................  9  -24  
Department and apparel stores.......  5  -13  
TEMPLE (pop. 33,912r )  F ood stores• .....................  9  
Retail sales  --­···············································  -16  -24  Furniture and household  
Department and apparel stores............  + 25  8  nppliance stores  -20  
Drug stores -·-··----·--·-­-·---···················-······  2  Lumber, building material,  
Eating and drinking places.......... Food stores ·········­-----·-·····························  7 ••  11  and hardware stores* ................ Building permits, less federal contracts..$ 1,338,019  -11 -39  19 + 134  
Furniture and household  
appliance stores ................................ .. Lumber, building material, and hardware stores ...... .................... · Postal receipts ............................................ $ Building permits, less federal contracts..$ Bank debits (thousands) ..........................$ End-of-month deposits (thousands))....$ Annual rate of deposit turnover..............  25,426 88,789 21,223 27,593 9.4  -33 -24 -16 -86 + 6 + 5 + 2  11 -16 -13 -72 -10 + 8 -18  WACO ( p op. 101,824r) Retail sales ...................... Department and apparel stores....... Florists ............................................... Furniture and household appliance stores ................................. Postal receipts ...... ............ .............. $ Building permits, Jess federal contracts $ 112,449 2,240,298  -1 + 12 17 9 + 2 + 129  .. + 5 -ll -17 -3 + 134  
TEXARKANA (pop. 24,753) Retail sales§ ·········································-······ Automotive stores§ ································ Furniture and household appliance stores§ ···-··-·-·····-················· P011tal receipts§ ..........................................$  44,116  -30 -33 -49 4  -33 -42 -5 -9  Bank debits (thousands) ........................ .$ End-of-month deposits (thousands ) t ...$ Annual rate of deposit turnover Employment Manufacturing employment ................ Percent unemployed .................................  84,405 65,173 15.6 48,100 9,380 3.2  -6.. 6 + 26 + 2 -22  + +  ••  
Building permits, less federal contracts..$ Bank debits (thousands ) § ......................$  141,350 40,048  + 37 2  -59 + 2  WICHITA FALLS (pop. 1 0 3 ,192r)  
End-of-month deposits (thousands) t ....$  16,459  3  7  Retail sales .................................................  4  -25  
Annnal rate of deposit turnover.............. Employment§ ·············································•  13.4 34,000  ••  +  6 3  Automotive stores ........................... Department and apparel stores....  +  5  -33 +  
Manufacturing employment§ ..............  5,290  9  Furniture and household  
Percent unemployed§ ·····-··················· ······  7.6  +  appliance stores ..................  27  +  
Lumber, building material,  
TEXAS CITY (pop. 23, 000r ) Postal receipts ............................................$  15,325  +  +  and hardware stores .................. Postal receipts ...........................................$  85,300  + . 
 +  12 l  
Building permits, less federal contracts..$  327,466  + 12  z  Building permits, Jess federal contracts..$  537,457  -12  -68  
Bank debits (thousands) ........................$ End-of-month deposits (thousands) t ....$  26,350 27,070  -14 -12  -14 -5  Bank debits (thousands) ..........................$ End-of-month deposits (thousands ) : ....$  91,513 103,459  8 ••  8 ••  
Annual rate of deposit turnover.............. Employment (area) ·································· Manufacturing employment (area) ....  10.9 47,800 11,710  -+  8 •• l  -13 + 6 + s  Annual rate of deposit tumover.............. E'mployment ........ Manufacturing employment  10.7 38,350 3,510  8 -98 ••  +  6 1  
Percent unemployed (area)  ····················  5.6  +  6  3  Percent unemployed  .......  3.4  - 15  15  

•Preliminary. 
••change Is less than one-half of one percent. 
tFigures are for calendar month rather than four-week month. 
tExcludes deposits to the credit of banks. 
fReported by the Bureau of Bualnesa and Economic Research, Univeraity of Houston for Harris County. 
§Figures Include Texarkana, Arkanaaa (pop. 16,876) and Texarkana, Texaa (pop. 24,753) . 
'Revised for use by the Texas H lirhway Department. 
01960 Urbanized Census. 

BAROMETERS OF TEXAS BUSINESS 

Year-to-date Averai' Sept Aug July average month 1966 1966 1966 1966 

GENERAL  BUSINESS ACTIVITY  
tTexas busineu activity, index ( 100.0)·······--··-·····-·····················-··············· tMiscellaneous freight carloadings in SW Dist., index (10.0)..............  159. 97  160* 90  161. 93  167 94  166 96  
tOrdinarr life insurance sales, index adjusted for price changes (4.2) ·······················································-·······-·························-····­Ordinary life insurance sales, index.......... ----------­--­-· -·---··--·-----··----·--···················· Bank debits, index................ ......... ..........................-·--····· -----·-·-----··· ----· --·····-·--··--··­ 227 266 205  221 258 224  230 269 220  233 270 216  219 251 199  
Bank debits in U. S., index.......................... .................. ----······-·····························-­Wholesale prices in U. S., unadjusted index.................·­-·---··-···-··--············-­·----· ­tConsumers' prices in Houston, unadjusted index..................... ........................... Consumers' prices in U. S., unadjusted index......................................................  176 115.3 117.l  200 114.6 118.2 116.8  188 114.0 117.0  186 113.7 117.2 115.7  173 110.7 115.8 114.5  
Income payments to individuals in U. S. (billions, at seasonally adjusted annual rate) ····--·················--···-·--··--·-····-·····-···--··----·········---····--····-­·-········­········· Corporation charters issued (number) ............................................................... . Business failures (number) ······--­---­·-··---·--·---····-··--··--············--·--·························-­ 423 29  s 328.2· 418 30  s  324.3 475 24  $ 321.9 502 26  s 306.1 445 17  
TRADE  
tTotal retail sales, index adjusted for price changes (46.8).................. Total retail sales, index....---······ ··------······­·---·-­········-­··--·· -····--·--··--·········-················· Durable-goods stores .................. ······---···-···················-··············--·· ·················· Nondurable·goods stores.....---·--··· --··-··­···-·­···· ······· --· ----·-·······­·· ·-· ·-··­·-·-······­·---· Ratio of credit sales to net sales in department and apparel stores.................. Ratio of collections to oustandings in department and apparel stores_. ________ ___ _  123* 141 126 148 67.7 32.l  135° 154 141 161 64.9 34.l  129 148 134 155 65.l 35.l  134 151 139 157 66.9 35.4  143 160 164 157 65.8 38.6  
PRODUCTION  
tlndustrial electric power consumption, index (14.6)............................ !Construction authorized, index adjusted for price changes (9.4).... tCrude oil production, index (8.1)........---···--···-·----······························-·-·····­tCrude oil runs to stills, index (3.9> ----···········-·········--······­·····-·····················-· tTotal electric power consumption, index (3.0)---··········-·············-··········· Gasoline consumption, index·-·-······-····-··------·--···--·-·····-·---·······························-··· ··­lndustrial production in U. S., indeX----··· -···-·············· ·······-·-·· ·····························­Southem pine production, index_·-·········· -···················-·······················-··············--·· Cottonseed crushed, index.............·-····­·-·-··-·-··········-·····················--···-········ ········-·­Construction authorized, index·--············-·-···········­·············-·································· Residential building ·-·-··--··--·-·-············-····· ·-··················-································· Nonresidential building ···················­·· ·· ·····-·····-·······-······-····················-···-···· Construction contracts awarded (thousands) -----·----·­--···--···--··········--···············--·  316* us• 127* 142 307° 144. 166* 136° 184. !!131,496  291° 116° 131° 147 299• 186 142 123 117 167* 196° 151* $140,702  304• 121* 131 143 311° 161 136 116 108 174* 188* 168* $113,184  324 129 132 150 305 174 141 121 127 183 171 165 Sl47,293  290 148 125 139 278 172 139 122 131 201 232 144 3123,957  
AGRICULTURE  
Farm cash income, unadjusted index.................................................................... Prices received by farmers, unadjusted index, 1909-14=100................ ............ Prices paid by farmers in U. S., unadjusted index, 1909-14=190____ ___ 
__ 
__ ___ ___ _ Ratio of Texas farm prices received to U. S. prices paid by farmers____ __ _________ _  112• 248 287 86  87* 250 288 87  33• 255 287 89  75 250 285 88  97 259 281 92  
FINANCE  
Reporting members banks, Dallas Reserve District: §Loans (millions) ··­··-­··-·-·-·-----···-·-----­.. ---------·····-·· .... -------······-···-· ················­§Loans and investments (millions) ·-------· ----­·---···-··----------·--­····­··­···-·············­Adjusted demand deposits (millions) ························································­Revenue receipts of the State Comptroller (thousands) ··­---·····-··-·-·····-···-·--··· Federal Internal Revenue collections (thousands) ---·· ·-·····-·-·--··-·--·····­···-­·---····  s 2,444 $ 3,809 s 2,595 s 59,383 $154,967  $ 2,444 $ 2,823 s 2,671 $ 92,436 $206,290  s 2,448 s 3,789 s 2,638 s 69,657 $104,947  g 2,427 s 3,682 s 2,645 $ 79,700 $226,456  s 2,266 s 3,75t s 2,687 s 73,348 Sl93,020  
LABOR  
Total nonagricultural employment (thousands) ·---······-----··--·-····---···········-·········· Total manufacturing employment (thousands> ----·-·····­····-·-············-·········· Durable-goods employment (thousands) ·· --­-·­··­·--·­-·--·-···--······-·-·-·····--· Nondurable-goods employment (thousands) -· ·· -·-···· ····-·····················-­Total nonagricultural labor force in 20 labor market areas (thousands) _____ _ Employment in 20 labor market areas (thousands) ·-·· ··-···-··················­·-·· Manufacturing employment in 20 labor market areas (thousands) Total unemployment in 20 labor market areas (thousands) ···········-------·­Percent of labor force unemployed in 20 labor market areas_____ ___ ___ _  2,401.7* 47.3 .9* 230.7 ° 243.2° 1,840.8 1,774.9 373.l 65.1 3.5  2,387.5 474.2 231.7 242.5 1,831.7 1,760.6 372.0 69.9 3.8  2,377.5 464.9 227.2 237.7 1,827.4 1,749.6 365.9 74.0 4.1  2,245.6 467.l 227.3 239.8 1,810.8 1,735.8 361.0 73.3 4.0  2,292.4 446.l 21!.l 235.0 1,745.8 1,671.4 340.I 73.8 4.2  

All figures are for Texas unless otherwise indicated. All indexes are baaed on the aver&a"e months fol' 194749, ""cept wheTe Indicated: all &re adjusted for seasonal variation, except annual indexes. 
Employment estimates have been adjusted to first quarter 1955 benchmarks. 
• Preliminary. 
t The index of business activity is the weighted a verage of the indexes indicated by a dagger ( t). The weight given eaeh Index In computing the oocn· 

posite is given in parentheses. f Index computed for February, May, Auguat, and November only. § Exclusive of Joans to banks after deduction of valuation ree<!nree.