October 1972 

Bureau of Business Research • The University of Texas at Austin 
TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW VOL XLVI, No. 10, OCTOBER 1972 Editor, Robert H. Ryan Managing Editor, Kathleen Luft Editorial Board: Robert H. Ryan, Chairman; Stanley A. Arbingast; John R. Stockton; Francis B. May; Robert B. Williamson; Kathleen Luft. 
CONTENTS 
Articles 

209 : The Business Situation in Texas, by John R. Stockton 
213: 	The Outlook for Sulfur, by Jared E. Hazleton 
221: 	Texas Construction: The Condominium Concept, by Kathleen Luft 
Tables 

210: Indexes of Consumer Prices: U.S. and Dallas, Texas 
211 : 	Purchasing Power of the Dollar 
211: 	Selected Barometers of Texas Business 
212: 	Business-Activity Indexes for Twenty Selected Texas Cities 
214: 	Forecasts of Demand for Sulfur (All Forms) by End Use , Year 2000 
216: 	Estimated World Sulfur Resources 
221: 	Estimated Values of Building Authorized in Texas 
224: 	Local Business Conditions Barometers of Texas Business (inside back cover) 
Charts 

209: 	Estimated Personal Income, Texas 
210: 	
Total Unemployment, Texas 

210: 	
Comparison of Consumer Prices and Wholesale Prices, United States 


211 : 	Average Weekly Earnings: Manufacturing Industries, Texas 
212: 	
Industrial Production, Texas 

212: 
Industrial Production: Durable Manufactures, Texas 

212: 	
Industrial Production: Nondurable Manufactures, Texas 


223 : 	Nonresidential Building Authorized, Texas 
Figures 

218 : 	Comparison of Trend Projections and Forecasts for Sulfur Demand 
219: 	Comparison of Trend Projections and Forecasts for Sulfur Production 
220: Sulfur Demand Projections Relative to Sulfur Supply from Pollution Abatement 
BUREAU OF BUSINESS RESEARCH 
Business Research Council: Vernon M. Briggs, James R. Bright, Robert T. Green, Darwin D. Klingman, George Kozmetsky, George M. Scott, Lee A. Tavis 
Director: Stanley A. Arbingast Assistant Directors: Florence Escott, David L. Karney Statistician: John R. Stockton Consulting Statistician: Francis B. May Cooperating Faculty : C. P. Blair, Charles T. Clark, Law­
rence L. Crum, Clark C. Gill, Gary L. Holstrum, Robert 
K. Holz, Lorrin G. Kennamer, Jerry Todd, Ernest 
W. Walker, Robert B. Williamson Administrative Assistant: Margaret Robb Research Associates: Charles Adams, Earlene Call, Nicholas 
Costas, Ida M. Lambeth, Robert M. Lockwood, Kathleen Luft, Robert H. Ryan, Clyde Sommerlatte, Barbara Terrell, Charles P. Zlatkovich 
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Montfort 
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Published monthly by the Bureau of Busineaa Research, Graduate School of Busineaa, The University of Texu at Austin, Austin, Tex• 78712. Second-clua postage paid at Austin, Texaa. Content of tbll publication ii not copyrighted and may be reproduced freely, but acknowledsment of source will be appreciated. The vlewa expreued by authors are not necellSU'ily those of the Bureau of Bullntll Research. Subscription, $4.00 a year; Individual copies 35 cents. 
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The Bureau of Business Research ia a member of the Association for University Business and Economic Research. 


THE BUSINESS SITUATION IN TEXAS 

John R. Stockton 


ESTIMATED PERSONAL INCOME, TEXAS 
Index Adj1u 1ed for Seoso11al Jlnriali.on -1967 =100 
19721964 1965 1966 1967 

SOURCE: Quarterly measures of Texas personal income made by the Office of Business Economics, U.S. Department of Commerce. 
Monthly allocations of quarterly measures, and estimates of most recent months, made by the Bureau of Business Research with regression relationships of time, bank debits, and insured unemployment. 
NOTE: Shaded areas indicate periods of decline of total business activity in the United States. 
Texas business activity surged upward in August after an erratic decline in July, continuing the strong rise that has been characteristic of the economy throughout most of 1972. The index of Texas business, based on the volume of checks drawn against demand deposits, rose 8 percent in August, restoring practically all of the loss registered in July. This rise in the measure of total business activity corresponds with the behavior of practically all of the barometers of business in the state. 
An analysis of the major indicators of Texas business suggests that the decline in July was not a reversal of the trend of business but was due to a combination of circumstances related to the calendar. July 1972 had five Saturdays and five Sundays, which inevitably depressed the total figures on business. In addition to an extra weekend, the Indepen­dence Day holiday came on Tuesday, with the result that businesses were inclined to take a two-day holiday. No adjustment in the total figures for the month of July was attempted and it seems logical to conclude that activity actually remained high throughout the summer months. 
On the national scene, gross national product for the first half of 1972 rose 11.4 percent, and after allowance for the increase in prices, it rose 9.4 percent. Even if the rise in gross national product does not maintain this rate of increase for the remainder of the year, 1972 gives promise of showing the strongest recovery that has occurred since the decline ended in December 1970. 
Personal consumption expenditures, the largest com­ponent of the gross national product, rose 14 percent between the last quarter of 1970 and the second quarter of 1972. Retail sales in Texas for the first seven months of 1972 were 12 percent above the same period of 1971. The only figures available for August at this time, retail sales in department stores in the eleventh Federal Reserve District, show an increase of 11 percent over a year ago. 

The rise in consumer spending results partly from the increase in disposable income, partly from a reduction in the percentage of income saved. In the second quarter of 1972 the percentage of disposable income saved was 6.4, in comparison with 8.6 in the second quarter of 1971. The shift from savings to consumer spending is a significant feature of the recent level of business, and nothing indicates that this tendency to spend will be reduced in the immediate future. 
Although consumer spending is the largest segment of the gross national product, one of the most strategic segments is spending for capital goods. This category includes expenditures for increased inventory, investment in new plant and equipment, and construction of residential and nonresidential buildings. Money spent for these pur­poses stimulates business activity by increasing wages of consumers as well as by providing all kinds of businesses supplying capital goods with increased business volume. 
Information on capital spending by Texas firms is not available, but since the industry of the state is growing somewhat faster than that of the country as a whole, national figures give significant information. Expenditures for the second quarter of 1972 for the United States were 
OCTOBER 1972 
INDEXES OF CONSUMER PRICES 
U.S. AND DALLAS, TEXAS (1967 = 100) 

Percent change  
Classificatio n  A ug 1972  A ug 1972 fr o m J ul 1972  A ug 1972 fro m A ug 1971  

All items United St at es Dallas , Texas  12 5.7 125.5  0.2  2.9 2.3  
Food United St at es Dallas, Texas  124.6 123.7  0.3  3.8 3.5  
Ho using United St at es Dallas, Texas  129.9 128.6  0.3  3.8 2. 1  
Apparel and upkee p United St at es Dallas, Texas  120.8 121.6  -0. 3  1.5 1.8  
Transportatio n United St at es Dallas, Texas  120.5 12 1.4  0.2  1.0 1. 3  
Health and rec reatio n United States Dallas, Texas  126.5 127.3  0.2  2.8 2.2  

... Data for July not available. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. 
15 percent above the level of the last quarter of 1970. Reports from business concerns indicate that expenditures for the second half of 1972 should approximately equal those for the first half. This segment of the economy should continue to give strong support to Texas business for the remainder of th~ year. 
Construction, both residential and nonresidential, con­tinues to offer strong support to total economic activity. After a sudden erratic drop in July construction authorized in Texas, the August value of new building authorized rose 14 percent from July, bringing the total for the year to a level 22 percent above the first eight months of 1971. Residential construction rose 35 percent and the total to date this year was 19 percent above the same period a year ago. Nonresidential construction authorized dropped 5 
TOTAL UNEMPLOYMENT, TEXAS 
l • d• • Adj..11ttl fo r S••••••I l'orialio• -1961•100 

2SO 
200 ISO 100 
• 

1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 196.1 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 
SOURCE' Tens Employmtnl Comm1MOOn. Olla <ldJll\IC'd fof x-.1 warimon by the Bwn11 or !lllW'ltU Rnurd\. 
NOTE. Sluded ann llldocalf pc-nods or dcd1nc or 101al t>usinni 1rtrn1y 111 11\e Unitt'd S111u. 


expenditures. In May the largest increase of the current recovery was registered, but even this increase of $1,200,000 was only .6 percent of the previous month. In the twelve-month period ending July 31 , 1972, inventories of all business concerns were approximately 4 percent higher than a year earlier. This rise is considered rather small in light of the strengthening demand being registered in business, and rising interest rates and talk of tighter credit may be causing businessmen to be cautious in building stocks of goods. Some analysts had hoped for a yearly increase in the neighborhood of twice that recorded. Another factor causing the small increase in inventories may be the extremely low level of inventories of auto­mobile dealers. This has been an unusually good year for sales of automobiles, so the low level of these inventories is a sign of exceptionally good business. 
Employment in Texas has continued to increase; total nonagricultural employment in August was 3.1 percent higher than a year earlier. Manufacturing employment rose 
1.7 percent and nonmanufacturing employment, 3.4 per­cent. Unemployment in the civilian labor force averaged 4.0 percent for selected labor-market areas but ranged from 2.6 percent in Austin to 9.2 percent in Laredo. For the state as a whole, unemployment was 3.8 percent. 
Weekly earnings of labor in manufacturing have risen from $136.85 in August 1971 to $143.85 a year later. This increase has resulted partially from an increase in average 
COMPARISON OF CONSUMER PRICES AND 
WHOLESALE PRICES, UNITED STATES 

percent in August, but the total for the year to date was 26 
135 

percent above a year ago. Money spent on construction wages and sales throughout the state becomes a major 130 
125

factor in supporting the growing economy of the state. Construction was one of the first elements of Texas 120 economic activity to feel the effects of the recession of 
11 .5 

1970. The decline continued through 1969 but recovery started with the beginning of 1970, the date at which the 110 recession is considered to have started for the country as a 
10 
whole. The steady rise in building activity during the thirty-two months since the end of , 1969 has been of tremendous importance to the economy of the state. 
Business spending for the accumulation of inventories is similar to spending for buildings and equipment in its effect 
1961 1962 1963 1964 196.5 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
on the total economy. In spite of some increases in 
SOURCE ; 811r1NU ot Lttio< St111i11k1, U.S. O.C..nnW!'l1of Labor.

inventories, this segment of private domestic investment has not been as stimulating to business as other types of capital 210 TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 
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AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNI NGS MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, TEXAS 
1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 196A 1965 1966 19 67 1968 1969 19 70 1971 1972 
NOTE: Shaded anllS tndic.lc penodl of d«hnt of !olal business activi1y in lhe Uni~cd Smo. 
SOU RCE: Tnu Employ-n! Commission. 0111 1dj1Hled for M:ISOnal >'ariation by the 8urcau of 8us1110~ R01earch. 

weekly hours worked from 40. 7 to 41.1 in the period of a year. At the same time that the number of hours worked was rising, average hourly earnings rose from $3.36 to $3.50. 
Texas industrial production fell from 133.0 in July to 
131.4 in August, but was 8. 7 percent above the level of 120.9 in August 1971. The index of industrial production for the United States rose more strongly in August than in any other recent month, registering 114.3 in comparison with 113.7 in July. The August index was 8.2 percent higher than a year ago, but much of this increase is the result of recovery from the slump in steel production last summer. This tends to exaggerate the real rise in production, although the rise has been substantial. 
The improvement shown in the Texas indexes is uniformly good; there exists little doubt that the recovery from the recent recession is real. The threat of inflation however, is also real. An accompanying table shows th~ decline in the purchasing power of the dollar since 19SO. If one determines the amount of goods and services that could be bought for $1.00 in 1960, one will find that this same dollar will buy only $.71 worth of goods at present prices. 
PURCHASING POWER OF THE DOLLAR 
(As measured by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 
Index of Consumer Prices, 1960=100) 

Year United States* Houston, Texas 
19SO  1.23  1.19  
19Sl  1.14  1.10  
19S2  1.12  1.09  
19S3  I. I I  1.08  
19S4  I.JO  1.08  
19SS  I. I I  1.08  
19S6  1.09  1.07  
19S7  I.OS  1.04  
19S8  1.03  1.02  
19S9  1.02  1.01  
1960  1.00  1.00  
1961  .99  1.00  
1962  .98  .98  
1963  .97  .97  
1964  .96  .9S  
196S  .94  .94  
1966  .91  .92  
1967  .89  .89  
1968  .8S  .86  
1969  .81  .80  
1970  .76  .7 6  
1971  .73  .74  
1972  .71  .72  

• U.S. city average. 
OCTOBER 1972 
Furthermore, that same dollar would have bought $1.23 worth of goods in 1950. Thus since 1965 the purchasing power of a 1960 dollar has dropped by 22 percent from $.91 to $.71. Between 1965 and August 1972, however, hourly wages in manufacturing in Texas increased from $2.48 to $3.50, or 41 percent. The worker in manufactur­ing has increased his pay more than the purchasing power of his pay has decreased. 
Controls have worked more effectively on prices-food prices being an exception-than they have on wages. Controls, however, obviously are creaking and groaning, and there exists some doubt that they will continue to hold. Inflationary pressures are growing stronger as business conditions improve. The federal deficit for fiscal year 1973 appears to be headed for $30 to $35 billion, in comparison with $23 billion at the end of the fiscal year ended July 1, 1972. Since this deficit is met by issuance of government securities, the deficit measures the amount of new pur­chasing power that is released to the market to increase the demand for goods and services. The inevitable result is that the prices of goods and services will continue to rise. 
One important step in reducing the inflationary pressure would be the reduction of the federal deficit either by increasing taxes or by reducing expenditures. From a political standpoint either measure seems impossible. The fiscal policy of the federal government can be used to 
SELECTED BAROMETERS OF TEXAS BUSINESS (Indexes-Adjusted for seasonal variation-1967=100) 
Percent change  
Year-to­ 
date  
Index  A ug 1972  Jul 1972  Year-to­date Aug 1972 average from 1972 Jul 1972  average 1972 from 1971  

Estimated personal  
IS7.3p IS3.3pincome  IS2.8  3  9  
Business activity 17 1.9 1S9.8  163.2  8  10  
Crude-petroleum  
112. lp 121.8pproduction  11 S.O  8  3  
Crude-oil runs to stills 116.9 116.1  II S.S  7  2  
Total electric-power  
ISl.8p 149.lpuse  lSl.7  2  12  
Industrial electric- 
power use 137.3p 13S.6p  138.3  1  10  
Bank debits 206.1 191.3  192.8  8  IS  
Urban building permits  
issued 177.9 I S8.6  183.8  12  20  
New residential 216.3 160.3  203.0  3S  19  
New nonresidential  
(unadjusted) 148.3 IS6.6  170.2  s  26  
Total industrial  
production 131.4p 133.0p  129.4  7  
Total nonfarm em­ 
ployment 11s.9P 11s.1P  11 S.S  **  2  
Man ufacturing em­ 
108.3p 107.3pployment  108.4  1  1  
Total unemployment lSS.8 1S2.4  1S3.3  2  9  
Insured unemployment 172.0 179.3  172.6  4  - 18  
Average weekly earn­129.4p 129.2p ings-manufacturing  128.7  ••  6  
Average weekly hours­98.7p 98.9pmanufacturing  98.9  ••  

P  Preliminary.  
**  Change is less than one half of I percent.  
211  

to move upward in December 1970, although the recovery 
INDUSTRI AL PRODUCTION, TEXAS 
has been sluggish until recent months. Business expansion, 
lndu Adj•uted for Sto10110/ llariation-l961:JOO 

which has been financed largely by cash flow from operations, is solidly based. Profit margins are widening as 
I SO 
labor costs per unit of output have tended to stabilize. 
Despite an apparently rosy picture, investors are worried about the prospects of higher interest rates. The behavior of the stock market has not been encouraging, even though no 
I 00 
' 
one believes that the Federal Reserve Board will bring on another credit crunch. For the past six months the supply 
* Af!tr July 1967 thc pk>ucd Trxi\ Industrial Ind•~·~ computed on• rc111c1&1t1td hi,.. ,..hich 1nroq><>n.ln~d11ionildu1, pnor 10 
1hh1umthcon1m1l 1mk~ is graphed, u,ba,,., pcnod h1•mgbttnupd1t<1ifrom 1957-1959 to 1967 
NOTE· Sha<kd •~as 1r>d1e1tc pcnodi of ded1nc of total bvsmc~ act1v11y in tile United Smu. 
SOURCE· l'cdcn l Rc,..n·c S..nk of Dallu. 

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION 
DURABLE MANUFACTURES, TEXAS 

l ndu A1lj1u led for Sto1onal Vo riafion-1961 =100 
of money has been allowed to increase above the rate needed to maintain a steady growth in the economy. 
We appear to be in the strange position of worrying about the good news for fear that it will bring about more inflation, and at the same time worrying for fear that 
1>0 
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19S8 19S9 1960 1961 1962 1963 196 .& 196S 19 66 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 
* Aflcr July 1967 th( ptoued Tc-.as lndu~tnal l ndu is oompulfil on 1 rcwetghttd ba,.. whlC'h 1noorpou1rs add11ion..I data, prior 10 
lh11i tum \ht OnJJnal 1ndu IS gniphti,I, 111i baw-pcnoJ h1v1ni b«n updated from 1957·1959 to 1967. 
NOTE Shaded ;ina~ ind1c:>lt pcnOOs of dtthno of total bU51ntu xt1Y>l)' 1n lhe United Statn. 
SOURCE; fedOl<il RncM: lbnk of OiUas. 

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION 
NONDURABLE MANUFACTURES, TEXAS 

lndu Adjiu1ed j1H S~a.onal V'1ria1ion-196i'=IOO 
100 
~ 
. 
.,t:tj:::E:t:ttttuttttLJ 
1959 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 196• 196 .S 1966 1967 1969 1969 1970 1971 1972 
* M ier J11ly 1967 \ht plotted Te~~ I0011stti•I lndu is C<;>mputod on • rcw..ighltd baw which incorpont~ ad.ll11on1I data. 
pnor lo thll lime the onginal 1ndu rs paph.-d, ·~ b:aw period ha>'in& b«n upcbttd from 1957-1959 lo 19(>7. NOTE'. Shided a1tn indicate pcnods of decline of 10111 buiinC'5 :Kl1'1ly 1n the Onht<l Sui~. SOURCE: Feder.ii Rew:rve Sant or ~!las 
increase demand by placing more purchasing power in the hands of businessmen and the public, or it can be used to reduce the amount of purchasing power. Whether this can be done in our political framework is debatable. 
One group of economists believes that inflation is the result of an increase in the supply of money. The Federal Reserve Board has the power to reduce the supply of money in circulation, which consists chiefly of currency and demand deposits in the banks. The device it uses to accomplish that is reduction of the amount of credit issued by banks, hence reduction of the amount of their deposits. But exercise of this power to reduce the amount of bank credit available would jeopardize expansion of business. No one wants to bring on a decline in business activity with the resultant increase in unemployment. Any elected government quite likely would run the risk of inflation in preference to slowing down business activity and reducing the number of jobs. 
The steady increase in business activity seems to set the stage for a resumption of the growth in the economy that has been underway since 1961 with only a minor setback in 1970. Economists generally agree that the economy started employment will fail to rise enough to supply jobs to the growing labor force. 
The consensus of forecasts by business economists seems to be that 1973 will continue to show improvement of the present level of business. Gross national product is expected to increase approximately 10 percent over 1972, but adjustment for the rise in prices may cut this increase to about 6 percent. Corporation profits are expected to continue to improve, industrial production will increase by as much as 6 percent over 1972, and the Dow Jones index of common stock prices will show a moderate increase. Unemployment is expected to remain between 5 and 6 percent of the labor force, and at the same time the consumer price index is expected to rise between 3 and 4 percent. Regardless of who wins the election, no drastic change is expected to occur in the trends that were in evidence at the beginning of autumn 1972. 
BUSINESS-ACTIVITY INDEXES 
FOR 1WENTY SELECTED TEXAS CITIES 
(Adjusted for seasonal variation-1967=100) 

Percent change  
City  Aug 1972  Jul 1972  Year-to­date average 1972  Aug 1972 from Jul 1972  Year-to­date average 1972 from 1971  

Abilene  127.9  119.7  121.8  7  10  
Amarillo  161.1  140.S  144.4  lS  IS  
Austin  22S.9  204.4  218.2  11  13  
Beaumont  101.S  93.7  98.4  8  2  
Corpus Christi  I S9.S  14S.8  I S3.9  9  12  
Corsicana  136.9  118.0  123.7  16  3  
Dallas  176.0  166.0  171.2  6  6  
El Paso  174.2  1S3.6  1 S4. l  13  11  
Fort Worth  166.1  I S0.4  1S7.1  10  4  
Galvest on  123.7  103 .9  114.4  19  - s  
Hous ton  178.4  167.9  168.1  6  18  
Laredo  171.S  160.7  I SS.4  7  6  
Lubbock Port Arthur  137.4 100.2  119.0 100.2  132.6 101.2  IS••  - 9 18  
San Angelo  148.2  149.0  IS 1.9  I  8  
San Antonio  I S8.S  147.3  IS I. S  8  4  
Texarkana  118.3  11 S.3  11 S.8  3  10  
Tyler  I S8. S  133.8  136.4  18  9  
Waco  176. 3  148.0  1 S3.4  19  14  
Wichita Falls  124.9  123.7  123.3  1  9  

* * Change is less than one half of I percen t. 

THE OUTLOOK FOR SULFUR* 

Jared E. Hazleton.. 
Sulfur is one of the most plentiful of the elements, but twice in the period since World War II it has been in tight supply both within the United States and abroad. In 1952 the Paley Commission identified sulfur as one of the materials that would be in short supply and urged that efforts be made to conserve sulfur, particularly sulfur contained in sour natural and refinery gases. Ten years later, sulfur prices were at an all-time low and the industry faced a serious oversupply situation. Twice within the next ten years, the sulfur supply and demand situation turned around completely, moving suddenly into shortage in 1964 and returning to a condition of oversupply ill'-1969. 
Sulfur provides an excellent example of the close relationship between market forces and the expansion of the resource base. In this paper, I shall review the demand and supply situation for sulfur, attempting to identify those factors that will influence sulfur markets over the remaining years of this century. 
Demand for Sulfur 

With the exception of its direct application as a plant nutrient, sulfur enters into various processing and manufac­turing industries as a raw material or factor of production. Over 85 percent of the brimstone consumed within the United States is burned to form sulfur dioxide for conversion to sulfuric acid. Thus the demand for sulfur is dependent largely upon, or derived from, the demand for the end products of industries that consume sulfur either directly or in the form of sulfuric acid. 
The relative importance of the various end uses for sulfur in acid and nonacid forms is indicated in Table 1, where domestic sulfur consumption is broken down by major industry. The demand curve for sulfur, as an intermediate product, depends upon four factors: ( 1) the technology, i.e., both the marginal rate of substitution between sulfur and alternative factors, and the relationship between marginal physical product and changes in sulfur input; (2) the nature of demand for the firm's products; (3) the prices of other factors; and ( 4) the elasticity of supply of other factors employed. 
* Adapted from a paper presented to the Forum on Energy Resources and Plant Foods, sponsored by the National Materials Policy Commission, Washington, D.C., and The University of Texas at Austin, May I 5-17, 1972. All papers given at the forum will be published in book form by the Bureau of Economic Geology of The University of Texas at Austin. 
** Until May 30, 1972, an associate professor of economics at The University of Texas at Austin, now an associate professor in the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs. 
The marginal rate of substitution between sulfur and other factors is relatively high in such industries as chemical fertilizers, paint and pigments, petroleum, iron and steel, and pulp and paper, where technically and economically feasible substitutes exist. The marginal rate of substitution is relatively low in the nonferrous metals, rayon, and rubber industries, where substitutes are technically inferior to sulfur or sulfuric acid. Thus the elasticity of demand for sulfur would be higher for firms in the first group of industries than for firms in the second group, given the time required for substitution to occur. 
In most cases, sulfur as sulfuric acid is combined in almost fixed proportions with other inputs; thus the marginal physical product declines rapidly as additional units of sulfur are added. In most of its uses, sulfur represents only a small fraction of the total cost of the products. For example, 100 pounds of sulfur (costing about $ l.00 today) are used in the production of 800 to 1,000 pounds of black powder, 2 to 2.5 tons of nitroglycerine, l 00 to 125 pounds of viscose rayon, 5 ,000 pounds of soft rubber, and 885 to 1,060 pounds of superphosphate fertilizer. The fact that, in general, sulfur accounts for only a small fraction of the total c;st of most of the products in which it is used, combined with the unlikelihood of substitution in the short run, supports the presumption that the demand for sulfur is inelastic in the short run. 
In the long run, however, the demand for sulfur is probably elastic, at least over some range of prices. The continued use of sulfur as an industrial raw material is dependent to a large extent on how the price of sulfur and the costs of sulfur-consuming processes compare with the price of technical substitutes and the costs of processes employing those substitutes. Unique uses for sulfur are few. In most instances, technical substitutes are available. In addition, since several sources of sulfur exist, the demand for any single source (for example, Frasch sulfur) is more elastic than the demand for sulfur in general. Thus the possibility of substitution tends to make the long-run demand for sulfur relatively price-elastic. 
However, a decision to use sulfur generally coincides with a decision to use a particular process. Thus the purchase decision has investment overtones. Changing from elemental sulfur to a technical substitute or to another form of sulfur generally will involve a change of processes, requiring both changes in input proportion of other raw materials and changes in plant and equipment. As price rigidity reduces the element of risk in a purchase decision with investment implications, purchasers of sulfur are felt to prefer a reliable source of sulfur at a reasonably stable price to widely fluctuating prices. 

OCTOBER 1972 
Table l 
FORECASTS OF DEMAND FOR SULFUR (ALL FORMS) 
BY END USE, YEAR 2000 
(Thousand long tons) 

Demand in the year 2000  
Actual  
demand  Low  High  
End use  1968  forecast  forecast  


Fertilizers  4,550  12,000  22,300  
Inorganic pi gm ents  500  
Cellulose fibers  
(rayon)  570  1,500  2,000  
Nonferrous metals  
(ore leaching)  300  1,050  2,000  
Ex plosives  250  700  1,050  
Iron and steel  
pickling  200  20  
Petroleum refining  180  325  530  
Alcohols  135  400  500  
Pulp and paper  540  800  1,000  
Other uses  1,860  6,225  7,500  
Total  9,085  23,000  37,000  

Source: 	U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, Mineral Facts and Problems, 1970 edition, p. 1260. 
Notes: 	Median projection, thirty million tons, for 2000 is identical to that made by Hans H. Landsberg, Leonard L. Fischman, and Joseph L. Fischer, R esources in America's Future (Baltimore: The Jo hns Hopkins Press for Resources for the Future, Inc., 1963), p. 486. Estimated demand for the rest of the world was a low of 85,000 thousand long tons, a high of 125,000 thousand long tons, and a median of 105,000 thousand long tons. This compares with estimated consumption in 1968 of 25,300 thousand long tons. 
The final comment regarding the end uses of sulfur by consuming industries is prompted by the observation that sulfur is used in a wide range of industries covering most segments of American industry. Liebig's axiom that the economic welfare of a nation can be most accurately measured by its consumption of sulfuric acid appears to be valid today, as it was when he advanced it in the middle of the nineteenth century, though we tend to use the term "welfare" more cautiously today. The diversity of uses for sulfur as an intermediate product subjects the demand for sulfur to the cyclical fluctuations that characterize the manufacturing segment of the economy. At the same time, it makes the long-run demand for sulfur dependent upon growth in industrial production. Statistical tests conducted by this author have shown that the relationship between industrial production and sulfur consumption in the United States has remained unchanged over time. 1 
Demand Projection 

Looking to the future, the simplest method of projecting aggregate sulfur demand is to assume that the demand for sulfur will continue to grow at about the same rate as industrial output. Utilizing this procedure, in 1963, Re­sources for the Future estimated sulfur consumption in the 
Jared Hazleton, The Economics of the Sulphur Industry (Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future, 1970). 
United States at 30 million tons for 2000.2 The U.S. Bureau of Mines, in its 1970 edition of Mineral Facts and Problems, estimated total domestic consumption of sulfur in 2000 to be somewhere in the range of 23 million to 37 million tons, the midpoint of which falls at 30 million tons.3 The Bureau of Mines forecast, however, did take into consideration changes in the pattern of sulfur consumption. 
The pattern of industrial consumption of sulfur re­mained very stable for many years, the major components being chemicals, inorganic pigments, iron and steel pickling, production of man-made fibers, petroleum refining, and pulp and paper manufacture. In recent years, however, the use of substitutes for sulfur (or for sulfuric acid) has reduced sulfur's share of some of these major industrial markets. One of the primary reasons for substitution has been the difficulty of disposing of spent sulfuric acid and the high cost of regeneration. As public tolerance of pollution has diminished, the search for less offensive alternatives to sulfuric acid has proceeded in many indus­tries. 
In iron and steel pickling, a component representing a little over 2 percent of total domestic sulfur demand, the consumption of sulfuric acid has gradually been displaced by the use of hydrochloric acid. The primary reason is that hydrochloric acid presents much less of a disposal problem. In addition, spent sulfuric acid is 8 to 10 percent acid and too costly to regenerate, while hydrochloric liquor is less than 0.1 percent acid, and with one of the newer processes about 80 percent of the acid can be recovered from the pickling bath. Hydrochloric processes are said to give a better-looking sheet than sulfuric acid processes, and overpickling is less of a problem. Over the next 25 to 30 years, it is expected that hydrochloric acid will completely displace sulfuric acid in the pickling of iron and steel. 
Another application in which sulfuric acid is facing stiff competition is the manufacture of inorganic pigments. Traditionally, titanium dioxide pigments have been made by digesting ilmenite ore with sulfuric acid. Because of the varying content of iron and other impurities in ilmenite ores, the quantity of sulfuric acid used in digestion varies between 3 to 4 tons per ton of titanium dioxide pigment. Titanium slag may also be used to manufacture pigment and thereby acid requirements are reduced to 1.0 to 1.5 tons per ton of pigment. In 1968 about 500,000 tons of sulfur were used in the United States in the manufacture of titanium dioxide pigments, representing about 5.5 percent of the total domestic sulfur demand. 
In the 	late fifties, DuPont introduced a process for 
manufacturing titanium dioxide pigments from rutile ore 
using chlorine. This process has gained wide acceptance in 
recent years because of several factors. Construction costs 
are about 60 to 70 percent less than those for the sulfuric 
acid leaching process. Waste from the chlorine process is 
2 Hans H. Landsberg, Leonard L. Fischman, and Joseph L. Fischer, Resources in America's Future (Baltimore : The Johns Hopkins Press for Resources for the Future, Inc., 1963), p. 486. 
3Richard W. Lewis, "Sulfur," in Mineral Facts and Problems, 1970 Edition, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, Bulletin 650, 1970, pp. 1247-1265. 

about one eighth of that from sulfuric acid, and chlorine changing technology for ore leaching and because of an disposal problems are reduced because the chlorine process expansion in uranium production. Taken together, sulfur is continuous and the chlorine recycled. The chlorine consumption in the chemical, synthetic fiber, and nonfer­process also has a small cost advantage, although it can be rous metals industries is expected to expand at a rate used only with rutile ore, which costs over twice as much as commensurate with the growth in industrial production. ilmenite or titanium slag. It is expected that by 2000, no In summary, the major characteristic of industrial sulfur will be used in the production of titanium dioxide consumption of sulfur other than by the fertilizer industry pigments. is that sulfur requirements will not increase as rapidly as 
Two additional components of sulfur demand which demand for the products in which sulfur is used. Thus the appear to be diminishing on a relative basis are petroleum share that sulfur holds in most of these industrial markets refining and pulp and paper manufacturing. Use of sulfuric will continue to decline. acid in petroleum refining has been decreasing because of In recent years, the decline in certain industrial uses of the increasing application of solvent-extraction and hydrog­sulfur has been more than offset by the increase in enation. Alkylation, a major user in the petroleum industry, consumption of sulfur in the manufacture of fertilizers. For is not expanding, mainly because of the change-over in example, in l 963 fertilizer manufacture accounted for aviation fuel from high octane to about 40 percent of total domes­
kerosene-type fuels and the tic sulfur consumption. It is esti­
Texas sources supplied 50.04 percent of 
growing application of hydro­mated that about 77 percent of
the elemental sulfur produced in the United 
fluoric in place of sulfuric acid. the growth in demand for sulfur
States in 1971, according to preliminary figures. 
Sulfur used in petroleum refin­in the United States in the two
Production in Texas comes from two sources: 
ing represents a little less than 2 ensuing years was for the fertili­
the Frasch mines of the Gulf Coast and the sour
percent of total domestic sulfur zer industry, with the result that 
natural gas wells across the state. In 1969, the
consumption today, and it is by 1965, the fertilizer industry likely to represent considerably latest year for which final figures are available, accounted for 45 percent of less than that proportion by Frasch sulfur was being produced by six firms total domestic sulfur consump­2000. operating twelve mines in eight Texas counties. tion. Its share, which has been In pulp and paper manufac­Production in that year totaled 3,289,000 long increasing since 1965, now ture, the newer sulfate process, tons, or about 46 percent of the 7,146,000 long stands at about half of total which uses sodium sulfate, is tons of Frasch sulfur produced in the United domestic sulfur consumption. It steadily replacing the sulfite pro­is likely, therefore, that the fu­
States. Production of sulfur from sour natural cess, which uses sulfuric acid. ture growth in demand for sulfur
gas and refinery gas streams occurred in forty­
The principal advantage offered will depend primarily upon the
five plants in twenty-four Texas counties in 
by the s~fate process is the rate at which sulfur consump­
1969. Sulfur currently accounts for approxi­
greater possibility of recovery tion expands in the manufacture
mately 1 percent of the total value of mineral
and regeneration, and the small­of fertilizer. 
products produced annually in Texas . 
.er pollution problem. At the The production of sulfur-con­current time, sulfur consumed in taining fertilizers should con­the manufacture of pulp and paper represents about 6 tinue to give strong impetus to growth of sulfur percent of total domestic sulfur demand. Its share of total consumption over the next few decades. Much of this demand is expected to decline to about 3 percent of total growth will result from continued worldwide pressure on domestic demand by 2000. food production. Most of the world's agricultural lands, 
Only in its application in the manufacture of chemicals including those of the United States, can profitably utilize and man-made fibers and in the leaching of nonferrous additional fertilization, and steep increases in fertilizer metallic ores does sulfur appear to have a favorable outlook demand seem likely. among major consuming groups. The use of sulfuric acid in Sulfuric acid is used in the manufacture of both the chemical industry is widespread. Curtailment of its use phosphatic · and nitrogen fertilizers. One of the most in the manufacture of any single product would probably important factors behind the increase in demand for sulfur have little effect on total consumption by the industry, and for use in the manufacture of fertilizers has been the trend there is no indication that its use in many or most product away from low-analysis fertilizers such as ammonium lines will decline. In the synthetic fiber industry, however, sulfate and normal superphosphate (which require 521 the continued use of sulfur will depend to a great extent on pounds and 268 pounds of sulfur per ton of product) the product mix in the industry. As new synthetic fibers are toward highly concentrated fertilizers such as triple super­developed, they obtain shares of the market previously held phosphate and ammonium phosphate (which require 597 by rayon, which requires a substantial proportion of sulfur pounds and 880 pounds of sulfur per ton of product). Since in its manufacture. Many of the newer fibers, such as high-analysis fertilizers require up to 40 percent more sulfur polyester and olefin, have much smaller sulfur require­per unit of P2o5 in their manufacture, this trend has led to ments. Some, such as spandex and acrylic, require no sulfur increasing sulfur consumption by the fertilizer industry. in their manufacture. In the leaching of nonferrous metallic The sulfur used in the manufacture of the low-analysis ores, sulfur requirements are likely to expand because of products, ammonium sulfate and normal superphosphate, is 
OCTOBER 1972 215 an end component of these materials. In fact, there is more sulfur than nitrogen in a bag of ammonium sulfate and more sulfur than phosphorus in a bag of normal super­phosphate. On the other hand, phosphoric acid, triple superphosphate, and ammonium phosphates contain little or no sulfur, and the movement toward high-analysis fertilizers may soon create a need for direct addition of sulfur as a secondary plant nutrient. Soil sulfur deficiencies, which limit crop yields, have been noted in various parts of the world, including Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil, and in at least sixteen states of the United States. 
While sulfur consumption by the fertilizer industry increased substantially from 1955 to 1970, substitution of either fertilizers or processes not requiring sulfur inputs may dampen future increases in the demand for sulfur by this industry. As an example of the first type of substitu­tion, the use of nonsulfur nitrogen fertilizers such as urea, anhydrous ammonia, and ammonium nitrates, in place of ammonium sulfate, reduces sulfur consumption. Substitu­tion of the second type is likely to come about through the introduction of different methods of making phosphoric acid. Today over one third of the sulfur consumed in the United States enters into the production of wet-process phosphoric acid. The substitute most commonly suggested for sulfuric acid in the manufacture of fertilizers is nitric acid. It is estimated that nitric phosphates currently have a small but significant cost advantage over ammonium phos­phates and ammonium nitrate in large plants. However, incomplete water solubility and inflexibility in N-P ratios continue to present a severe marketing problem. Further, the need for a large-scale plant limits the adaptability of most phosphoric acid operations to the use of nitric acid.4 
The 	furnace method of producing phosphoric acid 
contains none of the product difficulties associated with 
the nitric acid substitution. However, costs appear to be 
prohibitive at present. At present, also, no producer is 
likely to build a plant to produce hydrochloric acid for use 
in fertilizer manufacture. However, if he is producing 
hydrochloric acid for some other type of manufacturing 
operation that requires it, he might well invest his surplus 
production in the manufacture of phosphatic fertilizers. 
In summary, demand for fertilizers should continue to 
expand over the next few decades, both within the United 
States and abroad. The most dynamic growth area for 
sulfur consumption by the fertilizer industry appears to be 
phosphate fertilizers, which already account for about 36 
percent of U.S. sulfur consumption and more than 30 
percent of the free world sulfur consumption. The trend 
toward use of high-analysis products will have limited 
growth. Since high-analysis products require 40 to 50 
percent more sulfur in their manufacture than low-analysis 
products, the average annual growth of sulfur consumption 
by the fertilizer industry will be higher than the rate of 
increase in fertilizer output. Thus the share of the total 
domestic sulfur market held by fertilizer manufacture 
A 600-ton-per-day nitrophosphate plant would require about 90 tons per day of nitrogen. An economically sized ammonia plant, however, would produce 820 tons per day of nitrogen. 
Table 2 
ESTIMATED WORLD SULFUR RESOURCES (Millions of long tons) 
Type and leading sources Estimated resources 
Elemental  
Frasch (salt dome)  
United States  200  
Mexico  so  2SO  
Native  
United States  100  
Poland  100  
Iraq  200  
Andes  100  
Pacific Basin  so  sso  
Recovered (oil and gas)  
United States  100  
Canada  3SO  
France  3S  
Middle East  27S  
Rest of world  12S  885  
Oil shale, tar sands,  
and other bitumen  
United States  l ,SOO  
Rest of world  2,000  3,SOO  
Nonelemental  
Metal sulfides  
United States  so  
Spain  37S  
Rest of world  7SO  l,l 7S  
Coal  
United States  13,000  
Rest of world  10,000  23,000  
Anhydrite and gypsum  Enormous  
Sea water  Enormous  
Total  29,360  

Note: 	The information given represents a summary of available estimates of sulfur resources. It combines estimates of proven reserves with those of potential reserves. Where a range of estimates has been made, a representative figure has been arbitrarily selected. 
should increase from 50 percent to a level of 60 percent by the end of this century. While substitution possibilities, both product and process, are possible, they appear unlikely to affect this outcome significantly over the next few decades. 
Sulfur Supply5 
At the time of the 1952 Paley Commission Report, almost all of the domestic supply of sulfur came from the salt dome deposits of the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts. They were mined by a process named for Herman Frasch, who invented it, which utilized a set of concentric pipes, introducing hot water into the deposit, melting the sulfur, and using compressed air to change the apparent specific gravity of the molten sulfur and lift it to the surface. The Paley Commission's projection for the sulfur industry saw supply failing to keep pace with demand. The error in the Paley forecast was not in the demand forecast, which 
SMost of the information in this section is based on material contained in Hazleton, Sulphur Industry, pp. l 3S-144; and Lewis, "Sulfur," pp. 12S3-12S4. 

proved to be nearly perfect, but rather was on the supply side. 
The world will require new sources of supply to meet the continuing growth in demand. Fortunately, relatively abundant reserves of sulfur are available, though at slightly higher production costs, and the technology already exists to tap these additional supplies. Further, as these new sources of supply become more important, competitive pressures should act to improve technology and lower the costs of recovery. Table 2 summarizes, in a very rough fashion, the world resource situation for sulfur. While it includes all sources of supply that have been identified, Table 2 should not be taken to imply that all sources will be tapped. The outlook for each major source of sulfur must be examined separately, and the figures given in this table qualified as to origin and meaning. 
Frasch Sulfur 
The lowest-cost form of sulfur is Frasch sulfur obtained from the salt domes of the U.S. Gulf Coast and the anticlines of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico. The 
U.S. Bureau of Mines estimates the reserves of known onshore and offshore U.S. salt dome deposits at 100 million tons with an additional 90 million tons potential. Intensive past exploration by the oil and gas industry suggests that additional sulfur-impregnated domes will not be discovered. on the mainland at depths favorable for the recovery of sulfur. However, there are abandoned onshore Frasch mines that can be reworked and five such mines were reopened during the most recent sulfur shortage. 
The offshore area of the Gulf Coast has not been thoroughly explored for sulfur, and the extent of potential offshore reserves may not be known for several years. It is likely that additional deposits of sulfur will be discovered in the offshore area, but they may prove too costly to mine to be classified with other salt dome deposits as low-cost sources. Offshore exploration is estimated to be five times as costly as onshore exploration, and operating costs offshore probably run at least l .S to 2.S times higher than those for an onshore mine of similar size and quality. 
Estimated reserves in known Mexican anticline deposits on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec range from SO to 60 million tons. However, Mexican sources indicate that the bulk of the Tehuantepec area has not been carefully surveyed by geologists. Further exploration on the isthmus will probab­ly result in the discovery of additional deposits of sulfur, but the irregular structure of the isthmus formations makes it difficult to estimate the commercially recoverable quanti­ties that might be added. 
Native Ore Deposits 
Sulfur ore also occurs in volcanic, hot spring, sedimen­tary, and replacement deposits. The sulfur content of these native ore deposits is similar to that of the Gulf Coast salt dome deposits-20 to 40 percent-though occasional de­
posits contain up to 9S percent sulfur. Most of these native 
ore deposits are located in remote areas, many of them are 
quite small, and production and transportation costs are 
higher than for either Frasch or recovered sulfur. In general, 
these sources are used to supply local markets. 
In the United States, small hot-spring, volcanic, and 
sedimentary native sulfur deposits have been found in the 
Rocky Mountains and western states. Perhaps the most 
important domestic sulfur-bearing formations, except for 
the salt domes of the Gulf Coast, occur in Pecos and 
Culberson Counties in West Texas, where reserves of 
sedimentary deposits have been estimated to have 100 
million tons of recoverable sulfur, most of which is 
amenable to Frasch mining. 
The largest known deposits of volcanic ores occur in the 
3,000-mile Andes mountain chain in South America, where 
reserves have been estimated to contain as much as l 00 
million tons of sulfur. The most important of the one-hun­
dred-odd deposits are found in Chile, where occurrences of 
high-grade ( 4S-9S) sulfur are estimated at 40 million tons. 
Similar deposits, generally having lower sulfur content, are 
known to exist in Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, 
Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and the Galapagos 
Islands. 
Japan has at least forty known deposits of volcanic 
sulfur with sulfur content estimated as ranging from 2S to 
SO million tons. Other Asiatic countries also have volcanic 
sulfur deposits, but most of them are too small and too 
remote to be considered as recoverable reserves under 
almost any conditions. 
The most important sedimentary deposits are found in 
the southeastern portion of Poland in the Tarnobrzeg basin. 
Reserves are estimated at over 100 million tons. Open pit 
mining is employed with flotation and filtration processing. 
Efforts to utilize hot water and chemical solvent processes 
have been at least partially successful. Nearby is a smaller 
deposit which is also being developed. Other areas having 
large sedimentary deposits include the USSR, Sicily, and 
mainland China. There is also a large native sulfur deposit in 
the Mishraq area of northern Iraq. The Iraq reserves are 
•estimated at more than 200 million tons. 
The most important addition to the world's elemental sulfur reserves since the Korean War sulfur shortage has been the increased recovery of elemental sulfur from sour natural and refinery gases. Since the factors governing the availability of elemental sulfur from natural gas are quite different from those governing availability from petroleum, the two sources of recovered sulfur are considered sepa­rately. 
Natural Gas 
The sulfur content of U.S. natural gas averages about O.OS percent by weight. The sulfur content occurs as hydrogen sulfide in concentrations ranging from none to as high as 70 percent. In Canada, the hydrogen sulfide content ranges from 10 to l S percent. French plants at Lacq and nearby Mellion process gas which has a S-to l S-percent 
OCTOBER 1972 hydrogen sulfide concentration. Current technology enables the extraction of up to 95 percent of the sulfur contained in the gas stream. 
When it comes to estimating the reserves of sulfur that might be recovered from the gas fields, it is difficult to set a standard criterion for inclusion. Gas transported to fuel markets must be "sweetened" (the sulfur removed) if the hydrogen sulfide content is too high. If the gas contains more than 0.25 grain of sulfur per l 00 cubic feet, it is generally disqualified for sale to domestic customers. This suggests that natural gas fields with a sulfur content of over 
0.078 percent by weight should properly be considered as sulfur reserves provided a market exis,ts for the gas, for if the gas is to be marketed, the hydrogen sulfide must be removed. Natural gas fields having sulfur concentrations lower than 0.078 percent by weight should not be included in reserve estimates unless sulfur prices increase substan­tially. Sour gas fields having concentrations of sulfur above the maximum allowable but without access to markets must be treated individually.6 
Reasonably accurate reserve estimates have been devel­oped for sour gas fields in Canada, France, and the United States where sulfur is presently being recovered. For other areas of the world, only very rough approximations can be made. The U.S. Bureau of Mines estimates sulfur resources from natural gas at 50 million tons. This figure is based on an average sulfur content of 0.05 percent for natural gas. The potential reserves of sulfur in ' the sour gas fields of Alberta have recently been estimated by the Canadian Petroleum Association at 350 million tons. In making this estimate, the ratio of present proved sulfur reserves to proved reserves of natural gas with which they are associated was applied to the estimates of potential reserves of natural gas. Estimates of reserves at the two sour gas fields in France range from 25 to 50 million tons. On the basis of proven reserves in excess of l 0 trillion cubic feet of gas, having an average concentration of hydrogen sulfide of 15 percent, and allowing for 80 percent recovery, an estimate of 35 million tons appears reasonable. 
Middle East sour gas reserves are difficult to estimate. Sour gas fields are known to exist in Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Estimates of reserves range from 250 to 50 million tons, but a figure of 7 5 million tons appears more realistic, given the distance of many of these fields from markets for natural gas. 
Crude Petroleum 
Crude oils have widely varying sulfur content, ranging from 0.04 percent (Pennsylvania) to 4.5 percent (Mexico). In the United States, the average sulfur content of crude petroleum is 0.16 percent. Crudes containing higher amounts are usually blended with low-sulfur crude oils. In the past, because of the added difficulty of processing high-sulfur crude, many sources of high-sulfur crude were 
6 
see Arthur D. Little, Inc., The Free World Sulphur Outlook (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Arthur D. Little, Inc., April 1966), p. 
40. 
bypassed in favor of low-sulfur content crude. However, in recent years, it has become necessary to process crudes with an increasingly high average sulfur content. The Bureau of Mines estimates sulfur resources from crude oil at 50 million tons. 
It has been estimated, conservatively, that recoverable reserves amount to 330 million tons. Since proven reserves of oil are measured conservatively, sulfur resources measured more broadly would be as much as ten to twenty times above the estimate. 
Other Hydrocarbons 
Large potential reserves of sulfur exist in the known deposits of other hydrocarbons such as bituminous rock, tar sands, and shale oil, but the range of estimates is very wide, depending on the estimator's judgment of the timing and feasibility of developing the hydrocarbon resource itself. On the basis of an average sulfur content of 0.75 percent, the Bureau of Mines reports probable sulfur in known recoverable reserves of oil shale at 1.5 billion tons. On the basis of estimated oil content in tar sands deposits of 490 billion barrels for the world, and assuming a recovery factor of 60 percent, the sulfur content of bituminous rock and tar sands would be 2 billion tons for the rest of the world. 
Metal Sulfides 
Metal sulfides, such as iron-bearing pyrites and various nonferrous ores that are smelted or refined for their copper, lead , and zinc content, are important sources of sulfur. These are widely distributed and can be found in all types of rocks. Practically all of the sulfur in nonferrous sulfides is released as sulfur dioxide in waste gas and is normally recovered only when plants are located near sulfuric acid markets. Potential world reserves of sulfur in metal sulfides are estimated to be l to 1.5 billion tons. The U.S. Bureau of Mines estimates that domestic sulfides, other than coal, contain from 200 to 300 million tons of sulfur, but 
Comparison of Trend Projections ond 

Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines. 
reasonable estimates of economic reserves are 25 million tons for pyrite and 25 million tons for other sulfides. 
The principal producing countries for nonferrous sul­fides are Japan, the United States, Canada, and the USSR. Spain has the largest reserves of pyrites, about 1 billion tons of ore. Other important sources are the USSR, China, Canada, Cyprus, France, West Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Philippines, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, Brazil, 

· and North Korea. But given the wide dispersal and the variety of conditions under which sulfur may or may not be recovered, estimates of world production potential are only rough orders of magnitude. 
Anhydrite and Gypsum 
Sulfur may also be obtained from anhydrite and gypsum (calcium sulfate). Reserves of these sources are enormous and widely dispersed throughout the world. Gypsum is decomposed in the presence of silica, alumina, and carbon to produce sulfur dioxide and portland cement. Gypsum and anhydrite are also reacted with ammonia and carbon to produce ammonium sulfate. In recent years, the United Kingdom has met its need for additional sulfur by using more anhydrite. For example, 700,000 tons of anhydrite can be substituted for 140,000 tons of sulfur for the manufacture of 400,000 short tons of sulfuric acid, with the residue from the decomposition of the anhydrite being used to manufacture cement. 
Coal 
Coal is another substantial source of sulfur. At the present time, the sulfur content is generally discharged to the atmosphere as sulfur dioxide in stack gases, although some is recovered in Europe. According to the U.S. Bureau of Mines estimate, based on an average sulfur content of 2.6 percent, rnineable coal deposits in the United States contain a potential of 13 billion tons of sulfur. How much of the sulfur content will be recovered is another matter, depend­ing not only on the amount of coal that will be burned, but 
Comparison of ·Trend Projections and 
Forecasts for Surfur Production 



on the fraction that will be considered innocuous if left in the stack gas and on the economy of the recovery process. 
Sea Water 
The final source of sulfur is the sea. Sulfur is the fourth most abundant element in sea water, following chlorine, sodium, and magnesium; but unless sulfur is obtained as a by-product in the production of rarer minerals from sea salts, there is no foreseeable economic justification for investment in the complex technology required to extract sulfur from the sea. 
Summary of Resource Situation 
Nearly 4 billion tons of sulfur are potentially available from sources considered to be economic or to approach economic exploitation levels. (The level for economic exploitation used in this calculation is the 1968 price of about $40 per ton. Sulfur prices are considerably below that level at present.) Some of these sources, Frasch, native, recovered, and pyrites, may prove to have substantially higher reserves. Coal, gypsum, anhydrite, and sea water provide an enormous backup potential which brings the sulfur content of known sources to over 20 billion tons. The question, then, is not whether the resource base can expand to meet increases in demand, but rather, at what price additional supplies of sulfur will be forthcoming and in what order these supplies will be tapped. 
Environmental Control Implications 7 
The U.S. Public Health Service estimates that each year 
28.6 million tons of sulfur oxides are emitted into the atmosphere. Sulfur oxide emissions are increasing at a rate of from 6 to 7 percent per year. The principal sources of these emissions are coal-or oil-fired electric utilities and industrial plants. In the long run it is likely that a shift from fossil fuels to nuclear power generation will reduce the magnitude of the sulfur oxide problem. However, this is not likely to occur until better means of nuclear generation can be developed, means which do not present the threat of thermal pollution and accidental radiation emissions. In the meantime, it is likely that over the next decade, legislation, mainly at the local level, will require the sulfur oxide content of power plant fuels and stack emissions to be reduced to a level of from 0.5 to 1.0 percent. 
Desulfurization of stack and fuel gases is technically feasible at present. Desulfurization of stack gases will probably contribute the most in the short run to the reduction of air pollution. First-generation desulfurization 
7
See Jared Hazleton, "Impact on Raw-Material Markets of Environmental Policies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change 3 (1972): 357-359. 


facilities for stack gases are already in use. Research on second-generation methods is underway. Residual fuel oil which ranges in sulfur content from 
l.47 to 2.6 percent can be treated to reduce the sulfur content to 0.5 percent. Desulfurization of coal is less likely to occur. It is possible to remove from 20 to 60 percent of the sulfur contained in coal by physical means. The remaining 40 to 80 percent of the contained sulfur can be removed only by converting the coal to a gas and cleaning the gas stream. While this is technically feasible, it is more likely that utilities will switch to low-sulfur coal, in abundant supply in the United States. However, these low-sulfur deposits are often far removed from the place of use. 
The technology and economics of removal of sulfur from stack gases will be greatly affected by the market for elemental sulfur. It has been estimated that in the year 2000, potential sulfur from utilities alone without abate­ment would be 112 million long tons. This implies removal of 79 million long tons a year just to hold the level of pollution from this source to the 1970 level of 33 million tons. Compare this estimated supply from recovered sulfur with estimated U.S. demand in 2000 of 30 million tons! 
Sulfur recovery from stack gases will not only yield increased supplies of either elemental sulfur or its principal product, sulfuric acid, but also provide those supplies as a by-product in plants widely distributed across the nation. This will have two effects on sulfur markets. First, whereas sulfur production is at present concentrated in the Frasch deposits of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast, the deposits in West Texas, and the sour gas fields of the Southwest, recovered sulfur from stack gases will be available wherever sulfur-bearing fuels are used, principally in urban industri­alized areas. This should result in a shift to a pattern of small local markets served mainly by local sources. 
Second, the price of elemental sulfur has been in large 
measure controlled by the two principal producers of 
domestic Frasch sulfur. Prices have been relatively stable 
historically, and profits have been relatively high. However, 
widespread desulfurization of stack gases will provide a 
means of entry into the industry and will probably disturb 
the stability of sulfur markets, resulting in lower prices. 
Lower prices will affect the economics.of sulfur-removal 
techniques. Lack of local markets for sulfur may result in a 
preference for removal techniques which do not produce 
by-product sulfur, such as those employing limestone and 
dolomite, rather than catalytic conversion, alkalized alum­
ina sorption, or chemical absorption processes. 
In the Jong run, as noted by the American Chemical Society's Committee on Chemistry and Public Affairs, it does not seem likely that emission of sulfur by industrial combustion of fossil fuels can be controlled to the extent required by stack-gas treatment.8 The sources are too numer­ous, too small, too diverse. It is likely that substitution of low-sulfur fuels or development of new combustion processes with reduced sulfur oxides emission will be required. 
8 

see American Chemical Society, Committee o n Chemistry and Public Affairs, Cleaning Our Environment: The Chemical Basis for Action (Washington , D.C. : The American Chemical Society, 1969), p. 71. 
Conclusion 
The domestic sulfur industry provides an excellent, almost textbook, example of the manner in which resources respond to market forces. Twice within the past twenty years, the price of sulfur has risen substantially in response to a shortage of sulfur. In both cases, the period of high prices was followed by a period characterized by the introduction of new sources of supply that quickly led to a reduction in the price of sulfur. However, one might ask why the adjustment did not come about more smoothly and without the development of a serious shortage. The answer appears to be found in the institutional constraints operating upon the market. In the first shortage, the federal government placed price controls on the industry, tending to delay the develop­ment of new sources of supply. In the second instance, the Mexican government placed certain restrictions on supply and the U.S. government imposed informal price controls on the industry. Both actions tended to delay re­sponse to the shortage. 
Apparently the domestic sulfur industry does respond to market forces. National policy should be designed to insure that these market forces are permitted to develop. The imposition of formal or informal price controls at home, the introduction of import duties or quotas, and the development of an international sulfur cartel abroad all restrict the free market and undermine its vital role in ensuring a continuing supply of sulfur. U.S. sulfur resource policy should be aimed at maintaining a free market for sulfur, both at home and abroad. 
SULFUR DEMAND PROJECTIONS RELATIVE TO 
SULFUR SUPPLY FROM POLLUTION ABATEMENT 

DOLLAl'IS 
~:: 

79 lillLLIOH LONt TONS 
MILLIO N 
I
" 
POTIENT I AL SUL , Ult "'OM l"OLLUTI ON AIATflllt:lllT 

' 
~ ::·.:-:--..':""~"':...
.:.:._ ..:;:::~.:_: _ .... ......-,;..,,,CHSULr ult 
TOTAL U.S. SUVUA CONSU MPTION Pll OOUCTION 
Source: Alfred Petrick, Jr., "The Effect of Urbanization on Mineral Demand," paper delivered to the Western Resources Con­ference, Denver, Colorado, July 1970. 
TEXAS CONSTRUCTION* 
TIIE CONDOMINIUM CONCEPT 
Kathleen Luft 


Today's families, in Texas and in the nation, want much more than just a roof over their heads. Increasing concern with wise use of the land, with control of urban growth through comprehensive planning and design, and with availability of recreational amenities that fit new lifestyles has created a desire for housing that "would not mar the land but grace it," as a Dallas builder promises. As the facts of housing economics-rising costs of land, site improve­ment, building materials, and labor, in combination with municipal costs-make that dream more difficult to realize independently, more Americans are accepting the idea of multifamily housing as a solution for their dilemma. 
Indeed, middle-and low-income families have little choice: the traditional single-family home is not easily attainable. Its price has been pushed up by the costs of materials: lumber prices, up 25 percent in the past year, are still rising, and a shortage of cement, likely to last through 1980, has caused the price of bag cement to jump over 52 percent in recent months in the Southeast. Increases in construction wages have accelerated, too. In 1971 average hourly earnings for all contract construction workers rose 9 percent; overall construction costs, as measured by the U.S. Department of Commerce composite cost index, rose 7.4 percent. In Texas, residential construction costs have increased 43.2 percent in the past five years. 
Even greater than the increase in building costs is the increase in urban land values, a rise of more than 400 percent since 1952. Since 1965 the cost of living has risen about 32 percent, according to the consumer price index; the price of a single-family home in the United States has increased by 50 percent-much faster-and it continues to rise at a rate of between 10 and 25 percent a year. 
Builders are trying to cope with the problem, with at least some degree of success. One Dallas firm, Fox and Jacobs, has managed to roll back prices on two of its under-$25,000 lines and maintain 1970 prices on another. In Houston, however, where labor has been in short supply, one builder reports that costs have risen $1,200 in the past year for the average house in the lower brackets. Housing costs generally have been higher in Houston than in the state as a whole: the average building-permit value for residences in Houston increased from $18,761 in 1968 to $23,476 thus far in 1972; the statewide increase for that five-yea~ period was from $16 ,3 3 9 to $19, 7 61. Dallas figures for that period-$16,551 in 1968 and $19,653 in 1972-approximate the average value for the entire state. 
One way to hold the purchase price down is to use less land, and in 1971 the average size of a new lot in the United States dropped 12 percent. The average new house 
*Data used in this article come only from building-permit-issuing urban places. 

OCTOBER 1972 
was only slightly larger last year-4 percent-but the average 
purchase price, despite builders' efforts, rose 25 percent. 
Bigger, however, is not necessarily better: the quality of the 
average new house has not improved. Amenities are fewer 
in number, and some buyers must pay more to have the 
floors finished. According to a recent House & Home 
analysis of the Houston housing market, homes in the 
lower-priced subdivisions "come across like post-war 
cracker boxes with their chopped-up floor plans, postage­
stamp bedrooms, and very limited kitchen cabinet and 
closet space." 
As 	traditional rectangular Jots become smaller and 
houses grow slightly larger, much of the available space in 
each parcel of land is occupied by parking surfaces and 
virtually useless side yards and front areas. Little ground is 
left for the enjoyment of the new landowner. 
By contrast multifamily housing uses the land much 
more wisely and economically. One acre of land, which has 
room for three conventional single-family houses, can 
ESTIMATED VALUES OF BUILDING AUTHORIZED IN TEXAS* 
Percent change 
Jan-Aug 1972 Aug Jan-Aug Aug 1972 from 1972 1972 from Jan-Aug Classification (thousands of dollars) Jul 1972 1971 
A ll permits  289,926  2,425,063  12  20  
New construction  264,674  2,202,381  14  22  
Residential  
(housekeeping)  156,606  1,210,081  33  19  
One-family dwe!B ngs  103,743  779, 121  38  25  
Multiple-family  
dwellings  52,863  430,960  24  10  
Nonresidential buildings  108,068  992,300  -s  26  
Hotels, motels, and  
tourist courts  7,294  40,796  204  45  
Amusement buildings  1,033  15,86 5  -24  -22  
Churches  6,321  26,886  166  14  
Industrial buildings  8,163  69,132  16  -6  
Garages (commercial  
and private)  2,489  34,231  311  10  
Service stations  839  9,130  -1  -21  
Hospitals and  
institutions  11,314  58,093  194  31  
Office-bank buildings  19,29 0  225 ,744  -so  4  
Works and utili ties  2,666  69,143  -76  89  
Educational buildings  13,138  152,1 80  3  16  
Stores and mercantile  
buildings  31 ,663  258,566  12  87  
Other buildings and  
structures  3,858  32, 534  -25  3  
Additions, alterations,  
and repai rs  25,252  222,682  -8  3  
SMSA vs. non-SMSA  
Total SMSAt  259,157  2,215,569  9  20  
Central cities  187,419  1,5 6 5,508  10  23  
Outside central cities  71,738  650,061  s  14  
Total non-SMSA  30,769  209,494  49  20  
10,000 to 50,000  
population  16,296  118,453  48  30  
Less than 10,000  
population  14,473  91,041  51  9  

• 	Only building for which permits were issued within the incorporated area of a city is included. Federal contracts and 
t 	public housing are not included. 
As defined in 1970 Census. 
Source: Bureau of Business Research in cooperation with the 
Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce. 
22 1 accommodate ten townhouses, twenty garden apartments, or one hundred high-rise apartment units. Such compact living patterns can, if the project is expertly designed and competently executed, produce a living environment far more luxurious than most Americans can now achieve independently. And, after a decade in which more and more people-particularly single people, young married couples with no children, and retired people-grew accus­tomed to living in apartments, Americans are increasingly willing to make permanent commitments to an inter­dependent way of living by purchasing units in multifamily projects: in 1971 16 percent of the nation's housing starts were condominiums; in 1972 the figure will rise to 27 percent. 

Condominium, by no means a new concept, is a form of legal ownership of real property that permits complete ownership of an individual dwelling unit and partial ownership of other elements of the development. Joint dominion offers a variety of advantages. The canny purchaser actually is getting more housing for his money, since the percentage of land cost in relation to the total cost of the unit usually is less than the percentage for a single-family dwelling. Monthly living costs are low in comparison to house payments and frequently are even lower than apartment rental costs. 
Further, advocates of the multifamily concept point out that the purchaser of a condominium has the same tax advantages as the owner of a one-family house. He also has the possibility of building up equity and the chance to speculate in land values, and if he resells the unit, his profits-and some two-year-old condominiums recently 
AUGUST BUILDING STATISTICS 
IN REVIEW 
Texas homebuilding resumed its strong pace in August. The Bureau of Business Research index of residential construction authorized rose in August by 35 percent to 216.3 from July's 160.3, the lowest figure recorded in 1972. Despite weakness in the nonresidential sector-permits authorized dropped to 148.3, a decline of 5 percent from July's level-the index of total construction authorized is 12 percent ahead of the pace for July and 5 percent ahead of that for August 1971. 
Construction continues to add substantially to the state's economic activity. The total estimated value of building authorized for 1972 has reached $2.4 billion, with large increases over July figures in the categories of one-family and multiple-family dwellings and apartment buildings. 
Among Texas SMSA's, Dallas, with $551.l million, ranks first in total value of building authorized in 1972. Houston, showing a 2-percent decrease from 1971 , reported authorizations totaling $54 7 .6 million. 
brought as much as 25 percent over the original selling price-are taxed as capital gains, not as ordinary income. 
Common maintenance of the grounds results in lower costs for each family. One unexpected result of this system of exterior maintenance is the increased availability of mortgages to single, divorced, and widowed women. Many lenders, freed from worries about women's ability to wield pruning shears and paint brushes, are showing a greater willingness to make home loans to women who wish to purchase condominiums. 
Other advantages include better locations, possible be­cause land is used more efficiently and economically and hence is less expensive for developers. Many multifamily communities offer amenities and luxuries which might otherwise lie beyond buyers' means. In some developments housing is successfully integrated with parking and public transportation. A less tangible, but important benefit for Americans is pride of ownership. 
A variety of condominium styles are available: town­houses, low-and high-rise apartments, duplexes, fourplexes, cluster homes, and garden apartments. are the most com­mon types. Prices range from $11 ,000 to $90,000 and more in large Texas cities. Houston's Norchester subdivision, at the upper end of the scale, offers "townhouse villas" with atriums, Spanish-type architecture, eight-foot-high attached fences, ten-foot-high ceilings, and three thousand feet of living area for $65 ,000 and up. 
The townhouse, perhaps because it is more similar to the traditional house than are the other styles, has been popular with purchasers. Builders, too, like townhouses, since corridors and common entry areas are not needed, and since such units would be suitable for modular construc­tion, should the problems of the modular housing industry be solved satisfactorily. In some parts of the country a hybrid style-detached single-family condominiums with shared property lines that eliminate sideyards-combines elements of one-family and multifamily housing. Main­tenance of the fai;:ades and grounds, as in other condomin­ium projects, is the responsibility of a home owners' association. 
Texas buyers, possibly believing themselves to have more Lebensraum available than inhabitants of smaller states, have been slow to accept the high-rise and high-density condominiums, preferring the townhouse or detached one-family structure, sometimes in one of the new planned unit developments that also include rental apartments. But, at an average of ten units per acre-a maximum of twelve, if zoning permits-the townhouse is not the most economical way to use land. Further, the prices of townhouses are climbing, and they, like single-family houses, may soon price themselves out of the original market. Ultimately the townhouse is not the answer to the nation's housing problems, even if the development of new communities does make more and possibly cheaper land available for housing. 
No type of condominium is free from problems. Noise can be annoying, particularly in larger projects. Competent managers are difficult to find, especially for the large developments, and without financial and diplomatic exper-tise, the problems of maintenance, enforcement of the project's regulations, and dissent among owners can ruin any multifamily project. 
..,.  I I I IA Ill Al ,., .AM WI\' "" r"V'l JI'.  I II ll 1'11,, .JUI 1 I IV'I r ' II •\ w l/V'I w:·.  


Ironically, the condominium is now being used to combat a problem it helped to create. Rental apartment vacancy rates were high in some Texas cities early in 1972: 19 percent in Tarrant County (Fort Worth), 12.2 percent in Dallas, and 15 percent in Houston. The apartment market has softened partly because the availability of funds has resulted in overbuilding, partly because that same easy money has enabled would-be buyers to purchase homes more easily. And a good many former rental-apartment dwellers have chosen condominiums. Troubled apartment owners, however, have found that they can convert their rental units to condominiums, if the rental problems were not caused by bad planning, a bad location, or flimsy construction. In Dallas, Richardson Life Style, a new rental building, was converted this summer to a condominium, and last year American Condominium Corporation con­verted 170 units, a volume that the company expects to double in 1972. In Houston, many sites originally devel­oped for rental apartments were offered for townhouses or fourplexes early this year. 
In addition to its role as a primary dwelling unit, the condominium is playing an increasingly large part in the thriving vacation-home market: approximately 40 percent of all for-sale resort houses begun in the United States during 1972 will be condominiums. Three-day weekends and longer vacations are providing Americans with more leisure. For the more affluent, a condominium is a tax shelter and an excellent investment, as well as a possible generator of profit, if the owner makes the unit available for rental. If the location is right, a $50,000 unit can rent for as much as $3,000 a month. Further, condominiums in certain locations-next to a golf course, on a beach, or near a ski slope-have a high rate of appreciation. Some investors purchase suites in condominium hotels such as Cliff House in the Morgan's Point development at Lake Belton; others are attracted by the "aquaminium," a new, floating, version of the condominium. 
If, as many planners believe, large-scale multifamily housing is inevitable, someday Americans may live in the floating tetrahedral cities designed by Buckminster Fuller. Two hundred stories high, they will provide two-thousand­square-foot terrace apartments, in the form of tray-like receptacles, for one million people. About half the space 
NONRESIDENTIAL BUILDING AUTHORIZED, TEXAS• 
196izJQQ 
300 
2'0 
200 
150 
100 
50 
300 
' 
50 
00 
150 
.00 
50 
19.58 19.59 1960 1961 1962 1963 196.. 196.5 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 
• l··~lud.n ad.:llhO<IS. lltUlllOflS. aJld 1cpa1ti 
TM u1dun for nonru..knhil buikhn• arc not od1u•l«I ro1 .....onal nriiilon bl:cauw thuc rt no )l)t"cific !lnwnal 1..,nd, 
NOTEi: Shadtd 1ru1 1nd11:11c pc-riods or drclonc of 10111 bu~111e·M l("UW'lly m Ille Un1ttd s w ... 


OCTOBER 1972 could be used for recreation or gardening. Owners will simply plug in their units : trailers, house-boats, or other "mobile environmental controls." The ease of "peeling off' and moving to another location in the building or to another city would eliminate at least one disadvantage of current for-sale multifamily housing: noisy or un.congenial neighbors could be left behind without selling the housing unit. 
Fuller, as well as other contemporary architects, has designed projects that propose less radical solutions to the problems of land use, projects that, unlike the floating cities, would not separate housing so completely from land resources, would not remove man from his accustomed environment. Those designs too, by treating land as a basic element, rely on high-density multifamily housing, a con­cept that Americans have already begun to take seriously. The experience of living in today's rental apartments and condominiums could result in an easy and gradual transi­tion to spatial arrangements that now seem strange. 
DIRECTOR'S NOTE 
Beginning with the September issue of Texas Business Review, the duties of the editor have been assumed by Mr. Robert H. Ryan. Mr. Ryan, who has held the positions of associate editor and managing editor of the Review, is an assistant professor of business communications in the College of Business Administration of The University of Texas at Austin. He also serves in the Bureau of Business Research as editor of the Atlas of Texas. 
Mr. Ryan, who 


joined the Bureau in 19 5 1 as editor of re­search monographs and occasional pub­lications, was the ini­tiator of the weekly radio series "Texas Business Review." He has contributed a number of feature articles and columns to the Review and is the author of numer­
ous articles and monographs, including Corpus Christi: Area Resources for Industry and many other regional studies. 
While on leave from the University during the 1950s, Mr. Ryan, as industrial economist at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, supervised publication of the Southwest Resources Handbook. He has worked also as a business consultant, particularly in bank and savings and loan marketing studies. 
Stanley A. Arbingast Director 


Statistical data compiled by Mildred Anderson, statistical associate, technician. 
The indicators of local business conditions in Texas which are included in this section are statistics on bank debits, urban building permits, and employment. The data are reported by· metropolitan areas in the first table below and by municipalities within counties in the second table. 
Standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSA's) in Texas are defined by county lines; in the first table the counties included in the area are listed under each SMSA. Since the Longview-Kilgore­Gladewater area is functioning as a significant metropolitan complex in its region, although not officially designated as an SMSA by the Bureau of the Census, data for this area have been included in the table for SMSA's. In both tables the populations shown for the SMSA's and for the counties are the population counts of the 1970 Census. In the second table the population values for individual municipalities are also counts of the 1970 Census, unless otherwise indicated. Population estimates made for municipalities in noncen­sus years are commonly based on utility connections, and these estimates are subject to the errors inherent in a process dependent on base ratios derived in 1960. 
Constance Coo/edge, statistical assistant, and Kay Davis, statistical 
The values of urban building permits have been collected from participating municipal authorities by the Bureau of Business Research in cooperation with the Bureau of the Census of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Inasmuch as building permits are not required by county authorities, it must be emphasized that the reported permits reflect construction intentions only in incor­porated places. Permits are reported for residential and nonresiden­tial building only, and do not include public-works projects such as roadways, waterways, or reservoirs; nor do they include construc­tion let under federal contracts. 
The values of bank debits for all SMSA's and for most central cities of the SMSA's have been collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Bank debits for the remaining municipalities have been collected from cooperating banks by the Bureau of Business Research. 
Employment estimates are compiled by the Texas Employment Commission in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. 
Footnote symbols are defined on pp. 225 and 232. 

INDICATORS OF LOCAL BUSINESS CONDITIONS FOR STANDARD METROPOLITAN ST A TISTICAL AREAS August 1972  
Reported area and indicator  Aug 1972  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  Reported area and indicator  Aug 1972  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  

ABILENE SMSA 
Jones and Taylor Counties; population 113,959 Urban building permits (dollars) 2,688,126 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 224,036 Nonfarm employment 39,700 
Manufacturing employment 5,800 Unemployed (percent) 3.6 
AMARILLO SMSA 
Potter and Randall Counties; population 144,396 Urban building permits (dollars) 4,501,193 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($ 1,000) 669,665 
Nonfarm employment 62,000 Manufacturing employ ment 8,100 Unemployed (percent) 3.4 
AUSTIN SMSA 
Travis County; population 295,516 Urban building permits (dollars) 19,410,796 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 1,054,227 Nonfarm employment 143,600 
Manufacturing employment 13,S 60 Unemployed (percent) 2.6 
BEAUMONT-PORT ARTHUR-ORANGE SMSA 
51 
s 
** 
** 
-8 
-1 6 
** 
-21 
11 3 
-7 
Jefferson and Orange Counties; population 315,943 Urban building permits (dollars) 2,713,624 -16 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 595,68 1 S Nonfarm employment 121,700 -1 Manufacturing employment 37,700 • • Unemployed (percent) 5.3 • • 
BROWNSVILLE-HARLINGEN-SAN BENITO SMSA Cameron County; population 140,368 Urban building permits (dollars) 2,272,090 2 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 213,046 9 Nonfarm employment 46,300 4 Manufacturing employment 7,730 4 Unemployed (percent) 6.9 7 
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION SMSA Brazos County; population 57,978 

390 Urban building permits (dollars) 3,308,7 30 39s 7 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 132,522 21 3 (Monthly employment reports are not available 7 Bryan-College Station SMSA.) 
-12 
CORPUS CHRISTI SMSA Nueces and San Patricio Counties; population 284,832 

Urban building permits (dollars) 6,207,405 I 217 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 622,747 2 20 Nonfarm employment 101,400 1 -1 Manufacturing employ ment 11 ,200 1 
-

6 Unemployed (percent) 5.4 -I0 -15 DALLAS SMSA Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Kaufman, and Rockwall Counties; population 1,555,950 101 
Urban building permits (dollars) 54,490, 161 32 7 
Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 13,127,315 7 
6 
Nonfarm employment 
4 

Manufacturing employment 8 
Unemployed (percent) 

EL PASO SMSA El Paso County; population 359,291 3 
Urban building permits (dollars) 3 
Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000)
2 

Nonfarm employment 1 Manufacturing employment9 Unemployed (percent) 
FORT WORTH SMSA 
743,600 •• 
1S1 ,925 •• 
3.1 -6 
8,92 5,802 -32 881,804 9 127,400 •• 27,650 1 
5.4 -s 
Johnson and Tarrant Counties; population 762,086 

-16 Urban building permits (dollars) 17,980,229 -JS 51 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 2,526,777 s 11 Nonfarm employment 294,500 l 23 Manufacturing employment 7 J ,650 5 
-10 Unemployed (percent) 4.9 4 
22 1 29 for the 
-8 JS 
-2 20 
-14 
16 3 3 
-23 
-3 
22 3 3 8 
-11 2 
I 
3 -21 
TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 
Percent change  
from  
Aug  Jul  Aug  
Reported area and indicator  1972  1972  1971  


GALVESTON-TEXAS CITY SMSA 
Galveston County; population 169,812 Urban building permits (dollars) 1,433,308 107 11 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 281,981 16 15 
Nonfarm employment 63,300 ** 4 Manufacturing employment 10,950 ** -2 Unemployed (percent) 6.0 -2 ** 
HOUSTON SMSA Brazoria, Fort Bend, Harris, Liberty, and 
Montgomery Counties; population 1,985,031 Urban building permits (dollars) 62,591,936 -21 -27 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 12,185,935 6 21 Nonfarm employment 905,700 ** 4 
Manufacturing employment 148,200 -l •• Unemployed (percent) 3.4 -11 6 
KILLEEN-TEMPLE SMSA Bell and Coryell Counties; population 159,794 Urban building permits (dollars) 7,234,196 68 l 58 Bank debits ($1,000) 151,432 8 18 (Monthly employment reports are not available for the Killeen-Temple SMSA.) 
LAREDO SMSA Webb County; population 72,859 
Urban building permits (dollars) 626,445 174 47 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 103,336 5 15 Nonfarm employment 25,800 ** 3 
Manufacturing employment 1,540 -2 4 Unemployed (percent) 9.2 -12 2 
LONGVIEW-KILGORE-GLADEWATER METROPOLITAN AREA 
Gregg County; population 75,929  
Urban building permits (dollars)  2,206,900  21  7  
Bankdebits($1,000)  144,510  2  15  
Nonfarm employment  36,100  **  l  
Manufacturing employment  10,670  l  2  
Unemployed (percent)  4.7  - 6  2  

(Building permits and bank debits are included for those portions of Kilgore and Gladewater in Rusk County and Upshur County.) 
LUBBOCK SMSA 
Lubbock County; population 179,295 Urban building permits (dollars) 4,183,923 3 6 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 466,153 3 9 Nonfarm employment 69,200 ** 5 
Manufacturing employment 7,690 -3 ** Unemployed (percent) 3.0 -12 -17 
McALLEN-PHARR-EDINBURG SMSA 
Hidalgo County; population 181,535 Urban building permits (dollars) 2,979, 193 30 23 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1 ,000) 212,565 9 48 Nonfarm employment 42,800 2 2 
Manufacturing employment 3,650 2 16 Unemployed (percent) 7.5 6 l 

MIDLAND SMSA Midland County; population 65,433 Urban building permits (dollars) 3,109,643 378 436 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 200,491 l 5 11 Nonfarm employment 61,900 ** ** Manufacturing employment 5,530 l l Unemployed (percent) 3.6 -16 -12 (Employment data are reported for the combined Midland and Odessa SMSA's since employment figures for Midland and Ector Counties, composing one labor-market area, are recorded in combined form by the Texas Employment Commission.) 
Percent change from  
Reported area and indicator  Aug 1972  Jul 1 972  Aug 1971  

ODESSA SMSA 
Ector County; population 91,805 Urban building permits (dollars) 2,421 ,069 96 156 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 153,101 -4 5 Nonfarm employment 61,900 ** ** 
Manufacturing employment 5,530 l Unemployed (percent) 3.6 -16 -12 (Employment data are reported for the combined Midland and Odessa SMSA's since employment figures for Midland and Ector Counties, composing one labor-market area, are recorded in combined form by the Texas Employment Commission.) 
SAN ANGELO SMSA Torn Green County; population 71,047 Urban building permits (dollars) 993,401 6 61 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 137,710 4 7 Nonfarm employment 24,100 l l Manufacturing employment 4,280 2 l Unemployed (percent) 4.5 -12 7 
SAN ANTONIO SMSA 
Bexar and Guadalupe Counties; population 864,014 Urban building permits (dollars) 25,792,005 89 170 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 1,929,743 8 5 Nonfarm employment 309,500 •• 2 
Manufacturing employment 36,300 l 3 Unemployed (percent) 4.6 -12 -15 
SHERMAN-DENISON SMSA Grayson County; population 83,225 
Urban building permits (dollars) Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) (Monthly employment reports Sherman-Denison SMSA.)  are  777,162 112,125 not availab 13 IO le for  45 13 the  
TEXARKANA SMSA  
Bowie County, Texas, and Miller population 101,198  County, Arkansas;  

Urban building permits (dollars) 376,885 -11 -23 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 150,645 2 14 Nonfarm employment 40,350 I I 
Manufacturing employment 8,800 ** -4 Unemployed (percent) 5.4 -13 -5 (Since the Texarkana SMSA includes Bowie County in Texas and Miller County in Arkansas, all data, including population, refer to the two-county region.) 
TYLER SMSA 
Smith County; population 97 ,096 Urban building permits (dollars) 1,658,512 198 -35 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 261,649 13 26 Nonfarm employment 41,200 •• 5 Manufacturing employment 13,120 •• 8 Unemployed (percent) 4.8 7 2 
WACO SMSA 
McLennan County; population 147,553 Urban building permits (dollars) 3,983,619 -12 307 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 382,644 20 23 Nonfarm employment 58,600 •• l 
Manufacturing employment 12,580 •• 4 Unemployed (percent) 4.8 -4 2 
WICHITA FALLS SMSA 
Archer and Wichita Counties; population 127,621 Urban building permits (dollars) 2,604,593 143 49 Bank debits, seas. adj. ($1,000) 240,455 -2 2 Nonfarm employment 42,850 •• l 
Manufacturing employment 5,400 2 7 Unemployed (percent) 3.3 -13 •• 
• • Absolute change is less than one half of l percent. Urban building-permit data are preliminary and subject to revision. 

OCTOBER 1972 
INDICATORS OF LOCAL BUSINESS CONDITIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL MUNICIPALITIES AUGUST 1972 

Urban building permits  Bank debits  
COUNTY City  Population  Aug 1972 (dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  Aug 1972 (thousands of dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  

ANDERSON Palestine  27,789 14,S2S  132,640  67  148  24,444  2  13  
ANDREWS Andrews  10,372 8,62S  4S,8SO  89  -67  9,1 S7  2  2  
ANGELINA Lufkin  49,349 23,049  S70,42S  -18  -10  
ARANSAS Aransas Pass  8,902 S,813  62, 187  -90  -9S  14,973  - 4  11  
ATASCOSA Pleasanton  18,696 S,407  8,2S9  31  4S  
AUSTIN Bellville  13,831 2,371  2S,400  -64  9,710  12  17  
BAILEY Muleshoe  8,487 4,S2S  17,188  8  11  
BASTROP Smithville  17,297 2,9S9  61,837  -28  203  2,924  4  
BEE Beeville  22,737 13,S06  13S,8SO  91  -21  24,S66  14  11  
BELL (In Killeen-Temple SMSA) Bartlett Belton Harker Heights Killeen Temple  124,483 1,622 8,696 4,216 3S,S07 33,431  201,SOO 388,807 2,13S,SS3 2,971,646  78 9S 34 192  71 142 S8 482  2,S83 40,806 89,427  42 7 8  - SS s 28  
BEXAR (In San Antonio SMSA) San Antonio  830,460 6S4,1S3  2S,384,439  96  182  1,930,836  7  12  
BOWIE (In Texarkana SMSA) Texarkana  67,813 S2,179  366,88S  - 3  -24  138,483  - 2  14  
BRAZORIA (In Houston SMSA) Angleton Clute Freeport Pearland  108,312 9,770 6,023 11,997 6,444  32,800 101,97S 603,200  -72 441 -1  -19 2Sl S8  23,291 6,290 40,166 10,177  lS 2 11 13  - 26 2 18 21  
BRAZOS (Constitutes Bryan-College Station SMSA) Bryan College Station  S7,978 33,719 17,676  2,632,0SO 676,680  429 29S  36S 46  96,294 14,S06  3 s  10 20  
BREWSTER Alpine  7,780 S,971  61,099  820  6,980  2  34  
BROWN Brownwood  2S,877 17,368  137,6SO  108  - 28  
BURLESON Caldwell  9,999 2,308  4,391  - 10  - 9  
BURNET Marble Falls  11,420 2,209  8,914  - 9  18  
CALDWELL Lockhart  21,178 6,489  132,22S  3  -33  11,964  21  28  
CAMERON (Constitutes Brownsville­Harlingen-San Benito SMSA) Brownsville Harlingen La Feria Los Fresnos Port Isabel San Benito  140,368 S2,S22 33,S03 2,642 1,297 3,067 lS, 176  9SS,S62 1,124,S60 1,800 90,SOO 24,3S8  -38 97 17 -39  -SS 96 260 -11  91,168 134,799 3,196 3,S84 7,838 11 ,420  21 3S 20 S7 4S lS  20 18 6 •• 88 12  

TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 

Urban building permits  Bank debits  
COUNTY City  Population  Aug 1972 (dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  Aug 1972 (thousands of dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  

CASTRO Dimmitt  10,394 4,327  30,398  12  30  
CHEROKEE Jacksonville  32,008 9,734  143,0SO  -22  lOS  30,670  - 3  13  
COLEMAN Coleman  10,288 S,608  4 6, SSO  99  -36  
COLLIN (In Dallas SMSA) McKinney Plano  66,920 l S,193 17,872  81,7 30 4,381,301  -7 S 74  -9S 177  16,SOO 28,498  - 16 1  s S9  
COLORADO Eagle Lake  17,638 3,S87  7,1 76  4S  7  
COMAL New Braunfels  24,16S 17,8S9  924,389  Sl  22  29,934  9  19  
COOKE Gainesville Muenster  23,471 13,830 1,411  128,300 6S,SOO  77 212  -67 264  26,643 4 ,003  2 7  3S 2  
CORYELL (In Killeen-Temple SMSA) Copperas Cove Gatesville  3S,311 10,818 4,683  1,Sl0,890  9  12S  6,72 S 11,891  13 s  so 20  
CRANE Crane  4,172 3,427  S6,000  ll S  192  2 ,4S2  9  - 2  
DALLAS (In Dallas SMSA) Carrollton Dallas Farmers Branch Garland Grand Prairie Irving Lancaster Mesquite Richardson Seagoville  1,327,321 13,8Ss 844,401 27,492 81,4 37 S0,904 97,260 10,S22 SS,131 48,S82 4,390  3,314,340 23,S31 ,670 1,704,974 3,7 36,988 4,460,S06 2,642,08S 462,229 1,02S,830 4, 7 3S,392 297,128  87 42 37 -29 23 3S -S4 22 116 82  -6 -4 1 91 -S4 84 2 1 -1 -S4 149  23,403 11 ,968,777 27,70S 86,123 4 1,280 108,39S 10,391 32,41 s 93,72S 8,833  - 13 10 4 11 13 19 IS 14 17 4  37 17 13 17 14 18 16 21 SI 16  
DAWSON Lamesa  16,604 ll,SS9  3,080  -SS  -81  26,724  8  4  
DEAF SMITH Hereford  18,999 13,41 4  299,300  24S  - 36  
DENTON (In Dallas SMSA) Denton Justin Lewisville Pilot Point  7 S,633 39,874 741 9,264 1,663  1,968,7 SS 39,6SO 98,300  106 230 237  so 2 27S  87,861 1,698 32,230 4,130  - 16 11 31 6  31 16 76 22  
DE WITT Yoakum  18,660 S,7SS  9,lSO  -91  -9S  16,S 1 S  IS  23  
EASTLAND Cisco  18,092 4,160  6,177  8  27  
ECTOR (Constitutes Odessa SMSA) Odessa  91,80S 78,380  2,421,069  96  IS6  1S9,S29  s  19  
ELLIS (In Dallas SMSA) Ennis Midlothian Waxahachie  46,638 11,04 6 2,322 13,4S2  134,300 226,3SO  181 66  88  1 S,811 3,653 25,780  6 33 13  48 24 33  
EL PASO (Constitutes El Paso SMSA) El Paso  359,291 322,261  9,010,818  -31  -2  871 ,464  13  33  
ERATH Stephenville  18, 191 9,277  191,SSO  - 4  72  18,363  2  14  

OCTOBER 1972 
Urban building permits  Bank debits  
COUNTY City  Population  Aug 1972 (dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  Aug 1972 (thousands of dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  

FANNIN Bonham  22,705 7,698  182,397  228  155  17,012  17  34  
FAYETTE Schulenburg  17,650 2,294  6,000  -77  -80  
FORT BEND (In Houston SMSA) Richmond Rosenberg  52,314 5,777 12,098  323,408 445,895  273 -30  99 230  12,921 10,919  3 7  13 3  
GAINES Seagraves Seminole  11,593 2,440 S,007  1,600 2,075,103  -27  -99  3,438 10,985  s s  - 21 4  
GALVESTON (Constitutes Galveston-Texas City SMSA) Dickinson Galveston La Marque Texas City  169,812 10,776 61,809 16,131 38,908  732,078 54,300 646,930  221 -62 101  130 199 -32  18,41 s 178,450 19,189 41,980  8 19 s 4  - 20 16 7 29  
GILLESPIE Fredericksburg  10,553 5,326  66,100  -27  -18  22,060  - 3  29  
GONZALES Nixon  16,375 1,925  3,200  -60  -71  
GRAY Pampa  26,949 21,726  48,450  -53  -10  42,209  8  s  
GRAYSON (Constitutes Sherman-Denison SMSA) Denison Sherman  83,225 24,923 29,061  317,240 394,922  118 -26  46 37  33,055 66,718  s s  12 18  
GREGG (Constitutes Longview-Kilgore-Gladewater Metropolitan Area) Gladewater Kilgore Longview  75,929 5,574 9,495 45,547  23,800 586,100 1,597,000  -83 314 3  -85 556 -12  6,598 26,031 111,881  - 7 17••  - 7 32 13  
GUADALUPE (In San Antonio SMSA) Schertz Seguin  33,554 4,061 15,934  367,000  -65  848  1,991 31,524  6 9  65 32  
HALE Hale Center Plainview  34,137 1,964 19,096  0 731,475  803  41  70,086  11  16  
HARDEMAN Quanah  6,795 3,948  33,000  6,897  - 3  24  
HARDIN Silsbee  29,996 7,271  15,02 s  s  18  
HARRIS (In Houston SMSA) Baytown Bellaire Deer Park Houston Humble La Porte Pasadena Tomball  1,741,912 43,980 19,009 12,773 1,232,802 3,278 7, 149 89,277 2,734  1,625,363 295,491 55,055, 149 198,500 250,697 773,292  -61 60 -15 -11 -78 -75  138 25 -8 -90 16 -96  74,693 78,740 I 5,505 11 ,361,341 13,575 4,915 155,630 21,522  - 7 2 1 6 4 1 19 6  s 23 13 27 IS s 21 IS  
HARRISON Hallsville Marshall  44,841 1,038 22,937  240,770  135  118  2,010 33,714  20 12  SS lS  
HASKELL Haskell  8,512 3,655  294,400  841  990  S,891  - 14  14  
HAYS San Marcos  27,642 18,860  197,930  276  - 62  16,566  ••  

TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 

Urban building permits  Bank debits  
COUNTY City  Population  Aug 1972 (dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  Aug 1972 (thousands of dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  

HENDERSON Athens  26,466 9,S82  247,SOO  -10  lS  23,861  7  26  
HIDALGO (Constitutes McAllen-Pharr-Edinburg SMSA) Alamo Donna Edinburg Elsa McAllen Mercedes Mission Pharr San Juan Weslaco  181,S3S 4,291 7,36S 17,163 4,400 37,636 9,3SS 13,043 lS,829 S,070 lS,313  10,S68 l,S 10,619 4,47S 904,3SS 71,700 162,611 167, 897 9,0SO 13S,818  -71 29S 8 8 172 62 321 -74 -83  -67 386 -6S -39 -22 161 31S -2S -62  4 ,S18 S,224 34,0S6 7,967 72,987 12,S80 24,027 7,968 S,304 19,904  - 7 2 6 77 6 34 7 12 10 6  30 7 •• 46 3S 11 12 7 29 7  
HOCKLEY Levelland  20,396 11,44S  29,442  16  20  
HOOD Granbury  6,368 2 ,473  3,9S4  2  24  
HOPKINS Sulphur Springs  20,710 10,642  302,32S  S3  - s  34,S 13  3  24  
HOWARD Big Spring  37,796 28,73S  33,61 s  -87  -7S  66,74S  10  
HUNT Greenville  47,948 22,043  464,400  241  31,63S  - 1  10  
HUTCHINSON Borger  24,443 14,l 9S  10,SOO  -64  73  
JACKSON Edna  12,97S S,332  100,130  12  210  9,899  - 10  -lS  
JASPER Jasper Kirbyville  24,692 6,2Sl 1,869  142,SOO  147  S33  22,030 2,S90  - •• 20  18 -22  
JEFFERSON (In Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange SMSA) Beaumont Groves Nederland Port Arthur Port Neches  244,773 llS,919 18,067 16,810 S7,371 10,894  1,306,S93 340,17S 192,432 460,360 26S,037  -23 -11 144 -3S  -20 -33 16S -3 -17  362,S32 22,914 lS,231 92,210 20,699  6 4 3•• 8  7 22 26 -11 16  
JIM WELLS Alice  33,032 20, 121  1,441,977  114  980  S3,9Sl  - 3  2S  
JOHNSON (In Fort Worth SMSA) Burleson Cleburne  4S,769 7,713 16,01 s  120,600 1 SS ,400  -19 -S2  4  9,816 28,277  1 7  33 19  
KARNES Karnes City  13,462 2,926  1S,82S  441  - 9  4,901  - 4  
KAUFMAN (In Dallas SMSA) Terrell  32,392 14,182  131,800  -26  -SS  
KIMBLE Junction  3,904 2,6S4  3,714  9  20  
KLEBERG Kingsville  33,166 28,711  1,337,760  448  209  28,714  2  6  
LAMAR Paris  36,062 23,441  1,942,967  602  
LAMB Littlefield  17,770 6,738  3,200  -71  12,866  23  4  
LAMPASAS Lampasas  9,323 S,922  229,83S  286  S91  14,986  9  26  

OCTOBER 1972 
Urban building permits  Bank debits  
COUNTY City  Population  Aug 1972 (dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  Aug 1972 (thousands of dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  

LAVACA Hallettsville Yoakum  17,903 2,712 5,7S5  2 ,13 1 9,1 so  -77 -91  -93 -9S  S,749 16,S IS  - 3 IS  13 23  
LEE Giddings  8,048 2,783  96,SOO  - 6  170  8,679  ••  21  
LIBERTY (In Houston SMSA) Dayton Liberty  33,014 3,804 S,S91  17,42S 128,770  -23 38  -67 310  9,142 18,474  4 18  16 25  
LIMESTONE Mexia  18, 100 S,943  64,5SO  64  140  11,680  23  
LLANO Kingsland Llano  6,979 1,262 2,608  61,SOO  64  7,600 8,681  6 13  3 6  
LUBBOCK (Constitutes Lubbock SMSA) Lubbock Slaton  179,29S 149,101 6,S83  4,1 S6,773 27,ISO  2  6 4  428,848 8,169  s 18  9 29  
LYNN Tahoka  9,107 2,9S6  52,SOO  263  8,S76  31  -9  
MCCULLOCH Brady  8,S71 S, SS7  33,100  -91  -6S  13,S37  21  44  
MC LENNAN (Constitutes Waco SMSA) McGregor Waco  147,SS3 4,36S 9S,326  63,5SO 3,697,329  203 -14  213 303  8,741 3S0,320  26 lS  49 2S  
MATAGORDA Bay City  27,9 13 11 , 733  113,663  113  4S4  34,320  31  29  
MAVERICK Eagle Pass  18,093 lS,364  162,861  74  -88  14,S 10  4  -2  
MEDINA Castroville Hondo  20,249 1,893 S,487  S,970  -89  -91  1,994  7  29  
MIDLAND (Constitutes Midland SMSA) Midland  6S,433 S9,463  3,109,643  378  436  188,2 19  9  8  
MILAM Cameron Rockdale  20,028 S,S46 4,6S5  6,809  -88  -49  10,867 9,907  10 22  13 21  
MILLS Goldthwaite  4,212 i,693  8,925  31  
MITCHELL Colorado City  9,073 S,227  8,479  ••  29  
MONTGOMERY (In Houston SMSA) Conroe  49,479 11 ,969  1,229,700  -17  61S  60,421  9  24  
MOORE Dumas  14,060 9,771  238,82S  - s  S3  
NACOGDOCHES Nacogdoches  36,362 22,S44  5 I0,76S  -61  32  
NAVARRO Corsicana  31 ,lSO 19,972  440,8SS  138  43,140  13  22  
NOLAN Sweetwater  16,220 12,020  64,870  10  713  26,264  -2  12  
NUECES (In Corpus Christi SMSA) Bishop Corpus Christi Robstown  237,S44 3,466 204,S2 s 11,217  S,SOO,S38 90,95S  17 47  10 -30  2,6SO S44,901 30,S37  -10 s 14  -20 16 14  

TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 

Urban building permits  Bank debits  
COUNTY City  Population  Aug 1972 (dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  Aug 1972 (thousands of dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  
ORANGE (In Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange SMSA) Orange  71,170 24,457  114,102  -67  -37  61,971  5  18  
PALO PINTO Mineral Wells  28,962 18,411  91,471  -15  161  31,801  2  6  
PANOLA Carthage  15,894 5,392  16,472  -62  -34  6,914  11  17  
PARKER Weatherford  33,888 11,750  633,600  69  31 ,661  4  13  
PARMER Friona  10,509 3,111  91,400  166  203  32,079  6  48  
PECOS Fort Stockton  13,748 8,283  85,400  -52  ••  12,877  2  14  
POTTER (In Amarillo SMSA) Amarillo  90,511 127,010  4,415,315  2  230  640,769  2  25  
RANDALL (In Amarillo SMSA) Amarillo (See Potter) Canyon  53,885 8,333  85,878  -61  2  14,121  ••  30  
REEVES Pecos  16,526 12,682  43,000  11  138  27,461  3  13  
REFUGIO Refugio  9,494 4,340  0  5,607  2  18  
RUSK Henderson Kilgore  34,102 10,187 9,495  717,588 586,100  323 314  168 556  27,835 26,031  16 17  29 32  
SAN PATRICIO (In Corpus Christi SMSA) Aransas Pass Sinton  47,288 5,813 5,563  62,187 153,900  -90 -1  -95  14,973 14,652  -4 12  11 22  
SAN SABA San Saba  5,540 2,555  0  10,112  -15  22  
SCURRY Snyder  15,760 11,171  108,300  -80  -24  22,903  3  8  
SHACKELFORD Albany  3,323 1,978  0  3,403  2  -13  
SHERMAN Stratford  3,657 2,139  72,750  142  31  17,893  3  20  
SMITH (Constitutes Tyler SMSA) Tyler  97,096 57,770  1,643,512  206  -36  244,654  9  31  
STEPHENS Breckenridge  8,414 5,944  17,826  -48  -98  
SUTTON Sonora  3,175 2,149  6,025  -66  -91  4,588  2  so  
TARRANT (In Fort Worth SMSA) Arlington Burleson Euless Fort Worth Grapevine North Richland Hills White Settlement  716,317 90,643 7,713 19,316 393,476 7,023 16,514 13,449  6,461,260 120,600 85,806 7,837,738 361,150 151,492  4 -19 -26 194 -22  -8 -83 -2 -39 550  130,795 9,816 2,313,173 13,233 24,459 9,918  7 1 8 26 11 7  16 33 11 45 35 51  
TAYLOR (In Abilene SMSA) Abilene  97,853 89,653  2,648,876  49  384  190,683  3  15  

OCTOBER 1972 
Urban building permits  Bank debits  
COUNTY City  Population  Aug 1972 (dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  Aug 1972 (thousands of dollars)  Percent change from Jul Aug 1972 1971  

TERRY Brownfield  14,118 9,647  232,250  172  
TITUS Mount Pleasant  16,702 8,877  74,075  7  -84  
TOM GREEN (Constitutes San Angelo SMSA) San Angelo  71,047 63,884  993,401  6  61  137,012  -8  9  
TRAVIS (Constitutes Austin SMSA) Austin  295,516 251,808  19,297,796  11  100  1,121,658  17  11  
UPSHUR Gladewater  20,976 5,574  23,800  -83  -8S  6,S98  7  -7  
UPTON McCamey  4,697 2,647  2,166  - 2  
UVALDE Uvalde  17,348 10,764  260,460  64  19  28,793  17  
VAL VERDE Del Rio  27,471 21,330  336,260  -74  181  28,30S  6  27  
VICTORIA Victoria  S3,766 41,349  739,002  -22  29  127,S82  -2  16  
WALKER Huntsville  27,680 17,610  138,SOO  -88  -74  28,520  -14  14  
WARD Monahans  13,019 8,333  4,7SO  -67  37S  12,236  -13  -3  
WASHINGTON Brenham  18,842 8,922  1S2,34S  -28  2S  28,336  -2  14  
WEBB (Constitutes Laredo SMSA) Laredo  72,8S9 69,024  626,44S  174  47  103,903  s  24  
WHARTON El Campo  36,729 8,S63  30,270  21  
WICHITA (In Wichita Falls SMSA) Burkburnett Iowa Park Wichita Falls  121,862 9,230 S,796 97,564  85,275 3,72S 2,S 1S,S93  434 -92 149  S9 44  11,032 4,857 22S,273  -3 s••  14 13 13  
WILBARGER Vernon  1S,3SS 11,4S4  94,97S  9  140  33,731  lS  49  
WILLACY Raymondville  1S,570 7,987  236,900  365  272  23,297  s  6  
WILLIAMSON Bartlett Georgetown Taylor  37,305 1,622 6,39S 9,616  228,900 160,370  -68 -4  - 1  2,S83 14,348 18,2S9  42 -11 7  SS 36 23  
WINKLER Kermit  9,640 7,884  1,S67  -91  
WISE Decatur  19,687 3,240  29S,900  770  7,1 S9  2  31  
YOUNG Graham Olney  1S,400 7,477 3,624  104,700 879,900  31  -69  18,187 8,820  4 6  12 3S  
ZAVALA Crystal City  11,370 8,104  13,54S  10  41  9,817  18  18  

• • Absolute change is less than one half of 1 percent. . • • No data, or inadequate basis for reporting. 
TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 

BAROMETERS OF TEXAS BUSINESS 

(All figures are for Texas unless otherwise indicated.) 
All indexes are based on the average months for 1967=100 except where other specification is made; all except annual indexes are adjusted for seasonal variation unless otherwise noted. Employment estimates are compiled by the Texas Employment Commission in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. The symbols used below impose qualifications as indicated here: p-preliminary data subject to revision; r-revised data; *-dollar totals for the fiscal year to date; t-employment data for wage and salary workers only. 
Year-to-date averageAug Jul Aug 1972 1972 1971 1972 

GENERAL BUSINESS ACTIVITY  
Estimates of personal income (millions of dollars, seasonally adjusted)  . $  3,936p  $  3,836p  $  3,526r  $ 3,823  $  3,515  
Income payments to individuals in U.S. (billions, at seasonally adjusted annual rate) Wholesale prices in U.S. (unadjusted index) Consumer prices in Dallas (unadjusted index) ;)  .$  939.8P 119.9 125.S  $  932.9p 119.7  $  869.lr 114.9 122.7  $ 918.4 118.1 124.6  $  850.2 113.6 121.0  
Consumer prices in U.S. (unadjusted index) Business failures (number) . . . . . Business failures (liabilities, thousands) Sales of ordinary life insurance (index)  .$  125.7 170.4  $  125.S 58 3,601 149.9  $  122.1 69 12,491 153.6  124.S $ 161.7  $  120.6 62 11,056 144.7  
PRODUCTION  
Total electric-power use (index) Industrial electric-power use (index) Crude-oil production (index) ... . 
Average daily production per oil well (bbl.) Crude-oil runs to stills (index) .... Industrial production in U.S. (index) .. Texas industrial production-total (index) Texas industrial production-total manufactures (index) Texas industrial production-durable manufactures (index) Texas industrial production-nondurable manufactures (index) Texas industrial production-mining (index) Texas industrial production-utilities (index)  151.8p 137.3p 112.1p 18.8 116.9 114.3P 131.4p 133.7P 142.2p 127.5P 120.8p 1so.9P  149.lp 135.6p 121.8P 19.8 116.1 113.7p 133.oP 134.3p 142.3p 128.5p 124.1 p 15S.8P  133.7r 124.4r 105.3r 17.S 112.S 1OS.6r 120.9r 123.1r 132.2r 116.6r 11 l.2r 138.0r  1s1.7 138.3 115.0 19.0 115.S 111.9 129.4 131.4 140.7 124.1 118.4 155.2  136.0 126.0 112.0 18.0 112.7 106.2 121.1 121.7 131.3 114.8 114.S 140.1  
Urban building permits issued (index)  177.9  158.6  170.2  183.8  152.8  
New residential building authorized (index)  216.3  160.3  182.7  203.0  170.0  
New residential units authorized (index) ..  197.1  138.0  161.S  165.1  161.3  
New nonresidential building authorized (unadjusted index)  148.3  156.6  161.3  170.2  135.3  
AGRICULTURE  
Prices received by farmers (unadjusted index, 1910-14= 100)  349  356  323  339  305  
Prices paid by farmers in U.S. (unadjusted index, 1910-14= 100)  433  433  412  428  408  
Ratio of Texas farm prices received to U.S. prices paid  
by farmers  81  82  78  79  75  
FINANCE  
Bank debits (index) Bank debits, U.S. (index)  206.1  191.3 191.6  172.S 178.2r  192.8  168.2 170.4  
Bank commercial loans outstanding (index)  138.1  135.7  128.8  129.9  123.3  
Reporting member banks, Dallas Federal Reserve District  
Loans (millions) ................. .  . $  8,146  $  8,075  $  6,897  $ 7,788  $  6,774  
Loans and investments (millions) . . . .. .  . $  11,775  $  11,738  $  10,013  $ 11,353  $  9,883  
Adjusted demand deposits (millions) ..... .. .  . $  3,946  $  3,850  $  3,660  $ 3,7 87  $  3,559  
Revenue receipts of the state comptroller (thousands)  . $  449,335  $  282,509  $  410,529  $ 366,013  $  315,267  
Federal Internal Revenue collections (thousands)  . $  758,594  $  365,497  $  655,527  $1,124,091 *  $  990,276*  
Securities registrations-original applications  
Mutual investment companies (thousands)  . $  39,543  $  20,444  $  23,525  $ 325,431 *  $  267,692*  
All other corporate securities  
Texas companies (thousands) . . . ..  .$  48,770  $  6,800  $  12,507  $ 295,605*  $  205,2 98*  
Other companies (thousands) . .... .  . $  34,954  $  41,281  $  26,822  $ 471 ,855*  $  296,3 81 *  
Securities registration -renewals  
Mutual investment companies (thousands)  . $  57,136  $  23,657  $  18,582  $ 452,766*  $  450,718*  
Other corporate securities (thousands) ..  . $  0  $  0  $  376  $ 23,781 *  $  17,862*  
LABOR  
Total nonagricultural employment in Texas (index)t  115.9p  11 5.7P  114.8r  11 5.5  112.7  
Manufacturing employment in Texas (index)t ..  108.3p  107.3p  106.4r  108.4  107.1  
Average weekly hours-manufacturing (index)t  98.7p  98.9p  97.7r  98.9  98.0  
Average weekly earnings-manufacturing (index)t  129.4~  129.2p  123.0r  128.7  121.8  
Total nonagricultural employment (thousands)t  3,786.3  3,783,3p  3,671. Sr  3,751.1  3,650.9  
Total manufacturing employment (thousands)t  724.6p  723.lp  711.9r  720.7  711.7  
Durable-goods employment (thousands)t . .  385.7P  383.9p  377.2r  382.3  378.2  
Nondurable-goods employment (thousands)t  338.9p  339.2p  334.7r  338.3  333.5  
Percent of total labor force unemployed  3.8  4.4  4.4  3.9  4.3  
Total civilian labor force in selected labor-market  
areas (thousands) . . . . . ..... .  3,626.1  3,638.0  3,530.2  3,603.8  3,515.4  
Nonagricultural employment in selected labor-market  
areas (thousands) . . . . . . . ...... .  3,401.6  3,399.7  3,292.6  3,378.1  3,282.2  
Manufacturing employment in selected labor-market  
areas (thousands) . . . . . . ....... .  604.0  601.0  586.6  599.1  590.6  
Total unemployment in selected labor-market areas  
(thousands) . . . . . . . ... . ... .  146.1  159.2  157.3  145.4  150.9  
Percent of labor force unemployed in selected  
labor-market areas . .. .. .... ...... .  4.0  4.4  4.5  4.0  4.3  

BUREAU OF BUSINESS RESEARCH RETURN REQUESTED 1HE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN SECOND-CLASS POSTAGE PAID AT AUSTIN, TEXAS 
AUSTIN, TEXAS 78712 

AVAILABILITY OF UNPUBLISHED DATA ON COUNTY PERSONAL INCOME (Print-outs from Magnetic Computer Tapes) 
In the May 1967 issue of the Survey of Cu"ent Business the Regional Economics Division, Office of Business Economics, U.S. Department of Commerce, announced the publication of a new series on personal-income components in metropolitan areas. Initially published for selected years from 1929 through 1962, the series has been supplemented by annual additions to extend the personal-income reports through 1970. 
The detailed system of data files developed for these regional income estimates has made feasible the extension of personal-income estimates to counties not included in standard metropolitan statistical areas. Detailed files on personal income by source in Texas have been made available to the Bureau of Business Research for all counties of the state including those in standard metropolitan statistical areas. Similar data files covering total employment and farm income have also been compiled. 
The personal-income reports identify the amounts received by individuals as wages and salaries, property income, profits, and transfer payments. The earnings have been identified additionally by industrial sectors including government, farm, and nonfarm, with nonfarm earnings shown by seven major industrial sources. 
The farm-income reports classify the income received by the farm sector by type of farm and by kind of produce. The components of total employment are identified by broad industrial sector. 
The unpublished data files on metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties, described as table 5 series reports, have been purchased from the Department of Commerce by the Bureau of Business Research for further distribution. Printed copies of the unpublished personal-income data (print-outs from magnetic computer tapes) will be provided by the Bureau at the rate of $15 for each single county or metropolitan area. The farm-income and total employment reports are available at the rate of $10 for each single county or metropolitan area. The journey-to-work pattern in multiple-county SMSA's makes it undesirable to give full coverage to individual counties within an SMSA. 
The extensive range of detail on county personal-income and farm-income sources and components of employment offers new insights into the regional composition of both consumer and industrial markets. 
Texas residents pay 5 percent sales tax. 
BUREAU OF BUSINESS RESEARCH 
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN 
Box 7459 
Austin, Texas 78712 

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