TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 

Bureau of Business Research 
The University of Texas 
Vol. XVI, No. 3 April, 1942 
A Monthly Summary of Businese and Economic Conditions in Texas and the Southweet 
Bureau of Business Research, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas 

l.utettld a.a .econd o!a• matte1 on May 7, l~J8. at the po..t o6c• at Auetin. Tent, o-ader Act •f Aqut "'4, l'U 
·THESE ~DGET ITEM\ COMPO\[ APPROXl_MATELY TWO-THIRDS Of TOTAL EXPENDITURES Of Hi<A FAMILl[S· 
c:::J f 0 OD ~ RE NT 
= CLOTHING CAR COSTS ~ UTILITIES 
-


SOURCE:&URUU Of &USIN[SS HSEA~CH COST OF LI VI NG 
SU~V£YS 

LAREDO  ST A TE  BROWNSVILLE  
rlGURES  REVISED  roR  ABIL.ENE. EL. PASO,  
BUREAU  OF BUSINESS RESEARCH  WICHITA  rAL.LS, ANO STATE.  ·N. CJiVM£·  THE UNIV£ R!ITY  OF' T£XA!  

TEN CENTS PER COPY ONE DOU.AR PER YEAR 
TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 
INDEXES OF BUSINESS ACTIVITY IN TEXAS 
AV( RACE MONTH or 1930. 100 % 
• W "-I GUT IN COMP031T'-INOli.X. • 
'M C) LOV M C.NT----25X Ml &C L ritC.ICLIT CAllLOAOINC&-20% 
P AV Q.OLL~ 25X c.2vo'-O IL Q.UNS 5~ 
OC.l)ARTMC.NT 3TOllC. 3Al.t.$-10".( C. LC. C.TltlC POWC.ll CONSVMPTION-l~X 


TEXAS BUSINF.SS REVIEW 


Business Review and Prospect 

Phyaical volume of business in the Nation appears now definitely to have entered upon an upward trend. Barron's index, adjusted for long-term industry and population growth as well as for seasonal variation, has ri8en consistently during the past few weeks from 104.8, March 14, to 107.8, April ll. Although further con· firmation will be necessary before definite conclusions can be drawn, it now seems quite certain that the increase in war production is more than offsetting the decline in production of goods for civilian use. As the con­version of peace-time industries into war industries proceeds, and as new plant capacity for the production of war equipment comes into operation, the upward trend in physical volume of business may be expected to gain momentum. 
That war production is moving forward at an ac­celerated rate and in many instances is now far ahead of the output which was scheduled for this period is evidenced by recent statements of highly placed govern­ment officials. Speaker Rayburn in a talk delivered at Sulphur Springs, Texas, stated that airplane produc· tion is now at a rate exceeding 3,300 monthly, or fifty per cent greater than during last October; Donald Nels?n speaking on this &ame subject stated that th~ automo~tle industry was two months ahead of schedule m conve~mg to war production, and that on one badly n~ed p1;ce of military equipment, on which only partial require­ments were expected by November, auto industry en· gineers had found a way to provide more than the needed quantity by June. 
Further confirmation of the favorable progress in the production of war materials is contained in a state­ment by the War Department to the effect that General Motors ia seven months ahead of schedule in the pro­duction of thirty-ton tanks; and from the W. P. B. Tools Section came the report that delivery of new machine tools in February was sixty-three per cent greater than in the corresponding month of 1941. Many other reports of a highly optimistic character on war production have recently been issued by high govern­ment sources. 
TEXAS BUSINESS 

Industry and trade in Texas continue at the h~gh level noted over a period of many months, but the mterrup· tion to the sharp upward trend first shown in. the Febru­ary report has continued through March. It 1s expected, however, that the upward trend in the Texas business index will soon be resumed. 
The composite business index increased slightly from February to March, all of the components having risen excepting runs of crude oil to stills and electric power COD8Ulllption. Compared with March, 1941, the com­poeite index rose more than twenty-eight points, or approximately twenty-ell per cent. 
INDEXES OF BUSI ESS ACTIVITY IN TEXAS 
(Average Month, 1930= 100%) 
.March March Feb. 1942 1941 1942 

Employment --------------------113.1 95.0 112.9 Pay Rolls ------------------150.2 102.9 149.0 Miscellaneous Freight Carloadings 
(Southwest District) ---------------------110.7 76.6 104.2

Crude Runs to Stills______________ 223.9 
210.2 244.2 Department Store Sales -----------------120.5 104.0 115.0 Electric Power Consumption ___ 168.2 
149.1 173.4" COMPOSITE ___ -------------136.4 108.1 136.0° 
*Revised. 
FARM CASH INCOME 

Cash income from agriculture in Texas during March, as computed by this Bureau (see note on bottom of following table) , totalled nearly thirty-seven million dollars compared with twenty-one million dollars during the corresponding month last year, an increase of seventy-six per cent. For the first three months of the current year, the cash income from agriculture totalled nearly 113 million dollars, an increase of seventy. seven per cent over the sixty-four million dollars during the first quarter of 1941. 
Most of the gain in farm cash income was derived from cattle, hogs, eggs, milk, fruits, and vegetables. The cash income from these products during March, 1941, and 1942, respectively, were: cattle, $4,266,000 -$8,222,000; hogs, $1,229,000-$2,194,000; eggs, Sl,749,000-$5,712,000; milk, $3,274,000-$5,536,000; fruits and vegetables, $2,207,000-$4,ll9,000. Sub­stantial increases were also recorded for wheat, rice, and mohair. 
INDEX OF AGRICULTURAL CASH INCOME IN TEXAS 
Average month 1928-'32=100% 

March  February  March  Cumulative Income  
District  1942  1942  1941•  Jan.-Mar. , 1942  Jan.-Mar., 194lt  
(000 Omitted)  
1­ -----­ 141.7  161.5  61.5  12,502  5,609  
1-S  -------­ 439.4  294.4  267.9  11,699  6,471  
2  ------225.4  195.0  136.1  11,607  7,547  
g  -----­---­ 189.6  188.3  111.3  4,805  3,262  
4  -----------­ 219.1  232.1  86.3  19,586  8,720  
5  --­--------­ 111.2  115.2  60.2  3,602  2,374  
6  ------­ 233.6  203.7  231.9  7,244  5,610  
7  ----------­ 169.1  199.7  111.2  5,334  3,740  
8  -------­ 193.2  192.4  98.0  8,153  4,547  
9  ----------­ 230.8  272.5  155.0  12,446  7,419  
10  --------­ 181.3  142.5  92.7  2,582  1,466  
10-A  -----­ 247.1  275.5  124.5  13,066  7,522  
TATE  ---­ 205.3  214.3  112.8  112,626  64,287  

•Bue period revieed. fRevised. 

'on: : f arm cuh income as computed by this Bureau underatates actual farm cash income by from 6 to 10 per cent. This situation resulu from the fast that means of securing complete local marketings, especially by truck, ha.Ye not yet been ful1y developed. In addition, means have not yet been developed for computing cash income from all agricultural specialties of local importance in acattered nreu throughout the State. This situation, howe.,.er, doee not impair the accuracy of the indexes to any appreciable extent. 
For OIMt-Tema Data, See Slali&tical Table& at the End of Thi& Publicatkm 
FAMILY EXPENDITURES 	for three cities-El Paso, Abilene, and Wichita Falls. The errors occurred in the figures for food costs in
Attention is called to the chart on the 	outer cover these three cities as a result of a temporary mechanical page of the REVIEW representing family expenditures 

defect in the tabulating machines which 	were used for for five essential items in twelve Texas communities and the computations. The ratios of each item to the total the average expenditure for these items in twenty-four of the five items have accordingly been corrected in line Texas communities. By comparison with the similar with the modified figure on food costs. 
chart on the cover page of the March issue of the REVIEW, it will be noted that changes have been made F. A. BUECHEL 

Special Meeting of the Texas Statistical Council 
Members of the Texas Statistical Council and the Austin Chapter of the American Statistical Association will hold a joint meeting at The University of Texas, May first, 1942, in Room 311 of the Union Building. 
"Texas' Part in the War Effort" is the general subject to be discussed at the one-day meeting by a group of business men and State and Federal authorities, all of whom are in some way engaged in the war effort. 
Included on the program will be a report by Mr. I. H. Lloyd, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Agri­cultural and Mechanical College of Texas, on plans for an annual census of agriculture for Texas. Mr. B. F. Vance, also of the A.A.A. at College Station, will discuss the new requirements of agricultural production. 
Mr. C. J. Crampton, State Director of Contract Dis­tribution Division of the War Production Board, Hous­ton, will speak on the vital question of war production -his subject will be "Production and Victory." Fol­lowing Mr. Crampton's address, Mr. James H. Bond, State Director, United States Employment Service, Austin, will speak on the problems arising out of the scarcity of labor and the relation of these problems to the war effort. 
"Defense Savings Bonds-Their Importance in Financ­ing the War Effort and in the Control of Inflation" is the subject of an address to be presented by Mr. Frank Scofield, State Administrator, Defense Savings Staff, Austin. Mr. W. L. Pier, Vice President, Fort Worth National Bank, Fort Worth, will serve as discussion leader for the morning session of the meeting. 
Mr. Hulen W. Black, Director, The University of Texas Development Board, will give the address at the lunch· 
PEltCENTAGE CHANGES IN CONSUMPTION 
OF ELECTRIC POWER 

Fint Quarter March, 1942 March, 1942 1942 from from from First Qunrter March, 1941 Feb., 1942 1941 

Commercial --­-2.6 6.0 -9.0 lndu trial +46.7 + 2.0 +44.6 Re idential ___ + 8.1 7.2 + 4.0 All Others ____ + 9.4 0.6 +38.6 
TOTAL 	+23.9 1.2 +22.B 
Prepared from reports of 8 electric power companiea to the Bureau of Busi· ness Resea rch. 
eon meeting, which will include members and p;uests of the American Statistical Association and the Texas Statistical Council. 
The growing importance of chemical industries in Texas and the Southwest will be discussed in the ad­dress of Mr. Henry W. Rahn, Technical Director, South­ern Alkali Company, Corpus Christi, whose subject is "Alkali Pioneers into the Southwest"; Mr. L. W. Worth, General Manager, Houston Paper Stocks Company, Houston, speaking on "Some Phases of the Paper In­dustry in Texas"; and Mr. Elmer H. Johnson, Bureau of Business Research of The University of Texas, whose subject is "Chemical Resources of Texas and the South­west." Mr. Richard B. Johnson, Regional Business Con­sultant, United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Regional Office, Dallas, will lead the dis­cussion for the afternoon session. 
The Texas Statistical Council, organized in December 1939, has for its chief purpose the coordinating and assembling of statistical information already available for the use of individuals or organizations seeking specific data concerning Texas; and also the compiling of other statistical information, now more than ever important. 
Proceedings of the meeting will be published for the benefit of members and others interested in the organiza­tion; as however, only a limited number are reserved for distribution to other than members, those desiring copies should notify Dr. F. A. Buechel, Secretary of the Texas Statistical Council, Bureau of Business Research, The University fo Texas. 
CLARA H. LEWIS 
TEXAS COMMERCIAL FAILURES 

March 1942  March 1941  Feb. 1942•  First Quarter 1942 1941•  
Number  -----------------­ 10  28  24  44  96  
Liabilitie t  --·---·-----­ $92  BOO  $716  $902  $1,554  
Asset t  -----------------­ 45  665  574  715  1,073  
Average Liabilities per  
failuret  ------­- 9  29  30  21  16  
•Rcvi1ed.  
fl• thouuad1.  
Nen:  f ro•  Dun  and  Brad1treet1  Inc.  

Essentials Toward An Understanding 
of Texas Economy 

We are becoming conscious, perhaps painfully so, at long last, of the tremendous need for a perspective, at once broad and inclusive, yet basic and substantial, of our national production and of just what it involves, and of what its implications are. National production, statistically considered, is nothing more or less than the aggregate of regional production and since Texas and the Southwest contribute so largely in agricultural and range output, in oil and gas, and chemicals, and sub­stantially in pulp and paper, and even in metals refining, it behooves Texas leadership to comprehend the broader aspects of national production and the national market in order that the economic position of Texas he viewed comparatively. At no time has this comparative pers­pective been more necessary, in view of the demands of the war effort upon Texas resources and industries-a demand which will become even more insistent in the period after the war. This article is aimed at presenting briefly some of the larger and the more basic features that have to he considered in interpreting the more com­prehensive relations of Texas to the realities of the world we live in. 
The diversity of our national production, the aggregate size of the major fields of our national production, and the interdependent pattern of this production are features we find it difficult to envision in their broader inclusive­ness; not because of any inherent difficulties hut simply because we have not learned to look with care and discrimination at these realistic features of our economy. 
The comparative breadth of our national production and its wide diversity embracing fields which in the aggregate are enormous within themselves, is a function of the natural resources pattern of the United States, and in this, the United States is the most favored of all nations. A comparative study of the continents, of their particular advantages and disadvantages, of their poten­tialities and handicaps, cannot he considered in the brief confines of this article. Since the present war is a global war, and since it has resolved itself into a struggle for continents, we may rest assured of an awakening interest in the world's continental features and of the oceans that separate them-things of which we are so delightfully ignorant. Natural resources constitute the basic long-run assets of our economic life, and the swiftly advancing technology engaged in a more optimum utilization of these natural resources must he considered as one of the most significant factors in the institutional fabric in which production operates. 
The dynamic interaction of technology, based upon advances in science, and the fuller, more all round, utilization of natural resources is, of course, one of the outstanding problems of today and this problem will not be less complex nor will it he less dynamic in the immediate future. 
Three sorts of perspective must be considered in 

arriving at an overall view of our present situation as 
regards production: these are the geoo-raphic perspective 
h. . I ti ' 

the istonca perspective, and the economic perspective. 
GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE 

(1) The so-called geographic perspective, which is more specifically the perspective of the major natural regions and their associated natural resources contained in the United States. The natural regions pattern and the associated natural resources constitute the bases provide the ultimate potentialities, and establish th; limits to the ultmiate growth of a country or continent. 
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 

(2) The historical perspective which comprehends the salient features and interrelations of outstanding economic developments that have come with the advance and spread of the Industrial Revolution-the dominance of manufacturing, the outstanding lines of manufac­turing from period to period, and the reasons why these major lines of industry developed as they did, and why they developed just where they did. Paralleling these developments, of the specific lines of interest, and their regional extent and geographic shifts, is, of course, the dynamic relationships of an advancing technology which applied to the utilization of the different groups of natural resources, created outstanding examples of regional specialization on the one hand (steel manu­facturing centers, for instance), and on the other, raw materials producing regions, such as the Old Cotton Belt. 
The growth and extension of this regional specializa­tion, however, has not been confined merely to a straight­line growth of a single group; there has arisen in the course of the time involved a wide diversity of major lines, the proportions of which change from time to time, with the coming in of new lines of development. Our national economy now as compared with what it was in 1870 exhibits not only the manifestations of enormous growth hut a complexity which comprises numerous new important lines of development that simply were not in existence three quarters of a century ago. 
It is a dangerous procedure to oversimplify complex trends, but the following statements seek to emphasize certain fundamental features manifested in the economic growth of the United States since 1870: Between 1870 and 1910 there occurred, except for the Old Cotton Belt, the dominant developments in what has been appro­priately designated the Westward Movement. Of course, the large outlines of this movement which dominated American life for decades are generally known. The spread of population, the regional shifting of economic activities, the advance of transportation, and the pro­duction of surpluses have received, if not adequate, at least a certain degree of consideration. But such factors as the growth of internal trade and its implica­tions as related to the rise of a tremendous domestic market have by no means received the attention these things merit in analyses of our national economy of the various segments or sections of this economy. 
The Westward Movement was marked particularly by the zone-like waves of settlement (and the concomitant forces closely associated therewith) through which was spread a more or less stable population over the Con­tinental interior plains of the North American continent; and westward beyond the interior plains, population from various nucleii spread over the intermontane plains and lowlands. 
In the United States this period was marked indus· 

trially by the remarkable expansion of the American 
steel industry, manifested first in a very few nucleF, 
and later by the expansion of these early centers and 
the growth of new centers (more or less under the 
umbrella of the old centers) . This steel industry, being 
peculiarly depend upon coal, grew up on the coal 
bearing areas or at points having ready access to the 
coal fields, and the larger outlines of this picture have 
not changed substantially since. However, since this 
pattern was set, the availability of electric power by 
long-distance transmission and increased economies in 
the use of coal have given the bulk of manufacturing 
activities, including steel using enterprises a much 
greater latitude than was the case when only direct 
mechanical power was possible. To a certain degree 
this increasing mobility plus other factors has affected 
the steel industry itself. This period was also marked 
by the growth of industry in West-central Europe, the 
formation of modern Germany based primarily upon 
steel, and by the somewhat faint beginnings of modern 
industry in Russia. 
In the United States the great market for steel in this 

period was for the building of railroads th~t opened 
up the interior parts of the country for economic growth, 
connecting these hitherto inaccessible regions with the 
growing industrial markets. 
But steel and coal and railroads and the opening up 

of surplus raw materials producing regions, each marked 
by a particular type of regional specialization, do not 
make the full picture of developments prior to the period 
of World War I. In the United States the transforming 
forces of the electric light and power industry had been 
advancing rapidly since the early 1880's. In addition, 
we have to consider the rise of a full-fledged chemical 
industry in Germany based primarily upon coal tar 
products--for Germany is relatively rich in coal and 
lignite. 
Unquestionably, the decade of the 1870's constitutes 

a turning point in the economic development of the 
United States; but it should also be noted that the 
decade of the 1870's witnessed the beginnings of world· 
wide movements in which the shape of things to come began to be perceived by those in a position to see the implications of new world-wide forces that seemed to have been suddenly set in motion. 
It may be recalled that British leadership in trade and industry prior to 1870 was based primarily upon the economic development of maritime oriented areas of the world-that is, upon areas peripheral to the con­tinental interior lands of the earth. 
After 1870 came the rather rapid development of the great continental plains of the Middle Latitudes, with the extension of railways and new instruments of pro­duction into vast regions which hitherto had played no prominent part in the course of economic developments set in motion around 1500, with the beginnings of long-distance overseas trade, and which were chiefly dominated by developments in maritime oriented areas. Economic development of the continental interiors after 1870 inroduced a new factor of the first magnitude into world affairs. 
The mere fact that German economic development began with and paralleled the opening of the continental interiors with their rapidly growing demands for manu­factured goods is of tremendous importance to an under­standing of the rapid rise to economic power of that country. German economic development after 1870 was based primarily upon three things: the steel industry and the chemical industry, both dependent upon the relatively rich German coal resources, and the electrical industry, which served to facilitate operations in the bulk of German manufacturing activities. The fact is that nations were being transformed by the cumulative effects of forces literally set in motion first by the steam engine and the new developments of science. 
And nowhere else were the impacts of these new factors of development manifested on a larger scale than in the United States. The economy of the United States has been primarily a continental economy. The Westward Movement was a great colonization feature, which peopled the interior of the North American con· tinent. The settling of the vast areas of the American Prairies and Western Plains and the utilization of their chemically rich dark-colored grasslands soils constituted one of the major historical developments of modern times. Of the broader aspects of the agricultural con­quest of the grassland soils of the continental interiors, of which the American development was but one, Dr. Marbut wrote: "These areas possessed the combined advantages of high productivity, features promoting their rapid and cheap subjection to agriculture and their utilization on a large scale after subjection. None of these characteristics was possessed by any considerable areas of the lands that had been previously cultivated. Their utilization as it actually took place, introduced a factor into the world's agriculture incomparably more effective as a bread producer than any factor that had ever been introduced into the situation before, without regard to time or other circumstances. It was the world's greatest agricultural event, if the production of bread­stuffs be regarded as the most important aim of agri­culture." 
TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW 
Dr. Marbut also stated at various times that "we have failed to realize the vast potentialities for production of American agriculture." For the United States stands unique among the countries of the world in its inherent productive capacity not only for agriculture sp_ecializa­tion in its great corn, cotton, wheat, range livestock, and sub-tropical products belts and regions but also ~n its capacity for wide diversification in its large humid Mid-Latitudes region. 
Our modern agricultural development and our agri­cultural problems as well, are to be interpreted as func­tions of the rise of industry, the availability of modern agricultural machinery and the utilization of the dark­colored soils of the interior plains of the United States. It is to be noted that these factors also brought about striking changes in agriculture elsewhere in the world. And in Texas, for instance, an interpretation of agri­cultural achievements has to be considered as an adjust­ment to the light-colored timbered soils of the eastern part of the State, to the utilization of the rich s~ils of the extensive Black Prairies and later the extensive uses made of the vast areas of the Black Earth and Brown grassland soils of the western portions of the State. 
With respect to the growth of manufacturing in the 

United States there is the fact that the great coal re­
sources as well as the iron mines upon which the 
American steel industry is based lie west of the Ap­
palachians. But we have to consider not only the great 
coal resources of the United States, which are associated 
with a plains (or dissected plains) environment but 
other great natural resources as well. There are, for 
instance oil and gas, and the wide range of non­
metallic~, to name but two big groups, all of which are 
associated with a plains environment. 
Then came World War I with its forces shattering 

long-held concepts, relegating many of them to anthro­
pological museums. World War I made the world 
conscious of the economic power of the United States 
and it made the United States conscious of certain things 
we had and of certain things we then did not have. 
That cataclysm brought into relief the importance of 
petroleum in the United States and to those countries 
lacking this vital material; it brought into relief t_he 
fact that the United States had only the small begm­
nings of a chemical industry, which also came to be 
perceived as of vital importance to nations. 
The decades following World War I witnessed mo­mentous changes in the American economy, and some­what like the period following 1870, the setting of this economy became a thing of world-wide implications, but in which the United States was playing an outstand­ing role. 
The automobile industry, which as an industry was non-existant in 1900, became the instrument of one of America's outstanding developments in the post-War years-it became this because of four things: the size and importance of the automobile industry itself; the introduction of mass-production technique in the manu­facture of automobiles; the effects of the automobile industry upon the American oil industry; and its re­
actions upon highway development throughout the length and breadth of the land. 
But the automobile industry, outstanding as it was, did not fill the whole field of American development during this post-War period. America had had a long experience with machines and with the types of pro­duction that support a mechanical age. Thus it was that the development of the automobile industry and the things it set in motion were taken almost as a matter of course. 
In the chemical industry, however, the problem was a different one. There was not the traditional back­ground of things chemical such as had prevailed in various centers over Western Europe for generations, and the chemical industry is based upon a different pattern of natural resources than is the case of iron and steel and the mechanical industries. 
But the very exigencies of the post-War situation, in combination with our natural resources patterns and the available raw materials therefrom, set in motion the forces that have served to build the American chemical industry in the course of only a few years into one of the vital elements of our economic life. 
Naturally, these things mentioned in this brief survey do not comprise the full picture, hut they do shape the outlines of the larger picture of our economic develop· men ts. 
We may emphasize again that power-driven machinery, modern methods of transportation and communication, the resulting division of labor, the progress of science, together with the large use of capital, and the appear­ance of the corporation have created a new world so far as production of wealth is concerned and one which has only a remote resemblance to what existed a century ago. The important point to be given emphasis here is that it was during this period of developments carried out on a world-wide stage that the United States rose to importance as an economic power. 
ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE 

(3) The economic perspective though related to the geographic perspective and to the background of his­torical development is of a different order. If the prob­lems concerned in getting a substantial geographic perspective or of an interpretational historical per­spective are difficult and complex, then the difficulties of obtaining a comprehensive economic perspective that is at once authentic and realistic are obviously even more numerous and complex. 
A working economic perspective is necessary and fortunately enough of the broader features stand out so prominently that no special dispensation is required to see them. In regard to the United States our economic perspective must embrace two sets of conditions-those internal to the nation's economy, and those external factors that affect our present economy and which likely will affect the course of our economy in the future. Obviously this involves a world view for the external problems affecting us are global in extent and will continue to be world-wide in their consequences. Just as provincialism, for instance, must be seen as a phase or sector of the national picture, so national interests of necessity have to be viewed comparatively in the wider perspective of world affairs. Can there be any question that isolation today for any section of the world is anything but an anachronism? 
Consider the fact, for instance, that those nations which in the past have adhered most closely to strong protective tariff policies have always been keenly con· cerned with and often had aggressive programs aimed at getting their own exportable surpluses into the markets of the rest of the world, in competition with goods from elsewhere. 
These factors take on special meaning and added im­portance with reference to the world position the United States has come to occupy and will be challenged to fill, both as to the war and in the world reconstruction of the post-war period. And this is so simply because of t~e outstanding position and responsibilities of leadersh~p in world affairs given the United States because of its advantageous combinations of natur~l resources pa!t~rns, its highly favorable physical environment cond1t1on~, and its geographic position and orientation in compan­son to other countries of the world. 
It is not a matter of manifest destiny but simply a 

matter of the physical geography of countries . in rel!l­
tion to the institutional factors that are dommant m 
world affairs. And barring cataclysmic upheavals these 
dominant institutional factors in their larger outlines 
will continue to be dominant for a long time to come. 
The United States occupying the most favored portion 
of North Americ~, and a great continent~l economy, 
dominated in the past by the conquest of its vast con· 
tinental area but fronting on two oceans, and these the 
most strategic of oceans--the North Atlantic and the 
North Pacific-will necessarily be vitally concern.ed 
henceforth with maritime affairs, and therefore with 
world affairs. 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN TEXAS 
The bases of economic development in Texas have 

to be considered in relation to the combinations of 
natural resources and the physical environment of the 
State as related to the State's chief lines of economic 
activities, on the one hand and to impacts of economic 
conditions elsewhere not only in adjacent regions but 
even in fairly remote areas and regions. The area of 
the State is so large, its regional environment so diverse, 
its soils and native grasses and forest resources so ex­
tensive, its oil and natural gas so outstanding, and its 
supplies of numerous no?metallic minerals so i:~nmense 
that to present their basic features would require vol­
umes· to this variety of highly important natural re­
sourc~ must be added the fact of the State's geographic 
orientation, particularly with reference to the Gulf of 
Mexico and the consequent ready access to markets out· 
side the State. 
THE CONSERVATION PROBLEM 

In association with a consideration of the bases of economic developments in Texas two other groups of factors have to be given attention. One of these relates to the permanency or temporary character of the factors which underlie present activities. This is of course the fact of conservation and it involves a careful considera­tion of those features that may be regarded as permanent and those that have well-defined temporary qualities; and with regard to the latter, it becomes necessary to give careful attention to the factors making for important changes of the temporary features, together with indica· tions of when and how rapidly these changes may be expected to take place. 
Obviously, the critical factor in Texas' natural re­sources is that of petroleum and natural gas. The plain need for long-range studies of the salient factors of our oil and gas resources, of new technologies applied to their utilization, and of the benefits the State of Texas is to derive from them can hardly be over-emphasized. 
NEW LINES OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES 

The other factor to be considered in conjunction with the bases of present economic developments in the State and the degree of permanency or temporary aspects of the factors that underlie present activities is that of potentialities in wholly or partly developed lines of economic activity. This obviously involves careful con­sideration of the other two factors-the economic bases and the problem of conservation-but it also involves a consideration of the circumstances which must be re­alized in order to bring the undeveloped lines of eco· nomic activities into operation. 
To sum up: The bases of climates and geographic geology of Texas, together with its geographic orienta· tion may be considered as unchanging factors so far as human time is concerned. Forests can be reproduced efficiently, the native grasses show a remarkable degree of persistence if grazed properly and even our soil resources can be improved if given adequate care. With reference to its position in the total money income of Texas, the agricultural and timber resources occupy a very important sector, and to say that the fundamentals of the Texas agricultural situation merit careful con· sidcration and scientific studies is putting the matter mildly indeed. Oil and gas the world over are almost evanescent features from the long-time point of view. In its total reserves of these vital resources Texas is excep· tionally well off. But from the long-range point of view, the time is coming when the demands for oil and gas will be greater than our capacity to supply them adequately. 
The potentialities of Texas' economic activities lie in the greater development of its chemical resources. 
This is of course a matter of tremendous importance and one of growing complexities. In a broad sense the growth of pulp manufacture for various uses is to be regarded as a chemical problem, and one which in its processes uses a wide variety of chemicals. And what about our vegetable oil resources and their potentialities as chemical raw materials? 
Every important oil refinery in the State may be regarded as a huge chemical plant. Aviation gasoline for instance is a synthesized product, one which does not occur as such in nature. The strategic position of 
oil refining plants now brought out in full perspective in producing toluene, butadiene, and industrial alcohol, also reflects their significance as great chemical indus­tries. Here it may be noted that according to recent press dispatches the site for a $40,000,000 synthetic rubber plant has been selected on a 700-acre tract near Port Arthur, Texas. The utilization of natural gas for providing chemical raw materials has advanced far enough to demonstrate the potentialities in these lines. Furthermore, the use of refinery gases and natural gas by chemical concerns in the manufacture of a full line of synthetic organic chemicals is illustrative of the vast potentialities afforded by this relatively new chemical development. 
And lastly, though by no means least, too much emphasis could hardly be placed upon the vast resources of Texas in the field of non-metallics upon which a tremendous chemical industry can be based. 
Summing up, the bases of Texas production and the primary sources of Texas income can be grouped into three large categories: the products of the soil and climate, the oil and gas resources, and the wide display of non-metallics which afford the foundation for a great heavy chemicals industry. Each of these cate­gories is large enough, and this is an important item, to form a significant sector in the economy of the nation, and to play a very large part in the national market for the different lines of products they afford. 
Naturally, they play an important part in our national production and because of that they are problems not only of national import but also spread over into the wider field of international affairs. 
The potentialities of the chemical industry in Texas in transforming older industries and in creating new ones will be ~he subject of a forthcoming article. 
ELMER H. JOHNSON 


The Nation Overlooks Significance of Cotton 

The three "F's," Food, Fiber, and Feed, are not only vital sinews in winning a long, total war, but they can be made to have tremendous power in making the peace that follows. Cotton is the one commodity able to yield all three in great abundance in their most useful forms. Cotton lint is the fiber raw material for over seventy per cent of the world's textile manufacturing industry .. Cottonseed oil is the best, most valuable, and abundant of all of the vegetable oils; it alone constitutes over twenty per cent of all such oils, and vegetable oils are now the world's most important source of fats. Cotton­seed meal and cake are a major source of high protein feed, the annual production in the United States alone being over two million tons; and concentrated protein feeds are basic to modern meat and dairy production. In addition to this, most farmers in the South feed whole cottonseed to their cows. Even all these do not tell the entire story, for cottonseed hulls are used as a substitute for hay and are as good as ordinary hay. Cotton linters, the production of which in a normal crop equals about 1,500,000 bales or 750,000,000 pounds, have no equal as a base for making high explosives. 
The point of significance and vital concern is that policy makers are apparently measuring the importance of cotton in terms of only one of its many products, cotton lint, and that in an entirely too restricted sphere. In order that it may render maximum service in this hour of peril, the cotton-growing region insists that the importance of cotton be measured in terms of all its products. Cotton is not only the best yielder of any of the major crops in the South and Southwest, it is the surest crop, farmers are experienced in its production and handling, and a supply of the types of equipment necessary for its production and processing is already intact. 
The Government is urging farmers in the cotton­growing South to plant peanuts and soybeans as sources of increased supplies of the greatly needed vegetable oils, and many farmers are going into the production of these crops without the necessary background of knowl­edge of the techniques of their successful production and without having the necessary equipment for their production. 
This is not to say that farmers in the South should not be encouraged to grow other oil seed bearing crops where they have had experience and know their lands are adapted to the crop, but it does mean to say it is time for all-out production of the most valuable crops and to restrict reform and such experimentation to the limit. 
The United States has the land and the developed capacity and faciliites to produce more than fifty per cent of all the cotton and cotton products of the world. It is now using its ability to produce this important commodity at about seventy-five per cent of capacity. Not only the rest of the world, but the United States itself, is confronted with a shortage of all the products of cotton; but, notwithstanding this, the National Govern­ment continues its policy of restricting production and is thus reducing the nation's capacity to win the war and our economic strength in formulating the peace that follows. 
A. B. Cox 

EMPLOYMENT AND PAY ROLLS IN TEXAS 
March, 1942 

E1timated Number of Percentage Change Eatimated Amount of Percentage ChangoWorkera Employed• from from Weekly Par Roll from from February Morch February March February March February Mnrch
1942(1) 1942(2) 1942 19-11 19,12(1) 1942<•> 1942 1941 
MANUFACTURING All Manufacturing lndustriea_l54,449 154,332 0.1 + 10.6 3,602,325 3,602,325 (3) +31.9 
Food Products 

Baking 6,920 7,043 + 1.8 + 11.3 159,183 163,354 + 2.6 +18.4 Carbonated Beverages 2,600 2,559 -1.6 -7.3 68,589 66,891 2.5 + 2.8 Confectionery 1,009 991 -1.8 +18.7 10,381 10,456 + 0.7 +24. 
7 F1our Milling 2,054 1,972 -4.0 + 8.1 37,143 37,206 + 0.2 +16.3 Ice Cream 1,004 1,112 + 10.8 +30.6 21,608 22,753 + 5.3 +34.5 Meat Packing 5,573 5,320 4.5 +15.1 135,075 133,724 1.0 +40.5 
Textiles 

Cotton Textile Mills 7,113 7,192 + 1.1 + 7.2 133,162 132,340 0.6 +33.8 
Men's Work Oothing 4,166 4,370 + 4.9 +18.9 57,758 59,841 + 3.6 +42.7 

Forest Products 

Furniture 2,227 2,091 6.1 5.5 38,931 37,221 4.4 -16.0 Planing Mil19 2,195 2,187 0.4 3.5 53,000 50,119 5.4 + 14.6 Saw Mills 17,419 17,698 + 1.6 + 8.3 237,093 237,896 + 0.3 +19.3 Paper Boxes 664 645 2.8 + 7.7 13,423 11,907 -11.3 +25.9 
Printing and Publishing 

Commercial Printing ____ 2,344 2,354 + 0.4 + 3.4 52,770 53,704 + 1.8 + 4.1 
Newspaper Publishing 4,854 4,940 + 1.8 + 1.7 117,466 119,932 + 2.1 3.2 

Chemical Products 

Cotton Oil Mills 3,445 3,185 7.5 1.7 36,152 31,876 -11.8 + 6.0 
Petroleum Refining 22,194 22,213 + 0.1 +10.8 905,177 903,602 0.2 +39.5 

Stone ·and Clay Products 

Brick and Tile 2,064 2,116 + 2.5 -4.7 27,846 29,273 + 5.1 +11.1 
Cement 1,313 1,346 + 2.5 +46.8 42,813 45,156 + 5.5 +67.6 

Iron and Steel Products 

Structural and Ornamental Iron_ 2,551 2,530 0.8 + 7.2 56,988 59,147 + 3.8 +31.2 NONMANUFACTURING Crude Petroleum Production _ 30,925 29,742 3.8 + 2.3 1,126,787 1,097,854 2.6 +15.3 
(0 (0 (4) (0
Quarrying + 1.7 +22.1 +14.1 +69.4 
(<) (<) (0
Public Utilities + 0.6 + 7.6 (0 + 4.1 + 16.6 
Retail Trade 83,276 185,107 + 1.2 + 0.8 3,618,734 3,587,034 0.9 + 7.7

Wholesale Trade ______ 63,917 63,740 0.3 + 5.5 2,018,298 1,983,442 1.7 +10.7 Dyeinll' and Cleaninll' ----2,628 2,555 2.8 + 12.1 39,290 39,047 0.6 +24.9 Hotels 15,595 15,825 + 1.5 + 0.5 197,657 201,425 + 1.9 + 7.7 Power Laundries ------11,633 11,600 0.3 + 6.9 153,252 154,321 + 0.7 +14.9 
CHANGES IN EMPLOYMENT AND PAYROLLS IN SELECTED CITJES<5J 
Employment Pay Rolla Employment 
Pny Rolls 

Percentage Chango Percentage Change Percentage Change Percentngo ChangeFeb., 1942 March, 1941 Feb., 1942 March, 1941 Feb., 19-12 March, 1941 
Feb., 1942 March, 1941 

to to to to to to to toMar., 1942 Mar., 1942 Mar., 1942 Mar., 1942 Mar., 1942 Mnr., 1942 Mnr., 1942 Mnr., 1942
Abilene ___ + 6.7 + 12.0 + 2.2 + 22.5 Galve ton _______ + 13.5 + 37.1 + 22.7 +
Amarillo __ 2.3 3.9 4.5 + 15.9 Houston 1.2 + 17.2 + 1.4 76.5 
+ 28.7 

u tin 1.8 + 14.7 1.3 + 11.9 Port Arthur____ 4.8 0.4 
0.3 + 35.3

Beaumont __ + 4.3 + 118.9 2.1 + 189.0 an Antonio____ + 1.4 
+ 9.0 + 0.4 + 20.4
Dallas ____ 0.3 + 6.8 1.3 + 20.9 Sherman -------+ 1.5 1.4 0.3 + 15.8

El Pao __ (3)

+ 0.5 + 7.3 + 19.9 Wao + 3.4 + 8.6 + 4.4 + 18.5Fort Worth 0.2 + 14.2 + 0.3 + 34.0 Wichita Falls__ + 0.4 + 6.7 
1.0 + 33.1 
STATE _______ 
+ 0.2 + 19.1 + 0.8 + 45.6 

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES IN NONAGRICULTURAL BUSINESS 
AND GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHMENTs<•> 

194-0(1) 

1941 a.> 1942 1940(1) 1941 a.>January ____ 944,000 1,052,000 1,115,000<1> 1942 
JuIy --·------------·-------983,000 1,101,000
February _ 943,000 1,092,000 1,111,00011> August -----------------·----988,000 1,113,000

March ------­965,000 1,086,000 September ____________l,009,000 1,134,000 
April ------­963,000 1,097,000 October -----------1,022,000 1,141,000 

May ------­983,000 1,077,000 ovember _______l,048,000 1,161,000
June 982,000 1,084,000 December ___ 1,084,000 1,177,000 
•Doe• not include proprieton, 6rm members, officen of corporation1, or other principal executives. Factory employment excludes also office, aales, technio1J 
and pofeH ional perM>nnel. ruRev-iaed. <l>Subject to reTition. <•>Le than 1/10 of one per cent. <•>Not available. <5lBased on u_nweighted figures. 
ca>Not including aelf-cmpJoyed persons, casual workers, or domestic aervantl, and exclu1ive of military and maritime personnel. These &guree are furnlelaed 
by the Bureau of Labor Statittic11 U.S. Department of Labor. Prepared from re,.ort1 from repretentati't'e Te:u1 e1tabli.1hment.1 to the Burea n of Bn1ine.1 Rc1earch coOperarin1 with the Bureau of Labor Statlltlee Due to the national emeqency, publication of data for certain indu1triea ii b eing withheld until funher notice. • 
MARCH CREDIT RATIOS IN TEXAS DEPARTMENT AND APPAREL STORES 
(Expressed in Per Cent) 
Number Ratio ef Ratio of Ratio of of Credit Sale1 Collection• to Credit Salariee 

• 	Storet1 to Net Sale. Outetandinp to Credit Salee Reportin1 1942 1941 1942 1941 1942 1941 
All Stores 	57 64.0 66.0 40.8 40.8 1.0 1.0 
Stores Grouped J,y Cities : 
Abilene ________ 


-------------------------3 56.2 51.9 38.2 39.3 1.4 1.4 Austin 5 57.4 59.9 48.3 48.0 1.1 1.1 Beaumont ---------------------------------3 67.3 70.1 43.3 39.1 0.8 1.1 Dallas--------·-----------------------------------9 72.8 74.3 41.6 42.0 0.7 0.7 El Paso·--------------------------·------------3 55.3 56.8 40.1 40.5 1.3 0.9 Fort Worth 5 63.8 64.4 40.0 38.5 1.0 1.1 Houston 5 62.4 64.2 40.8 40.6 1.3 1.4 San Antonio 4 53.3 58.7 41.2 46.1 1.5 1.2 Waco 5 61.6 63.6 S.2.0 30.7 1.3 1.4 
All Others 	15 55.8 59.5 39.9 37.9 1.2 1.7 
Stores Grouped According to Type of Store: Department Stores (Annual Volume Over $500,000) __________ 17 63.6 65.6 41.5 41.9 1.0 1.0 Department Stores (Annual Volume under $500,000) 10 54.1 57.4 37.8 34.9 1.4 1.8 Dry-Goods-Apparel Stores 4 58.8 62.2 39.4 38.4 1.8 1.8 Women's Specialty Shops 14 67.2 69.6 38.5 39.0 0.6 0.7 Men's Clothing Stores 12 66.0 66.7 42.8 40.4 1.2 1.5 
Stores Grouped According to Volume of Net Sales During 1941: Over $2,500,000 11 63.7 66.9 41.0 42.5 0.9 0.9 $2,500,000 down to $1,000,000 8 64.1 65.7 41.9 38.9 1.1 1.2 $1,000,000 down to $500,000 8 58.7 60.0 43.4 42.1 1.2 1.3 $500,000 down to $100,000 26 55.4 58.2 40.6 39.5 1.4 1.5 Less than $100,000 4 56.1 61.5 38.7 31.7 2.4 5.2 
NOTE: The ratios shown for each year in the order in which they appear from left to right arc obtained by the following computations: (l) Credit Sales 
divided by Net Sales. (2) Collections du ring the month divided by tho total accounts unpaid on the firs t of the month. (3) Salaries of the Credit department 
divided by Credit Sale1. The data are reported to tho Bureau of Business Research by Texas retail stores. 
MARCH SHIPMENTS OF LIVE STOCK CONVERTED TO A RAIL-CAR BASIS• 
Cattle Calvet Hoe1 Sheep Total 
1942 1941 1942 1941 1942 1941 19-12 1941 1942 1941 
Total Interstate Plus Fort WorthV 3,520 2,254 708 736 1,094 1,006 639 385 5,961 4,381 Total Intrastate Omitting Fort Worth _ __ 383 162 111 54 8 20 
8 37 510 273 TOTAL SHIPMENTS 3,903 2,416 819 790 1,102 1,026 647 422 6,471 4,654 
TEXAS CAR-LOT 0 SHIPMENTS OF LIVE STOCK, JANUARY I-APRIL 1 
Cattle Calvoo Hoeo Sheop Total 1942 1941 1942 1941 1942 1941 1942 1941 1942 1941 
Total Interstate Plus Fort Worth~------9,601 6,982 2,218 2,357 2,907 2,790 1,413 967 16,139 13,096 Total Intrastate Omitting Fort Worth ______ 1,148 575 33.0 335 35 55 45 51 1,558 
1,016 TOTAL SHIPMENTS -10,749 7,557 2,548 2,692 2,942 2,845 1,458 1,018 17,697 14,112 
•RAH-car Bui1 : Cattle, SO head per car; calves, 60; hogs, 80 ; and sheep, 250. 
fFort Worth shipment• are combined w"ith intent'ate forwarding• in order that the bulk of market dinppearance for the month may be 1hown. 
Nan: Tbeae data are fumi1hed the Agricultural Marketing Senice, U.S.D.A. by railway oflicial1 through more than 1,500 stati•n agente, repreaentinc nery 

liv• 1took •hlppin1 point i11 the State. The data are compiled by the .Bur.u of Buaine.1 Reuarch. 
POST AL RECEIPTS 
First Quarter Mnrch, 1942 March, 1941 Feb., 1942 1942 19U Abileae 35,042 $ 26,353 $ 29,379 $ 94,684 $ 67,103 Austin 79,04-9 75,316 75,168 233,088 216,690 Beaumont 31,743 27,474 28,841 92,944 83,344 Big Spring 6,450 6,227 5,930 19,903 18,851 Brownsville --------7,240 7,121 6,773 21,887 20,499 Brownwood 27,406 ' 15,017 20,396 64,125 44,500 Childreu 2,820 2,602 2,479 8,691 7,895 Cleburne 3,518 3,186 3,545 t t Coleman 3,269 2,669 2,957 9,223 7,492 Corpua Christi 45,218 32,708 40,687 129,469 98,026 Co~icaua 6,534 5,437 5,984 19,454 17,259 Dallaa 414,790 396,608 373,988 1,189,388 1,189,595 Del Rio 3,510 7,047 2,881 10,228 19,647 Donton 8,494 7,650 8,215 26,215 24,590 El Paso 66,999 60,712 60,807 192,970 176,385 Fort Wertla 170,254 160,289 157,086 483,823 467,835 Galn•toa 40,996 33,663 33,992 110,922 97,412 Graham 2,268 2,152 2,244 7,139 6,915 Harlingoa 7,956 6,954 6,884 20,545 20,465 Houatoa 292,651 271,385 263,189 844,104 799,925 JacktonTille 3,208 3,040 3,012 9,883 9,788 Kenedy 1,247 1,222 1,264 4,198 4,147 Kilgore 6,241 5,753 5,701 19,104 18,340 Longview 9,323 10,029 9,289 30,342 29,037 
Lllbbock 23,832 19,726 21,544 70,537 60,866 LufkiA 5,444. 4,266. t t 13,984* McAllo. 4,891 4,793 5,097 16,485 16,194 
Manhall 7,861 6,674 6,072 21,490 18,904 Palestine 5,800 5,169 5,168 18,228 16,816 Pampa 6,853 6,799 6,212 20,961 19,674 Plainview 4,570 3,910 3,566 13,082 12,183 Port Arthur 16,143 13,699 15,654 48,675 41,131 Saw. Angolo 14,314 13,541 13,187 43,037 39,003 Su Aatoaio 168,440 145,482 155,136 487,863 426,250 Texarkana 25,120 15,127 23,030 t t Sherman 9,390 7,553 7,843 26,592 22,950 
nyder 1,693* 1,445* t t 4,529* Sweetwater 5,674 4,514 4,460 16,791 14,459 Temple 7,647 7,011 6,557 21,583* t Tyler 16,318 16,405 15,363 49,091 48,103 Waco 36,490 35,576 32,143 105,365 105,166 Wichita Falls 49,951 26,556 42,623 141,518 75,156 
TOTAL 1,681,213 1,503,149 $ 1,514,346 $ 4,722,044 $ 4,362,595 
*Not included in total. 
fNot available. 
NoTE: Compiled from report! from Texas chambers of commerce to the Bureau of Business Rescarcl1. 

COTTON BALANCE HEET FOR THE U ITED ST ATES AS OF APRIL 1 
(In Thousands of Running Bales Except as Noted) 
Carryover Au,. l  Imports to Avr. I•  Final Ginnings  Total  Consump -tion to Apr. l  Exports to April 1*  Total  Bnlonco Apr. l  
1932-1933 1933-1934 1934-1935 1935-1936 1936-1937 1937-1938 1938-1939 1939-1940 1940-1941 1941-1942  9,268 8,176 7,746 7,138 5,397 4,498 11,533 13,033 10,596 12,367  88 100 74 90 139 80 95 112 100 t  12,710 12,664 9,472 10,420 12,130 18,242 11,621 11,481 12,298 10,489  22,480 20,940 17,292 17,648 17,666 22,820 23,249 24,626 22,994 22,856  3,749 3,945 3,034 4,081 5,298 4,017 4,609 5,331 6,071 7,247  6,085 6,098 3,573 4,814 4,389 4,657 2,786 5,350 811 t  9,834 10,043 6,607 8,895 9,687 8,674 7,395 10,681 6,882 7,247  12,646 10,897 10,685 8,753 7,979 14,146 15,854 13,945 16,112 15,609  
•In 500-pou.nd baJe1.  
tFiiure1  not  anilable.  
Cotton  Year  ber!n• Au(111t 1.  

TEXAS BUSINESS REVIEW lS 
BANKING STATISTICS 
(In Millions of Dollars) 
March, 19-12 March, 1941 Feb., 1942 Dallu United Dallu United Dallu United Diatrict Statee Di1trict Sr.1.. Di1trict Statoo Durrs to individual accoun 1,507* $57,018* $ 1,215* $51,929* $ 1,156 $41,331 
Condition of reporting member bank» on-April 1, 1942 April 2, 1941 February 25, 1942 
Anrra: 

Loans and investments--tot 693 30,494 598 26,952 697 30,943 Loans-total 359 11,394 321 9,828 360 11,392 Commercial, industrial, and agricultural loans 256 7,003 219 5,465 253 6,902 Open market paper 3 424 2 347 2 422 Loans to brokers and dealers in securities 4 408 4 504 4 471 Other loans for purchasing or carrying securities 12 407 12 454 14 410 Real estate loans 22 1,245 24 1,228 22 1,250 Loans to banks 29 1 52 37 Other loans 62 1,878 59 1,778 65 1,900 Treasury Bills 33 680 30 742 35 1,206 Treasury Notes 42 2,354 36 2,183 42 2,337 
U.S. Bonds 156 9,671 109 7,653 158 9,589 Obligations fully guaranteed by U.S. Gov't 38 2,684 39 2,753 39 2,723 Otber securities 65 3,711 63 3,793 63 3,696 Reserve with Federal Reserve Bank 188 9,951 149 11,315 188 10,001 Cash in vault 14 491 12 491 15 547 Balances with domestic banks 280 3,367 294 3,588 302 3,267 Other asaets--net 32 1,153 31 1,174 32 1,214 
LIABll.1TIE9 : Demand deposits--adjusted 628 24,197 542 23,093 635 24,712 Time deposits 130 5,120 137 5,441 129 5,188 
U.S. Government deposits 48 1,886 27 420 44 1,688 
Inter-bank deposits: Domestic banks 302 8,885 284 9,343 327 9,033 Foreign banks 1 639 1 633 1 653 Borrowings 6 1 Other liabilities 5 786 4 751 5 768 Capital account 93 3,937 89 3,839 93 3,929 
•Five week1. 
Non: From Federal Reaerve Board. 


MARCH, 1942, CARLOAD MOVEMENT OF POULTRY AND EGGS 
Shipments from Texas Stations 
Can of Poultry  Cars of Eggs  
DMtiaat1o ..  Chic1942  DreHed ken• Turkeys March 1941 1942  1941  1942  Shell  1941  Fro1942  zen Dried March 1941 1942  1941  Shell Equivalentt 194.2 1941  
TOTAL  13.5 42§  4.5 6  9  23  158 84  122.5  7  1,305  247  
Intrastate Interstate  0.0 13.5  0 42§  0.0 4.5  0 6  4 5  11 12  96 62  15 69  24.5 98.0  0 7  392 913  41 206  

Receipts at Texu Stations 
Origin TOTAL .5 .5 21 1 68 20 29 0 389 41 Intrastate .5 .5 14 1 60 20 29 0 366 41 Interstate 0.0 0.0 7 0 8 20 0 0 23 0 
•The de tinntion above ia the 6.nt destination as shown by the original waybill. Changea in destination brought about by diversion orders are not shown. tDricd eggs and froz.en eggs are converted to a shell egg equivalent on the following buia : l rail carload of dried eggs = 8 carloads of shell eggs, and 
1 carload or £roz.en egg1 = 2 carloads of ahell eggs. §Includes 2 carloads or live chickens. Non: These data are furnished to the Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S.D.A .• by railroad officials through agents at all 1tation1 which originate and receive 
carload 1hipment1 of poultry and e&gs. The data are compiled by the Bureau of Busine11 Re•el\rch. 
MARCH RETAIL SALES OF INDEPENDENT STORES IN TEXAS 
Percentage Changee in Dollar Salee 
No, of March, 1942 March, 1942 Year 1942 
f'irme from from from 
ReJoningMnrch, 1941 Fob., 1942 Year 1941 

TEXAS 1,136 + 11 +20 + 7 
STORES GROUPED BY  LINE OF GOODS  CARRIED:  
APPAREL  123  +31  +35  +23  
Family Oothing Stores Men's and Boys' Clothing Stores Shoe Stores  31 44 14  +31 +48 +28  +45 +44 +57  +28 +26 +26  
Women's Specialty Shops AUTOMOTIVE•  34 79  +21 -73  +24 + 9  +20 -68  
Motor Vehicle Dealers  75  -75  + 9  -70  
COUNTRY GENERAL ---­ 109  +24  +19  +22  
DEPARTMENT STORES  57  +16  +32  +17  
DRUG STORES ---------------­ 147  +13  + 8  +u  
DRY GOODS AND GENERAL MERCHANDISE  24  +23  +22  + 26  
FILLING  STATIONS  ----------------­ 51  + 4  + 7  + 13  
FLORISTS  23  -2  +10  -10  
FOOD•  ------­ 169  +23  + 6  +26  
Grocery Stores ___  52  +30  + 6  +24  
Grocery and Meat Stores _  109  +20  + 6  +26  
FURNITURE  AND  HOUSEHOLD•  --------­ ----­ 74  + 18  +23  +n  
Furniture Stores  62  + 19  +22  + 12  
JEWELRY  ---------­ 31  + 3  + 2  +14  
LUMBER, BUILDING, AND HARDWARE•  214  +38  +24  +22  
Fann Implement Dealers Hardware Stores  9 73  +39 +37  +22 +14  +34 +31  
Lum ber and Building Material Dealers RESTAURANTS  ------­ 128 25  +36 +IO  +29 +10  +16 + 12  
ALL OTHER STORES  10  + 49  +19  +52  

TEXAS STORES GROUPED ACCORDING TO POPU­LATION OF CTTY:  
All Stores in Cities of- 
Over 100,000 Population 50,000-100,000 Population 2,500-50,000 Population Less than 2,500 Population  177 126 559 274  + 9 + 8 + 3 +21  +26 +24 +19 +16  + 5 + 3 -4 +IS  
•Croup total include• kinda of busine.a oth er than the clusi6ca tion1 lietod. Non : Prepared from report• of independent retail 1toree to the Bureau of  B•aiD011 ReHttrch  eo3pentlng with  the Uahff  Sta tee  Bure.a  ef  the  Cea1111.t.  

PETROLEUM 
Daily Average Production 
Pt.NMA.MD\.( 
(In Barrels) 
March March Feb. 
1942 1941 1942 


Coastal Texas• ---------262,000 255,800 308,900 Ea t Central Texas__ 86,000 76,150 91,850 East Texas ---------312,300 392,100 386,000 orth Texa ----------146,450 132,100 147,800 Panhandle -------84,800 74,000 87,900 
outhwest Texa _____ 187,450 209,500 230,000 W t Texa ------213,250 239,750 313,350 tale -----------1,292,250 1,379,400 1,565,800 United tales -·-----3,740,300 3,680,850 4,127,100 
•Inc lude1 Con roe. 
NOT!:: from American Petroleum Institute. 
See accompanyio~ map ehowior the oil producini: districte of Te:ue. 


Gasoline sales as indicated by taxes collected by the State Comptroller were: February, 1942, 106,415,000 gallons; February, 1941, 107,671,000 gallons ; January, 1942, 122,555,000 gallons. 


MAR H RETAIL SALES OF I DEPENDENT TEXAS CHARTERS 

STORES IN TEXAS March March Fob. First Quarter Percentage Chango 1942 1941 1942 1942 1941 Number In Dollar Salee Dome tic Corporations: 
of 	Year-to-date 

Finn• March, 1942 March, 1942 1942 from Capitalization• 742 1,358 $685 $3,208 $3,632 
Re· from from Year-to-date 
Number ------------89 109 102 295 261 

porting March, 1941 Feb., 1942 1941 Classification of new
TOTAL TEXAS ____ 1,136 + 11 + 20 + 7 
corporations: TEXA TORE GROUPED Banking-Finance ____ 1 5 0 2 16BY PRODUCI G Manufacturing ____ 4 7 5 19 28AREA Merchandising 11 30 9 29 62 Di trict 1------83 +17 +25 + 8 
Oil ------------14 17 34 

Amarillo ----------23 -6 +23 -11 Public Service _____ 0 4 0 0 2 1 1
+18 +23 + 8

Pampa ------·--------18 	Real Estate Building 55 18 56 162 35
+ru

Plainview ------16 + 23 +25 Transpo1tation _____ 4 2 5 14 9 All Others --------26 + 10 +22 +24 AH Others -------------10 33 25 51 76 Di trict 1-S --------34 +19 +18 + 13 Number capitalized at
Lubbock _____ 11 + 2 +39 + 5 less than $5,000___ 54 43 53 160 108
+(1)

All Others -----23 +45 +22 Number capitalized at Di trict 2 ---------82 + 17 +21 +22 100,000 or more_ 2 1 1 6 4 Abikne -------10 +13 +45 Foreign Corporations
+ 6 
Wichita Falls ____ 14 +28 + 12 +22 (Number) 8 14 37 53
--------23 
AU Other 58 +12 +16 +30 
_ (1)

Di trict 3 ----41 + 4 +21 	•Ia tJ.oa••cl8. 
Nenr c-,u..i frea reeer.. ef the a.eretary ef ltate.

Di trict 4 -----238 + 13 +24 +13 
Dallas ____ 39 + 4 +21 + 2 
Denton ------13 + 6 +24 + 3 


Fort Worth ____ 35 + 8 +26 + 3 COMMODITY PRICES herman -------17 +32 +29 +27 Waco 24 +12 +34 + 2 March, March, Feb., 
1942 1941 1941
All Others -------111 + 5 +18 +12 

Wholesale Prices: Di trict 5______ 106 +15 +20 + 9 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Tyler 	13 +16 +29 -7 (1926=100%) -----------97.6 81.5 96.7
All Others ___ 93 +11 +14 + 13 

Farm Prices:
Di trict 6 -------48 + 4 +21 + 5 U.S. Dep't of Agriculture (1910­El Paso 23 -5 +23 -4 1914=100% ) ____________ 
146.o•

All Others ___ 25 +16 -3 +21 	103.0 145.0 
U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsDi trict 7 ______ 66 + 26 +21 +23 (1926=100%) -------------102.8 71.6 101.3

an Angelo _____ 12 + 22 +25 +21 
Retail Prices:

All Others 54 +30 +18 +25 
Food (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statis-

Di trict 8 --------169 + 24 +27 +20 
Austin 15 +26 +29 +22 


tics, 1935-1939=100%) ----------118.6 98.4 116.8 Corpus Christi ____ 10 +53 + 9 +40 Department Stores (Fairchild's +28 Publications, January, 1931=
an Antonio --·-53 + 16 +11 All Others 91 + 8 +19 +10 100%) --------------------------------112.5 94.8 111.9 
Di tri t 9 ------132 + 26 +32 +19 ·-­
*Preliminary.
Beaumont -----17 +68 +30 +46 
Galveston 12 + 9 +28 +16 
Hou ton 50 +13 +34 + 6 

LUMBER
11 Others ___ 53 +15 +20 +10 

Di trict 10 ------37 +12 +17 +10 (In Board Feet) 
Di trict 10-A ___ 49 + 3 +12 + 10 

March March Feb.
Brown ville _____ 15 +15 + 15 + 16 
1942 1941 1942 

All Others 34 -2 +10 + 7 outhern Pine Mill : 
Average Weekly Production 

O>Chango of leH than .5% . 
per unit --------------------298,315 329,689 315,757 
•The total number of 6rms reporting does not check exactly with the totals 
Average Weekly Shipments 

o( the cities because some motor vehicle dealers whose snlee varied radically Crom tho sales of other stores in their respective cities were omitted when per unit ------------·-----------·-346,648 294,667 359,879 workin1; the percentage changes for those cities. This wt\! done only when the Average Unfilled Orders per aales of motor vehicle dealers were an unusually large proportion of the total unit, end of month____ 1,762,344 
1,091,433 1,828,114 

sales of a city. 
on: Prepared from reports of independent retail stores to the Bureau of on: From Southern Pine ANociatioa. 

Bu1ioe 11 Research. coOperating with the U.S. Bureau of the Census. 
TEXAS BUSIN!SS REVIEW 
Abilene~--­ ----­ 
Amarillo  _  ------­ 
Austin  !'!.~---­ 
Beaumont V  

Big Springv______________ Brownsville 
Brownwood ---------------
Cleburne 
Coleman ------------------­
Corpus Christi -------
Corsicana  ----------------­ 
Dallas  --­-----------­ 
Del  Rio  -~------------ 
Denton  ---------------­ 
El Paso  -----------------­ 

Fort Worth ----------------------­Galveston ------------------------Gladewater -------------­Graham -----------------Harlingen -------------------­
Houston -------------------­Jacksonville Kenedy 
Longview -------------------· 
Lubbock -------





Lufkin -------McAllen ----------------­
Marshall ------------------­Midland 
-------------~ 
New Braunfels ----------------­
Palestine Pampa Plainview ---------------­
Port Arthur -----­an Angelo ------­San Antonio ------------------­


he rm an ---------------­
nyd r weetwater ----------­Tyler -----------
Texarkana ------­Waco Wichita Falls ---------------­
TOTAL --------­
•Not included in total. 
tNot available. 
1Doe11 not include public works. 
(l)fncludca buildings at f ort Crockett of $337,000 value. 
Non.-Compiled from report• Crom Tu:u ahamber1 o( 


BUILDING PERMITS 
March, 1942 March, 1941 Feb., 1942 
$ 84,535 $ 119,117 $ 101,744 183,660. 175,697. t 447,425 441,444 288,301 
1,370,767 151,556 318,527 7,750 17,670 3,850 5,774 13,526 5,130 
147,715 76,075 39,125 2,400• t 1,650. 3,700 1,300 14,150 
262,382 925,880 1,189,417 99,775 10,650 8,000 659,894 1,068,405 904,952 19,430 12,383 3,195 
3,100 48,805 15,005 933,758 208,395 76,032 834,094 570,839 447,720 237,715 591,997(1) 153,336 1,500 1,700 610 12,578 4,904 250 36,900 13,215 15,200 1,486,210 2,854,000 1,400,890 5,300 7,000 6,200 0 2,700 390 9,777 18,275 5,023 
851,453 225,071 563,894 50,101 86,166 8,496t 43,346 7,790 31,522 45,010 50,678 56,887 82,130 22,375 54,600 
5,295• t 7,359. 3,480 16,265 7,825 14,050 27,505 8,300 1,757 26,050 0 14,347 74,823 69,118 24,227 69,490 110,332 776,225 476,384 727,429 82,234 35,226 34,065 
1,000• t 1,125• 13,930 20,145 10,285 55,718 90,640 57,107 77,680 17,125 47,900 
172,388 239,278 219,858 144,155 203,468 55,339 9,122,310 s 8,848,315 $ 7,060,004 
commerce to the Bureau of Buaine11 Re1earcll.. 
CONTENTS 
First Quarter 
1942 1941 
$ 284,654 $ 249,730 t 547,182. 984,947 1,602,790 
1,856,936 547,319 20,835 37,545 22,376 48,497 
202,735• t t t 
100,750 69,240 1,487,963 3,584,302 112,025 50,676 3,998,630 3,088,653 30,715 15,675 23,005 78,930 
1,132,417 717,209 1,775,021 1,422,380 580,338 799,822 
4,610 5,500 13,068 16,835 55,975 54,115 4,367,635 5,974,715 11,800 28,800 1,040 5,850 23,150 34,025 1,600,031 817,305 66,206 133,945 90,823 40,810 124,758 142,886 
215,020 90,915 21,604. t 11,669 43,027 135,550 370,700 
5,757 33,325 148,020 265,677 189,656 191,547 
2,079,798 1,938,832 
137,356 72,250 13,350• t 37,887 49,270 148,735 180,233 168,155 770,834 469,709 555,929 224,251 344,217 
$ 22,741,271 $ 24,474,310 

PACE  Page  
LI  T OF TABLES  
Business  R eview and Prospect, F. A. Buechel  3  Banking  Statistics  ------------------­ 13  
E seritials Elm r  Toward an H. Johnson  Underst<mding  of  Texas  Economy,  5  Building Carloa d Chartcra  Permit!! Movement  . of  Poultry  and  --'---~-­Egg•--·-------­ 16 13 15  
T he  atiO/I. Overlooks  ignificance of Cotton,  . B. Cox_____  9  Commercin l Commodity  Fni lurce Prices  ---------­----­---­ 15  
pecial Meeting of the Texas  tatistical Council, Clara  H.  Cotton  Daloncc  Sheet· -----~----"---­ 12  
Lewis  4  Credit  Ratios  in  Tena  Department  and  Apparel  Stores____  11  
Em ployment  and  Pay  Roll•  in  Tcxa•--­------­ 10  
LI  T OF CHART  Lumbe r ----·---------· Percentage Changes in Consump tion o( Electric  Power_____  15 4  
Dietribution o( Average Family Dollar Among Five Principal Budget Items in Texu Citietl-----------­-­ Petroleum Posta l Receipts Retail Sales of Independent  14 ---l..----------~ 12 Stores in Texas _________l4, 15  
lndexes  o(  Bu.sineu  Activity  in  Texaai---------- Shipmeota  of  Livestock.  11